Worldview Research Articles

Nkunimdie Christology: An Akan contextual expression of the Christus Victor motif of atonement

The Akan community of Ghana has a large Christian following. Nonetheless, many Akan believers still consult traditional priests for protection, wealth, and power. This happens not because these Christians doubt the theological fact that Christ offered an atonement, but because they do not consider the atonement as providing them with adequate protection against evil forces. This situation makes the quest to closely investigate their concept of Christ fairly urgent and useful. To address the issue, there is the need to project Christ’s power over evil forces. One of the models of atonement that is helpful in this regard is the Christus Victor which emphasises the victory that Christ won over Satan and his host through his death on the cross. This research, therefore, aims to give contextually express the Christus Victor motif of Christ’s atonement from an Akan Christian perspective. This research is based on literature involving theological and ethical analyses of, and reflections on the Christus Victor model of atonement and how it can address the Akan Christian need for spiritual protection and economic liberation. The resulting theology is a contextual theology that incorporates the biblical world view, the Akan world view, and the Christus Victor model of atonement. Thus, the article seeks to bring about positive reforms in Akan religio-ethical beliefs and practices, and hence empower Akan Christians not only to discontinue their reliance on traditional powers, but also to have complete trust in Christ’s atonement alone as means of providing them with all their physical and spiritual needs.

The Differences of Gender Indicative Phraseology and Proverbs of English and Uzbek Languages

This article analyzes the gender marked phraseological units in English and Uzbek languages. It also discusses the comparison of masculine and feminine stereotypes in the English and Uzbek phraseological world view, exposure and explanation of gender asymmetries and connotations, which will create ground for lexicographical description of gender marked phraseological units of the analyzed language and their adequate interpretation in the contexts of usage is.

ANALISIS PROSES BISNIS UNTUK PENERAPAN ENTERPRISE ARSITEKTUR PADA DINAS ARSIP DAN PERPUSTAKAAN KOTA BANDUNG

For government agency that want to improve public services based on information and communication technology and the need for strategic planning of information technology and information systems as a strategic direction and framework for information system use to support government agency tasks towards effective and efficient public services and inter-government services (Government to Government,Government to Business,Government to Citizen,Government to Employee) to the maximum extent possible in accordance with the vision, mission and objectives of the government agency. An agency needs to identify business needs and evaluate the IT/IS resources it has so that they can be utilized and developed by stakeholders involved in it.At this time,an agency is not enough to have just a business strategy to face competition.The existing business strategy is incorporated into the business plan and must be accompanied by an IT/IS strategy for optimal use of IT/IS. If in a government institution, the context of the business strategy will become an activity strategy and the context of the business plan will become an activity plan because a government institution is not a company that operates in the business field.The business process in the perspective of information systems is an activity or activity carried out by an agency to provide benefits (value added) for the performance of the agency. To analyze and map the extent to which the business process mapping in DISARPUS Bandung is required a method and a method that can map the flow of business processes and business process analysis is the CATWOE method (customers,actors,transformation,world view,owner and environmental constraint).

Fractal Architecture of the Universe Based on Primary-Centric World-View - A Post Copernican Conjecture

This paper investigates the fractal architecture of our Universe based on Primary-Centric Theoretical Formulation. Through theoretical analysis of Earth-Moon System, I arrived at the planetary satellite dynamics which was found to apply equally well to Solar and Exo-solar systems. This gave the theoretical foundation of the New Perspective of the birth and evolution of Exo-solar Systems. This was further extended to the theoretical analysis of star pairs and Neutron-Star pairs. This laid down the Primarycentric World View which I postulate as the physical process which has been shaping the evolution of the Universe and the hot-spots of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation right from 380,000 yrs after the Big Bang to date in top-down model resulting into Super-clusters, Clusters, Galaxies and Solar Systems. Primary-centric analysis corresponds to keplerian Analysis for negligibly small mass ratio less than 0.001. In the Copernican Framework, Kepler’s Third Law places no restriction on the orbit of the secondary component in a celestial pair. In Primary Centric Framework there is a very definite constraint on the permitted stable orbit, introduced due to periodic tidal deformations . There are two Clarke’s Orbits which are fully circularized and synchronized and hence nondissipative and equilibrium orbits called inner and outer Clarke's orbits equivalent to two geosynchronous orbits in Earth-Moon scenario. Outer Clarke’s Orbit is permissible as a stable orbit if the mass ratio of secondary to primary is greater than 0.2, Inner Clarke’s Orbit is permissible if mass ratio is less than 10-4 . If the mass ratio is between 10-4 to 0.2 then secondary spirals-out from inner Clarke’s Orbit to outer Clarke’s Orbit if it tumbles into super-synchronous orbit and spirals-in if it tumbles into sub-synchronous orbit destined to be destroyed by the primary. My conjecture states that every cosmological sub-system has a Monarch (or dominant) Primary (M_primary) Component anchoring the given sub-system and this Primary decides the stable equilibrium orbits of the secondary/secondaries. Planet-Satellite has a Planet as the M_primary, Solar System and exo-Solar Systems have a planet hosting star (PHS) as the M_primary, Galaxy has a Super-Massive Black Hole(SMBH) as the M_primary, Cluster has a cD galaxy (central dominant Galaxy) which is also known as Brightest Cluster Galaxy(BCG) as the M_primary, Super-Cluster has a massive Cluster hosting a QUASER/Blazer as the M_primary. This goes adinfinitum until a Cosmic Web is woven with Cosmic filaments. This conjecture gains a definite credence after the recent discoveries of the over-massive Black Holes in M_Galaxies namely Messier 87 in Virgo Cluster, NGC 3842 in Leo Cluster, NGC 4889 in Coma Cluster[68] and NGC 1277 in Perseus Cluster[66] which had been proposed as M_Galaxies on general considerations even before the confirmation of over-massive black holes. In 2011, a group of floating planets have been discovered. This is a transitory event and is an exception to this conjecture.

Making kin: Indigenous relationality in promoting public and political knowledge about religion

Religion is a problematic category when understanding the different sociopolitical dynamics that impact and influence settler Canadian identity and society. However, against the modern western struggles around religion, like that of religion and non-religion, anti-Indigenous racism and Indigenous elimination remain a constant and unifying factor of settler colonialism. Yet Indigenous knowledges are framed by what is called religion through relationality, which informs situated knowledges, the ethos and world views, and the governance of distinct yet related nations/peoples who are human and other-than-human. The problem is that discussions on the intersectional nature of religion and relationality fall short of a critical treatment. This article outlines the issues of settler colonialism in perpetrating Indigenous dispossession, and asks scholars of religion to focus on how ‘making kin’ supports a critical disruption to settler-colonial definitions of religion that promotes public and political understandings of Indigenous relational knowledges.

Stakeholders’ Interventions in Addressing Financial Constraints Restricting Women Refugees Access to Higher Education: The Case of Bidibidi Refugee Settlement, Uganda

Financial constraints to women refugees is one of the major barriers to access to higher education which is exacerbated by multiple intersecting disadvantages of refugeehood. Even when the benefits of higher education access are crucial to enable refugee women to fulfil their potential, rebuild disrupted liveslives, and facilitate durable solutions. There exist barriers to higher education access. Specifically, this article focuses on stakeholders’ interventions in addressing financial constraints that obstruct women refugees in Uganda from accessing higher education. The study was carried out in Bidibidi Refugee Settlement in Northern Uganda. The study used the qualitative research approach, anchored in the advocacy world view using intersectionality with liberal feminist perspective as a philosophical lens. Using purposive and snowball sampling, 49 participants took part in the study. Using one-on-one interviews and focus group discussions and document review, the study found out that there have been some stakeholders’ interventions addressing financial constraints to refugee women access to higher education. Such interventions included scholarships, advocacy actions, partnerships, livelihood activities and belonging to associations. Nevertheless, despite the presence of these interventions, differences and limitations to their access were noted due to varied eligibility criteria including age of the intended beneficiaries, length in the camp, marital status, discipline, and length of the programme. Thus, the study recommends that education stakeholders in partnership with government increase resource mobilization for refugee girls’ scholarships to enable access to higher education. Funders of higher education scholarships should review the eligibility criteria to eliminate requirements that bar women refugees from being given an opportunity to access higher education. Additionally, the government and development actors should focus on livelihood programmes to income generating activities, and put in place an affirmative action policy to increase refugee women access to higher education

“Only a God Can Save Us Now”: Why a Religious Morality Is Best Suited to Overcome Religiously Inspired Violence and Spare Innocents from Harm

It is common to hear the refrain that religion is a major cause of violence today. And this claim is not without merit. Religious differences can fuel animosity and lead to societal conflict. On the other hand, scholars have increasingly recognized the role of religion in overcoming societal divides and helping people to heal and forgive. This paper will examine the latter capacity of religion to minimize the harms that occur during violent conflicts. It will be argued that secular ethical theories often fail to provide any principles or foundations that can help moderate passions, alleviate tensions, or provide frameworks for what is licit in war. In fact, the world views of terrorists and secular ethicists of war are often strikingly similar. Religious ethicists, on the contrary, have often encouraged practices (prayer for one’s enemies, forgiveness) and provided principles (dignity of every human, non-combatant immunity, just war theory) that can help moderate the violent tendencies of war and bring about a more peaceful and equitable resolution. While religion is not entirely off the hook for promoting violent conflict, religion can provide ethical frameworks and principles that help minimize the harms of conflicts and promote world peace.

In Search for a nonanthropocentric humanism

A non-anthropocentric humanism is almost a contradiction in terms. But I still propose just that. Humanism explicitly places human beings at the centre, as their dignity and well-being are the goal of this thinking. In the humanism of antiquity and the Renaissance, it was felt necessary to define man as opposed to gods, animals and things. Later, in Marxism, for example, the term delineates a contrast with social and technological developments that seem to have become so independent of human beings that they are harmful to them. It stands for an ideal humanity that is promoted by education or Bildung and the norms and practices of civility. Bildung is indeed the context in which it was coined.1 So far, this is a familiar narrative. In direct opposition to this ideal and the ideas behind it, many and prominent voices such as Latour, Haraway, Descola and Chakrabarty 2 call for a decentralisation of humanity, a new world view in which non-human beings and entities are not grouped around human beings in the centre and in which the division between nature and culture is obsolete. That culture and nature were ever seen as different at all is seen as a mistake, and the thinking around it as in need of correction. And indeed, even if one considers only human life and the atrocities that have been inflicted upon it, the idea seems to have failed horribly. Looking more broadly at the world as a whole, the multiple pressing ecological crises are leading many to question the centrality of humans in the world. The label Anthropocene for the age we are in further supports this questioning: a world in which human power is the strongest force and nothing can be clearly attributed to non-human influence can even be seen as a logical consequence of humanism. The idea of decentring human beings seems to be a necessary and overdue step. The efforts for human welfare that flow from humanism, which are central to education and the many ways in which humans care for each other and the non-human world, are an important part of human agency, but they are only a part of what human agency is capable of.

Translating the consent form is the tip of the iceberg: using cognitive interviews to assess the barriers to informed consent in South African health facilities

The increasing digitisation of personal health data has led to an increase in the demand for onward health data. This study sought to develop local language scripts for use in public sector maternity clinics to capture informed consent for onward health data use. The script considered five possible health data uses: 1. Sending of general health information content via mobile phones; 2. Delivery of personalised health information via mobile phones; 3. Use of women’s anonymised health data; 4. Use of child’s anonymised health data; and 5. Use of data for recontact. Qualitative interviews (n = 54) were conducted among women attending maternity services in three public health facilities in Gauteng and Western Cape, South Africa. Using cognitive interviewing techniques, interviews sought to:(1) explore understanding of the consent script in five South African languages, (2) assess women’s understanding of what they were consenting to, and (3) improve the consent script. Multiple rounds of interviews were conducted, each followed by revisions to the consent script, until saturation was reached, and no additional cognitive failures identified. Cognitive failures were a result of: (1) words and phrases that did not translate easily in some languages, (2) cognitive mismatches that arose as a result of different world views and contexts, (3) linguistic gaps, and (4) asymmetrical power relations that influence how consent is understood and interpreted. Study activities resulted in the development of an informed consent script for onward health data use in five South African languages for use in maternity clinics.

Decolonial Practices in Higher Education from the Global South: A Systematic Literature Review

Higher education institutions have been complicit with the ongoing coloniality project that reinforces and perpetuates inequities, dismisses interests, knowledges, alternative discourses, and world views different from Western European thought (Bell, 2018; Dastile & Ndlovu-Gatsheni, 2013; Harms-Smith & Rasool, 2020). Education is rooted in colonialism, which raises doubts about the feasibility of universities implementing a decolonial agenda (Dhillon, 2021). To contribute to the conversation about decolonial praxis and the documented efforts in the literature on how to enact a decolonial rehumanizing agenda, this paper presents a systematic literature review of works from the Global South that attempt to disentangle universities from colonial practices in higher education. The works reviewed describe a variety of practices from pedagogical practices, curriculum changes, and institutional connections with marginalized communities that make visible knowledges, languages, and perspectives traditionally excluded from universities.

Invited Session IV: Extended reality--applications in vision science and beyond: Improving augmented reality through perceptual science.

Augmented reality (AR) systems make it possible to present visual stimuli that intermix and interact with people's view of the natural world. But building an AR system that merges stimuli with our natural visual experience is hard. AR systems often suffer from technical and visual limitations, such as small eyeboxes, limited brightness, and narrow visual field coverage. An integral part of AR system development, therefore, is perceptual research that improves our understanding of when and why these limitations matter. I will describe a suite of perceptual studies designed to provide guidance for engineers on the visibility and appearance of wearable optical see-through AR displays. Our results highlight the idiosyncrasies of how our visual system integrates information from the two eyes, the multifaceted nature of perceptual phenomena in AR, and the trade-offs that are currently necessary to create an AR system that is both wearable and compelling.

No Great Russia without Greater Russia

This paper argues that to understand the invasion of Ukraine, we need to have better insights into the Kremlin’s particular world view and Russia’s place within it. This view is based on a sense of entitlement to great power status, going hand in hand with an identity of itself as a country that extends beyond the actual borders of the Russian Federation. What makes the position unique is that the geopolitical and identity arguments are inseparable: in the Kremlin’s world view, Russia can only be a great power if it also exists as greater Russia. This structural factor is labelled the geopolitics-identity nexus. To explain why the invasion happened in 2022, three additional process factors are outlined: a radicalisation of the view of Ukraine as Russian lands, driven by the feeling of existential crisis when tensions over Ukraine escalated in 2014; an escalation of policy options resulting from consecutive failures in Russia’s Ukraine policy; and a reversal of the argument that Russia has to be a great power to exist within its 1991 borders into an argument that Russia has to expand its territory to be a great power.

20세기 초 『예술 세계』의 미학논쟁

From the end of the 19th century to the 20th century, Russia experienced a period of caution. Russian culture of the 1890s and 1900s reflects the complexity and contradictions of an era filled with acute social conflict and political struggle. These conflicts and struggles gave new character and characteristics to the perception of society and art. However, the social and cultural life of the late 19th century contrasted markedly with previous periods in the spiritual sphere. During this period, there was a psychological tension quite different from that of the 1880s, and an expectation of a “great revolution.” This concept of “vigilance” and “transition” experienced by Russia spread among the intelligentsia in the field of art.
 In the early 20th century, Russia experienced a “Russian Renaissance.” Russia experienced a heyday of poetry and philosophy, and trends of intense religious inquiry and mysticism dominated the period. In literature, the sense of justice and simplicity of 19th century Russian literature has disappeared. The world view of left-wing intelligentsia was shaken. Aesthetic consciousness changed and art began to be given greater meaning. The “art world” reflects the “new art” and aesthetics of this period. Their biggest task was to liberate spiritual culture from social utilitarianism. For them, the previously suppressed aesthetic element was a stronger force than the ethical element. However, changing the world view and setting a new direction was not easy. In the field of art, controversy with the existing utilitarian and populist intelligentsia was an inevitable process. This debate became a space for “art world” groups to declare their programs and aesthetics. This paper seeks to examine the aesthetics of the “world of art” through the debates between Diaghilev and Stasov and Diaghilev and Repin, which were the most representative debates of the “world of art.”

The revelation of God: How and to whom does God reveals God self to?

The African world view is not monolithic or homogeneous. However, that being the case, there is a strong metaphysicaland existential leaning in terms of Spirit and the world. The Spirit is the medium whereby revelation occurs for all ofcreation. African indigenous knowledge as episteme and Black liberation theology as a paradigm have something to teach outside Western dualism about the revelation of God not being linear in form. The methodological aspect of this research is a literature study aimed at discussing transmission and reception of biblical discourse in Africa by viewing differently the subject of God’s revelation from a variety of sources. The article seeks to argue that indigenous knowledge and, from the Black liberation paradigm, conceptions of God reveal a God with a social existence in contrast to a Western God who abdicates creation when the majority of creation and her creatures are oppressed by White supremacy.

Pathways to meaningful work in the digital workspace: A qualitative exploration

Orientation: The way people view and experience their work and workplaces is fundamental to the extent to which employees find meaning in work. Research that examines individuals’ views about the more turbulent and disruptive technology-enhanced work world seems to be scant.Research purpose: The present study sheds light on the extent to which individuals’ personal philosophy and Africanisation views on the work world inform pathways to meaningful work in the digital-era workspace.Research approach/design and method: The study applied a qualitative, grounded-theory research approach to inductively gain deeper insight into participants’ views of the digital era work world from their responses on an open-ended research questionnaire. A randomly chosen sample of (N = 486) undergraduate students participated in the study.Main findings: The findings illuminated four psychosocial pathways and their resources toward meaningful work in the digital-era workspace: Self-agency, other-agency, self-communion and other-communion.Practical/managerial implications: Employers and practitioners should explore strategies for enhancing work meaningfulness in today’s more turbulent technology-driven work world.Contribution/value-add: The study contributed an integrative model of psychosocial pathways and resources toward meaningful work in the digital workspace. The model informs practices for fostering meaningful work in technology-enhanced workspaces.

Theoretical Approaches to Disrupting Historical Trauma Among Two-Spirit and Indigenous LGBTQ+ Elders

Introduction: Indigenous holistic theory (IHT) is a multi-faceted framework grounded in traditional cultural knowledge that emphasizes Indigenous world views, cultures, and traditions with a focus on the spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical elements of health and wellness (Absolon, 2010). Objective: To describe the role of historical trauma and health-related behaviours among Two-Spirit and Indigenous lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer or questioning (2S/LGBTQ+) Elders and how the emergence of IHT and its guiding constructs could work to inform culturally responsive interventions for the study population. Method: IHT constructs were applied to historical trauma intervention tailoring among Indigenous 2S/LGBTQ+ Elders, including a relevant theoretical model. Results: Applying the IHT framework to Indigenous 2S/LGBTQ+ Elder interventions could be an effective pathway for understanding the population while helping to inform more culturally responsive health promotion efforts that will lead to wellness in later life. Discussion/Conclusion: The paper concludes with a discussion of how IHT helps to advance our knowledge about addressing historical trauma most responsively, along with future research recommendations.

Introducing Indigenous Perspectives on Data Sovereignty in Engineering Education

We live in a data-driven world, and decisions of technology developers impact how the world uses technology. But the education system does not address data sovereignty. This is more relevant in New Zealand, with M?ori data sovereignty being a concern. In engineering education, ethical aspects of technology are taught from a western perspective. This paper describes a different approach used recently in an undergraduate engineering course, where an indigenous perspective was integrated with the predominant western view. Electrical and Digital Systems is a course taken by all engineering students at the University of Auckland. This course teaches the engineering perspective on how data is collected and processed, and hence is the perfect point to introduce the indigenous data sovereignty perspectives. Student feedback received so far supports the success of this introduction. This also prepares our future workforce to be competent to incorporate indigenous world views in engineering decisions.

Practical Analysis of Integrating Ecological Civilization Construction into Ideological and Political Teaching in Colleges and Universities

In the curriculum system of colleges and universities, ideological and political courses are compulsory. This course aims to lead college students to understand the latest national policy guidelines and strategies and to help them establish a correct world outlook, outlook on life and values, and always strive to contribute to the cause of social justice construction. The construction of ecological civilization is a long-term construction task. This construction task is closely related to ideological and political education. This connection has gradually infiltrated the construction of ecological civilization in major universities' ideological and political classrooms. Based on this, this paper focuses on analyzing the strategy of integrating the construction of ecological civilization into teaching ideological and political courses in colleges and universities, which has to guide value for the actual teaching work.

Post-COVID-19 Własne pokoje: Wnioski wyciągnięte z wirtualnych projektów rozwoju zawodowego przeznaczonych dla nauczycieli wczesnego dzieciństwa w Ontario

This paper reflects and explores lessons learned during two professional learning series related to the pedagogical practices of early childhood educators (ECEs) in Ontario, Canada. Drawing on a comparative analysis of our observations, collaborative inquiries, and discussions, we underline post-COVID-19 conditions that change how we think, engage, and envision possibilities in professional learning. We discuss the way the use of technology at the intersection of time and space and carefully chosen pedagogical approaches pushed us to reconsider current practices used in the design of professional learning activities, the implementation, and the responses to educators’ learning. We focus on the way technology helped us envision and plan for virtual rooms as environments as third teachers. Trading the traditional professional workshop-like activities with fixed time boundaries for virtual café-style learning, introducing design thinking, distributed leadership, Indigenous world views, and rhizomatic wonderings, we discuss our decisions to change the directions of professional learning from focusing on skill development and transmission of knowledge to enhancing dispositions needed to become lifelong learners, innovators, and advocates. We conclude the paper with invitations and provocations for educators, academics, researchers, and regulatory bodies to further discuss professional learning activities for the early childhood education (ECE) community in Ontario. In brief, we focus on removing the dividing practices between professional learning activities and pedagogical approaches as a starting point to envision possibilities in Ontario’s ECE field.

INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE FOR SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES: REFLECTIONS ON THE FOLKLORIC FORMS OF TEYYAM AND TOLU BOMMALATA

The inclusion of culture as the fourth dimension of the sustainable development model projected by UCLG (2010) affirmed that heritage, knowledge, creativity, and aesthetics are essential grounds for developing a holistic vision towards sustainability. Folklore as a significant aspect of human cognition, way of life and world view not only demonstrates the complex layers of human existence through generations but also paves the way for a sustainable future through its cultural dimensions, social functions, and ecological lessons. The current research examines how two unrelated folkloric forms from distinct geographic regions emerge as exemplars of sustainable values embedded within the community. Focusing on the ritualistic performance of Teyyam from Kolathunadu and the folk-art form called Tolu Bommalata from Nimmalakunta region, it argues on the inextricable association of indigenous knowledge systems with its natural and cultural landscape thereby demonstrating the case of a sustainable model. A cultic practice prevalent in the cultural region of Kolathunadu, Teyyam advocates a strong association with the tribal culture of the land in terms of its environmental, social, and cultural values. Tolu Bommalata of Nimmalakunta region, renowned for its distinct cultural expression of storytelling and entertainment is a living folk tradition of shadow puppetry that combines the elements of performing as well as visual arts. The research through a qualitative perspective focuses on ethnographic methods backed by the documentation and analysis of the tangible aspects of folklore. Apart from the reflections on the cultural plurality of Indian folklore and crafts, the study reveals its co-existence with the landscape embodying the environmental, social, and cultural values thereby demonstrating a sustainable model in Indian folklore.