Search results for: religious identity

Authors: Wafa Nouari

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This study compares four novels written in English by Algerian writers: Donkey Heart Monkey Mind by Djaffar Chetouane, Pebble in the River by Noufel Bouzeboudja, Sophia in the White City by Belkacem Mezghouchene, and The Inner Light of Darkness by Iheb Kharab. It applies comparative research methods and cultural studies as the literary theory to analyze how these novels depict Algeria’s culture, history, and identity through their genre, style, tone, perspective, and structure. It identifies some common themes shared by them, such as the quest for freedom and dignity in a context of oppression and colonialism and the use of storytelling, imagination, and creativity as coping mechanisms for trauma and adversity. It also highlights their differences in terms of style, genre, setting, period, and perspectives. It concludes that these novels offer rich and diverse insights into Algeria and its multifaceted reality. It also discusses some limitations and challenges related to Algerian literature in English and suggests some directions for future research.

Keywords: Algeri an literature in English, comparative research methods, cultural studies, diversity and complexity

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Authors: Alan Johnson

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This paper focuses on modern pilgrimage narratives about sites affiliated with Indian religious expressions located both within and outside India. The paper uses a multidisciplinary approach to examine poetry, personal essays, and online attestations of pilgrimage to illustrate how non-religious ideas coexist with outwardly religious ones, exemplifying a characteristically Indian form of syncretism that pre-dates Western ideas of pluralism. The paper argues that the syncretism on display in these modern creative works refutes the current exclusionary vision of India as a primordially Hindu-nationalist realm. A crucial premise of this argument is that the narrative’s intrinsic heteroglossia, so evident in India’s historically rich variety of stories and symbols, belies this reactionary version of Hindu nationalism. Equally important to this argument, therefore, is the vibrancy of Hindu sites outside India, such as the Batu Caves temple complex in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The literary texts examined in this paper include, first, Arun Kolatkar’s famous 1976 collection of poems, titled Jejuri, about a visit to the pilgrimage site of the same name in Maharashtra. Here, the modern, secularized visitor from Bombay (Mumbai) contemplates the effect of the temple complex on himself and on the other, more worshipful visitors. Kolatkar’s modernist poems reflect the narrator’s typically modern-Indian ambivalence for holy ruins, for although they do not evoke a conventionally religious feeling in him, they nevertheless possess an aura of timelessness that questions the narrator’s time-conscious sensibility. The paper bookends Kolatkar’s Jejuri with considerations of an early-twentieth-century text, online accounts by visitors to the Batu Caves, and a recent, more conventional Hindu account of pilgrimage. For example, the pioneering graphic artist Mukul Chandra Dey published in 1917, My Pilgrimages to Ajanta and Bagh, in which he devotes an entire chapter to the life of the Buddha as a means of illustrating the layering of stories that is a characteristic feature of sacred sites in India. In a different but still syncretic register, Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first prime minister, and a committed secularist proffers India’s ancient pilgrimage network as a template for national unity in his classic 1946 autobiography The Discovery of India. Narrative is the perfect vehicle for highlighting this layering of sensibilities, for a single text can juxtapose the pilgrim-narrator’s description with that of a far older pilgrimage, a juxtaposition that establishes an imaginative connection between otherwise distanced actors, and between them and the reader.

Keywords: India, literature, narrative, syncretism

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Authors: Diksha Kadam

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The study of images of women in literature and women writers has been a significant area of concern for the last four decades because it is as ‘the study of signification and meaning production’ play a vital role in shaping the perceptions and consciousness of various segment of society in relation to the lives, roles, problems and experiences of different categories of women as women and as autonomous citizen of society. In the history of worlds English literature the status of women and representation of her in the writings is an issue of discussion always. The essence of her existence in the literature is felt; the ecstasy of her feelings is always seen. The literature is full of facts and figures. She is one of them. Her contribution to the literature is undoubtedly a beginning of a new era. Multiple challenges and multiple identities as represented in majority of the literary texts and in real provide much hope and assurance to the new generation of mothers and daughters in the direction of transformation of the individual and collective consciousness of society paving way for the emergence of an actually empowered new woman. This paper will focus on some of the prominent Indian and American women writers in English literature and the various dimensions of her image through some of the prominent works. This attempt of mine will be merely a salute to those women who have struggled to prove their identity as one of the members of society.

Keywords: role of women’s writing, new era, contribution to the literature, consciousness, existence

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Authors: Hadjer Messabih

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The M’zab architecture has preserved its identity that was able to endure for centuries conserving practically the same way of life and the same building techniques since the 11th century. Even more, the newly built ksar Tafilelt is also designed to meet the local tradition. In 1996, a community led project was initiated to build a “new ksar” named Tafilelt based on a traditional form of community-led cooperative housing. It is a unique experience in the field of community housing that reproduces traditional architectural patterns while addressing contemporary ways of life with their expected modern comfort. This research is based on the hypothesis that the process of producing ksar Tafilelt is culturally responsive to a conservative community that was characterized by certain values which were transmitted to this ksar manifesting as cultural continuity. It aims at investigating what type of cultural continuity manifests itself in the co-production of ksar Tafilelt and the way the settlement and its houses are produced and inhabited, as well as the new emerging values and adaptive transition in social relations. The research methodology is based on a combination of questionnaires, in depth interviews, photography, and site visit to record and demonstrate how these buildings respond to peoples’ needs. Post Occupancy Evaluation (POE) is also employed in order to understand the lessons that can be learned from this project. Finally, this study proves that the cultural continuity that was transmitted from the Ibadi community is sill manifested in ksar Tafilelt, which provided strong religious bonds and a strong sense of community. The research findings have resulted in a number of lessons and principles that can be learnt from the project of ksar Tafilelt which can inform future practices of housing provision and design in Algeria and other countries.

Keywords: community-led cooperative housing, conservative community, cultural continuity, post occupancy evaluation

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Authors: Ryunhye Kim

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Despite its relatively short history as an independent state, Qatar has emerged as a highly regarded Gulf state and global power. Since its independence in September 1971, the state has employed deliberate policy initiatives designed to put Qatar on the map and distinguish it from other Gulf states. Because Qatar and its neighbors are resource-poor apart from energy, whoever is first to introduce a unique aspect of branding not only takes the lead but assumes what is often an insurmountable advantage. This study examines three specific modes of branding undertaken by Qatar: (1) energy policies to utilize its natural gas to become a dominant supplier; (2) the deliberate construction of a distinct cultural brand utilizing sports, architecture, museums, and media; and (3) ‘niche diplomacy’ to serve as a mediator in regional and intra-national conflicts, especially as interlocutor between the United States and Arab regimes and Muslim groups. Gleaning data from a range of sources, this study analyzes the effectiveness and significance of Qatar’s place branding on the global stage, as well as potential disadvantages and limits in this branding, including problems encountered before and after the ‘Qatar crisis.’

Keywords: national branding, national-identity, Qatar, soft-power

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Authors: Tabbye Chavous, Felecia Webb, Bridget Richardson, Gloryvee Fonseca-Bolorin, Seanna Leath, Robert Sellers

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There has been recent renewed attention to Black students’ experiences at predominantly White U.S. universities (PWIs), e.g., the #BBUM (“Being Black at the University of Michigan”), “I too am Harvard” social media campaigns, and subsequent student protest activities nationwide. These campaigns illuminate how many minority students encounter challenges to their racial/ethnic identities as they enter PWI contexts. Students routinely report experiences such as being ignored or treated as a token in classes, receiving messages of low academic expectations by faculty and peers, being questioned about their academic qualifications or belonging, being excluded from academic and social activities, and being racially profiled and harassed in the broader campus community due to race. Researchers have linked such racial marginalization and stigma experiences to student motivation and achievement. One potential mechanism is through the impact of college experiences on students’ identities, given the relevance of the college context for students’ personal identity development, including personal beliefs systems around social identities salient in this context. However, little research examines the impact of the college context on Black students’ racial identities. This study examined change in Black college students’ (N=329) racial identity beliefs over the freshman year at three predominantly White U.S. universities. Using cluster analyses, we identified profile groups reflecting different patterns of stability and change in students’ racial centrality (importance of race to overall self-concept), private regard (personal group affect/group pride), and public regard (perceptions of societal views of Blacks) from beginning of year (Time 1) to end of year (Time 2). Multinomial logit regression analyses indicated that the racial identity change clusters were predicted by pre-college background (racial composition of high school and neighborhood), as well as college-based experiences (racial discrimination, interracial friendships, and perceived campus racial climate). In particular, experiencing campus racial discrimination related to high, stable centrality, and decreases in private regard and public regard. Perceiving racial climates norms of institutional support for intergroup interactions on campus related to maintaining low and decreasing in private and public regard. Multivariate Analyses of Variance results showed change cluster effects on achievement motivation outcomes at the end of students’ academic year. Having high, stable centrality and high private regard related to more positive outcomes overall (academic competence, positive academic affect, academic curiosity and persistence). Students decreasing in private regard and public regard were particularly vulnerable to negative motivation outcomes. Findings support scholarship indicating both stability in racial identity beliefs and the importance of critical context transitions in racial identity development and adjustment outcomes among emerging adults. Findings also are consistent with research suggesting promotive effects of a strong, positive racial identity on student motivation, as well as research linking awareness of racial stigma to decreased academic engagement.

Keywords: diversity, motivation, learning, ethnic minority achievement, higher education

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Authors: Masooma Al-Balushi, Tamer Mohamed Atef

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The Sultanate of Oman is located on the South-eastern tip of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea and has borders with the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Arabic is the official language. Islam is the official religion. Islam has a great impact on most Omanis, Shari’a law is the law of Oman. The tribal structure plays an essential role in the lives of Omanis. Most people in the Gulf States bear a tribal name rather than a family name. Religion, tribe, and family are highly influential in shaping individuals’ values and behaviors, and have a very noticeable influence on a person’s career choices. Tourism development has been given special attention by the Sultanate of Oman’s government aspiring that the industry would assist in creating direct job opportunities as well as boost the economy through provision of hard currency to improve the balance of payments. This study aims to assess the impact of socio-cultural and religious factors on Omanis employment in the hotel sector. The socio-cultural and religious factors have serious impacts on Omani employment in the hotel sector. Some employees are concerned about the source of income because of the idea that since the hotel business is based on activities such as serving alcohol and pork, gambling, and accommodating unmarried couples, their source of income would be questionable religion wise. For females, the designated job uniform and the interaction with males are major concerns. Ability to fulfil family obligations for married Omanis, and marriage opportunity for singles were other raised concerns. Whilst the future prosperity of the hotel industry depends on the quality of its people, in Oman, the hospitality industry has failed, for a number of reasons, to project an image that could generate interest amongst Omanis. Furthermore, the characteristics and the very nature of the hotel sector are in direct conflict with Islamic doctrines which are embedded in Omani life and society.

Keywords: culture, society, hotel, hospitality, Islam, Oman

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Authors: Maria De Los Angeles Rodriguez Cadena

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This paper discusses how the fictional versions of women of the past contribute to advance today’s ideas of social justice, personal freedom and emancipation as well as to highlight the creative challenge of constructing people and events on fictional narratives on television that incorporate multiple and simultaneous layers of meaning and complexity. This project builds on existing scholarship on audiovisual texts by exploring an influential but under-studied director. In two Mexican television series, Patricia Arriaga Jordan, an award-winning television producer, scriptwriter and director, constructs the life of two outstanding women that have played an influential role in national history and captured Mexican’s popular imagination for generations: Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, and Malinche. Malinche (2018) tells the story of an extraordinary indigenous woman, Malintzin, during the Spanish Conquest (1511-1550) that is considered to have played a key role in the fall of the Aztec empire by acting as translator, negotiator and cultural mediator for the Spanish conquerors. Juana Ines (2016) portrays Sor Juana, a poet, essayist, playwright, theologian, philosopher, nun, of XVII century colonial Mexico, one of the brightest minds of her time, and now recognized as the first feminist of the Americas who wrote on the rights of women to an education, religious authority and feminist advocacy. Both series, as fictional narratives that recreate defining historical periods, specific events and relevant characters in the History of Mexico can be read as an example of what is called texts of cultural memory. A cultural memory text is a narrative that bonds the concepts of history, identity and belonging, and that is realized and disseminated through symbolic systems such as written documents, visual images, and dramatic representation. Cultural memory, through its narratives of historical fiction, emphasizes memory processes (historiography) and its implications and artifacts (cultural memory) mainly through the medial frameworks of remembering, which are the medial process by which memories (narratives, documents) participate in public knowledge and become collective memory. Historical fiction on television not only creates a portrayal of the past related to the real lives of protagonists, but it also significantly contributes to understand the past as an ever-evolving entity that highlights both, the necessary connection with the present as part of a developing sense of collective identity and belonging, as well as the relevance of the medium in which the past is represented and that ultimately supports the process of historical awareness. Through the emblematic recreation of national heroines and historical events in the unique context of historical drama on television, those texts constitute a venue where concepts of the past and the traditionally established ideas about history and heroines are highlighted, questioned and transformed.

Keywords: cultural memory, historical fiction, Mexico, television, women directors

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Authors: Matthew Armitt

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The revolutionary school of architectural teaching – VKhUTEAMAS (1923-1926) was a new approach for a new society bringing architectural education to the masses and masses to the growing industrial production. The school's pedagogical contribution of the 1920s made it an important school of the modernist movement, engaging pedagogy as a mode of experimentation. The teachers and students saw design education not just as a process of knowledge transfer but as a vehicle for design innovation developing an approach without precedent. This process of teaching and learning served as a vehicle for venturing into the unknown through a discipline of architectural teaching called “Space” developed by the Soviet architect Nikolai Ladovskii (1881-1941). The creation of “Space” was paramount not only for its innovative pedagogy but also as an experimental laboratory for developing new architectural language. This paper discusses whether the historical teaching of “Space” can function in the construction of the modern teaching identity today to promote value, richness, quality, and diversity inherent in architectural design education. The history of “Space” teaching remains unknown within academic circles and separate from the current architectural teaching debate. Using VKhUTEMAS and the teaching of “Space” as a pedagogical lens and drawing upon research carried out in the Russian Federation, America, Canada, Germany, and the UK, this paper discusses how historically different models of teaching and learning can intersect through examining historical based educational research by exploring different design studio initiatives; pedagogical methodologies; teaching and learning theories and problem-based projects. There are strong arguments and desire for pedagogical change and this paper will promote new historical and educational research to widen the current academic debate by exposing new approaches to architectural teaching today.

Keywords: VKhUTEMAS, discipline space, modernist pedagogy, teaching identity

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Authors: Putri Alya Ramadhani

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This research analysed how women writers represent their beauty in a platform called Magdalene. With the vision “Supporting diversity, empowering minds,” Magdalene is a new media that seeks to represent women's voices rarely heard in mainstream media. This research elaborates further on how women writers, through their writing, use their body politic to subvert patriarchal values. This research used a qualitative method with an explorative design by using text analysis based on the representation theory of Stuart Hall and in-dept-interview with Women Writers in Magdalene. The result illustrated that women writers represent their beauty in Magdalene to subvert body and beauty-representation in mainstream discourse. Furthermore, the authors have identified an identity negotiation as tension from inevitable oppression and power towards and from women’s bodies. In addition, Women Writers showed the power of their bodies through the redefinition of beauty practices and self. Hence, they subvert body dichotomy to redefine body values in society. In conclusion, this study shows various representations of beauty and body that are underrepresented in the mainstream media through the innovative new medium, Magdalena.

Keywords: women writers, beauty-representation, body politic, new media, identity negotiation

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Authors: Abdulrahman Yarali, Machica McClain

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In the context of the increasing use of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) across critical infrastructure sectors, this paper addresses a crucial and emerging topic: the integration of Identity and Access Management (IAM) with Internet of Things (IoT) devices in Medical Cyber-Physical Systems (MCPS). It underscores the significance of robust IAM solutions in the expanding interconnection of IoT devices in healthcare settings, leveraging AI, ML, DL, Zero Trust Architecture (ZTA), biometric authentication advancements, and blockchain technologies. The paper advocates for the potential benefits of transitioning from traditional, static IAM frameworks to dynamic, adaptive solutions that can effectively counter sophisticated cyber threats, ensure the integrity and reliability of CPS, and significantly bolster the overall security posture. The paper calls for strategic planning, collaboration, and continuous innovation to harness these benefits. By emphasizing the importance of securing CPS against evolving threats, this research contributes to the ongoing discourse on cybersecurity and advocates for a collaborative approach to foster innovation and enhance the resilience of critical infrastructure in the digital era.

Keywords: CPS, IAM, IoT, AI, ML, authentication, models, policies, healthcare

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Authors: Saima Salehjee, Mike Watts

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In our school-based world, we are commonly confronted by young people for whom the study of science is an unpalatable ‘other world’: they simply do not see themselves as science (sciencey) people. To be clear, we are not interested in all young people becoming career scientists – although some small modicum of that would be quite agreeable. We are, though, keen to form or transform (trans(form)) their appreciations of science and retain open minds on matters scientific to develop the feeling of being ‘sciencey’ with or without the aspiration of becoming scientists. Our discussion in this paper draws upon research undertaken in a co-education primary- and lower-secondary school in Scotland, and our arguments chart the trans(formations) of thirty under-representative and under-researched Scottish South-Asian Muslim students (aged 11-13) over a school term. We use science identity theory as the basis for our analysis: what it means to be ‘sciencey’ and whether (or not) structural forces have impacted their decision of being ‘sciencey’. This work offers new insights into how Scottish, South-Asian, and Muslim students perceive and engage with in and out of school science and highlight some science nudges aimed to support their development of being ‘sciencey’.

Keywords: science identity, science nudges, transformative moments, south-Asian, Muslim, scottish, sciencey

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Authors: Nidal F. Shilbayeh, Sameh T. Khuffash, Mohammad H. Allymoun, Reem Al-Saidi

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There is a real threat on the VIPs personal pages on the Social Network Sites (SNS). The real threats to these pages is violation of privacy and theft of identity through creating fake pages that exploit their names and pictures to attract the victims and spread of lies. In this paper, we propose a new secure architecture that improves the trusting and finds an effective solution to reduce fake pages and possibility of recognizing VIP pages on SNS. The proposed architecture works as a third party that is added to Facebook to provide the trust service to personal pages for VIPs. Through this mechanism, it works to ensure the real identity of the applicant through the electronic authentication of personal information by storing this information within content of their website. As a result, the significance of the proposed architecture is that it secures and provides trust to the VIPs personal pages. Furthermore, it can help to discover fake page, protect the privacy, reduce crimes of personality-theft, and increase the sense of trust and satisfaction by friends and admirers in interacting with SNS.

Keywords: social network sites, online social network, privacy, trust, security and authentication

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Authors: Hamed Alqahtani, Manolya Kavakli-Thorne

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The large pose discrepancy is one of the critical challenges in face recognition during video surveillance. Due to the entanglement of pose attributes with identity information, the conventional approaches for pose-independent representation lack in providing quality results in recognizing largely posed faces. In this paper, we propose a practical approach to disentangle the pose attribute from the identity information followed by synthesis of a face using a classifier network in latent space. The proposed approach employs a modified generative adversarial network framework consisting of an encoder-decoder structure embedded with a classifier in manifold space for carrying out factorization on the latent encoding. It can be further generalized to other face and non-face attributes for real-life video frames containing faces with significant attribute variations. Experimental results and comparison with state of the art in the field prove that the learned representation of the proposed approach synthesizes more compelling perceptual images through a combination of adversarial and classification losses.

Keywords: disentanglement, face detection, generative adversarial networks, video surveillance

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Authors: Jonas Chikelue Ogbuefi

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Science and Technology have a major impact on societal peace, it offers support to teaching and learning, cuts costs, and offers solutions to the current agitations and militancy in Nigeria today. Christianity, for instance, did not only change and form the western world in the past 2022 but still has a substantial role to play in society through liquid ecclesiology. This paper interrogated the impact of the theology of Science and Technology as a tool for peace sustainability through peace education in Nigeria. The method adopted is a historical and descriptive method of analysis. It was discovered that a larger number of Nigerian citizens lack almost all the basic things needed for the standard of living, such as Shelter, meaningful employment, and clothing, which is the root course of all agitations in Nigeria. Based on the above findings, the paper contends that the government alone cannot restore Peace in Nigeria. Hence the inability of the government to restore peace calls for all religious actors to be involved. The main thrust and recommendation of this paper are to challenge the religious actors to implement the Theology of Science and Technology as a tool for peace restoration and should network with both the government and the private sectors to make funds available to budding and existing entrepreneurs using Science and Technology as a tool for Peace and economic sustainability. This paper viewed the theology of Science and Technology as a tool for Peace and economic sustainability in Nigeria.

Keywords: theology, science, technology, peace education

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Authors: Randall E. Osborne

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In a course on International Psychology, 8 theoretical perspectives (Critical Psychology, Liberation Psychology, Post-Modernism, Social Constructivism, Social Identity Theory, Social Reduction Theory, Symbolic Interactionism, and Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory) are used as a framework for getting students to understand the concept of and need for Globalization. One of critical psychology's main criticisms of conventional psychology is that it fails to consider or deliberately ignores the way power differences between social classes and groups can impact the mental and physical well-being of individuals or groups of people. Liberation psychology, also known as liberation social psychology or psicología social de la liberación, is an approach to psychological science that aims to understand the psychology of oppressed and impoverished communities by addressing the oppressive sociopolitical structure in which they exist. Postmodernism is largely a reaction to the assumed certainty of scientific, or objective, efforts to explain reality. It stems from a recognition that reality is not simply mirrored in human understanding of it, but rather, is constructed as the mind tries to understand its own particular and personal reality. Lev Vygotsky argued that all cognitive functions originate in, and must therefore be explained as products of social interactions and that learning was not simply the assimilation and accommodation of new knowledge by learners. Social Identity Theory discusses the implications of social identity for human interactions with and assumptions about other people. Social Identification Theory suggests people: (1) categorize—people find it helpful (humans might be perceived as having a need) to place people and objects into categories, (2) identify—people align themselves with groups and gain identity and self-esteem from it, and (3) compare—people compare self to others. Social reductionism argues that all behavior and experiences can be explained simply by the affect of groups on the individual. Symbolic interaction theory focuses attention on the way that people interact through symbols: words, gestures, rules, and roles. Meaning evolves from human their interactions in their environment and with people. Vygotsky’s sociocultural theory of human learning describes learning as a social process and the origination of human intelligence in society or culture. The major theme of Vygotsky’s theoretical framework is that social interaction plays a fundamental role in the development of cognition. This presentation will discuss how these theoretical perspectives are incorporated into a course on International Psychology, a course on the Politics of Hate, and a course on the Psychology of Prejudice, Discrimination and Hate to promote student thinking in a more ‘global’ manner.

Keywords: globalization, international psychology, society and culture, teaching interculturally

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Authors: Aaron Derner

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Unlike the histories of France, the UK, or even Spain, the Russian colonial past often dissolves before the seemingly more salient Cold War figurations or Soviet dissolution. The obvious explanation behind Caucasian states’ roles—that of Russian-propped governments obeying the whims of their patron—is but the latest instance of such oversight. Where the results of colonial social and cultural interactions are indelibly stamped across France, Algeria, and every other former (and current) French holding, so to are the Muscovite and Russian colonial ambitions embedded within the modern politics and cultures of both Russia and the Caucasus. Russian colonial artefacts are enhanced and perhaps granted an additional social explanatory edge over those of the ‘typical’ colonizers, by the cyclical adoration for and noisy rejection of European cultural markers over the centuries, along with the somewhat unusual composition of the Cossacks: Russia’s main agents of colonialization within the Caucasian frontier. The story of Russia and Chechnya, of all the Caucasus, is of the manufacture of social and individual identity through “modes of subjectification” inherent within the region’s colonial history and driven by the triangular interactions between three main groups: the Cossacks, the Caucasian Mountain Tribes, and the Russian Metropol. Together, interactions between these social groups worked to shape and transform the lifestyles and institutional pathologies that constitute the Russian and Chechen states and the politics between them. At the core of this (Western) state-building is the simultaneous and seemingly contradictory desire to be more Western and emulate Western cultural and political practices while also desperately grasping for a uniquely Russian identity. This sits somewhat ironically against the backdrop that Russia hosted a frontier-based settler society and had established that distinctly European feature of settler colonialism early in its history—arguably establishing a claim to being the most “colonial” of the colonial powers. There is no doubt that these forces worked to shape contemporary Russian political and social identity—apparent in the mythic popularity of the Cossack in Russian literature, politics, and academic discourse. What needs to be expanded from the current narrative, however, is that beyond the Cossack identity’s attractiveness on the grounds of its tones of freedom and resistance to unjust authority, the identity is rooted in the imperial ambitions and colonial experiences of the Russian state, and is, therefore, a direct marker of domination and subjectification. Adding an unusual dimension to this not-uncommon cultural progression, the Russian state needed to colonize both the Caucases and the Russian Cossacks, appropriating them in much the same way they appropriated the Circassian mountain tribes. The focus of this paper is not to tell yet another story of how one culture entered an area to overpower another but how a ‘powerful,’ ‘modern,’ ‘Western(ish)’ culture was profoundly and continually changed through its contact with a group of tribal ‘savages’ and ‘braves.’

Keywords: Russia, chechnya, subjectification, caucasus, cossacks, Ukraine

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Authors: Shivani Yadav

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The Study of terrorism lends itself to the constructivist framework as constructivism focuses on the importance of ideas and norms in shaping interests and identities. Constructivism is pertinent to understand the phenomenon of a terrorist organization like the Islamic State (IS), which opportunistically utilizes radical ideas and norms to shape its ‘politics of identity’. This ‘identity’, which is at the helm of preferences and interests of actors, in turn, shapes actions. The paper argues that an effective counter-terrorism policy must recognize the importance of ideas in order to counter the threat arising from acts of radicalism and terrorism. Traditional theories of international relations, with an emphasis on state-centric security problematic, exhibit several limitations and problems in interpreting the phenomena of terrorism. With the changing global order, these theories have failed to adapt to the changing dimensions of terrorism, especially ‘newer’ actors like the Islamic State (IS). The paper observes that IS distinguishes itself from other terrorist organizations in the way that it recruits and spreads its propaganda. Not only are its methods different, but also its tools (like social media) are new. Traditionally, too, force alone has rarely been sufficient to counter terrorism, but it seems especially impossible to completely root out an organization like IS. Time is ripe to change the discourse around terrorism and counter-terrorism strategies. The counter-terrorism measures adopted by states, which primarily focus on mitigating threats to the national security of the state, are preoccupied with statist objectives of the continuance of state institutions and maintenance of order. This limitation prevents these theories from addressing the questions of justice and the ‘human’ aspects of ideas and identity. These counter-terrorism strategies adopt a problem-solving approach that attempts to treat the symptoms without diagnosing the disease. Hence, these restrictive strategies fail to look beyond calculated retaliation against violent actions in order to address the underlying causes of discontent pertaining to ‘why’ actors turn violent in the first place. What traditional theories also overlook is that overt acts of violence may have several causal factors behind them, some of which are rooted in the structural state system. Exploring these root causes through the constructivist framework helps to decipher the process of ‘construction of terror’ and to move beyond the ‘what’ in theorization in order to describe ‘why’, ‘how’ and ‘when’ terrorism occurs. Study of terrorism would much benefit from a constructivist analysis in order to explore non-military options while countering the ideology propagated by the IS.

Keywords: constructivism, counter terrorism, Islamic State, politics of identity

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Authors: Min-Tao Hsu

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This study aims to explore the lived experiences of women with breast cancer, including their life world of illness and their adaptation to breast cancer. Breast cancer is not only a potentially lethal disease, but also a disease that may lead to many irreversible changes for female patients. Especially, in a culture where the wholeness is pursuit as an essential value, the sickness and/or broken body bring great challenge of life. Based on holism and symbolic interactionism, this study used interpretive ethnography including in-depth interviews and participant observations to collect the narrative of women with breast cancer concerning their illness experience. In addition, this study used Agar’s hermeneutic cycle to analyze data. The average age of 35 participants was 54.2. A total of 15 patients were within 2 years of onset, 5 patients were within 2-5 years of the treatment observation period, and 15 patients suffered from breast cancer for more than 5 years. The average age of onset was 50.4. Result: The main storyline of the life world of illness is ‘breast cancer is a turning point of life.’ Loss of breast was in terms of ‘no more a woman’ in Taiwanese culture. Two young women, one in her newly wedded and another right before marry, were divorced and cancelled wedding right after being diagnosed. All of them addressed that they have a ‘broken body.’ Single women accounted that they won’t marry for not being humiliated and most of married women said they never show female body in front of her husband or partner even in intimacy encounter. Three common themes were discovered: 1) new self and new identity; 2) new social relationships and new me; 3) new body and new life. The intertwining bodies, illness, selves, suffering, and medical treatments of female patients were observed. More, the recovery, of cause, was happened when new self, relationship, and new body were generated. Their identity to be a woman and a wife is shattered and their life is urged into another facet. For helping them to recovery from such situation, building a new identity and new social fabric on the new body need to be included in nursing care plan.

Keywords: breast cancer, illness narrative, world of illness, self-healing, interpretive ethnography

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Authors: Zhe Ginnie Wang

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Recent cultural design studies have begun to shed light on the discussion of Western-Eastern cultural and aesthetic hybridization, especially in the field of fashion. With the unprecedented spread of cultural Chinese fashion design in the global fashion system, the under-identified ‘Guochao’ aesthetic that has emerged in the global market needs to be academically emphasized with a methodological approach looking at the Western-Eastern cultural hybridization present in fashion visualization. Through an in-depth and comprehensive investigation of a representative international-based Chinese designer, Angel Chen's fashion show 'Madam Qing', this paper provides a methodological approach on how a form of traditional culture can be effectively extracted and applied to modern design using the most effective techniques. The central approach examined in this study involves creating aesthetic revolutions by addressing Chinese cultural identity through re-creating and modernizing traditional Chinese culture in design.

Keywords: style modernization, Chinese culture, guochao, design identity, fashion show, Angel Chen

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Authors: Liron Hoch

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Traditional religious and spiritual texts offer a surprising wealth of relevant theoretical and practical knowledge about human behavior. This wellspring may contribute significantly to expanding our current body of knowledge in the social sciences and criminology in particular. In Jewish religious texts, specifically by Maimonides, we can find profound analyses of human traits and guidelines for a normative way of life. Among other things, modern criminological literature attempts to link certain character traits and divergent behaviors. Using the hermeneutic phenomenological approach, we analyzed the writings of Maimonides, mainly Laws of Human Dispositions, in order to understand Moses ben Maimon's (1138–1204) view of character traits. The analysis yielded four themes: (1) Human personality between nature and nurture; (2) The complexity of human personality, imbalance and criminality; (3) Extremism as a way to achieve balance; and (4) The Middle Way, flexibility and common sense. These themes can serve therapeutic purposes, as well as inform a rehabilitation model. Grounded in a theoretical rationale about the nature of humans, this model is designed to direct individuals to balance their traits by self-reflection and constant practice of the Middle Way. The proposal we will present is that implementing this model may promote normative behavior and thus contribute to rehabilitating offenders.

Keywords: rehabilitation, traits, offenders, maimonides, middle way

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Authors: Tak Mau Simon Chan, Ying Chuen Lance Chan

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Homelessness has been a popular and controversial debate in Hong Kong, a city which is densely populated and well-known for very expensive housing. The constitution of the homeless as threats to the community and environmental hygiene is ambiguous and debatable in the Hong Kong context. The lack of an intervention model is the critical research gap thus far, aside from the tangible services delivered. The life story approach (LSA), with its unique humanistic orientation, has been well applied in recent decades to depict the needs of various target groups, but not the homeless. It is argued that the life story approach (LSA), which has been employed by health professionals in the landscape of dementia, and health and social care settings, can be used as a reference in the local Chinese context through indigenization. This study, therefore, captures the viewpoints of service providers and users by constructing an indigenous intervention model that refers to the LSA in serving the chronically homeless. By informing 13 social workers and 27 homeless individuals in 8 focus groups whilst 12 homeless individuals have participated in individual in-depth interviews, a framework of LSA in homeless people is proposed. Through thematic analysis, three main themes of their life stories was generated, namely, the family, negative experiences and identity transformation. The three domains solidified framework that not only can be applied to the homeless, but also other disadvantaged groups in the Chinese context. Based on the three domains of family, negative experiences and identity transformation, the model is applied in the daily practices of social workers who help the homeless. The domain of family encompasses familial relationships from the past to the present to the speculated future with ten sub-themes. The domain of negative experiences includes seven sub-themes, with reference to the deviant behavior committed. The last domain, identity transformation, incorporates the awareness and redefining of one’s identity and there are a total of seven sub-themes. The first two domains are important components of personal histories while the third is more of an unknown, exploratory and yet to-be-redefined territory which has a more positive and constructive orientation towards developing one’s identity and life meaning. The longitudinal temporal dimension of moving from the past – present - future enriches the meaning making process, facilitates the integration of life experiences and maintains a more hopeful dialogue. The model is tested and its effectiveness is measured by using qualitative and quantitative methods to affirm the extent that it is relevant to the local context. First, it contributes to providing a clear guideline for social workers who can use the approach as a reference source. Secondly, the framework acts as a new intervention means to address problem saturated stories and the intangible needs of the homeless. Thirdly, the model extends the application to beyond health related issues. Last but not least, the model is highly relevant to the local indigenous context.

Keywords: homeless, indigenous intervention, life story approach, social work practice

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Authors: Abrar Ajmal

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The language used in literature reveals the culture and social gestalt of any society in which it has been constructed and consumed. This paper carries the same rationale, which aims to track certain socio-religious and cultural-economic disparities and discrepancies towards minorities, particularly Christians, in an Islamic re(public) where there is a clear majority of Muslims with the help of analysis of instances of language used in the narratives “Our Lady of Alice Bhatt” by Mohammad Hanif. It would highlight social inequalities practiced deeply in sociocultural discourse. Moreover, this research would also touch upon the question of gender discrimination and gender construction as a female entity in a male-chauvinistic scenic turnout using language since the novel revolves around communicative forfeits of Alice Bhatti’s life where she is fraying in fisticuffs to befit herself in a miss-fitted society. It would employ using Fairclough's framework for analysis to conduct a critical discourse analysis of the text at three axiom levels namely textual analysis, discursive practices, and socio-cultural analysis. Thus, the results would reveal textual findings in linguistic analysis, a range of embedded discourses in discursive practices, and consumption of the text into socio-cultural explications with the use of language and lexicalization employed in the selected excerpts.

Keywords: gendered discourse, socio-economic disparities minorities, Islamization, analytical framework

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Authors: Vaida Jurgile

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Intercultural learning is one of the approaches taken to understand the cultural diversity of the modern world and to accept changes in cultural identity and otherness and the expression of tolerance. During intercultural learning, students develop their abilities to interact and communicate with their group members. These abilities help to understand social and cultural differences, to form one’s identity, and to give meaning to intercultural learning. Intercultural education recognizes that a true understanding of differences and similarities of another culture is necessary in order to lay the foundations for working together with others, which contributes to the promotion of intercultural dialogue, appreciation of diversity, and cultural exchange. Therefore, it is important to examine the concept of intercultural learning, revealed through students’ learning experiences and understanding of how this learning takes place and what significance this phenomenon has in higher education. At a scientific level, intercultural learning should be explored in order to uncover the influence of cultural identity, i.e., intercultural learning should be seen in a local context. This experience would provide an opportunity to learn from various everyday intercultural learning situations. Intercultural learning can be not only a form of learning but also a tool for building understanding between people of different cultures. The research object of the study is the process of intercultural learning. The aim of the dissertation is to develop a grounded theory of the process of learning in an intercultural study environment, revealing students’ learning experiences. The research strategy chosen in this study is a constructivist grounded theory (GT). GT is an inductive method that seeks to form a theory by applying the systematic collection, synthesis, analysis, and conceptualization of data. The targeted data collection was based on the analysis of data provided by previous research participants, which revealed the need for further research participants. During the research, only students with at least half a year of study experience, i.e., who have completed at least one semester of intercultural studies, were purposefully selected for the research. To select students, snowballing sampling was used. 18 interviews were conducted with students representing 3 different fields of sciences (social sciences, humanities, and technology sciences). In the process of intercultural learning, language expresses and embodies cultural reality and a person’s cultural identity. It is through language that individual experiences are expressed, and the world in which Others exist is perceived. The increased emphasis is placed on the fact that language conveys certain “signs’ of communication and perception with cultural value, enabling the students to identify the Self and the Other. Language becomes an important tool in the process of intercultural communication because it is only through language that learners can communicate, exchange information, and understand each other. Thus, in the process of intercultural learning, language either promotes interpersonal relationships with foreign students or leads to mutual rejection.

Keywords: intercultural learning, grounded theory, students, other

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Authors: Policarpio Jr. Joves

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Physicians in most teaching hospitals are commonly promoted into managerial roles, yet their training is mostly in clinical and scientific skills but not in leadership competencies. When they shift into roles of physician leadership, the majority hold on to their primary identity of physicians. These conflicting roles affect their identity and eventually their work. The physician leaders also face additional challenges related to academics which include incorporation of new knowledge into the existing curriculum, use of technology in the delivery of teaching, the need to train medical students outside of hospital wards, etc. The study aims to explore how physician leaders in teaching hospitals of private medical schools enact their leadership roles and how they face the challenges as physician leaders. The study setting shall be teaching hospitals of three private medical schools situated in the National Capital Region, Philippines. A multiple case study design shall be adopted in this research. Physicians shall be eligible to participate in the study if they are practicing clinicians limited to the five major clinical specialty: Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Family Medicine, Surgery, Obstetrics and Gynecology. They must be teaching in the College of Medicine prior to their appointments as physician leaders in both medical school and teaching hospital. Semi-structured face-to-face interviews shall be utilized as a means of data collection, with open-ended questions, enabling physician leaders to present narratives about their identity, role enactment, conflicts, reaction of colleagues, and the challenges encountered in their day-to-day work as physician leaders. Interviews shall be combined with observations and review of records to gain more insights into how the physician leaders are 'doing' management. Within-case analysis shall be done initially followed by a thematic analysis across the cases, referred to as cross–case analysis or cross-case synthesis.

Keywords: academic leaders, academic managers, physician leaders, physician managers

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Authors: Bibiana Hlebova

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The Slovak Republic is a democratic and plural society consisting of people differing in language and culture, and its citizens should already be well prepared for the coexistence of multiple nations, nationalities or ethnic groups. Reflection on culture, art and literature of the Roma minority has taken on a new dimension in Slovakia in the past two decades when it comes to social, cultural and arts integration of this ethnic group with the plural society. Non-Roma view Roma as a specific ethnic group with their own culture, language, customs and traditions, social norms and coexistence that has retained archetypal qualities of Roma identity (romipen) in their real lives as well as in the literary world. Roma characters in works of art are specific and distinguishable from other literary characters simply by being Roma, that is, of a different origin and social status, they represent a different way of life, a distinctive hierarchy of values. The portrayal of Roma and the life of Roma ethnic group in the most dominant genre of Roma literature for children and youth, a Roma fairy tale (paramisi), can work as a suitable means to learn about, accept and tolerate the otherness of Roma in the conditions of school inclusion of students coming from the Roma ethnic group, and to support their identification with their own ethnic group and its cultural traditions. The paper aims to point out not only the specific nature of Roma identity (romipen) through the selected Roma fairy tale (paramisa) – Children of the Sun, but also the diversity of its uses in the educational process within primary education of pupils at elementary schools, advocating the philosophy of inclusive education. Through the suggestions of multi-cultural, emotional, and language and communication education of pupils through the work with the selected Roma fairy tale (paramisa), the author is exploring ways to overcome the issues stemming from the coexistence of Roma and Non-Roma pupils, which are burdened with prejudice, intolerance, aggression and racism on both sides, in the education process.

Keywords: inclusive education, otherness, Roma, Roma fairy tale, Roma identity

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Authors: Adam Ahmed Hosney

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The existence of a culture of corruption within an institution, such as the police, could be a sign of failure from various angles. There is a general perception among Ghanaians that the most corrupt institution is the police service. The purpose of this study is to formulate and analyze a nonlinear mathematical model to investigate corruption as an epidemic within the Ghana police service, this study revealed the basic reproduction number for corruption extinction and corruption survival. The threshold conditions for all kinds of equilibrium points are obtained using linearization methods and Lyapunov functional methods, and they demonstrate local asymptotic stability for both corrupt endemic and corrupt free equilibrium states. The model was analyzed qualitatively, and the solution was derived. The model appears to be positively invariant and attractive. Therefore, the region exhibits positive invariance. Thus, it is adequate to think about the dynamics of the model. For the purpose of illustrating the solution, the graphic result was presented and discussed. Results show that corruption will die out within the police service if the government shows no tolerance for those involved in corrupt practices. Study findings indicate that leaders should be trustworthy, demonstrate a complete and viable commitment to addressing corruption, and make it a priority to provide mass education to all citizens as well as using religious leaders to fight corruption since most Ghanaians are religious and trust their leaders.

Keywords: mathematical model, differential equation, dynamical system, simulation

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Authors: Abhimanyu Kumar

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The relationship between religion and medicine is much evident in the context of Buddhism. This paper is an attempt to look at the processes of social and cultural evolution of scientific creativity in the field of medicine and institutionalization of medical practices. The objective of the paper is to understand the Buddhist responses towards health as understood from the Vinaya Piṭaka and the Jātaka. This work is a result of the analysis of two important Buddhist texts: the Vinaya Piṭaka and the Jātaka. Broadly the Vinaya Piṭaka is concerned with the growth of Buddhist monasticism. The Vinaya Piṭaka is considered one of the most important sacred texts of the Buddhists, and contains rules for monastic life. These rules deal with such aspects as formal meetings of the saṃgha (monastery), expiation, confession, training, and legal questions. The Jātaka stories, on the other hand, are in the form of folk narratives, and provide a major source of medical consultation for all classes. These texts help us to ascertain the ‘proficiency and perceptions’ of the prevailing medical traditions. The Jātakas are a collection of 547 stories about the past lives of the Buddha, who is represented in anthropomorphic and animal form. The Jātaka connects itself between existing cognitive environments related to ethics and Buddhist didacticism. These stories are a reflection of the connection between the past and contemporary times (in the sense of time of creation of the story) as well. This is visible through the narrative strategy of the text, where every story is sub-divided into the story of the past and story of the present, and there is a significant identification element or connection that established at the end of each story. The minimal presence of philosophical content and the adoption of a narrative strategy make it possible for more of everyday life. This study gives me an opportunity to raise questions about how far were the body and mind closely interrelated in the Buddhist perceptions, and also did the society act like a laboratory for the Buddhists to practice healing activities? How far did religious responses to afflictions, be they leprosy or plague or anger, influence medical care; what impact did medical practitioners, religious authorities and the regulation of medical activity and practice have on healing the body and the mind; and, how has the healing environment been viewed. This paper is working with the idea that medical science in early India was not only for the curative purpose of diseases, but it fulfilled a greater cause of promoting, maintaining and restoring human health. In this regard, studying these texts gives an insight regarding religious responses to epidemics, from leprosy to plague, as well as to behavioral disorder such as anger. In other words, it deals with the idea about healing the body and healing the soul from a religious perspective.

Keywords: food for health, folk narratives, human body, materia medica, social sickness

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Authors: Intesar Ibrahim

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Large-scale Libyan emigration is a relatively new phenomenon. Most of the Libyan families in the UK are new immigrants, unlike the other neighbouring countries of Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria and even Sudan. Libyans have no particular history of large-scale migration. On the other hand, many Libyan families live in modest homes located in large Muslim communities of Pakistanis and Yemenis. In the UK as a whole, there are currently 16 Libyan schools most of which are run during the weekend for children of school age. There are three such weekend schools in Sheffield that teach a Libyan school curriculum, and Libyan women and men run these schools. Further, there is also a Masjid (mosque) that is operated by Libyans, beside the other Masjids in the city, which most of the Libyan community attend for prayer and for other activities such as writing marriage contracts. The presence of this Masjid increases the attraction for Libyans to reside in the Sheffield area. This paper studies how Libyan immigrants in the UK make their decisions on their housing and living environment in the UK. Libyan residents in the UK come from different Libyan regions, social classes and lifestyles; this may have an impact on their choices in the interior designs of their houses in the UK. A number of case studies were chosen from Libyan immigrants who came from different types of dwellings in Libya, in order to compare with their homes and their community lifestyle in the UK and those in Libya. This study explores the meaning and the ways of using living rooms in Libyan emigrants’ houses in the UK and compares those with those in their houses back in their home country. For example, the way they set up furniture in rooms acts as an indicator of the hierarchical structure of society. The design of furniture for Libyan sitting rooms for floor-seating is different from that of the traditional English sitting room. The paper explores the identity and cultural differences that affected the style and design of the living rooms for Libyan immigrants in the UK. The study is carried out based on the "production of space" theory that any culture has its needs, style of living and way of thinking. I argue that the study found more than 70% of Libyan immigrants in the UK still furnish the living room in their traditional way (flooring seating).

Keywords: place, identity, culture, immigrants

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Authors: Prima Gusti Yanti, Fairul Zabadi

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The purpose of the study is to find out relation of moral massage with the authority ang globalization in proverb. Proverb is one of the many forms of cultural identity of the Indonesian/Malay people fulled with moral values. The values contained within those proverbs are beneficial not only to the society, but also to those who held power amidst on this era of globalization. The method being used is qualitative research by using content analysis which is done by describing and uncovering the forms and meanings of proverbs used within Indonesia Minangkabau society. Sources for this study’s data were extracted from a Minangkabau native speaker in the subdistrict of Tanah Abang, Jakarta. Said sources were retrieved through a series of interviews with the Minangkabau native speaker, whose speech is still adorned with idiomatic expressions. The research findings show that there existed 30 proverbs or idiomatic expressions in the Minangkabau language that are often used by its indigenous people. The thirty data contain moral values that are closely interwoven with the matter of power and globalization. Analytical results show that there are fourteen moral values contained within proverbs reflect a firm connection between rule and power in globalization; such as: responsible, brave, togetherness and consensus,tolerance, politeness, thorough and meticulous,honest and keeping promise, ingenious and learning, care, self-correction, be fair, alert, arbitrary, self-awareness. Structurally, proverbs possess an unchangeably formal construction; symbolically, proverbs possess meanings that are clearly decided through ethnographic communicative factors along with situational and cultural contexts. Values contained within proverbs may be used as a guide in social management, be it between fellow men, men between nature, or even men between their Creator. Therefore, the meanings and values contained within the morals of proverbs could also be utilized as a counsel for those who rule and in charge of power in order to stem the tides of globalization that had already spread into sectoral, territorial and educational continuums.

Keywords: continuum, globalization, identity, proverb, rule-power

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