Search results for: contemporary manifestations

Authors: Sylvia Huang

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Contemporary Buddhist music has been emerged at the new forms of large-scale public Buddhist ritual ceremonies that may involve up to 10,000 participants at a time. Since 2007, the Buddha’s Birthday ceremony (Sanskrit, Vesak) by the Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation has being held at major cities in Taiwan and many affiliated Tzu Chi offices around the world. Analysis of this modern and technologically-dependent ceremony sheds new light on the significance of music in contemporary Buddhist ritual, and also on recently enhanced and increasingly intimate connections between music and Buddhism. Through extensive ethnographic research of ten years (2007-2017), the research explores how the form of contemporary Buddhist music relates to the role of music in participants’ experience of the ritual and the way in which they construct meaning. The theoretical approach draws on both ethnomusicology and Buddhist teachings, Dharma. As soundscape is defined as the entire sonic energy produced by a landscape, the concept of soundscape is utilised to examine the contemporary ritual music in the Tzu Chi Vesak ceremony. The analysis opens new territory in exploring how analysis of Buddhist music can benefit from incorporating Buddhist philosophy within the methodological approach. Main findings are: 1) music becomes a method for Buddhist understanding through a focus in particular on how the ceremonial program is followed by music, and 2) participants engage with each other and entrain with music in the Vesak ceremony. As Buddhist sounding, such as scripture reading, liturgical chanting, and ceremonial music singing, is a sonic epistemological knowing of the conditions in which Buddhism is practiced, experienced, and transmigrated, the research concludes by showing that studies of Buddhist music have the potential to reveal distinctively Buddhist concepts, meaning, and values. Certain principles of Buddhist philosophy are adopted within ethnomusicological analysis to further enhance understandings of the crucial function of music within such a ritual context. Finally, the contemporary Buddhist music performance in the ceremony is possessed as a means of direct access to the spiritual experience in Buddhism.

Keywords: buddhist music, Taiwan, soundscape, Vesak ceremony

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Authors: Lai-Fen Yang

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In this increasingly visual world, how can we best decipher and understand the many ways that our everyday lives are organized around looking practices and the many images we encounter each day? Indeed, how we interact with and interpret visual images is a basic component of human life. Today, however, we are living in one of the most artificial visual and image-saturated cultures in human history, which makes understanding the complex construction and multiple social functions of visual imagery more important than ever before. Themes regarding our experience of a visually pervasive mediated culture, here, termed visual spectacle.

Keywords: visual culture, contemporary, images, literacy

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Authors: Elisabetta Di Giovanni

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This paper focuses on the contemporary phenomenon of Anti-Gypsyism which is widely diffused on social representations of the so called 'Gypsies'. In Europe and especially in Italy, media tend to reproduce racist stereotypes and prejudices through a xenophobic depiction of this ethnic group, often offering an ethnocentric point of view. From an anthropological perspective, Roma people are a minority group actually facing diasporic phenomena in all Europe, produced by the host society.

Keywords: Roma people, anti-gypsyism, ethnocentrism, mass media

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Authors: Sabrina Rahman

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The Mosque is Islam’s most symbolic structure, as well as the expression of collective identity. From the explicit words of our Prophet, 'The earth has been created for me as a masjid and a place of purity, and whatever man from my Ummah finds himself in need of prayer, let him pray' (anywhere)! it is obvious that a devout Muslim does not require a defined space or structure for divine worship since the whole earth is his prayer house. Yet we see that from time immemorial man throughout the Muslim world has painstakingly erected innumerable mosques. However, mosque design spans time, crosses boundaries, and expresses cultures. It is a cultural manifestation as much as one based on a regional building tradition or a certain interpretation of religion. The trend to express physical signs of religion is not new. Physical forms seem to convey symbolic messages. However, in recent times physical forms of mosque architecture are dominantly demising from mosque architecture projects in Bangladesh. Dome & minaret, the most prominent symbol of the mosque, is replacing by contextual and contemporary improvisation rather than subcontinental mosque architecture practice of early fellows. Thus the recent mosque projects of the last 15 years established the contemporary architectural realm in their design. Contextually, spiritual lighting, the serenity of space, tranquility of outdoor spaces, the texture of materials is widely establishing a new genre of Muslim prayer space. A case study based research will lead to specify its significant factors of modernism. Based on the findings, the paper presents evidence of recent projects as well as a guideline for the future image of contemporary Mosque architecture in Bangladesh.

Keywords: contemporary architecture, modernism, prayer space, symbolism

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Authors: Leyli Hashemi Rafsanjani, Hoda Mortazavi Alavi, Amirhossein Habibzadeh

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At present, the atmospheric and environmental factors impose massive damages to buildings. Thus, to reduce these damages, researchers pay more attention on qualitative and quantitative characteristic of buildings materials. Condensation is one of the problems in Contemporary Sustecture Design. It could cause serious damages to the frontage, interior and structural elements of buildings. As a result, taking preventative steps to avoid condensation from occurring in buildings will help prevent avoidable and costly problems in the future. Hence, the aim of this paper is to answer the question: “Does the use of advanced materials cause the reduction of condensation formed on the walls?" In response to those flaws, this paper considered similar articles and selected 20 buildings randomly from contemporary architecture of developing countries which have been built in recent decade from 2002 to 2012, to find out the mutual relation between the usage of advanced materials and level of condensation damages. This consideration shows that by using advanced materials, we will have fewer damages.

Keywords: condensation, advanced materials, contemporary sustecture, moisture

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Authors: Yingxu Wang, Jianhua Lu, Jun Peng, Jiawei Zhang

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The fundamental demand in contemporary intelligent science towards Autonomous AI (AI*) is the creation of unprecedented formal means of Intelligent Mathematics (IM). It is discovered that natural intelligence is inductively created rather than exhaustively trained. Therefore, IM is a family of algebraic and denotational mathematics encompassing Inference Algebra, Real-Time Process Algebra, Concept Algebra, Semantic Algebra, Visual Frame Algebra, etc., developed in our labs. IM plays indispensable roles in training-free AI* theories and systems beyond traditional empirical data-driven technologies. A set of applications of IM-driven AI* systems will be demonstrated in contemporary intelligence science, AI*, and cognitive computers.

Keywords: intelligence mathematics, foundations of intelligent science, autonomous AI, cognitive computers, inference algebra, real-time process algebra, concept algebra, semantic algebra, applications

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Authors: Su-Lin Yu

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Coalition politics has been one of feminists’ persistent concerns. Following recent feminist discussion on new modes of affiliation across difference, she will explore how the process of female subject formation depends on alliances across different cultural locations. First, she will examine how coalition politics is reformulated across difference in contemporary feminist literature. In particular, the paper will identify the particular contexts and locations in which coalition building both enables and constrains the female subject. She will attempt to explore how contemporary feminist literature highlights the possibilities and limitations for solidarity and affiliations. To understand coalition politics in contemporary feminist works, she will engage in close readings of two texts: Rebecca Walker’s Black, White and Jewish: Memoir of a Shifting Self and Danzy Senna’s Caucasia. Both Walker and Senna have articulated the complex nodes of identity that are staged by a politics of location as they refuse to be boxed into simplistic essentialist positions. Their texts are characterized by the characters’ racial ambiguity and their social and geographical mobility of life in the contemporary United States. Their experiences of living through conflictual and contradictory relationships never fully fit the boundaries of racial categorization. Each of these texts demonstrates the limits as well as the possibilities of working with diversity among and within persons and groups, thus, laying the ground for complex alliance formation. Because each of the protagonists must negotiate a set of contradictions, they will have to constantly shift their affiliations. Rather than construct a static alliance, they describe a process of moving ‘beyond boundaries,’ an embracing of multiple locations. As self-identified third wavers, Rebecca Walker and Danzy Senna have been identified and marked with the status of ‘leader’ by the feminist establishment and by mainstream U.S. media. Their texts have captured both mass popularity and critical attention in the feminist and, often, the non-feminist literary community. By analyzing these texts, she will show how contemporary American feminist literature reveals coalition politics which is fraught with complications and unintended consequences. Taken as a whole, then, these works provide an important examination not only of coalition politics of American feminism, but also a snapshot of a central debate among feminist critique of coalition politics as a whole.

Keywords: coalition politics, contemporary women’s literature, identity, female subject

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Authors: D. Romero Espitia

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Research on peacebuilding has taken a critical turn into examining the neoliberal and hegemonic conception of peace operations. Alternative peacebuilding models have been analyzed, but the scholarly discussion fails to bring them together or form connections between them. The objective of this paper is to rethink peacebuilding by extracting the positive aspects of the various peacebuilding models, connecting them with the local context, and therefore promote emancipation in contemporary peacebuilding efforts. Moreover, local ownership has been widely labelled as one, if not the core principle necessary for a successful peacebuilding project. Yet, definitions of what constitutes the 'local' remain debated. Through a qualitative review of literature, this paper unpacks the contemporary conception of peacebuilding in nexus with 'local ownership' as manifested through civil society. Using Colombia as a case study, this paper argues that a new peacebuilding framework, one that reconsiders the terms of engagement between international and national actors, is needed in order to foster effective peacebuilding efforts in contested transitional states.

Keywords: civil society, Colombia, emancipation, peacebuilding

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Authors: Prosper Kudzanai Mushauri

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In issues of anomalous experiences commonly referred to as madness or mental illness, attempts have been made to deal with it so that people manage to live their lives in a more functional way. It is in this stance that psychiatry has sort of portraying itself as seeking to ameliorate perturbations which individuals live with via nosological systems and use of medicine to anomalous experiences. It is from this hegemony that has led to the untold harm which people living with madness have endured from antique to contemporary life. The paper reflects via a literature review on the history of psychiatry and argues that it is akin to contemporary psychiatry to be involved in iatrogenic acts. As antique psychiatry meddled with gory issues of inhumanity, deceit and mass murders which some of those the contemporary psychiatry has not weaned itself from such diabolical acts. The objective of the paper is to suggest to psychiatry that it has not comported to the mores of psychological ethics. In doing this, the paper hopes that psychiatry will reflect and reform its curricular and praxis so that it comports to ethical standards in psychological science in ameliorating anomalous experiences.

Keywords: nosology, psychiatry, madness, diagnosis, eugenics

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Authors: Yunusa Odiba

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Islam, from its root is a divine religion and it does not exercise anything except within the scope of its divinity-its culture, tradition morality, and the like. The damage done to the legacies, traditions, culture, morality, viability, continued existence and relevance of the Islamic religious way of life by the prevalent western secular education system in the Muslim world has become a thing of interest to many scholars especially, the Muslim scholars, hence, advocating the integration of Islamic education with the western circular educational system. The aim is to produce a new generation of dedicated Muslims whose education has prepared them for the challenges of contemporary materialistic circulation alongside real Islamic knowledge. This paper, however, examines the process of integrating Islamic schools with the contemporary western based schools that would under-take the unification which should function as basic organ of Muslim ideological revivalism, cultural retention, identity formation, socio-economic development, and scientific and ecological inventiveness.

Keywords: challenges, integrating, Islamic education, secular system, Igalaland

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Authors: Shahriar M. Saadullah, Abdul-Quddoos Abdul-Basith, Zaki K. Abushawish

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As a part of academic research in Islamic Accounting it is important to know how the word Accounting is discussed in the Qur’aan. This paper identifies and analyzes the word Accounting in the Qur’aan, which is significant to know and understand. The paper uses a methodology of identifying the root word of Accounting Hasaba (حسب) in the Qur’aan with the help of Islam 360 software and analyzes the use of the relevant words derived from the root word. Then the paper attempts to connect the findings to the contemporary Accounting issues. The paper finds that the root word of Accounting Hasaba (حسب) appears in the Qur’aan 109 times but it is only used in the sense Account, Accountable, or Accounting 45 times. These words appear in 44 different verses in the Qur’aan, appearing twice in one of the verses. The paper divides these verses into 8 different themes namely, Day of Accounting, without any Accounting, Accounting of Time, Self-Accounting, Swift in Accounting, Accounting is only with God, Awareness and the Good Accounting, and Heedlessness and the Bad Accounting. The way the words Account, Accounting, and Accountable is discussed in the Qur’aan links to the contemporary accounting issues including Ethics, Agency Theory, and Internal Control. The links discovered in the paper clearly shows the timeless nature of the message of the Qur’aan.

Keywords: accounting, contemporary accounting issues, Qur'aan, root word of accounting hasaba

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Authors: Zohreh Ramin

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One of the most important contributions that Edward Said has had in the realm of critical theory is his insistence on the worldliness of the text and the critic. By this, Said meant that the critic and the text must be considered in their ‘material’ contexts. Foregrounding the substantial role of a critic as embodying what he refers to as ‘critical consciousness’, a true critic, Said maintains, is one who can stand between the ‘dominant culture’ and ‘the totalizing forms of critical systems.’ Considered as one of Iran’s major contemporary intellectuals, Jalal Ale Ahmad is responsible for introducing the idea of ‘Westoxication’ in Iran, constructing a social paradigm of the necessity to return to tradition in contemporary Iran. The present paper intends to study Al-Ahmad’s definition of the orient versus the occident, his criticism of the ‘machination’ of contemporary Iranian society, and his solution to the problem of ‘Westoxication’. The objective of this study is to see whether Ale Ahmad can be considered as embodying the spirit of ‘critical consciousness’ as described by Said as the necessary tool in the hands of an intellectual who is simultaneously attached filitavely to his culture but can detach himself affilitavely through employing critical consciousness.

Keywords: Westoxication, filiative, affiliative, machination

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Authors: Zohreh Ghorbani Madavani, Masoumeh Mikaeili

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Social media, as one of the main tools in today’s world, imposes deep impacts on human life, particularly in various cultural and literary areas. By providing platforms for direct communication between writers and audiences, these spaces have made great changes in the styles of literary works, writing, and publishing. The impacts of digital communication are very visible not only in the content of literary works but also in narrative structures, writing styles, and interaction of writers with audiences. Applying an analytical-descriptive approach, the present study investigates the impacts of internet communications and social media on the literary works of the Arab world and describes some instances of such impacts on the works of one of the most reputed contemporary Arab novelists, Ahlam Mosteghanemi. In this study, we specifically emphasize on changes of themes, narrative techniques and writing styles of Mosteghanemi and investigate how she leverages digital environment facilities and potentials in creating works suited to her audiences’ needs and expectations. This study indicates that social media has significantly helped the democratization of authorship and diversity in contemporary Arabic literature and has enabled writers to have more direct and interactive relationship.

Keywords: social media, digital impacts, narrative changes, writing style, contemporary literature, Ahlam Mosteghanemi

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Authors: Bret Brooks

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As the international community has focused their attention in recent times on international and transnational terrorism, many nations have ignored their own domestic terrorist groups. Domestic terrorism has significantly evolved over the last 15 years and as such nation states must adequately understand their own individual issues as well as the broader worldwide perspective. Contemporary models show that obtaining peace with domestic groups is not only the end goal, but also very obtainable. By evaluating modern examples and incorporating successful strategies, countries around the world have the ability to bring about a diplomatic resolution to domestic extremism and domestic terrorism.

Keywords: domestic, evolution, peace, terrorism

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Authors: Rose Lastovicka, Bernard Guy, Diana Burton

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Greek myth and art acted as tools to think with, and a lens through which to explore complex topics as a form of social media. In particular, coins were a form of propaganda to communicate the wealth and power of the city-states they originated from as they circulated from person to person. From this, how can the application of 3D printing technologies explore the infusion of ancient forms with contemporary commentaries to promote discussion? The digital reconstruction of artifacts is a topic that has been researched by various groups all over the globe. Yet, the exploration of Greek myth through artifacts infused with contemporary issues is currently unexplored in this medium. Using the Stratasys J750 3D printer - a multi-material, full-colour 3D printer - a series of coins inspired by ancient Greek currency and myth was created to present commentaries on the adversities surrounding individuals in the LGBT+ community. Using the J750 as the medium for expression allows for complete control and precision of the models to create complex high-resolution iconography. The coins are printed with a hard, translucent material with coloured 3D visuals embedded into the coin to then be viewed in close contact by the audience. These coins as commentaries present an avenue for wider understanding by drawing perspectives not only from sources concerned with the contemporary LGBT+ community but also from sources exploring ancient homosexuality and the perception and regulation of it in antiquity. By displaying what are usually points of contention between anti- and pro-LGBT+ parties, this visual medium opens up a discussion to both parties, suggesting heritage can play a vital interpretative role in the contemporary world.

Keywords: 3D printing, design, Greek mythology, LGBT+ community

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Authors: Xiaoling Dai

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Many Chinese artists have used digital photography to create works with features of Chinese landscape paintings since the 20th century. The ‘New Mountains and Water’ works created by digital techniques reflect the fusion of photographic techniques and traditional Chinese aesthetic thoughts. Borrowing from Chinese landscape paintings in the Song Dynasty, the Chinese photographer Yao Lu uses digital photography to reflect contemporary environmental construction in his series New Landscapes. By portraying a variety of natural environments brought by urbanization in the contemporary period, Lu deconstructs traditional Chinese paintings and reconstructs contemporary photographic practices. The primary object of this study is to investigate how Chinese photographer Yao Lu redefines and re-interprets the relationship between tradition and contemporaneity. In this study, Yao Lu’s series work New Landscapes is used for photo elicitation, which seeks to broaden understanding of the development of Chinese landscape photography. Furthermore, discourse analysis will be used to evaluate how Chinese social developments influence the creation of photographic practices. Through visual and discourse analysis, this study aims to excavate the relationship between tradition and contemporaneity in Lu’s works. According to New Landscapes, the study argues that in Lu’s interpretations of landscapes, tradition and contemporaneity are seen to establish a new relationship. Traditional approaches to creation do not become obsolete over time. On the contrary, traditional notions and styles of creation can shed new light on contemporary issues or techniques.

Keywords: Chinese aesthetics, Yao Lu, new landscapes, tradition, contemporaneity

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Authors: Gadah Alkeniah

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Leadership is acknowledged internationally as fundamental to school efficiency and school enhancement nevertheless there are various understandings of what leadership is and how it is realised in practice. There are a number of educational leadership models that are considered important. However, the present study uses a systematic review method to examine and compare five models of the most well-known contemporary models of leadership as well as introduces the dimension of each model. Our results reveal that recently the distributed leadership has grown in popularity within the field of education. The study concludes by suggesting future directions in leadership development and education research.

Keywords: distributed leadership, instructional leadership, leadership models, moral leadership, strategic leadership, transformational leadership

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Authors: Rui Zhang

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Translation has been elevated to one of the key notions in contemporary cultural discourse for a wide range of fields. It focuses not only on communication or transmission of meaning between different languages, but also on ways in which the very act of translation can be understood as a metaphor for cultural process. In recent years, the notion of translation is employed by some contemporary Chinese artists in a conceptual way, whose works contribute to constructing/deconstructing global/local cultural discourse and their own cultural identities. This study examines two artworks by contemporary Chinese artist Gu Wenda from a translational perspective, namely Forest of Stone Steles - Retranslation & Rewriting of Tang Poetry and United Nations - China Monument: Temple of Heaven, aiming to broaden the scope of Translation Studies to investigate visual culture and enrich methodological approach to contemporary Chinese art. Focusing on the relationship between translation, visuality and materiality in these two works, this study explores the nature of translation as part of the production of cultural discourse in the age of globalization as well as a way of establishing cultural identity. Gu Wenda, one of the most prestigious artists in contemporary China, is considered a pioneer in ‘85 Art Movement of China, and thereafter he went abroad for his artistic pursuits. His transnational experience enriches his cultural identity and the underlying discourse constructed/deconstructed in many of his works. In the two works already mentioned, the concept of translation is deployed by Gu Wenda on both linguistic level and metaphorical level for artistic expression. These two works produce discourses in which the artist’s perception of cultural identity in a transnational context is articulated by the tension between source text and target text. Based on the conceptual framework of cultural identity proposed by Stuart Hall, analyses of Gu Wenda’s cultural identity revealed through translation in these two works are centred on two axes, i.e., the axis of similarity and continuity with Chinese intellectual culture and the axis of difference and rupture with it, and the dialogic relationship between these two vectors. It argues that besides serving as a means of constructing visuality in the two works, translation metaphorizes Gu Wenda’s journey from overcoming his cultural identity anxiety to re-establishing a transcultural identity embedded in the underlying discourse.

Keywords: contemporary Chinese art, cultural identity, transculturality, translation

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Authors: Thomas Soro, Tim Stott, Brendan O'Rourke

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The construction of artistic reputation has been examined within sociology, philosophy, and economics but, baring a few noteworthy exceptions its discursive aspect has been largely ignored. This is particularly surprising given that contemporary artworks primarily rely on discourse to construct their ontological status. This paper contributes a discourse analytical perspective to the broad body of literature on artistic reputation by providing an understanding of how it is discursively constructed within the institutional context of online contemporary art magazines. This paper uses corpora compiled from the websites of e-flux and ARTnews, two leading online contemporary art magazines, to examine how these organisations discursively construct the reputation of artists. By constructing word-sketches of the term 'Artist', the paper identified the most significant modifiers attributed to artists and the most significant verbs which have 'artist' as an object or subject. The most significant results were analysed through concordances and demonstrated a somewhat surprising lack of evaluative representation. To examine this feature more closely, the paper then analysed three announcement texts from e-flux’s site and three review texts from ARTnews' site, comparing the use of modifiers and verbs in the representation of artists, artworks, and institutions. The results of this analysis support the corpus findings, suggesting that artists are rarely represented in evaluative terms. Based on the relatively high frequency of evaluation in the representation of artworks and institutions, these results suggest that there may be discursive norms at work in the field of online contemporary art magazines which regulate the use of verbs and modifiers in the evaluation of artists.

Keywords: contemporary art, corpus linguistics, critical discourse analysis, symbolic capital

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Authors: Pin-Hua Chou

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MACAN (Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Nusantara) is a new private art museum in Jakarta, Indonesia. Facing challenges of rapidly changing social, cultural environments, MACAN is responding by devoting themselves to not only presenting famous international artists but also constructing the context of artists from Indonesia by interdisciplinary education and cultural exchange. This paper discusses the exhibitions, collections and the activities of MACAN. The purpose of this museum is to make people aware of the dialogue between local and international artist, and also Indonesia’s own art history. Yet how they build up the cultural consciousness for their audience inside and outside Indonesia? What strategy or method do they adapt to enhance general understanding of their own history and the relation between Indonesia and the world through their exhibition? MACAN has tried to convey their mission by every action they took since its opening (2017). The discussion begins with the premise that the initiative of MACAN offers us a new vision to better understand how a modern and contemporary art museum can make an effort to connect art with cultural identity and stimulate the awareness of recognition in Indonesia. This paper will adopt a case study, curator interview, and document analysis. Last but not least, the paper seeks to contribute towards the narrative of its first exhibition Art Turns, World Turns, Exploring the collection of the MACAN, as well as the possibility of raising audience’s cultural consciousness by a variety of public programs.

Keywords: contemporary art museum, challenges for art museum curators today, culture heritage, museum collections and exhibitions

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Authors: Aamna Tufail, Kajal Kotecha, Iordanis Toursounidis, Ravinder Pabla

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Introduction/Aims: Acute Myeloid Leukaemia (AML) is a part of leukaemic group of hematopoietic disorders with a varying range of presentations, including oro-facial manifestations. Early recognition and management are essential for favourable outcomes. Materials and Methods: We present our experience, clinical presentation, and clinical photographs of a patient with previously undiagnosed AML who presented with oral symptoms to the emergency department of our hospital. An analysis of clinical characteristics, diagnostic investigations, and management modalities was performed. Results/Statistics: A 58-year-old man presented to A&E reporting an 11-day history of right sided facial swelling, acute TMJ symptoms, and oral discomfort. A dentist ruled out acute dental causes one day post onset of symptoms. Initial assessment was anatomically inconsistent and did not reveal a routine oral or maxillofacial etiology. Detailed clinical examination demonstrated fever, generalised pallor, swelling and erythema of right nasolabial region, bilateral masseteric tenderness, intraoral palatal ecchymosis, palatal ulceration, buccal and labial petechiae, cervical lymphadenopathy, and haematoma on dorsum of right hand overlying right 2nd metacarpal joint. Suspecting a systemic medical cause, we requested haematological investigations, which revealed neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, and anaemia. Flow cytometry confirmed CD34 + AML. Oral discomfort was managed symptomatically. The patient was referred to a tertiary care centre for acute haematologic care, where he was treated with IV antibiotics and continuing cycles of chemotherapy. Conclusions/Clinical Relevance: Oro-facial manifestations may be the first clinical sign of AML. Awareness of its features is vital in early diagnosis. In this context, dentists and oral medicine specialists can play an important role in detecting clinical signs of haematological disorders such as AML.

Keywords: acute myeloid leukaemia, oral symptoms, ulceration, diagnosis, management

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Authors: Sapfo Mortaki

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Over the years, Greeks were leaving their homeland looking for better luck, including artists - painters and sculptors. Until mid-1940's, few were the ones who lived, worked, studied and were distinguished abroad. After the end of the Second World War, the group exit towards the cultural centers of the West commences. Since the mid-1970s, and especially in the early 1980s, Modern Greek Diaspora has undergone a new period. The creation of the European Community affects both the character of the immigration of artists as well as the creation of their identity within cultural pluralism. Since 1980 the situation in Greece changed significantly, and the contacts of artists with their homeland became greatly enhanced. Based on the above, this paper examines the cultural identity of the Greek artists in Paris during the 1980s, in comparison to the creation of the identity of the artists of the previous migratory movements, since this decade constitutes a critical point. Their cultural presence in Paris, as reflected in French and Greek daily press and journals of the period, is also investigated. At the same time, their connection with Greece and their contribution to the development and evolution of Contemporary Greek Art is discussed.

Keywords: artistic migration in Paris, cultural identity, cultural interaction, greek artists, greek contemporary art

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Authors: Maria Ukolova

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Social and cultural processes over the past decades have largely affected the understanding of conventional female beauty all over the world. Fine arts and design tendencies could not remain unchanged and show a dynamic interplay with female rights, gender equality, and other social processes. As of now, the area lacks comprehensive academic research on the tendencies of understanding female beauty in contemporary art. This article makes an attempt to outline and analyse the main tendencies of contemporary works of art that turn to the image of a woman, including photography, digital art, and various forms of design. The research bases itself on paintings, performing arts, photography, digital art, and various forms of design, mainly on the principle of the most broadly resonated in society, as an empirical basis, and on existing researches in the sphere. The results of the research show a general trend that the concept of female beauty in art is either challenged as such or its understanding has shifted to individuality, diversity, and the state of mental health. However, some categories of art, such as digital art in the gaming industry, remain resistant to change and retain the appearance-based understanding of beauty. Specific tendencies are, firstly, aestheticization of all types of appearances; secondly, a ubiquitous interest in mental health issues and understanding the state of mental health as a part of beauty; thirdly, a certain infantilization of the image of the woman is observed as compared to previous decades. The significance of the findings of the research is to contribute to a scientific understanding of the concept of beauty in contemporary art and to give ground for prospective further related research in sociology, phycology, etc. The findings might be perceived not only by academics but also by artists and practitioners in the spheres of art and society.

Keywords: fine arts, history of art, contemporary art, concept of beauty

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Authors: Godwin Makaudze

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The majority of women in contemporary Zimbabwe continue to hold marginalised and insignificant positions in society and to be accorded negative and stereotyped images in literature. In light of this, government and civic organisations and even writers channel many resources, time, and efforts towards the emancipation of the female gender. Using the Africana womanist and socio-historical literary theories and focussing on two post-colonial novels, this paper re-engages the dis-empowerment of women in contemporary Zimbabwe, examining the believed causes and suggested solutions. The paper observes that the writers whip the already whipped by blaming patriarchy, African men and cultural practices as the underlying causes of such a sorry state of affairs while at the same time celebrating war against all these, as well as education, unity among women, Christianity and single motherhood as panaceas to the problem. The paper concludes that the writers’ anger is misdirected as they have fallen trap to the very popular yet mythical victim-blame motif espoused by many writers who focus on Shona people’s problems.

Keywords: cultural practices, female dis-empowerment, patriarchy, Shona novel, solutions, Zimbabwe

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Authors: Hilary Modir, Kyle Dutton, Michelle Swab, Shabnam Asghari

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Since its emergence, the cutaneous manifestations of COVID-19 have been documented in the literature. However, the majority are case reports with significant limitations in appraisal quality, thus leaving the role of dermatological manifestations of COVID-19 erroneously underexplored. The primary aim of this review was to systematically examine clinical patterns of dermatological manifestations as reported in the literature. This study was designed as a systematic review of case reports. The inclusion criteria consisted of all published reports and articles regarding COVID-19 in English, from September 1st, 2019, until June 22nd, 2020. The population consisted of confirmed cases of COVID-19 with associated cutaneous signs and symptoms. Exclusion criteria included research in planning stages, protocols, book reviews, news articles, review studies, and policy analyses. With the collaboration of a librarian, a search strategy was created consisting of a mixture of keyword terms and controlled vocabulary. Electronic databases searched were MEDLINE via PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, Web of Science, LILACS, PsycINFO, WHO Global Literature on Coronavirus Disease, Cochrane Library, Campbell Collaboration, Prospero, WHO International Clinical Trials Registry Platform, Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry, U.S. Institutes of Health Ongoing Trials Register, AAD Registry, OSF preprints, SSRN, MedRxiV and BioRxiV. The study selection featured an initial pre-screening of titles and abstracts by one independent reviewer. Results were verified by re-examining a random sample of 1% of excluded articles. Eligible studies progressed for full-text review by two calibrated independent reviewers. Covidence was used to store and extract data, such as citation information and findings pertaining to COVID-19 and cutaneous signs and symptoms. Data analysis and summarization methodology reflect the framework proposed by PRISMA and recommendations set out by Cochrane and Joanna Brigg’s Institute for conducting systematic reviews. The Oxford Centre for Evidence-Based Medicine’s level of evidence was used to appraise the quality of individual studies. The literature search revealed a total of 1221 articles. After the abstract and full-text screening, only 95 studies met the eligibility criteria, proceeding to data extraction. Studies were divided into 58% case reports and 42% series. A total of 833 manifestations were reported in 723 confirmed COVID-19 cases. The most frequent lesions were 23% maculopapular, 15% urticarial and 13% pseudo-chilblains, with 46% of lesions reporting pruritus, 16% erythema, 14% pain, 12% burning sensation, and 4% edema. The most common lesion locations were 20% trunk, 19.5% lower limbs, and 17.7% upper limbs. The time to resolution of lesions was between one and twenty-one days. In conclusion, over half of the reported cutaneous presentations in COVID-19 positive patients were maculopapular, urticarial and pseudo-chilblains, with the majority of lesions distributed to the extremities and trunk. As this review’s sample size only contained COVID-19 confirmed cases with skin presentations, it becomes difficult to deduce the direct relationship between skin findings and COVID-19. However, it can be correlated that acute onset of skin lesions, such as chilblains-like, may be associated with or may warrant consideration of COVID-19 as part of the differential diagnosis.

Keywords: COVID-19, cutaneous manifestations, cutaneous signs, general dermatology, medical dermatology, Sars-Cov-2, skin and infectious disease, skin findings, skin manifestations

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Authors: Grzegorz Kubinski

Abstract:

In the proposed paper, we would like to present the phenomenon of disease and disability as an element of discourse redefining the contemporary canons of beauty and the category of normativity. In widely understood media, and above all in social media and fashion industry, the use of the disease as an aesthetic category has long been observed. There is an interesting case of promoting and maintaining a certain, ideal pattern of physical beauty, while at the same time very clear exploitation of various types of illnesses. The categories of disease and disabled body are shown as an element of the expression of the individuality and originality of one's own identity, while at the same time the disabled person is still experiencing social exclusion. Illness or body abnormality as an aesthetic category also functions as an ethical-political category. The analysis of the interrelations of these discourses will be presented on the example of selected projects present in social media, like Instagram or Facebook. We would like to present how old forms of 'curiosities' or 'abnormalities' turned into mainstream forms of a new aesthetic. For marginalized disabled people, there is a new form of expression and built their identity. But, there is an interesting point: are this contemporary forms of using disability and illness really new? Or maybe this is just another form of Wunderkammer or even cabinets of curiosities? We propose to analyze contemporary cultural and social context in order to clarify this issue. On the other hand, we would like to present some examples from personal interviews with disabled internet influencers and statements disabled persons concerning the role of the different body in society (e.g. #bodypositive, #perfeclyflawed).

Keywords: disability, new media, defect, fashion

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Authors: Marcos Fabris

Abstract:

The flaccidity of the contemporary art production, its banality and incapacity of raising social and political relevant issues, and its ubiquitous connection to an ever prospering art market have become a trite, prosaic mantra, a thought-terminating cliché repeated by many, at least in the academic circles, who constantly lament the absence of pressing issues, artistically articulated from a Marxist perspective. This ‘resignation’ or crystalized insistence to consider Contemporary Art as a monolithic block – insufficiently critical – seems to be part of a pattern in Art History, not excluding its leftist wings: the idea that Modernism was, too, a homogeneous movement, one that despite its attempts to establish meaningful connections between art and society are now part of a museological past. This post-mortem attributed to a ‘flat’ modernism disregards it’s highly contradictory character and diverging tendencies, in permanent conflict between themselves and part of a larger movement that questioned Capitalism – as a system. The aim of this presentation is to shed light on some of the most radical modern tendencies, how they articulated ways to figure the uneven and combined development, and how this ‘Alternative Modernism’ may inform, inspire, and make us advance critically in our struggles against the returns of Capitalism.

Keywords: art criticism, art history, contemporary art, modernism

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Authors: Nyasha Agnes Gurira, Petronella Katekwe

Abstract:

Traditional management systems (TMS) are a vital source of knowledge for conserving cultural and natural heritage. TMS’s are renowned for their ability to preserve both tangible and intangible manifestations of heritage. They are a construct of the intricate relationship that exists between heritage and host communities, where communities are recognized as owners of heritage and so, set up management mechanisms to ensure its adequate conservation. Multiple heritage condition surveys were conducted to assess the effectiveness of using TMS in the conservation of both natural and cultural heritage. Surveys were done at Nharira Hills, Mahwemasimike, Dzimbahwe, Manjowe Rock art sites and Norumedzo forest which are heritage places in Zimbabwe. It assessed the state of conservation of the five case studies and assessed the role that host communities play in the management of these heritage places. It was revealed that TMS’s are effective in the conservation of natural heritage, however in relation to heritage forms with cultural manifestations, there are major disparities. These range from differences in appreciation and perception of value within communities leading to vandalism, over emphasis in the conservation of the intangible element as opposed to the tangible. This leaves the tangible element at risk. Despite these issues, TMS are a reliable knowledge base which enables more holistic conservation approaches for cultural and natural heritage.

Keywords: communities, cultural intangible, tangible heritage, traditional management systems, natural

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Authors: Jihan Mahmoud

Abstract:

This paper examines the role played by Arabic novelists in revolutionary change in the Arab world, discussing themes of identity, sexuality and fundamentalism as portrayed in a selection of modern and contemporary Arabic novels that are either written in English or translated from Arabic into English. It particularly focuses on the post-Naguib Mahfouz era. Taking my cue from the current political changes in the Arab world, starting with 9/11/ terrorist attacks in the USA and the UK, the ‘Arab Spring’ revolutions, the rise of political Islam and the emergence of Isis, the Islamic state in Iraq and the Levant, the study analyses the differences in the ways contemporary Arab novelists from different Arabic countries represent the interaction between identity, sexual politics and fundamentalist ideas in the Arab world, with a specific focus on the overlap between literature, religion and international politics in the region. It argues that the post-Mahfouz era marked a new phase in the development of the political Arabic novel not only as a force of resistance against political-religious oppression, but as a call for revolution as well. Thus, the Arabic novel reshapes values and prompts future action.

Keywords: Arabic novel, Islam, politics, sexuality

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Authors: Laila Zahran Mohammed Alsibani

Abstract:

The aim of the research is to understand the aspects of semiotics in contemporary designs by redesigning an Omani donut brand with localized cultural identity. To do so, visual identity samples of Dice brand of donuts in Oman has been selected to be a case study. This study conducted based on semiotic theory by using mixed method research tools which are: documentation analysis, interview and survey. The literature review concentrates on key areas of semiotics in visual elements used in the brand designs. Also, it spotlights on the categories of semiotics in visual design. In addition, this research explores the visual cues in brand identity. The objectives of the research are to investigate the aspects of semiotics in providing meaning to visual cues and to identify visual cues for each visual element. It is hoped that this study will have the contribution to a better understanding of the different ways of using semiotics in contemporary designs. Moreover, this research can be a review of further studies in understanding and explaining current and future design trends. Future research can also focus on how brand-related signs are perceived by consumers.

Keywords: brands, semiotics, visual arts, visual communication

Procedia PDF Downloads 162