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This paper discussed the art appreciation technique using Jerrold Levinson's artistic value in arriving at the importance of aesthetic experience in artwork. Levinson claimed that artistic value covers aesthetic value and achievement value, specifically in analyzing Juan Luna's Spoliarium, which is considered the largest painting in the Philippines and is proclaimed as a national heritage. This paper argued that art should have aesthetic engagement from the viewer's point of view which would lead them to discover its artistic value. Thus, this paper used the contextualizing technique since it augments and strengthens artistic engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author calls for articles or papers to be published in the journal on topics about the Americas like culture, aesthetics, history, and ethics.

This methodological paper connects posthuman conceptualizations of voice with artistic research and examines whether it opens toward different registers and levels of embodied and aesthetic forms of knowing that cut across normative accounts of what it means to know. We start from what Patti Lather calls 'a praxis of stuck places' and ask how to give voice to experiences such as chronic illness and pain, while at the same time disrupting representational forms of illness and pain. To investigate this, we first critically engage with the popular genre of the health diary and its representational form. Secondly, we explore how Lisa A. Mazzei concept of 'voice without subject' can support us in disrupting the normative and representational production of voice, while working with a failing voice. Finally, we analyze the sound installation, A Borrowed Diary —made by M. Broeckmeyer, and explore how it opens up alternative approaches to voice and chronic pain. We will argue that making 'voice without subject' work, touch, and resonate can impact the lives of people who often remain unheard, in that it acknowledges experiences and expressions that are mostly not validated. Creating with 'voice without subject' makes tangible how personal experiences, however, temporarily, contribute to the bigger picture of how we look at and listen to people with illnesses and/or disabilities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Both history and myth are perceptive creations of human imagination. History often retains the source of mythological narratives. Similarly, the narratives of myth represent history, tradition, culture and, of course, the knowledge of a particular language, region, and country; therefore, akin to history, myth can be considered a source of knowledge as well as a systematic form of art- narrative technique and an essential element in the formulation of native knowledge system. Jibanananda Das, in his writings, rewrites regional history and myths that show the cultural affinities and cognizant values of Bengal and India in general. With this perception, based on historical and mythological significance, representing identical values, Das's poems "I have Seen the Face of Bengal" (1934), "The Chariot of History" (1946), and "Banalata Sen" (1935) are the most authentic manifestation of mythological as well as historical values of Bengali people. At the same time, Das's prose fiction and mythological references provide precise historical documentation, such as Sutirtha (1948), representing the contemporary Partition crisis. The quintessential mythological narratives in each poem of Das and the references to the contemporary historical contexts in his prose fiction provide readers with magnificent sources of knowledge and perspectives to internalise the self-history narrative, culture, and tradition (of Bengal). This research paper aims to study Das's re-interpretation of history and myth in his selected poems and a novel, adding a new path to look into the existing mythological sense and historical discourse in academia. The study also intends to explore Das's re-interpretation of history and myth as a distinctive literary technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche employs the dichotomy of Apollonian and Dionysian to explain artistic phenomena. The film Joker shows the origin story of the Joker, a comic-book supervillain. This paper offers a reading of Joker through Nietzsche’s ideas from The Birth of Tragedy. By doing so, it aims to achieve three things: first, to demonstrate the relevance of Nietzsche’s aesthetic theory in analyzing culture; second, to reveal the political dimension of Nietzsche’s thought in The Birth of Tragedy; and third, to shed light on the ominous implications of Joker’s popularity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gond painting, an integral part of the Gond cultural identity of central India, has emerged as highly appreciated and recognised tribal art form worldwide in the recent times. These traditional paintings are believed to have started with the transformation of Gond oral folklores. The Pradhan Gond, a subgroup of the Gonds, who were traditionally assigned to sing songs of the glorification of the gods, goddesses and nature with a Bana, a traditional single-stringed musical instrument, was assumed to initiate the paintings of Gond folktales. They narrated the collective beliefs, values and legends of the Gond tribe on the origin, relationship and divine powers in the form of paintings. The traditions of performing the assigned responsibilities of Pradhan Gond were believed to have lost during the Mughal era and British rule. This research paper focuses on the study of the reflections of three popular Gond folk stories, i.e. Basin Kanya, Mahua tree and Bada Dev, in the contemporary Gond paintings of Madhya Pradesh. The paintings of Jangarh Singh Shyam and Durga Bai have been chosen for the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Djoussour El-maarefa is the property of Association of Arab Universities and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper investigated a research area worthy of greater attention: foreign language classroom anxiety (hereafter FLCA) and enjoyment (hereafter FLE) of older adults learning English as a foreign language in Chinese Universities of the Third Age. Understanding the largely overlooked emotional involvement of older language learners contributes to sustaining their motivation in lifelong learning for more remarkable personal growth and successes. Based on the survey of 587 Chinese older learners of English between the age of 50 and 80, paired sample t-test showed that more FLE was reported than FLCA. The results of Welch's ANOVA suggested that those who were better educated had less FLCA and those who believed themselves healthier had more FLE. The language performance evaluation (i.e. relative standing in class and English mastery) affects both FLE and FLCA. Further interviews with 34 older participants revealed three major sources of FLE, including the language use in life situations, the favorable attitude toward FL learning in the cognitive, aesthetic cultural and pragmatic aspects and the social interactions in the U3As. FLCA occurs when the language performance is perceived as dissatisfying and when aspects of mental health (e.g. worsening memory) impede effective learning. Although FLCA and FLE had only a very weak correlation, Chinese older adult learners commented on a shared belief that anxiety usually precedes and subsequently enhances enjoyment in learning, indicating a sign of emotional resilience later in life. This paper demonstrates a need for understanding the emotions in language learning across life stages and socio-cultural contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the technical image, a central concept in Vilém Flusser's later main work Into the Universe of Technical Images (1985a). After identifying its various dimensions, the analysis frames the concept as an amalgamation of disciplines, theories, and artistic practices the cultural philosopher Flusser explored during the 1960s and especially the 1970s. In particular, the field of information aesthetics developed by Max Bense and Abraham A. Moles, among others, as well as artistic video practices in France and the United States played an important role in both Flusser's biography and the formation of his technical image concept. At the same time, in Flusser's cultural philosophy the technical image is the condition and result of a new kind of human imagination, which in this paper is specified as 'projective imagination'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses Eastern European Marxists' consideration of science and technology concerning aesthetic dimensions. Different from most of Western Marxists who take negative or dystopian attitudes towards modern science and technology from the aesthetic utopian perspective, those Marxists who come from countries such as Hungary, Yugoslav, Poland, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Bulgaria or Romania, which once belonged to the socialist camp, under the influence of Soviet and Western culture, pay attention to the complicated tension between science-technology and aesthetics. In this paper, I probe into these notions by reading György Lukács, Budapest School, Romanian theorists and the Yugoslav Praxis Group, which are divided into four key points: basic nature of science in contrast with arts; modern tension of culture between science and arts; the possibility of scientific aesthetics; and development of arts in the world of technology. There is a dialectical understanding of science and technology here which contributes to contemporary recognition of science and technology from the point of view of neo-humanism, not only in aesthetics but also human existence. This is relevant to theoretical reflection on the present and future Chinese socialist aesthetics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malaysian music was influenced by British, Portuguese, Indian, and Chinese cultures, which created syncretic music. Aesthetics values strengthen the existence of syncretic music by molding taste and interest among the listeners. It somehow creates various feelings whether to appreciate, accept, or against the music, further developing musical preferences among individuals. Exploring aesthetic values in popular and traditional music is crucial as many cultures have influenced Malaysia due to colonization, trading, wedding, and migration. This paper reviews on Malaysian syncretic music, the aesthetic values in Malaysian popular and traditional music, and the influence factors of Malaysian music. It is found that there was a confluence of various intercultural musical elements in the early era, while assimilation has taken place due to traditional Malay rhythmic patterns and traditional folk themes. This led to the Malaysian conception of music and musical composition, creating the idea that Malaysian music has drastically expanded its artistic resources since the pre-colonial era. We also found communities living in the pre-modern or modern era have different unique taste in the aesthetic characteristics. Despite this, most remote communities are compelled to participate in postmodernity in some way due to the globalization of media, capital, and mobile networks. These combinations result in many theories, concepts, and discourses that enrich aesthetic values in Malaysian syncretic music. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Foreign Language & Literature Research is the property of Central China Normal University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Al-Adab / Al-ādāb is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

John Ruskin was a Victorian polymath who developed severe mental health problems from late middle age. This paper focuses on one of his many areas of interest and expertise, visual aesthetics. It traces the relationship between his theories and practices in this area and the nature of his mental health condition, which was dominated by visual symptoms. It argues that Ruskin's aesthetic theory is part of a broader spiritual visionary quest, firmly framed within the Christian theological tradition, and that it valorises certain habits of perception and attention that are now recognised to be a feature of cognition in psychosis. It suggests that there is continuity, if not a causal relationship, between Ruskin's lifelong adoption of these practices and the psychological symptoms he displayed as his (probably neuropsychiatric) illness progressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent work in culture and cognition breaks cognitive processing into two types—automatic, implicit, and nondeclarative processes are labled "type 1" and controlled, explicit, and declarative processes are labled "type 2." We suggest that this dual processing model cannot account for some types of experiences central to the embodied aspects of culture. In this paper, we lay out a theory of experience based on aesthetic engagement with the world, a type of experience that does not fall neatly into type 1 and type 2 processing. Drawing on phenomenology and pragmatism, we illustrate three dimensions of aesthetic engagement: (1) a shift to the fringe of attention that opens a zone of curiosity and fascination, (2) a focus on the unfolding moment that temporarily inhibits type 1 and type 2 thinking while sustaining uncertainty, and (3) a space to relax and possibly discard enduring storylines while creating potential paths to refreshment and change. We develop our argument through empirical analysis from the authors' respective studies of mindfulness‐based meditation and fly‐fishing. Both fly‐fishing and meditation open new worlds of perception that produce fascination and curiosity and destabilizes previous meanings. Through analyzing meditation and fly‐fishing, we highlight ideal‐typical processes that researchers will find in both mundane and complex combinations in daily life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interdisciplinarity, multidisciplinarity and counter-disciplinarity are the hallmark of cultural studies and qualitative research, as scholars over the past three decades have discussed through extensive self-reflexive inquiry into their own unstable and ever-shifting methods (Denzin and Lincoln, 2018; Dicks et al., 2006: 78; Grossberg, 2010). Building on the interdisciplinary thought of Jacques Rancière and Caroline Levine on the one hand and traditions of participatory action research and activist anthropology on the other, we bring the methods conversation forward by shifting the focus from disciplines to forms and by making a case for aesthetic practice as qualitative research process. In this paper, the question of methods is approached through the action-based Cartonera Publishing Project with editoriales cartoneras in Latin America – community publishers who make low-cost books out of materials recovered from the street in the attempt to democratise and decolonise literary/artistic production – and specifically through our process-oriented, collaborative work with four cartonera publishers in Brazil and Mexico. Guided by the multiple forms of cartonera knowledge production, which are rooted not in academic research but rather in aesthetic practice and community relations, we offer an innovative 'trans-formal' methodological framework, which opens up new pathways for practitioners and researchers to work, think and act across social, cultural and aesthetic forms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

My purpose in this paper is to introduce some ideas of Georgian philosopher Niko Chavchavadze to a large audience. In particular, I focus on three issues: the complex structure of culture and the necessity of its definition; different types of values as basic components of culture; and Aesthetic as a specific form of reflecting reality. In relating these concerns to the ideas of Donald R. Kelly regarding the necessity of defining the nature of culture, as well as to the theories of values of Geert Hofstede and Shalom Schwartz, I indicate how Chavchavadze's definitions and characterizations of the above-mentioned concepts anticipate contemporary approaches to these questions. In conclusion, I describe the current significance of Chavchavadze's ideas and their possible role in the formation of civic society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most literature on aesthetic innovation has focused on single producers who use radical aesthetic innovation to differentiate their products. However, a few scholars, as well as anecdotal evidence, suggest that when gazed at from the category level, aesthetic innovation usually occurs as incremental variations of a dominant aesthetic. Extant theory fails to account for why we see cycles of shift and stability in the dominant aesthetic of a category. In this study, we identify the mechanisms that drove such shifts and stability in the dominant aesthetic of the hearing aid category from 1945 to 2015. Leveraging this study, we develop theory showing that alignment or misalignment between category meanings and recent cultural trends spurs producers to generate new categorical aspirations to associate their category with new sets of meanings. However, producers introduce radical new aesthetic innovations only when a change in product form allows them to experiment. Examining aesthetic evolution at the category level helps to shed light on category-level patterns of aesthetic shifts and stability, why attempts to differentiate outside the dominant aesthetic are rare, and why product aesthetics across a category shift synchronously between dominant aesthetics. Furthermore, we enhance understanding of the roles of culture in category evolution and of aesthetics in the construction of category meaning, and we show how such meanings are periodically and collectively renegotiated in mature categories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discussed the art appreciation technique using Jerrold Levinson’s artistic value in arriving at the importance of aesthetic experience in artwork. Levinson claimed that artistic value covers aesthetic value and achievement value, specifically in analyzing Juan Luna’s Spoliarium, which is considered the largest painting in the Philippines and is proclaimed as a national heritage. This paper argued that art should have aesthetic engagement from the viewer’s point of view which would lead them to discover its artistic value. Thus, this paper used the contextualizing technique since it augments and strengthens artistic engagement. References Adler, Mortimer. Six Great Ideas. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company, 1981. Descartes, Rene. The Philosophical Writings of Descartes (Volume II). Translated by John Cottingham, Robert, 1984. Goodman, Nelson. Languages of Arts. Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1968. Kant, Immanuel. Critique of Pure Reason. Translated by Norman Kemp Smith: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., 1929. Levison, Jerrold. Aesthetics and Ethics: Essays at the Intersection. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998. _____________ Contemplating Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. _____________ Aesthetic Pursuits. United States of America: Oxford University Press, 2016. Luna, Juan. Spolarium. National Museum of the Philippines, 1884. Sporre, Dennis. Perceiving the Arts, 8th ed. United States of America: Prentice Hall, 2006. Stoothoff, and Dugald Murdoch. New York: Cambridge University Press. Tolstoy, Leo. What is Art? Translated by Richard Pevear & Larissa Volokhonsky. New York: Penguin Group, 1995. Wright, Susan. The Art, Young Children, and Learning. United States of America: Pearson Education Inc., 2003. www.flickr.com/photos/43184028@N02/440796048 29 June 2022.

The history and culture of the Caribbean are inextricably linked to landscape. Memories of Caribbean history as a kind of Caribbean consciousness is developed through discourse in which "imagined geographies" deplore a sense of a connect between regional and temporal space, with a sense of the sublimity of the cultures. The context of landscape in Caribbean discourse created an aesthetic that initiated a seamless unity between society, history and culture. The vision of the New World as perpetually tied to historical times is the concern of Derek Walcott and other Caribbean writers. The idea that the landscape has mythical presence, historical associations and elemental connotations which became part of the Caribbean consciousness, and the bases for the definition of the Caribbean man is the idea captured by Derek Walcott, Kamau Brathwaite, etc. Landscape in this work connotes the cultural, psychological and socio-political and historical elements. This affirmative vision of the landscape imbued with history; the sense of that feeling for the land, and a responsiveness to its history can be a meaningful way of rooting oneself, and of acquiring an identity. Derek Walcott comes to terms with this issue of history and memory of the ancestral past in Caribbean historiography. This sense of history in the Caribbean world-view of Walcott's poetic universe emphasizes exploration of the self and landscape, especially in his earliest collection - juvenilia - of 25 Poems (1948). This visionary inquest in Derek Walcott's select poems is what this paper sets to interrogate. This study adopts the Eco-critical theory in the analysis of the studied poems. This theory establishes the relationship between the environment and man and the connect between the socio-cultural in a literary text. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Almost every culture engages actively with the arts. Here, we explored how contextual information about content, artist, and technique impacts aesthetic experience. Contextual information increased aesthetic ratings for artworks in Indian and Northern American participants, especially in people more open to experience, and Northern American participants with low art experience. Contextual information reduced the ingroup bias for artworks, suggesting exposure to art may be a potential vehicle to mitigate prejudice against unfamiliar cultures. Similarities and differences in the routes to broader valuations of liking and beauty point to both anthropological universals and cultural specifics of the aesthetic experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the nature of archetypes in analytical theory, grounded in the transpersonal archetype of the life cycle. It then examines the nature of aesthetics, the aesthetic attitude, aesthetic inquiry, and aesthetic practices in the art and psyche of C. G. Jung and in the art of the African Diaspora. In the art of the African Diaspora the primary focus is on Pan African sculpture and the influences of African culture on aesthetics. These cultural influences include historiography, religion, mythology, ethnic group style, techniques, artistic skills, and an African aesthetic criteria of excellence to help see beauty within and across cultures. The approach to the subject matter adopts an interdisciplinary perspective, drawing from the literature in analytical psychology on Jung, his art and psyche; on contributions to African art historiography by contemporary art historians and curators of African Art; and from the personal aesthetic inquiry and clinical practice of the author. It concludes with consideration of the psychological properties of aesthetics, aesthetic practices, and the power of active imagination in healing personal and collective intergenerational trauma, and for optimal development across the life span. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research examines how new aesthetics have been used to share cultural values across different eras in Western and Eastern cultures, including the ancient, medieval, modern capitalist, and Marxist communist periods. Three aesthetic approaches--aesthetic concepts, state of mind, and aesthetic objects--are used to analyze evidence of new aesthetic experiences through architecture, visual arts, and literature with the support of philosophies to argue that new aesthetics are as integral to the organic completion of the human condition in societies as changes in idealism. To present evidence of the aesthetics, in the ancient period, this research uses the "Odyssey" epic by Homer. In the medieval period, Gothic and Hindu architecture show how two religious contexts, influenced by different ideologies, created new aesthetic influences. The art of the Tang Dynasty in China and "The Tale of Genji" in Japan complement the philosophical discussion on how the new aesthetics in the East arose. "Hadji Murat," a literary work by Leo Tolstoy, presents new aesthetic heroism contexts. In the modern period, artworks by Edvard Munch and Pablo Picasso represent the individual's right to free speech and reflect capitalist contexts. Meanwhile, artworks by the Russian Soviet and Chinese artists Kliment Redko and Luo Zhongli represent Marxist aesthetics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This manuscript investigates the cultural and educational dimensions of murals and graffiti in the ruins of the Aliko Hotel on Naxos Island. Moving beyond their aesthetic value, these artworks are examined as conduits for complex sociocultural and educational discourses. Employing semiotic analysis, particularly informed by Roland Barthes' conceptual framework, the study offers a multi-layered interpretation of the significance of street art. A systematic approach guided the empirical data collection, entailing the careful selection and categorisation of 76 photographs, eventually honed down to 21 key images for detailed analysis. This set, comprising 6 murals and 15 graffiti pieces, was subjected to meticulous examination to discern both dominant themes and motifs ('studium') and the elements evoking personal connections ('punktum'), thereby facilitating emotional and intellectual engagement. The methodology of the study is tailored to uncover the collective narratives encapsulated within these visual forms, as well as the individual responses they provoke. It probes how personal interpretations are influenced by the viewers' beliefs and backgrounds, thereby expanding the semiotic analysis to encompass both shared and individual meanings. This balanced analytical approach deepens the understanding of visual expressions as dynamic interactions between the artwork and its audience. It underscores the transformative role of street art in urban environments and its contribution to public art discourse. The impending demolition of the Hotel Aliko ruins underscores the ephemeral nature of street art. The murals and graffiti, as transient custodians of cultural and social narratives, accentuate the fragile nature of this cultural heritage. This critical moment underscores the importance of documenting and preserving such art forms and the stories they encapsulate, highlighting their significant role in shaping community identity and cultural education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigations of non-Western art forms and non-Western subjects are needed to understand cross-cultural empirical aesthetics. This study examined the aesthetic evaluation of Chinese calligraphy, a distinguished visual art in East Asia, through people's preferences among five scripts. These scripts are representative of major artistic writing styles of Chinese characters. We conducted an experiment with Chinese (mean age = 22.64, SD = 2.90) and non-Chinese participants (International students from Asia, Africa, and Northern America; mean age = 26.76, SD = 2.35) and investigated through subjective measures and eye-tracking measures. We adopted Pleasure-Interest Model of Aesthetic Liking (PIA Model) and measured fluency processing, affective feelings, motivational evaluation, and overall likeness as subjective measures to capture the aesthetic evaluation. The two groups evaluated the scripts differently and showed distinctive preferences for scripts. Chinese participants perceived the stimuli to be more fluent than non-Chinese participants. Chinese rated cursive script most fluent, pleasant, interesting, and liked it most, whereas non-Chinese liked the official script the most and rated it most interesting. Regarding eye movement, Chinese participants had fewer fixations and shorter total fixation durations, relative to non-Chinese participants. Non-Chinese participants were more sensitive to the features of the scripts compared with Chinese participants. We suggest that culture could affect aesthetic evaluation of Chinese calligraphy. Experience of Chinese characters and aesthetic expectations of different cultures may contribute to the evaluation differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is no doubt that art is the most eloquent segment of our culture. As such, it transcends linguistic, social and cultural boundaries, thus enabling man to realize himself, but also to find his powerful voice in the awareness of society. Art has done this once, and continues to do the same today. But while art has traditionally been multimedia, in recent decades it is becoming more interactive with new technologies. Globalism is a reality, but digitization is becoming more and more widespread and influential in accelerating major changes in the art world as well. Therefore, even today, when we are living in the age of global communications, images are still dominating the word. So the visual obviously replaces the verbal. And since the image is becoming the most significant element in the world of visual arts, which includes visual arts, stage music, theater performances, film, etc., it as such, represents and controls the structures of our feelings, beliefs and mindsets. Seen from a perspective of certain historical contexts, through this statement entitled "Albanian visual arts and new technologies: interactive and aesthetic challenges" we will deal with some of the socio-cultural aspects, approaches and opportunities, which depending on the time vary a lot, have obviously conditioned the development of Albanian nationwide visual arts. While Albanian visual arts in the past have mainly had a mimetic, hedonistic and documentary character, in contemporary times, facing the interactive and aesthetic challenges of new technologies, they, although not as much as they should, nevertheless appear more interconnected with them and engaged artistically. In these times of globalization accompanied by digitization and mass communication, Albanian visual arts are cultivated in several geographical and cultural spaces: Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, as well as in the Diaspora. Thanks to the deepening of physical contacts and especially virtual communication with different people and cultures, our visual art reflects less on the arts of other peoples and more on building the cultural and artistic identity of individual (personal) and collective (national) Albanians. This can be proven with various works and visual artistic projects realized by Albanian creators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Georg Simmel has long been appreciated as a major theorist of the arts in society, as well as of aesthetic phenomena in general in social life. Yet Simmel's essays in the area have remained dispersed for many years across the disparate parts of his corpus and have not been easy to survey in their full thematic cohesion and interconnection. This symposium article reflects on Austin Harrington's comprehensive anthology of these writings in English, published in 2020, which assembles virtually all the relevant titles – many of them appearing in English for the first time. Among the central topics of discussion are Simmel's fluid style of theorizing, his thinking about representation, reality and modernity in art, his relationships to philosophers and artistic personalities, and his legacy for the present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing prevalence of drone strikes, and the expanding applications of drones in different industries, are dissolving the boundaries between military and civilian realms. This special issue considers 'the art of drone warfare' by surveying the field of scholarship on drone warfare and drone art to date. It addresses the affective, discursive, technopolitical, and colonial histories underpinning drone systems, through essays discussing various cultural works encompassing marketing video, film, literature, and the visual arts. Despite the unresolved controversies surrounding the ethics of remote warfare, military drone use has become normalised. Examining the art and aesthetics of drone warfare helps to make its politics perceptible at a time when the logic behind autonomous military systems is becoming entrenched. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper analyzes Heidegger's views on aesthetics and art in the epoch of the new century. First, it is shown how Heidegger defines the general concept of aesthetics. Then the role of Descartes' philosophy in establishing the Being and the truth as a certainty in the epoch of the new century is shown. Modern aesthetics and art are formed within such a change of being and truth. In modern aesthetics, feeling and beauty are connected and taste, subjective judgment, is placed as a central concept. On the other hand, art is presented as a cultural phenomenon that distances itself from the Christian concept of art.

The text deals with digital meme culture originating in ex-Yugoslav countries and the forming of a particular post-Yugoslav, (post)digital cultural space which we will examine both in the "affirmative" context of a (yet-to-be-conceived) Yugofuturism, and that of subversive affirmation strategy. This strategy – in which subversion comes not from criticism and clear resistance to any given discourse and action, but from controversial and vivid forms of overemphasis of those same ideologies and imagery – at first glance seems intrinsic to digital meme aesthetics. Following the footsteps of transitions of retrogardism (Neue Slowenische Kunst) and the wider field of contemporary subversive mimicry practices in post-digital art and culture, we will explore this ex/post-Yugoslav shared space in search of a possibility of a(n) (anti)utopic Yugofuturistic discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is argued that Kull's approach to aesthetics complements a cognitive semiotic approach to culture. The concept of 'ecological, semiotic fitting' allows us to connect the three main concepts of beauty we encounter in discussions about the aesthetic, where the term beauty is, firstly, used to refer a positive experience in relation to what is perceived, or, secondly, to a positive experience in relation to an intentional action or, thirdly, to a positive experience in relation to a sense making process. Kull makes a strong case for the 'ecological, semiotic fitting' being the common underlying structure of all three manifestations of the aesthetic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses Olfactory Politics in Black Diasporic Art. Topic discussed includes olfactory experiments of Black artists which requires reframing olfactory aesthetics and target the deodorized Western art world but also as a struggle over everyday encounters with smells that have profound cultural and biochemical consequences.

This article, based on analysis and interpretation of the Four Treasures of the Study (wenfang sibao), examines the role played by the Southern Tang in enriching Song literati culture. With the success of cultural rejuvenation, the Jianghuai region would become essential to fulfilling the function. Despite that the wenfang sibao originated in a weak southern kingdom, such roots did not affect their eminent image in the slightest. The profound impact of the wenfang sibao upon Song literati culture manifested itself in numerous ways, ranging from enriching connoisseurship and esthetic appreciation to the perpetuation of artistic beauty. Rigorous searches for esthetic artifacts found outside of China by Song literati not only posed challenges to the eminent position of wenfang sibao originating in the Southern Tang, but also necessitated the rethinking of what Huayi zhibian, Sino-barbarian dichotomy, exactly meant in Song China. As a whole, the study of the Nan Tang wenfang sibao substantiates regional legacy as a valid concept for the study of Song literati culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C) is one of the most prevalent harmful cultural practices against women and girls in many African countries. We identified reasons for the failure of the legal approach to stop FGC practice in the Ejagham region Southwest of Cameroon through multi-locale ethnographic fieldwork. The reasons revolve around the belief that FGM is useful for the reduction of sexual immorality among women, removal of sexual ambiguity and improving genital esthetics, a feministic symbol and cultural identity, and the government's socio-economic neglect of the Ejagham communities; the basis for resistance. Non-legal approaches involving community development and women empowerment have been proposed for fighting FGC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If people think about Maoist/anti-revisionist groups in countries such as Britain, they are often seduced by an impression of exoticism and the incompatibility of such groups with a more humdrum native left-wing culture. What is also significant about such groups is the depth of their ideological inheritance from the Soviet-inspired world communist movement. This is particularly clear in relation to such groups' cultural criticism. Cultural products such as folk or pop music tended to be reduced to simplistic class designations (i.e. bourgeois art) and were often ruthlessly dismissed, sometimes for an apparent propensity to lead to fascism. Maoists called for a more political, communist art as an alternative, focused on serving the struggle for proletarian revolution. It's important to grasp that such criticism wasn't set apart from previous inner-CPGB debates on cultural issues, where the oppositional left that had been apparent in the party since the Second World War had retained the thrust of the Zhdanov doctrine emphasised by the party majority in the immediate post-war years. This article explores the aesthetic responses of a number of groups that developed during the first wave of international Maoism in the 1960s and measures them against inner-CPGB differences on art and culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the outcome of a study that investigated a Batswana cultural practice in the musical arts through performance costuming for females. The study focused on the musical practice and showed how it could be understood to promote sexism and patriarchal notions. The Batswana people, or Tswana for short, are located in the North West province of South Africa. The discourse in the article is presented against the backdrop of benevolent sexism (BS) and patriarchal theories. Sexism constructions in cultural and musical costume practices in the music of the Batswana people have not received any known research attention. The extant research centres on issues other than the subtle use of costumes as a cultural weapon of sexism against females in patriarchal communities. These issues include gender responsibilities and dominations, sexual dominations, patriarchal control, and so on. The current article illuminates the aesthetic principles of musical performance costuming as well as what the authors describe as "cultural" sexism underlying the musical practice, to assess its connection to BS and patriarchal practices of Batswana people. The authors also argue a possible connection of the cultural practice to notions which conflict with the intentions of the musical arts practice. Using field and participant observations, interviews, secondary sources and descriptive content analysis methods, the authors reveal notions of cultural sexism and patriarchal domination through the costumes worn by females in the Batswana music culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lev S. Vygotsky is one of the major figures of psychology; however, his deep engagement with the arts is less known. This is surprising, given the fact that the arts, and especially Shakespeare's Hamlet, are present throughout his career. In this article, we argue, first, that Hamlet was a major symbolic resource for Vygotsky in times of liminal transitions, and second, that it is this very deep experience of having been transformed by means of Hamlet that grounds his psychology of art, which aims precisely to show how Hamlet works as a "technique of emotions." Our demonstration is organized into three main movements. In Part 1, we retrace the historical and cultural context in which Vygotsky grew up as a young man. We emphasize his experiences of liminality and transitions, due to transformations of the social world and his own life. In Part 2, we examine Vygotsky's proposition itself through a close analysis of his Psychology of art. Finally, in Part 3, we further explicate the relation between art and life at play in Vygotsky's approach and relate this to Vygotsky's broader psychology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]