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In this paper, I explore my experience around teaching a digital game design and making postgraduate course in an intercultural setting in the UK Higher Education. I focus on how locality and disciplinary aspects create and mediate hierarchies of knowledges and practices that shape this kind of course, and how the intercultural setting studied here affords critical interrogations about the supposed universal nature of game design, as a field and as a practice. In particular, I examine an educational approach adopted in this course centred on the critical pedagogy notion of ‘cultural work’ and on philosophy of technology, rejecting mechanistic approaches to game design and making in favour of thinking with and through tools and processes. Through interviews with former students around their expectations about learning game design and making and their (changing) perspectives during this course, I explore how such an approach can create educational experiences for both students and game educators to build different (i.e. more critical and diverse) knowledge and practice foundations for those who will be working in/with games in the future as well as developing new vistas for understanding game design and making not as universal but as practices heavily informed by specific contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children were active participants in past village life and reconstructing their activities and social roles can provide important insights into domestic and economic dynamics at archaeological sites. In this paper, we use data from two excavated pithouse sites in the Mimbres region of southwestern New Mexico and data from cross-cultural studies of children's activities to explore children's roles and contributions to Mimbres pithouse society. This work seeks to build on work being done on children and childhood in other regions. Our data show that children were active and productive participants at these sites and their roles extended beyond just economic production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arguably the most sacred Islamic city, Mecca has long been a migration destination for Muslims. It has become the home to various diasporas over time. Born and raised in Mecca, members of these diasporic communities become transcultural as they retain aspects of their ancestral cultures while adopting the practices of Mecca's native Western Arabians and other diasporas amidst them. These diasporas put their transculturality to good use as mediators of cross-cultural encounters when millions of pilgrims congregate in Mecca to perform the Hajj each year. This paper is an ethnography of the longitudinal effects of migration. I discuss the Fatanis who perform various roles to ensure the pilgrims' successful and comfortable completion of the Hajj, especially their co-ethnic Malays from Southeast Asia. This study of the Fatani diaspora shows that culture is multifarious and dynamic, not homogenous, static, and exclusive. It is also an account of how migration transforms people and cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Against the prevailing outcomes-based education and the instrumentalization of education, a movement has arisen towards holistic education. This aims to go beyond objective measurement of the outcomes of education in order to treat the student as a whole person. In this paper, we shall examine some strands of education in Japan which in some way or another feature the idea of the whole person. This includes the tradition of clinical pedagogy, which originated in Kyoto University, Yukichi Shitahodo's educational anthropology (Kyoiku-Ningengaku), Kuniyoshi Obara's Zenjin Education (the education of the whole person) and holistic education. Notwithstanding the fact that such education is benevolent in intention, it can be miseducative in some respects. In the light of this, and with some reference to criticism of the idea of the whole person, we shall point to an alternative vision of education of the whole person following Cavell's Emersonian moral perfectionism – a perfectionism that is thoroughly anti-foundationalist and that transcends self-entrapment in circulatory discourse on the whole. In critical dialogue between the rich traditions of Japanese thought and the critical voice of liberalism raised from within the West, we hope to find a more nuanced answer to the question of how being a whole might make sense. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We draw on our lived experiences as faculty of communication studies from Asia, living and working in the United States, to explore how U.S. higher education constituted our identity as linguistic minorities. We also draw on tenets of collaborative autoethnography, producing insight on three levels of linguistic discrimination against non-standard English accents: institutional quality control of our accents/dialects, disciplinary requirements for publishing in English, and everyday communication with locals. The article highlights the value of collaborative autoethnography as a method of inquiry and reflection in a transnational context, providing a rare account of the ways in which international faculty members' experience resonates with and transforms local-born Southerners who also face discrimination for their stigmatized dialects. We critique the blind spot that privileges hegemonic English in our scholarly communication and propose listening-oriented communication pedagogy to empower voices from the margins within the academia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the challenges faced by migrant, refugee, and multicultural communities in Australia during the Covid-19 pandemic. It discusses the difficulties these communities encounter in accessing essential resources and the rise in racism and discrimination they experience. The article emphasizes the importance of understanding the long-term effects of these issues beyond the pandemic. It introduces a special issue that includes ten research articles examining the challenges faced by multicultural communities during the pandemic and offering recommendations for policymakers and practitioners. The articles delve into the experiences of multicultural communities in Australia, focusing on racism, health disparities, and policy responses. They highlight the types of racism Asian Australians face, the impact of racism on health and social outcomes, and the barriers to reporting racism. The role of far-right actors in perpetuating racism and the effects of anti-Chinese sentiment are also explored. The research underscores the need for improved data collection on racism and calls for culturally sensitive communication, increased representation, and collaborative approaches to address pandemic-related racism. The issue also discusses the experiences of older migrants, the role of digital media in fostering a sense of belonging, and the shortcomings of Australia's multicultural policies during the pandemic. Overall, the articles provide valuable insights into the challenges faced by multicultural communities and the necessity for inclusive and fair responses. [Extracted from the article]

Cultural diversity is an important feature of today's classrooms, where learners come from a wide range of cultural backgrounds. In order to teach every individual in an appropriate and motivating way, teachers need a wealth of knowledge, skills, and attitudes, and teacher training plays a major role in their acquisition. The present research was undertaken in order to gain a better understanding of how teacher training contributes to the development of pre-service teachers' culturally responsive competencies. Overall, the findings indicate that there are differences in the components of CRP-related competencies that teacher education programs deliver to prepare teachers for key aspects of multicultural education. Most of the courses are stand-alone courses, one semester long and only focus on one of the competence elements (eg attitude). We found only a limited number of courses that incorporated culturally responsive pedagogy as a long-term, comprehensive approach into their curriculum, and were thus able to develop the majority of competence elements related to CRP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined factors affecting customer intention to use facial recognition payment (FRP) in the restaurant industry. This study used data collected from 331 restaurant patrons residing in South Korea and 340 patrons in America. First, perceived ease of use, usefulness, and innovativeness positively affected attitude, while perceived risk negatively influenced attitude in both groups. Second, attitude had positive effects on desire and behavioral intentions, and desire had a positive impact on behavioral intentions in both groups. Lastly, the relationship between perceived ease of use and attitude was stronger in the American group, confirming the moderating effect of cultural differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the intersection of cultural heritage, migration, and identity politics. It discusses how traditional approaches to heritage have focused on institutional narratives and materiality, but a shift towards a performative approach has allowed for a focus on the actions and meaning-making of individuals and groups. The article also highlights the limited research on the cultural heritage engagement of migrants and the need to move away from national frames in heritage studies. It discusses the coloniality of power in heritage studies and the importance of decolonial perspectives in resisting domination. The article includes case studies from various regions, emphasizing the intercultural heritage of migrants beyond Europe. Overall, it aims to contribute to the theoretical and empirical discussion on the cultural heritage of people on the move and the link between heritage practices, interculturality, and identities. The text also discusses the concept of intercultural heritage and its various modes of understanding and engagement. It explores interculturality as symbolic heritage making, where minority heritage is often displayed in museums for mainstream society. It also discusses interculturality as a dialogue, where common historical identities and values are sought to create heritage that addresses everyone. Lastly, it examines interculturality as co-production, where diverse actors are involved in the heritage-making process. The text emphasizes the importance of recognizing the dynamic and negotiable nature of heritage practices and involving minority groups in the production and display of heritage. [Extracted from the article]