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While sport fandom can be assumed to be inclusive, a deeper exploration of discourses around fandom exposes alternative perspectives. Using the frameworks of cultural boundaries and critical discourse studies, we explored how sport fans use Twitter to create, maintain, and transform cultural boundaries of sport fandom. We used tweets from a season of the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team as a case. Data were collected via Visual Twitter Analytics software focusing on tweets containing #LetsRise and #BlueJays. From the larger data set, we selected 172 tweets to examine using critical discourse analysis and ideological structures of discourse. Findings demonstrate that discourses of loyalty, consumption, and unity have plural meanings and are used to draw boundaries that are simultaneously fluid and rigid. Thus, we argue that fans engage in an active process of determining who is and is not included in fan cultures through Twitter use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Béla Tuka started his career as a Hungarian academic, but later he transformed into a Slovak nationalist politician, and renamed himself Vojtech Tuka. In 1939, he became the prime minister of the Nazi-oriented Slovak State. This study intends to reveal, how national narratives struggled to interpret this life path. After national explanations of trespassing the cultural boundaries between Slovak and Hungarian national identity did not prove to be coherent and convincing, the memory of Vojtech Tuka has been disregarded by both (opposing) national groups, mutually, since it questions the organic existence of nations and their boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Seeing Others, sociologist Michéle Lamont argues that the way to heal our divided world is to see and recognize everyone's collective humanity. To make this argument, she utilizes insights from her past research and incorporates new data from 180 interviews conducted with Hollywood creatives, activists, and young people from around the United States since 2019. Lamont's main finding is that recognizing everyone's worth and dignity are vital to dissolve social, political, economic, and cultural boundaries between groups. For this to occur, narratives must be transformed so that everyone, especially those in marginalized groups, are truly seen. While the book provides valuable strategies to achieve this goal, I briefly discuss three challenges that make it difficult to transform narratives in our complex social world: (1) prevalence of misinformation; (2) engaging those who are out of touch with reality; and (3) navigating federal and state-level policy divides. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article interrogates the sweeping notion of ‘Persianate Sufism’ and its intersection with language, religion, and ethnicity in the context of Iran. It begins by tracing the origin of the Persianate World, a term first coined by Marshall Hodgson, and demonstrates how Iranian scholars and historians have exploited this concept to forge a Persian-centric reading of religious texts across Iran and beyond. We argue that the Persianate World echoes a Eurocentric and Orientalist model of knowledge that produces a skewed and exoticized representation of non-Persian histories and memories, thus overlooking their distinctive cultural presence, heritages, and contributions. Our research underlines Sufism as a vibrant and diverse spiritual tradition that transcends linguistic and cultural boundaries, embodying a rich array of dynamic expressions. Finally, our study invites a critical revision of the broad generalizations and cultural domination that the concept of the Persianate World entails. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In medieval times, Christians on the Iberian peninsula fought wars to expel Muslim rulers from Europe. This protracted conflict, known as the Reconquista, was concluded in 1492 when the last of the Muslim rulers surrendered. Less than a hundred years later, in 1565, the Spanish Empire's conquering impulse had carried it across two oceans into Southeast Asia, where Christian Spaniards, once again, confronted and fought against Islam. Though there are distinct differences between these two Christian-Muslim conflicts, there are also important similarities. As the Reconquista had done in Spain, Christian-Muslim conflicts in the Philippines—known as the Moro Wars—shaped local perceptions of Islam, established political and cultural boundaries, and attached personal loyalties to one or the other of these two global religions. This paper analyzes this process by focusing on two Christian conquests of Moros. The first of these was the conquest of Manila. When the Spanish arrived, Manila was a developing Moro settlement with ties to Islamic rulers on Borneo, Mindanao, and Jolo. Over several decades the Spanish gradually coopted Moro authority in Manila, and then finally expelled it through the prosecution of several conspirators involved in the Tondo conspiracy. This conquest established the political and cultural center of the colony and its emerging multiethnic colonial community. The second conquest happened on Min danao. Unlike the conquest of Manila, the conquest of Mindanao was never completed. Though the Spanish colony won several battles, Moro authority continued to thrive in the region. By focusing on the triumphal entry of a Spanish army following one of these victories, this paper shows how the constant Christian-Muslim conflict reaffirmed and gave personal meaning to the boundaries separating the Moros and the Christians in the archipelago. Together these two different conquests demonstrate how the revival of the Reconquista contributed to the creation of the Philippine colony. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of the heightened sensationalism in international press coverage of Kosovar foreign fighters (FFs), this study took a unique approach and it explored how domestic Kosovar media outlets distance FFs from mainstream culture in an attempt to uphold its positive societal image. Drawing upon a theoretical framework that integrates framing theory, social identity theory and integrated threat theory, this study investigates how Kosovar press coverage creates a distinction between the 'in-group' (Kosovar society) and the 'out-group' (FFs). Methodologically, the study employs content analysis and qualitative content analysis to systematically examine how Kosovo's five major media outlets frame the language, themes and narrative strategies surrounding the portrayal of FFs. The findings illustrate that, through specific framing techniques, the media not only categorizes FFs as external to Kosovo's cultural and ethical boundaries but also emphasises their portrayal as threats to the nation's security and values. The present study highlights the media's critical role in navigating the complexities of national identity, social representations and identity processes posed by the return of FFs, offering new insights into the relationship between media framing and societal perceptions within the context of global extremism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genesis and development of ethnic and national identities have been topics of continual interest and importance for historical research but, as taken for granted, may obscure the similarities between populations now recognized as separate groups and blur social and cultural boundaries between distinct sub-groups within a community. This article explores how the scope and application of identities as determined by "place" and by "people" as well as a combined emphasis on both place and people have evolved in the modern history of Northeast China, with broader implications for the study of Asia through comparison with other regions of the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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While considered relatively benign by some, child marriage is considered a profoundly problematic gender inequity issue. There are intensifying efforts to end child marriage and improve female wellbeing including campaigns that challenge the cultural boundaries of restrictive traditions. While many studies investigated child marriage and its drivers, behind the scene perceptions cannot be ignored. Given the sensitivity of the issue and to explore the public perspectives of child marriage, this study employed a qualitative content analysis by analyzing 105 comments attached to three posted Facebook reports on child marriage. These posts discussed the issue of child marriage and provided detailed reports of the significance of the issue and its effect on children and the society. A textual analysis of the comments regarding attitudes toward child marriage was conducted focusing on the latent content to elicit thematic aspects from the posted content. Four themes have emerged: conspiracy; false study/report; child marriage is acceptable; and ignorance. Outcomes recognize child marriage as an acceptable practice where such reports considered part of a greater conspiracy. Saturated with conspiracy ideation, females also had negative attitudes and supported child marriage. Given the influence of social media in the construction of public opinion, this study suggests the need to consider these views in constructing strategies to end child marriage. This study also highlighted the importance of online space as a significant source for studying public’s perspectives on culturally sensitive issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractThis study explored the lived experiences of heterosexual, Racialized-White couples with regards to issues of race and culture as couples crossed socially constructed racial and cultural boundaries. A constructivist grounded theory methodology was implemented, revealing three core themes that summarized the lived experiences where couples’ diverse races, ethnicities and cultures intersected. They included racialized experiences and emotions, managing and reconciling differences and challenges, and engendered strengths and opportunities. These findings were contextualized through an intersectional lens and discourses of coloniality, white supremacy, heteropatriarchy, and endogamy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines how tattoos are challenging and renegotiating social norms in the French workplace—from hiring to everyday work life—and the role of social media technology. The workplace reflects the complex interplay of relational and social processes that form societal attitudes. France remains a highly conservative and centralized national context traditionally resistant, due to its republican values, to external markers of identity, such as, for example, religious artifacts. The motivation for the present article is an exploration of how the nuanced interplay between technology, social factors, and organizational attitudes, impact on the gradually changing perceptions and acceptance of visible tattoos in Gallic work contexts. Using theories of socio-technical systems and identity-driven consumption framed by the postmodern concepts of liminality and communitas, we employ a mixed-methods approach to examine tattoo consumption and acceptance across a range of workplaces in France. Findings suggest that social norms, interacting with social media peer pressure, continue to push cultural boundaries, with online consumer behavior frequently shaping offline consumer behavior and employee/employer attitudes. These processes are often informed by the pursuit of "self" and reflect several "tribalistic" aspects of society. Through analysis, we articulate and contribute six interpretations of how tattooing is partially accepted by recruiters in the workplace in France. We also contribute to the understanding of liminality and communitas as applied to socio-technical spaces. Overall, we reveal insights that can inform researchers, managers, and practitioners in anticipating future changes and preparing for the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The perception of Blaise Pascal by the official Soviet culture of the 1920–1930s has not yet become the subject of a special study. At a new historical turn, the scientific and spiritual legacy of the French thinker was inevitably subject to revision. The authors set themselves the task of revealing the peculiarities of constructing the image of Pascal and interpreting his ideas in the society of mass intellectual culture. The main material for the article was information about Pascal, which a Soviet citizen could obtain from encyclopedic dictionaries, textbooks, popular science articles and periodicals. It is concluded that the personality and works of the French genius of the 17th century were important in arranging a dialogue between the new Soviet culture and traditional European culture in general, and the French culture in particular. In the 1920–1930s the “Soviet traditionalism” was emerging, i. e. the practice of the Soviet state to create boundaries of loyalty for traditionalism, which, first of all, affects intellectual culture. The European bourgeois culture and the specific case of Pascal were inscribed into the new coordinates. The “boundaries of loyalty” set for the legacy of the French genius brought to the fore Pascal the scientist and Pascal the philosophizing writer. The emphasis on the Descartes/Pascal opposition, which refl ects the spiritual, philosophical, cultural and ideological confl icts of the new Soviet state, is meaningful. In this conflict, Pascal became a kind of “hidden man”, whose spiritual experience is disguised under the proclaimed atheistic mundanity. However, the essence of the internal structure of Pascal’s personality turns out to be close to the asceticism and anti-bourgeois nature of the Soviet culture. Pascal becomes a role model for the Soviet people in terms of shaping themselves on the path to a bright and just society.

Over the last few decades, the English language has become prevalent throughout the world in the domains of international diplomacy, business, research, and technology and is becoming increasingly important in many other areas. Much research into the use of English as a lingua franca has focused on its role in fostering communication across linguistic and cultural boundaries. Recently, however, concerns have been raised about the additional cognitive load that having to function in a non-native language can place on interlocutors. In an international survey, 883 professional language mediators (i.e., translators, conference interpreters, and community interpreters) provided details about their experiences dealing with the English produced by native vs. non-native speakers and identified features and difficulties associated with processing the respective input as well as their coping strategies. Although they acknowledged that both native and non-native speakers produce English that is difficult to deal with, the language mediators largely agreed that the latter were much more likely to do so, with vocabulary use, word choices, and sentence structures identified as particularly problematic. The main coping strategies for all three groups were to really concentrate on the message being conveyed, try to improve the formulation of it for the target audience, and intervene in the communication situation for clarification if possible. Self-regulation and reliance on information external to the situation were also mentioned as very important. Although almost half of the participants said that they preferred to work with native speaker produced output, many expressed no preference. The study results have important implications for various situations involving nonnative speakers of the language being used for communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research has demonstrated that individuals from Western cultures exhibit categorical perception (CP) in their judgments of emotional faces. However, the extent to which this phenomenon characterises the judgments of facial expressions among East Asians remains relatively unexplored. Building upon recent findings showing that East Asians are more likely than Westerners to see a mixture of emotions in facial expressions of anger and disgust, the present research aimed to investigate whether East Asians also display CP for angry and disgusted faces. To address this question, participants from Canada and China were recruited to discriminate pairs of faces along the anger-disgust continuum. The results revealed the presence of CP in both cultural groups, as participants consistently exhibited higher accuracy and faster response latencies when discriminating between-category pairs of expressions compared to within-category pairs. Moreover, the magnitude of CP did not vary significantly across cultures. These findings provide novel evidence supporting the existence of CP for facial expressions in both East Asian and Western cultures, suggesting that CP is a perceptual phenomenon that transcends cultural boundaries. This research contributes to the growing literature on cross-cultural perceptions of facial expressions by deepening our understanding of how facial expressions are perceived categorically across cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws on the understudied oral testimonies collected by Guanbao Shen and Ling Li in 1997 and 1998 to discuss the diasporic practices and cultural identifications of Shanghainese seamen in Liverpool, a community that has received less scholarly attention than other overseas Chinese communities. The Shanghainese seafarers are marked by three important characteristics—provenance, profession, and intermarriage, adding to the diversity and uniqueness of their diasporic practices. The discussions revolve around the wider social meanings and purposes of Chinese food-centered practices, return to the home country and negotiation of multiple boundaries among the Shanghainese seafarers. It is argued that the prosaic and festive eating and cooking of Chinese food is employed to (re)create ethnicity, resume the state of relatedness and strengthen the intergenerational bond, and that the return to the origin of birth could potentially disrupt an idealized and imagined conception of the homeland. Shanghainese seamen's individual and collective negotiation of ethnic boundaries features complicated entanglement and thus permeability and fluidity, which echoes Ien Ang's call for moving beyond diaspora into hybridity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review examines cultural production and consumption through the lens of race and ethnicity. Although the sociological study of race, ethnicity, and cultural production and consumption (RECPC) is growing, it is scattered across various subfields. This review aims to provide a more comprehensive understanding of how race and ethnicity intersect with cultural production and consumption by bringing this scholarship together. I discuss five dominant themes in the scholarship: classification, valuation and evaluation, representations, market outcomes, and cultural capital. The article concludes with implications for future sociological research on RECPC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine had a significant impact on the Russian-speaking identity, reformulating existing linguistic and cultural boundaries and shaping Russian speakers' self-perception and vision of the world. We focus on families with children who are trying to balance their inner and outer life in order to stabilize the positive environment of the upbringing process and analyze how adults explain to the children the need to learn the Russian, Ukrainian and other languages. This can shed light on the challenges and strategies employed in alleviating prejudiced attitudes against immigrants' languages and cultures which can cause alienation from the roots in the one-and-a-half and second generation. The research questions were: How has the war altered language policies in families with different ethnic backgrounds? What changes in home language use strategies do parents propose? Material and methods: Material drawn from numerous posts of Facebook discussions have been analyzed with the help of thematic analysis. Results and discussion: We observe that in many multilingual families with Ukrainian roots the war has led to a greater emphasis on the Ukrainian language use as an attempt to reinforce ties to their cultural heritage and express support for the country. Russian is increasingly viewed as the language of the aggressor; moreover, Russian culture is devalued and rejected. Some families have become more open to new language learning, especially the languages of their new environment, and try to identify themselves as multicultural and multiethnic personalities. On the other hand, in those families where parents work or study in the fields in which Russian is widely used, adults prioritize the development of Russian language skills in their children in order to improve their future educational and professional opportunities. We explore attitudes and challenges faced by parents in Russian-speaking families, as they demonstrate the complexities of identity formation and language transmission while making salient the interplay between parents' personal experiences, their aspirations for their children's cultural identity, and the pressures of integration into the local society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ethnic boundaries and friendship are intricately related in Malaysia. Many concerns have arisen about this issue, especially when it could indicate inter-ethnic acceptance, tolerance, and understanding. The objective of this paper is to discuss the importance of ethnic boundaries in Malaysian youth friendships. The data were drawn from ethnographic fieldwork conducted through in-depth interviews with Malaysian students in two universities located inside and outside Malaysia’s geographical territory. A comparative study was selected due to the possibility that variations might exist across Malaysia’s boundary. Through a comparative analysis in Penang in Malaysia and Glasgow in Scotland, this article demonstrates how, when, and why ethnicity becomes essential within Malaysian friendships. The findings demonstrate that the respondents’ friendships worked within cultural boundaries—religion and language—but at different levels depending on the location of the interview. It can be inferred that ethnicity and its boundaries within the friendship are not fixed but are socially constructed, maintained, and heightened depending on social actors’ particular needs, situations, and socio-political context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The substantial and continuous influx of Romanian emigrants who have maintained ties with their homeland and/or engaged in a form of migratory commute contribute to the cultural exchanges evident in social values. The current study presents an analysis conducted as part of the research on the dynamics of social values in Romanian communities in the United States. A total of 18 semi-structured interviews were conducted online with stable members of Romanian communities in the American diaspora. The qualitative data from the interviews was processed using a coding software, which helped discover indicators of values as important topics for migrants. The analysis of the interviews revealed the existence of two categories of values with a significant impact at the community level and implications beyond the geographical, economical, and cultural boundaries. These were identified as materialist-economic and cultural-identity. The two lenses through which migrants view their country of origin afford a deeper understanding of the process of change at the level of mentality and values. Also, the data reveals the stages through which these changes occur, and the types of connections established between the Romanians who emigrated and those remaining in Romania. There are three key factors in the process of changing social values specific to Romanian immigrant communities in America: triggering (related to well-being, such as values related to basic needs), mediating (related to cultural values, valuing tradition and customs) and repurposing (an alternative interpretation of values in the context of solving the signaled problems). These factors facilitate the rapid change of values for migrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multicultural interactions bring individuals from varied cultural backgrounds together, leading to situations that either foster or impede social cohesion. This issue is critical as social cohesion significantly influences quality-of-life (QOL), which, together with marketing systems, forms the core of macromarketing. Our research contributes by introducing "boundary interweaving" – a novel concept in boundary-making strategy that aims to improve QOL and cultural well-being within marketing systems. Boundary interweaving is a process wherein two or more cultural boundaries interweave together to create a new, unique cultural boundary. Integrating marketing systems and boundary-making theories, this study on ethnic minority marketing shifts from the traditional single-level focus to explore multi-level interactions among market actors. Employing discourse analysis of a documentary and news articles, particularly focusing on food narratives from wet markets and adjacent hawker stalls, we examine interactions between market actors consisting of government, politicians, mass media, sellers, and consumers. Our findings reveal that interactions among market actors exemplify boundary interweaving within the realms of space, language, and foodways. Rather than delineating us and them among different ethnic groups, this paper demonstrates that joint efforts by market actors across macro-, meso-, and microlevels can facilitate the integration, social inclusion and coexistence of diverse ethnic cultures within the marketing system. Boundary interweaving fosters cultural well-being, promotes a sense of belonging and facilitates social cohesion among different ethnic groups. This study highlights the influence of culture on the functioning, growth, and evolution of a marketing system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Janice Norwood's book, "Victorian Touring Actresses: Crossing Boundaries and Negotiating the Cultural Landscape," provides a comprehensive and well-researched account of the lives and careers of Victorian actresses. The book goes beyond the title's focus on touring actresses to explore the challenges and choices faced by all female theatre professionals during this time period. Norwood's study draws on extensive archival evidence to reconstruct the working conditions, repertoires, and financial rewards of these actresses, as well as their progression into theatre management. The book also examines the impact of changing material and cultural conditions on working women, such as legal barriers, sexual harassment, and the logistics of childcare. Overall, "Victorian Touring Actresses" offers a nuanced and empathetic understanding of the experiences of these actresses and their contributions to theatre history. [Extracted from the article]

This article analyses the figure of the "fabricator" within the complex ancient discourses that produce and limit authorial status. We map Roman discourses of textual fabrication in three distinct yet intersecting deployments: the fabrication of documents, the fabrication of texts, and the fabrication of meaning. A wide range of sources from the high Roman empire illuminate how elites used this discourse of fabrication to characterize forms of textual production, invention, and interpretation as illicit. The discourse of fabrication, with its contrasts between elite and banausic skills and spaces, served to manufacture and maintain differences between elite intellectuals and the low-status workers who supported them. Accusations of fabrication were a discursive practice used to dismiss individuals, deride arguments, and (re)produce cultural and social boundaries in the Roman Mediterranean. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A cultural boundary between Late Mississippi period groups has long been observed in the Yazoo Basin corresponding with the mouth of the Arkansas River. However, similarities in mound site structure, settlement location, and processes associated with Mississippianization have sometimes led researchers to downplay these differences, effectively treating the Yazoo Basin as a single physiographic and cultural unit. We examine the idea that subtle differences in physiography within the Yazoo Basin can account for observed differences in material culture. We find that while physiography explains site location and may have influenced how Mississippian people interacted, it does not explain residential patterns, mound site use, or interactions with people from the American Bottom during the "Cahokia horizon." Instead, we argue that Mississippi period mound sites in the northern and southern Yazoo Basin differed fundamentally in their functions, and that these differences are rooted in Late Woodland Coles Creek and Baytown notions of dwelling and ceremonial practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines how the life experiences of a Tibetan female thangka painter, Lutsojam (known as Lutso), are intertwined with the meaning of her artworks, in particular, with the thangka painting, "Avalokiteśvara with Mind at Rest," which I followed from its birth in Amdo Rebgong (Qinghai, China), to its visit to an art gallery in Beijing, and finally to its entry into the collection of an ethnographic museum in New York. Through painting thangkas and training her own apprentices (especially female apprentices), Lutso is able to support her family, empower other Tibetan women, and authenticate a religious identity that has been elided in the official narrative of Tibetan thangka art. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses two documentaries, "Burning" and "A Fire Inside," that explore different aspects of the Australian 'Black Summer' bushfires and their impact. "Burning" focuses on the policy failures of Australian federal politicians to confront climate change and the cost of these failures for bushfire-affected communities. "A Fire Inside" highlights the impact of the crisis on firefighters and emergency services, exploring themes such as volunteerism, trauma, and community resilience. The article suggests that these documentaries can guide and inspire organizational scholars to rethink and reinvigorate their research agenda on crisis, particularly in terms of adjusting planning and governance systems, nuancing government-led community recovery, and rethinking practice adaptation processes. The article emphasizes the need for scholars to contribute to the public debate around pressing societal issues and elevate the impact of their work. [Extracted from the article]

Issue and Argument: What are the real and potential boundaries of cultural enterprise? How can we restore economic value and, at the same time, cultural value through the definition of a sector that seems to have no fixed borders? This paper intends to open up a reflection on the boundaries of the cultural industry, the nature of the chosen business and how the sector can become the hub in the dynamics of local development, innovation and competitiveness within the territory of reference. The concentric circles model will be the basis for a strategic mapping of the cultural and creative sector, realized starting from the funding calls for the sector in the Italian Veneto region. The Throsby's model is derived from the principle that cultural content is free from incorporating creative ideas into the production of goods, and that such ideas arise from the primary arts (music, theatre, dance, visual arts and literature). These make up the heart of the cultural industries, while the surrounding circles represent the ideas and influences that these creative activities radiate. The results of the strategic mapping will be put into dialogue with a new idea of entrepreneurship, which in part excludes the Core creative arts, i.e. the primary arts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Tao Te Ching (TTC) is one of the most-translated texts next to the Bible. More than just a Chinese religiophilosophical classic that only deserves scholarly translations, the TTC and its ever-growing acceptance as popular literature deserves more attention within the realm of translation studies both domestically and abroad. Despite knowing no Chinese, Ursula K. Le Guin, the legendary literary icon, published her popular yet gender-conscious TTC translation as a nonscholar in 1997. The present study traces her lineage of TTC interpretation across cultural boundaries to arrive at the overlooked implications of a TTC "translation" by a world-renowned translator" who knows no Chinese, exploring her special case among myriad TTC translations in a renewed trend of Lao Tz studies (laoxue ) that no longer sees historically and culturally significant or "serious" texts only through scholarly lenses, but also from the viewpoint of non-scholarly or "popular" literature. This is achieved by positing Le Guin's unique case within the context of interpretive genealogy in the international extension of the Chinese study of laoxue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the implementation of Connected Art Practice in diverse learning environments, serving as an immersive entry point for students and researchers to develop collaborative transdisciplinary skills. This innovative approach integrates audio, educational, and sustainability research, employing sound-interaction methods applied to tangible objects. Participants engage in exploring the interplay between objects representing interests or values, fostering the creation of a visual and linguistic network of interconnectedness. Inspired by artistic research, particularly Dérive, the practice provides experiences of connectedness to others and the environment, intertwined with reflections and discussions that foster a community of inquiry. This community collaboratively designs shared practices or projects, encouraging a holistic approach to transformative learning, addressing heterogeneity, complexity, authenticity, critical awareness, and emotional connectedness. All three case studies utilized qualitative analysis in artistic and academic settings. Datasets were collected in case study two from group discussion, participant observation, press releases and documentary photographs. In case studies one and three, audio–visual recordings, participant observation, field notes, and photo-documentation were collected. This study demonstrates that "Connected Art Practice" enhances competences in artistic expression, communication, and collaboration across disciplinary, social, and cultural boundaries. Specifically, it contributes to creative reinvention, personal sharing, self-reflection, and the capacity to co-design diverse projects. The paper concludes by discussing findings and pointing out the essential qualities of Connected Art, providing insights and resources for educational and research institutions seeking to foster transdisciplinary engagement and transformative learning in their curricular activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to examine the role of social pain in the unmaking and remaking of urban subjectivities in a context of cultural change. I argue that doubt and uncertainty generated by shifting cultural boundaries underpins a drive to reassert extant social order, including gendered expectations, generating pain in the unmaking of subjectivities for those who are different or 'other'. In the case of this study, the different are single, middle-aged, women in Delhi, standing outside normative familial structures and forced to answer the question 'what's wrong with you?'. However, everyday practices of repair and 'swallowing' pain could also work to remake a sense of self. Demonstrating invention as well as the politics of pain in their reclamations of space, these 'wrong' women reconfigured subjectivity as a form of cosmopolitanism often defined in opposition to 'parochial' others, particularly male migrant workers and cultural nationalists, who are made to lie beyond imagined urbane boundaries. The mirroring of exclusions highlights Elaine Scarry's work on the incommunicability of pain that results, under conditions of neo-liberal and patriarchal social relations, in both women and working-class men being excluded from city spaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the 16th to the 19th centuries, Western medicine emerged in China and was considered dangerous by Chinese residents. Relatedly, Chinese medical practitioners have attempted to use knowledge based on traditional Chinese medicine to explain the principles of Western medicine. From the 19th to 20th centuries, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) was introduced to the United States, and American residents also described it as dangerous; they believed that TCM could only be accepted after scientific verification and explanation. This article uses the method of historical anthropology to explain these phenomena using boundaries as an analytical concept. This article finds that when foreign medicine crosses borders, it causes the disorganization of local classification systems. When a local classification system cannot provide a suitable location for foreign medicine, such medicine is easily regarded as dangerous by residents. The key to solving this problem is to use local classification systems to reinterpret foreign medicine. Reinterpreted by these local classification systems, foreign medicine can gain legitimacy within local societies. Based on this, the current article attempts to illustrate not only that science is a classification method but also that the boundary between science and nonscience is cultural in a sense, thereby undertaking corresponding cultural functions in daily life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores spatial, social and cultural boundaries in the hammams of the city of Marseille (France) based on the study of practices and representations of cleanliness, in relation to the spatial configurations of bathhouses and their location in the city. By adopting a conception of the frontier as a 'space' - physical or symbolic - where circulations and separations take place, I will question the way in which the hammams translate within them the boundaries of the society in which they are located. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many anthropologists have now adopted a relational view of the culture concept. Much research has shown that, far from being bounded or self-replicating, cultures emerge through interactions between social Others. These findings are particularly important to research on borderlands and peripheries, where communities routinely encounter wide-ranging social and political diversity. We present ceramic frequencies alongside petrographic analysis from the Late Woodland component at Esseneca (38OC20) to illustrate two main points: (1) pottery types previously understood as culture historical isolates co-occur in parts of Upstate South Carolina, and (2) potters collected clays from two main geologic formations near the site. This research shows that communities in the region traveled freely, crossing cultural boundaries while acquiring potting clays. We suggest that this level of interaction between disparate social groups laid the foundation for some aspects of Mississippianization in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the link between illness and racialized difference in the medical manga Kirihito sanka (1970–71; Ode to Kirihito, 2006) by Japan’s “God of Manga,” Tezuka Osamu (1928–89). Centering on a fictional disease that physically transforms its victims into human-canine hybrids, Kirihito sanka illustrates how easily ethno-racial stereotypes can inform discourses on disease, and how discrimination and racism are illnesses without national or cultural boundaries. As such, the manga is a sterling example of Tezuka’s gekiga-inspired works of the 1970s that evolved to tell more literary and socially resonant stories reflecting the author’s racial politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the discussion of international student mobility, virtual exchange(s) (VE) become increasingly important. Similar to on-site exchanges, VEs aim to provide students with an international experience and transcend geographical, social, and cultural boundaries. While students' experiences with VEs have been presented repeatedly, this paper focuses on an aspect that features less prominently in the literature: the perceptions of a VE from the perspective of the facilitating team. We report on our experiences, interactions and reflections as supporting teacher educators in a VE project between German and New Zealand pre-service English teachers and New Zealand students of German. We employ the collaborative research approach of duoethnography to critically reflect on our experiences and practices with the VE as well as to portray our reflections on duoethnography as our chosen research approach. Our findings are based on continuous individual and collaborative written reflections throughout the project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indirect translation, criticized for impurity, played a pivotal role in introducing Russian literature to fin-de-siècle Italy. Initial Italian translations of Russian classics stemmed from French translations, with France serving as a key hub for Russian literary reception in Europe. This article delves into the first Italian translation of "Crime and Punishment" to explore the nuances of this process. It examines the trade-offs--what was lost in translation--and highlights how the mediation through French translation paradoxically aided the reception of Dostoevsky in late 19th-century Italy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blending literary and cultural studies, the essay discusses the manners in which Jhumpa Lahiri's literary universe constructs a gradual unfolding of a layered transcultural vision. The paper argues that in the shift from fictions of migration to autobiographical narratives of self-redefinition, the Bengali-American author advances cultural scenarios of transformation that enable the reshaping of cultural identities through the transcendence of fixed cultural loyalties. Invoking perceived lacks in their native cultural traditions and intuiting the incompleteness of cultures, her characters are haunted by the urge to cross cultural boundaries in order to gain a sense of personal fulfilment. Ultimately, Lahiri herself replicates this pattern as she relocates to Italy and writes in a new language (Italian). The last stage in Lahiri's transcultural scenario is represented by an attempt to dissociate cultural specificity from the notion of identity, as she takes refuge in the realm of abstraction through minimalist aesthetics. Relying on a close reading of her texts, the essay will scrutinise the author's peculiar outlook on transculturality, which appears to embrace various cultural spaces while seemingly avoiding specific attachments. The analysis aims to establish whether Lahiri succeeds in transgressing the very idea of cultural belonging in her quest for a freeing path. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study argues, through a series of close readings, that female book knowledge resists unified interpretation in Emily Brontë's Wuthering Heights (1847), contradicting the widely-held Victorian assumption according to which discursive freedom is an exclusively male bastion of privilege. It instead concedes that self-instruction in the novel crosses cultural boundaries and perpetuates an ideological hegemony through the book as an agent of reconciliation. Book-knowledge in the novel is not the exclusive preserve of men, but a source of creativity for both ladies and ladies' maids. Language and narrative technique, the study reveals, serve to unveil contrasts between servant and gentle folk, fashionable and popular manners, enforced and self-propelled reading. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on Peter Beilharz's role as an interlocutor and his approach to fostering friendships through intellectual engagement, particularly in a regional setting like Mildura. It explores how Beilharz embraced the cultural dynamics of Mildura, transcending geographical and cultural barriers, and sheds light on his cooperative ethos in academia, emphasizing the value he placed on relationships and sharing of ideas.

Scholars of contemporary Christianity have long noted the importance of sacred music in constructing faith communities and distinguishing religious actors from one another. Drawing on historical and ethnographic evidence gathered over 16 months in Johannesburg, South Africa, I examine the role of music in contributing to the Christian identity of conservative evangelicals and in mediating their relationship with religious others. For the interdenominational, multiracial network of conservative Christians with whom I worked, music sung during weekly church services was carefully curated to meet elders' pastoral aims informed by the conventions of orthodox Christian theology, yet it was also a site of tension and innovation as efforts to appeal to wider demographics were implemented. The palpable contrast between this music style and that of more charismatic evangelical churches was a point of implicit social commentary, semiotically standing in for the spectre of dangerous religious difference. This ethnographic research illustrates the power of embodied, sonic "feeling" to maintain cultural boundaries in South Africa's heterogeneous religious soundscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tyranny and wars can be seen as something of a self-propagating system in which wars are fought to overcome tyranny, leaving behind unresolved social forces and power dynamics that set up the next episode of tyranny. Wars can both challenge and promote desirable human qualities and sow the seeds of beneficial change from what has been learned, but the results depend on effective and empathetic communication that crosses cultural boundaries and includes marginalized voices--especially those most closely affected by war itself. Of particular interest and significance are stories that reveal the roots of moral conflict through moral injuries or episodes of experience that call into question the "rightness" of actions on the basis of commonly held values and beliefs. This article proposes conceptual models to help bridge existing gaps in communication and empathy between members of the military and veterans and others who may serve as interpreters, as a way of enhancing the capacity for an informed and engaged global citizenry to serve as witness to both individual- and system-level effects of war and tyranny. The exploration here is intentionally cross-disciplinary and includes concepts from sociology, psychology, history, geopolitics, phenomenology, somatics and physiology, and communication, all framed by Adlerian principles of "in-divisible" psychology. Conclusions include further thoughts on how to expand empathic space for alternative approaches to war and tyranny as well as an invitation to the Adlerian community to join (and help facilitate) the conversation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How voluntary associations promote social interaction across difference and contribute to building diverse communities are questions of relevance in Italy and beyond. To be successful, associations must earn and maintain reputations as groups worth joining. To do so can be challenging, given that they bring together people with different life experiences and languages. To thrive, groups must remain flexible and adaptive. This article addresses an under-considered type of voluntary association that contributes to building relationships and shared sense of community across cultural boundaries: the multicultural social club. The report is based upon early findings from an on-going ethnographic study in Puglia concerning the aspirations, activities, and life-cycles of multicultural clubs. It describes how members of one organization - The Philosopher's Table - launched themselves on a path of reflection and reinvigoration during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their objectives were to discover ways better to serve existing members, assist the community, and increase membership. Among the club's noteworthy characteristics is that it includes locally-born Italians and expatriates in nearly equal number. Expatriates rarely receive attention in discussions of diverse communities in Italy. Findings from this project help address that knowledge gap, contribute to current interest in conviviality in multicultural settings, and extend understandings of the dynamics and life-cycles of social leisure groups that are diverse by design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Boundary, which includes broad and multiple meanings in the city, conceived as natural and built, is not defined as an obstacle but perceived as the focus of interaction. By this means the concept of boundary offers a new perspective in physical and social context. This study aims to explain the changes in social, cultural and social boundaries that occur in public spaces and housing typologies with a focus on public-private oppositions interpreted through conceptual discussions. The case study is Amasya, a city in Turkey, which has historical and natural elements defining the boundary spaces with the effect of new planning regulations and shifts in the identity of the city caused by new urbanization. By reading the morphological development and boundaries of the city through its interacted spaces and interpreting the changes in spatial structures; it is aimed to understand the transformation processes of the city revealing the public-private uses examined through the unique example of Amasya. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the literary representation of Northeastern India in Mamang Dai's "The Black Hill," exploring how the novel transcends time to depict the historical and cultural complexities of the region. Topics include the fusion of modern language with historical narratives, the socio-political significance of Northeastern states amid neighboring nations, and Dai's narrative techniques in dramatizing the collision between traditional and modern cultures.

In this chapter, we outline the research presented by each of the contributors, who used narrative inquiry approaches that were grounded in long-term research, to examine teacher experiences of cross-cultural teaching. The authors write about cross-cultural experiences that cross temporal, spatial, and social-personal dimensions. Woven into teaching and learning experiences set across time and context were interactions with colleagues, peers, and community members that offered insight into rationale for pedagogical decisions about ways in which practices and curricular materials may be mismatched or well aligned, or unfolded with tension in their current professional contexts. This crossing of time, context, and across social-personal interactions added complexity in ways that highlight the need for research methodologies that support examination of experience that unfolded across time, space, and social-personal dimensions. The authors elaborate upon ways in which a narrative inquiry approached provided a theoretical foundation to highlight complexities and reveal nuances of cross-cultural teacher experiences. The cross-cultural features in these chapters, whereby teachers cross cultural boundaries when they assumed teaching positions in communities culturally different from those in which they themselves were educated and certified. We argue for the need for cross-cultural comparative narrative inquiry approach, that help to reveal complexities of these cross-cultural teaching and learning as a fitting research approach to document and to analyze complexities underlying and informing understanding of teacher knowledge in cross-cultural teaching contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on Francio Guadeloupe's book "Black Man in the Netherlands: An Afro-Antillean Anthropology," discussing its unique blend of personal narrative and scholarly analysis to address hopeful grassroots politics amid anti-Black racism. It covers Guadeloupe's exploration of everyday decoloniality, critiquing antiracist discourse and advocating for multicultural convivialities while reflecting on the challenges and potentials of urban Blackness in combating racism in the Netherlands.

The earliest European carvings, made of mammoth ivory, depict animals, humans, and anthropomorphs. They are found at Early Aurignacian sites of the Swabian Jura in Germany. Despite the wide geographical spread of the Aurignacian across Europe, these carvings have no contemporaneous counterparts. Here, we document a small, intriguing object, that sheds light on this uniqueness. Found at the Grotte des Gorges (Jura, France), in a layer sandwiched between Aurignacian contexts and dated to c. 36.2 ka, the object bears traces of anthropogenic modifications indicating intentional carving. Microtomographic, microscopic, three-dimensional roughness and residues analyses reveal the carving is a fragment of a large ammonite, which was modified to represent a caniformia head decorated with notches and probably transported for long time in a container stained with ochre. While achieving Swabian Jura-like miniaturization, the Grotte des Gorges specimen displays original features, indicating the craftsman emulated ivory carvings while introducing significant technical, thematic, and stylistic innovations. This finding suggests a low degree of cultural connectivity between Early Aurignacian hunter-gatherer groups in the production of their symbolic material culture. The pattern conforms to the existence of cultural boundaries limiting the transmission of symbolic practices while leaving space for the emergence of original regional expressions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]