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Cultural Content (cultural + content)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Humanities and Social Sciences50%

Selected Abstracts

Effects of superstitious beliefs on consumer novelty seeking and independent judgment making: Evidence from China

JOURNAL OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR, Issue 6 2008
Monica D. Hernandez
Cultural content has been examined in consumer adoption of new products, whereas the relationship between enduring cultural beliefs and adoption remains unexplored. In this study, proactive superstitious behaviors (e.g., carrying a lucky charm) and passive superstitious beliefs (e.g., belief in fate) were empirically tested as antecedents of consumer novelty seeking (CNS) and consumer independent judgment making (CIJM). The results suggest that proactive superstitious beliefs positively influence CNS, whereas passive beliefs negatively influence CNS. Only passive superstitious beliefs positively influence CIJM. Results also suggest that previous superstition scales are incomplete and fail to reflect contemporary thinking about superstitious beliefs. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]

Participatory Communication with Social Media

CURATOR THE MUSEUM JOURNAL, Issue 1 2008
Angelina Russo
This marks a shift in how museums publicly communicate their role as custodians of cultural content and so presents debate around an institution's attitude towards cultural authority. It also signifies a new possible direction for museum learning. This article reports on a range of initiatives that demonstrate how participatory communication via social media can be integrated into museum practices. It argues that the social media space presents an ideal opportunity for museums to build online communities of interest around authentic cultural information, and concludes with some recent findings on and recommendations for social media implementation. [source]

Stereotyping in the Representation of Narrative Texts Through Visual Reformulations

FOREIGN LANGUAGE ANNALS, Issue 3 2003
Article first published online: 31 DEC 200, Melina Porto MA
Two hundred nineteen visual reformulations produced in response to three narrative texts about Christmas celebrations were analyzed (one in Spanish, the subjects' native tongue, and two in English as a foreign language). Subjects were Argentine college students (prospective teachers and translators of English, Caucasian, mostly female, middle-class) between 19 and 21 years of age enrolled in English Language II at the National University of La Plata in Argentina. Stereotypes in the visual reformulations were classified into two large groups: those corresponding to the native culture and those referring to the target (alien) culture. Stereotypes were further classified into three categories of reference: main characters (personality and/or physical appearance), the Christmas celebration itself, and the storyline. A selection of typical visual reformulations is analyzed here. In general, the visual reformulations did not sufficiently capture the cultural content of the texts and embodied a superficial approach plagued with stereotypes. The students' perceptions of otherness were limited to what was exotic or exciting and did not reflect genuine efforts to become familiar with what was strange. The study thus revealed the learners' inability to transcend their cultural biases and points to an urgent need to address stereotypes in the classroom. [source]

Rockshelter sedimentation in a dynamic tropical landscape: Late Pleistocene,Early Holocene archaeological deposits in Kitulgala Beli-lena, southwestern Sri Lanka

GEOARCHAEOLOGY: AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL, Issue 6 2009
Nikos Kourampas
Kitulgala Beli-lena, a rockshelter in gneiss in humid tropical southwestern Sri Lanka, was inhabited by Late Pleistocene,Early Holocene (>31,000,7880 B.P.) hunter-gatherers who made geometric microliths and exploited rainforest resources. Micromorphological analysis of a ca. 3-m-thick succession of diamictic loams, clays, and breccia with cultural content suggests that relative contribution of episodic colluviation and roof fall, water seepage through joints and diverse human activity varied through time. Facies changes across the profile reflect monsoon weakening ca. 20,000,16,000 cal B.P. and abrupt intensification ca. 15,700 cal B.P., on the wane of the global Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Post-depositional modification included clay, sesquioxide, and minor phosphate translocation; termite and other arthropod bioturbation; and clast weathering on the rockshelter floor. Human input (tools and tool-making refuse, reworked charcoal and associated combustion by-products) is markedly higher in sediments younger than ca. 15,700 cal B.P., suggesting intensification of site use immediately after the LGM. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]

A Hidden Curriculum in Language Textbooks: Are Beginning Learners of French at U.S. Universities Taught About Canada?

MODERN LANGUAGE JOURNAL, Issue 2 2009
CAROL A. CHAPELLE
This study investigated a hidden curriculum in published language teaching materials by tabulating the number of instances that Canada was mentioned in 9 French textbooks and their accompanying workbooks and CD,ROMs. The materials were used at large public universities in the northern United States. For the present study, 2 raters, a Québécois student and an American student of French, found that, on average, 15.3% of the analyzed sections of the textbooks, 6.5% of the workbook sections, and 29.9% of the sections in the CD,ROMs contained Canadian content. Based on a transnational view of culture, which suggests that cultural content in language materials should be chosen in view of local issues (Risager, 2007), I argue that Canada should play a larger role in French teaching materials used in the northern United States. In particular, increased Canadian content might help to create needs for and interest in French, foster learning about the nonneutrality of language, and stimulate discovery of local historical linguistic and cultural diversity. [source]

Wissens- und Wissenschaftstransfer , Einführende Bemerkungen,

BERICHTE ZUR WISSENSCHAFTSGESCHICHTE, Issue 3 2006
Mitchell G. Ash
Migration; Wissenschaftstransfer; Wissenschaftswandel; Wissenstransfer. Abstract Knowledge and science transfer , introductory remarks. The article presents introductory remarks on the historical study of knowledge and science transfer. Discussion focuses initially on the reasons for speaking of knowledge transfer and not only about science transfer, and the relations of this topic to current research in general history on cultural transfer. Multiple levels of knowledge / science transfer are then discussed, specifically: (1) transfer by means of migration or other movement of people across geographic boundaries; (2) scientific changes related to the transfer of objects (such as plant specimens or instruments) across continents or disciplines; (3) knowledge or science transfer in practical contexts. Addressed throughout is the problematic character of the concept of transfer itself. The author suggests that users of this concept often presuppose a static conception of scientific and cultural contents being more or less successfully transferred; more interesting, however, are the changes in science and culture conditioned or caused by the migration of individuals as well as the transfer of culture by other means. [source]