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Cultural Meanings (cultural + meaning)
Selected AbstractsA Cognitive Theory of Cultural MeaningANTHROPOLOGY & HUMANISM, Issue 2 2006Claudia Strauss No abstract is available for this article. [source] "More English than England itself": the simulation of authenticity in foreign language practice in JapanINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS, Issue 3 2005Philip Seargeant This article examines the way in which the concept of ,authenticity' operates as a key motif in the construction of the symbolic cultural meaning of English as a foreign language in Japan. It reviews the way the term is used in a technical sense in language teaching and the political implications of its competing definitions within this context, then contrasts this with examples drawn from language institutions in Japan in which ideas of ,authenticity' are central to the way that English is sold to society. It is argued that the presentation of the language within these terms constructs and maintains elaborate simulations of English-language society within Japan, which produces an ideology that may be in direct conflict with the prevailing conception of the role of English as an international language. The article considers the effect that such social practice has on the role of English within Japan and the implications of this for theoretical discussion of the relationship between this global language and local culture. [source] The functions of I think in political discourseINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS, Issue 1 2000Anne-Marie Simon-Vandenbergen The expression I (don't) think has in recent years received a fair amount of attention from different viewpoints and in different linguistic frameworks. After a brief survey of the most important literature on the subject, this article examines the occurrence of I think in political discourse as compared with its use in informal conversation. On the basis of two samples of 100 instances each from casual conversations and radio political interviews, the expression is looked at from the points of view of syntax, intonation, the semantics of the proposition, collocation, and the wider context of the interaction taking place. It is shown that the expression has a complex of meanings which cannot simply be labelled ,uncertainty'or ,lack of commitment'. Depending on the context, it can signal a tentative attitude or authoritative deliberation. It is further argued that an understanding of the extralinguistic situation and the cultural meaning of the genre, including the power and status of interactants, is essential if one wishes to interpret the selection of I think in individual instances. [source] Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale , Second Edition: initial validation of the Korean versionJOURNAL OF ADVANCED NURSING, Issue 3 2009Myung-Sun Hyun Abstract Title.,Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale , Second Edition: initial validation of the Korean version. Aim., This paper is a report of a study conducted to test the validity and reliability of the Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale , Second Edition in Korean culture. Background., Depression is a significant mental health problem in adolescents. The Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale , Second Edition has been shown to be a useful tool to assess depression in adolescents, with extensive research on this measure having been conducted in western cultures. Measures developed in western cultures need to be tested and validated before being used in Asian cultures. Method., The participants were a convenience sample of 440 Korean adolescents with a mean age of 13·78 years (sd = 0·95) from grades 7 to 9 in three public middle schools in South Korea. A cross-sectional design was used. Back-translation was used to create the Korean version, with additional testing for cultural meaning and comprehension. The data were collected at the end of 2004. Results., Internal consistency reliability for the Korean version of the Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale , Second Edition was 0·89, with subscale reliability ranging from 0·66 to 0·81. Evidence for criterion-related, convergent and discriminant validity for the Korean version of the Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale , Second Edition was found. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the 4-factor structure of Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale , Second Edition. Conclusion., Our results support the validity and reliability for the Korean version of the Reynolds Adolescent Depression Scale , Second Edition as a measure of depression and suggest that it can be used to screen students and to evaluate the effectiveness of preventive interventions in school settings. [source] Lifetime comorbidities between phobic disorders and major depression in Japan: results from the World Mental Health Japan 2002,2004 Survey,DEPRESSION AND ANXIETY, Issue 10 2009Masao Tsuchiya M.A. Abstract Background: Although often considered of minor significance in themselves, evidence exists that early-onset phobic disorders might be predictors of later more serious disorders, such as major depressive disorder (MDD). The purpose of this study is to investigate the association of phobic disorders with the onset of MDD in the community in Japan. Methods: Data from the World Mental Health Japan 2002,2004 Survey were analyzed. A total of 2,436 community residents aged 20 and older were interviewed using the WHO Composite International Diagnostic Interview 3.0 (response rate, 58.4%). A Cox proportional hazard model was used to predict the onset of MDD as a function of prior history of DSM-IV specific phobia, agoraphobia, or social phobia, adjusting for gender, birth-cohort, other anxiety disorders, education, and marital status at survey. Results: Social phobia was strongly associated with the subsequent onset of MDD (hazard ratio [HR]=4.1 [95% CI: 2.0,8.7]) after adjusting for sex, birth cohort, and the number of other anxiety disorders. The association between agoraphobia or specific phobia and MDD was not statistically significant after adjusting for these variables. Conclusions: Social phobia is a powerful predictor of the subsequent first onset of MDD in Japan. Although this finding argues against a simple neurobiological model and in favor of a model in which the cultural meanings of phobia play a part in promoting MDD, an elucidation of causal pathways will require more fine-grained comparative research. Depression and Anxiety, 2009. Published 2009 Wiley-liss, Inc. [source] Cultural Meanings and Cultural Structures in Historical ExplanationHISTORY AND THEORY, Issue 3 2000John R. Hall One way to recast the problem of cultural explanation in historical inquiry is to distinguish two conceptualizations involving culture: (1) cultural meanings as contents of signification (however theorized) that inform meaningful courses of action in historically unfolding circumstances; and (2) cultural structures as institutionalized patterns of social life that may be elaborated in more than one concrete construction of meaning. This distinction helps to suggest how explanation can operate in accounting for cultural processes of meaning-formation, as well as in other ways that transcend specific meanings, yet are nonetheless cultural. Examples of historical explanation involving each construct are offered, and their potential examined. [source] Carolina in the Carolines: A Survey of Patterns and Meanings of Smoking on a Micronesian IslandMEDICAL ANTHROPOLOGY QUARTERLY, Issue 4 2005Mac Marshall Tobacco use---especially smoking industrially manufactured cigarettes---kills nearly 5 million people annually and is the leading preventable cause of death worldwide. Tobacco is a widely used global commodity embedded in cultural meanings, and its consumption involves a set of learned, patterned social behaviors. Seemingly, then, tobacco offers a most appealing anthropological research topic, yet its study has been relatively ignored by medical anthropologists when compared to research on alcoholic beverages and illegal drugs. To help fill this gap, this article sketches the historical background of tobacco in Micronesia, presents the results of a cross-sectional smoking survey from Namoluk Atoll, and describes contemporary smoking patterns and locally understood symbolic associations of tobacco. Intersections among history, gender, local meanings, the health transition, and the transnational marketing of tobacco are addressed, and cigarette smoking is seen as part of a new syndemic of chronic diseases in Micronesia. [source] Ethnicity and Shared Meanings: A Case Study of the "Orphaned Bones" Ritual in Mainland China and OverseasAMERICAN ANTHROPOLOGIST, Issue 4 2009Bernard Formoso ABSTRACT Several theories of ethnicity emphasize the analysis of intergroup relations. They neglect, however, the conflation of ideas and values structuring these relations,notably the cross-cultural aggregates of shared cultural meanings that underlie forms of cooperation and competition between interacting groups. In this article, I explore this kind of process through a multisite ethnography of the Xiu gugu ("refining of orphaned bones"), a ritual that the Chaozhou people of northeast Guangdong province, an ethnic subgroup of the Han, perform periodically. The celebration of this rite in Chaozhou is compared to versions resulting of the ritual in Malay Muslim and Thai Buddhist contexts. In the latter case, close conceptions of malevolent death underlie a fascinating interethnic cooperation, with most of the unfortunate dead whose bones are "refined" during the Chaozhou ritual being Thai. [source] The week the couch arrivedTHE JOURNAL OF ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 5 2006Robert F. Tyminski Abstract:, Changes in the therapeutic environment can elicit intense and unpredictable responses from patients, who then react to the new elements with their own unique thoughts, fantasies, emotions and behaviours. When the change is very specific, and when it entails implications for the treatment itself, these patient responses can coalesce around more profound experiences of the transference as well as of the countertransference. The author, as a candidate or analyst-in-training, purchased an analytic couch for his office and observed the unfolding of what this new couch meant for existing treatments. Using clinical examples, he describes the three most common patient responses that occurred: rejecting, ambivalent, and embracing. The richly variant ideas and fantasies related to the analytic couch are described, and the couch's history within Freudian and Jungian contexts is reviewed. Personal determinants that could lead to the decision of whether to use a couch as part of analysis are considered from the standpoint of the analyst's preferences and own experience with the couch. The couch is discussed as a signifier of the analytic process with cultural meanings alluding not only to familiar stereotypes, but also to psychological healing and self-development. Translations of Abstract Des changements dans le lieu de la thérapie peuvent susciter des réactions intenses et imprévisibles chez les patients, chacun d'eux avec leurs propres pensées, fantasmes, émotions et attitudes. Quand le changement est très spécifique, et lorsqu'il porte des implications pour le traitement lui-même, les réactions de ces patients peuvent se combiner avec des vécus plus profonds du transfert ainsi que du contretransfert. L'auteur a acheté un divan pour son cabinet lorsqu'il a commencé sa formation analytique, et raconte ce qu'il a observé des effets juste de la présence de ce divan dans les traitements déjà en cours. A partir d'exemples cliniques il décrit les trois réactions les plus habituelles qui apparaissent chez les patients: rejet, ambivalence, adoption. Sont montrées les variations très riches dans les idées et fantasmes relatifs au divan. Une recension de l'histoire du divan dans les contextes freudiens et jungiens est faite. Les déterminants personnels qui peuvent amener à la décision de considérer le divan et son utilisation ou pas comme partie intégrante de l'analyse sont regardés du point de vue des préférences de l'analyste et de sa propre expérience du divan. Le divan est décrit comme étant un signifiant culturel du processus analytique se rapportant non seulement aux stereotypes connus, mais aussi à la détente et la cicatrisation psychologique ainsi qu'au développement du soi. Veränderungen in der therapeutischen Umgebung können intensive und unvorhersehbare Reaktionen der Patienten und Patientinnen hervorrufen, die auf das neue Element mit ihren eigenen einzigartigen Gedanken, Fantasien, Emotionen und Verhaltensweisen reagieren. Wenn es sich um eine sehr spezifische Veränderung handelt, die auch Implikationen für die Behandlung an sich beinhaltet, dann verbinden sich die Reaktionen der Patienten und Patientinnen mit tiefgehenden Erfahrungen in der Übertragung ebenso wie in der Gegenübertragung. Der Autor - als Kandidat oder Analytiker-in-Ausbildung - kaufte eine analytische Couch für seine Praxis und beobachtete, wie sich die Bedeutung dieser neuen Couch in den laufenden Behandlungen auswirkte und zeigte. Anhand klinischer Beispiele beschreibt er die drei am häufigsten vorkommenden Patientenreaktionen: zurückweisend, ambivalent und begeistert annehmend. Die sehr unterschiedlichen Ideen und Fantasien in bezug auf die analytische Couch werden beschrieben und die historische Bedeutung der Couch in Freudianischen und Jungianischen Zusammenhängen wird erörtert. Persönliche Determinanten, die zur Entscheidung führen könnten, ob eine Couch als ein Bestandteil der Analyse benutzt wird, werden vom Standpunkt der Präferenzen des Analytikers und der eigenen Erfahrung mit der Couch betrachtet. Die Couch wird als Signifikant des analytischen Prozesses diskutiert, in dem kulturelle Bedeutungen sich nicht nur auf vertraute Stereotypen beziehen, sondern auch auf psychische Heilung and Selbstverwirklichung. Cambiamenti nell'ambiente terapeutico possono elicitare risposte intense e imprevedibili da parte dei pazienti, che reagiscono allora ai nuovi elementi con i propri personali pensieri, fantasie, emozioni e comportamenti. Quando il cambiamento è molto specifico e quando comporta implicazioni per il trattamento stesso, le risposte di questi pazienti possono unirsi intorno a esperienze più profonde del transfert o del controtransfert. L'autore, quando era candidato e analista in training, acquistò un lettino analitico per il suo studio e osservò lo sviluppo di ciò che questo nuovo lettino significava per i trattamenti in corso. Usando esempi clinici, egli descrive le tre risposte più comuni dei pazienti: rifiuto, ambivalenza e accettazione. Vengono descritte le idee e le fantasie ricche di variazioni relative al lettino analitico e viene rivista la storia del lettino nei contesti freudiani e junghiani. Determinanti personali che potrebbe portare alla decisione se usare un lettino come parte dell'analisi vengono considerate dal punto di vista delle preferenze dell'analista e della sua personale esperienza del lettino. Il lettino viene discusso in quanto significante culturale del processo analitico, che incorpora regressione, rilassamento e il reclinare degli attaccamenti egoici precedentemente fissati. Los cambios en el entorno terapéutico pueden descubrir respuestas impredecibles en los pacientes, ellos reaccionan a los nuevos elementos con pensamientos, fantasías, emociones y conductas, estos son propios e individuales. Cuando el cambio es muy específico, y cuando connota implicaciones para el tratamiento en sí mismo, las respuestas de estos pacientes pueden estructurarse alrededor de experiencias aun mas profundas de la transferencia y así como en la contratransferencia. El autor, como candidato o analista en entrenamiento, compró un diván analítico para su oficinay observó lo que este diván significó para los tratamientos existentes. Mediante el uso de ejemplos clínicos, describe las tres respuestas que ocurren con mayor frecuencia: Rechazo, ambivalencia, y compromiso, Se describe la riquísima variedad de ideas y fantasías en relación con el diván, y se revisa la historia del diván en el contexto freudiano y junguiano. Se consideran los determinantes personales en la decisión para usar el diván como parte del análisis desde el p[unto de vista de las preferencias del analista y la experiencia personal con el diván. Se discute el diván como significante cultural del proceso analítico que incorpora a la respuesta regresiva y la declinación de las ataduras del ego fijadas previamente. [source] Animal bells as symbols: sound and hearing in a Greek island villageTHE JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ANTHROPOLOGICAL INSTITUTE, Issue 4 2003Panayotis Panopoulos This article deals with the cultural construction of sound and hearing in a mountain village in the Greek island of Naxos, in the Cyclades. The analysis is based on the ethnographic presentation and discussion of the cultural meanings and symbolism of animal bells. I further explore the relation of bells and their sound to the issues of social reproduction and the cultural constitution of social order. By focusing on the indigenous conceptualizations of sound and noise and the metaphoric language concerning the sense of hearing, I also consider some wider aspects of sound, sound symbolism, and hearing in this community. [source] Moving Stories: Displacement and Return in the Narrative Production of Yaqui IdentityANTHROPOLOGY & HUMANISM, Issue 2 2003Kirstin Erickson Among the Yaqui Indians of Mexico, discourses that inscribe ethnicity connect space, place, and history. In this article, I examine narratives about the Yaqui exile at the turn of the twentieth century. I argue that Yaqui identity and concepts of "homeland" are imagined through narratives about movement. Memories of displacement and return, and everyday talk about travel, link space to fields of power and imbue the homeland with a set of intense cultural meanings. [source] Running to the Moon: The Articulation and Construction of Self in Marathon RunnersANTHROPOLOGY OF CONSCIOUSNESS, Issue 2 2001Erica L. Reischer In this essay, I will consider how individuals engage the marathon in the service of a project of self-transformation. To that end, I will examine cultural meanings and symbols associated with the marathon, and the way in which those meanings interact with the self-system of the runners who choose to participate in the marathon. In addition, since the marathon is ultimately a cultural practice centered on the body, I will also explore the physical and material dimension of the marathon experience. This paper thus provides an account that begins to elucidate the way in which culturally-situated individuals symbolically and physically engage the marathon as a means to actively and intentionally promote self-development. [source] RAINING, DROWNING AND SWIMMING: FU BAOSHI AND WATERART HISTORY, Issue 1 2006DAVID CLARKE Water is a prominent element in the media of Chinese ink painting and, in the form of clouds, rivers, floods and mist, it is a major subject of Chinese painting. In the culturally distinctive modernist practice of Fu Baoshi (1904,1965), these two identities of water self-consciously encounter one another. The artist's attention to watery themes in his work is unprecedented, and he is one of the first painters to focus on the direct depiction of falling rain. The essay considers Fu's representations of rain, the theme of water in his images of the poet-statesman Qu Yuan and (after the founding of the People's Republic in 1949) in paintings illustrating the poems of Chinese leader Mao Zedong. Fu's water-themed works are examined here with reference to the inherited stock of Chinese cultural meanings as well as to recent artistic practice in the People's Republic and to the Maoist state ideology which informed it. The potential meanings of these water-themed works are considered, and politically subversive connotations are discovered. The essay concludes by reflecting on the theme of water in contemporary practice, particularly in Song Dong's performance art work of 1996, Printing on Water. [source] La Mort posthume: Maurice Heine and the poetics of decayART HISTORY, Issue 3 2000Neil Cox Centred around an early suite of poems by the little-known Sade scholar and fellow traveller of Surrealism, Maurice Heine (1884,1940), this paper reveals the impact on artists (including Georges Braque) and poets of a series of spectacular exhibitions of Coptic ,mummies' in Paris. An account of Albert Gayet's Antinoë excavations and exhibitions at the Musée Guimet is constructed, and this is used to explore the cultural meanings of the archaeological museum around 1900. The paper is a contribution to the study of a particular form of Orientalism, as well as an exploration of late Symbolism, one cultural territory out of which the Surrealist movement emerged. It argues that fascination with eroticised death and decay led, in Heine's case, to an exploration of the powers and limitations of poetic language. Heine's work is contrasted with more redemptive aesthetic representations of death in Nerval and Holbein, as interpreted by Julia Kristeva. It is suggested that Heine's exhaustion of language in the evocation of death, and his almost political interrogation of the museum, make sense of his later contributions to Surrealism through his study of Sade. [source] FINDING AUTONOMY IN BIRTHBIOETHICS, Issue 1 2009THE OBSTETRICS AND GYNECOLOGY RISK RESEARCH GROUP: ABSTRACT Over the last several years, as cesarean deliveries have grown increasingly common, there has been a great deal of public and professional interest in the phenomenon of women ,choosing' to deliver by cesarean section in the absence of any specific medical indication. The issue has sparked intense conversation, as it raises questions about the nature of autonomy in birth. Whereas mainstream bioethical discourse is used to associating autonomy with having a large array of choices, this conception of autonomy does not seem adequate to capture concerns and intuitions that have a strong grip outside this discourse. An empirical and conceptual exploration of how delivery decisions ought to be negotiated must be guided by a rich understanding of women's agency and its placement within a complicated set of cultural meanings and pressures surrounding birth. It is too early to be ,for' or ,against' women's access to cesarean delivery in the absence of traditional medical indications , and indeed, a simple pro- or con- position is never going to do justice to the subtlety of the issue. The right question is not whether women ought to be allowed to choose their delivery approach but, rather, taking the value of women's autonomy in decision-making around birth as a given, what sorts of guidelines, practices, and social conditions will best promote and protect women's full inclusion in a safe and positive birth process. [source] | |||||||||||||