Three poverties

This paper is a discourse on ideological communication on poverty in Latin America from three different perspectives: the Catholic priest, the Shining Path guerrilla and the development economist. The paper concludes with a discussion of these three perspectives from the perspective of the theory of communicative action espoused by Jurgen Habermas.

Cultures within culture: Unity and diversity of two generations of employees in state-owned enterprises

This study adopts integration and differentiation perspectives to examine why unity and diversity of organizational cultures emerged as a function of economic reform, and how subcultural differences were reflected in employees' perceptions of cultural practices. Data were gathered from in-depth interviews and a large-scale survey in two large, state-owned enterprises in north-east China. Results indicated that, although all employees were oriented towards a common set of cultural themes, the two generations of employees did not exemplify the themes in the same way. Specifically, unity was illustrated by employees' desire to maintain Harmony and to reduce Inequality. Diversity was revealed by first-generation employees' higher ratings on Loyalty, Security and even Bureaucracy. The findings are discussed in the light of traditional Chinese cultural values, political ideology and the social context. Implications are drawn for organizational cultural theory and research.

Cherbourg's Chinatown: creating an identity of place on an Australian Aboriginal settlement

This is the story of an extraordinary Aboriginal woman, Princy Carlo, and the identity of place she and her descendants fashioned within the confines of the Aboriginal settlement of Cherbourg (formerly Barambah), during the early twentieth century. The patch of Cherbourg that came to be known as 'Chinatown' has to date attracted cursory reference in historical commentary on the south-eastern Queensland Aboriginal settlement. Yet, hidden beneath what may appear as an inconsequential historical detail lies a fascinating illustration of the negotiation of place identity within a frame of triangulated group relations (Aboriginal-Chinese-White) in what remained, in essence, a colonial society. Incorporating primary written sources and oral accounts from descendants the study analyses the forging of the Chinatown identity of place through a process of 'spatial othering', eliciting features unique to this indigenous identity-construct. The study provides an insight into Aboriginal connection and kinship with land following forced removal to a government settlement, and contributes to the historical records of the Cherbourg Aboriginal community and the Eidsvold district in Queensland, Australia. (C) 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Futures dreaming outside and on the margins of the western world

In this article, we challenge the hegemony of western science fiction, arguing that western science fiction is particular even as it claims universality. Its view remains based on ideas of the future as forward time. In contrast, in non-western science fiction the future is seen outside linear terms: as cyclical or spiral, or in terms of ancestors. In addition, western science fiction has focused on the good society as created by technological progress, while non-western science fiction and futures thinking has focused on the fantastic, on the spiritual, on the realization of eupsychia-the perfect self. However, most theorists assert that the non-west has no science fiction, ignoring Asian and Chinese science fiction history, and western science fiction continues to 'other' the non-west as well as those on the margins of the west (African-American woman, for example). Nonetheless, while most western science fiction remains trapped in binary opposites-alien/non-alien; masculine/feminine; insider/outsider-writers from the west's margins are creating texts that contradict tradition and modernity, seeking new ways to transcend difference. Given that the imagination of the future creates the reality of tomorrow, creating new science fictions is not just an issue of textual critique but of opening up possibilities for all our futures.

A funny thing happened on the way to the forum: Electronic discussion and foreign language learning

Amongst the opportunities for cross-cultural contact created by the burgeoning use of the Internet are those provided by electronic discussion lists. This study looks at what happens when language students venture out of the classroom (virtual or otherwise) to participate in on-line discussion groups with native speakers. Responses to messages and commentary by moderators and other participants on the (in) appropriateness of contributions allow us to determine what constitutes successful participation and to make suggestions regarding effective teaching strategies for this medium. A case study examines the threads started by four anglophone students of French when they post messages to a forum on the Web site of the French newspaper Le Monde. Investigation of these examples points to the ways in which electronic discussion inflects and is inflected by cultural and generic expectations. We suggest that successful participation on Internet fora depends on awareness of such cultural and generic mores and an ability to work within and/or with them. Teachers therefore need to find ways in which students can be sensitized to such issues so that their participation in such electronic discussion is no longer seen as linguistic training, but as engagement with a cultural practice.