Administrators' perspectives of culture at a multicampus community college

The purpose of this study was to explore how administrators’ perceived the campus and administrative cultures found on a single campus of a multicampus community college system. A review of the literature revealed that the culture found in higher education institutions contains a high degree of human interactions, has a myriad of cultures, and that individuals play a significant role in the maintenance or the evolution of the cultures present. The study site was Neighborhood Campus which is one campus of a large urban community college system containing a total of eight campuses, Urban College. Kuh’s conventional organizational models served to identify the model on Neighborhood Campus, Levin’s cultural definitions described the campus culture, and cultural definitions from Bergquist and Pawlak formed the framework for the administrative culture. The study was guided by the following research questions: What are the administrators’ perspectives of the campus culture on a community college campus and what are the administrators’ perspectives of the administrative culture on a community college campus? A qualitative case study method was used, data collection included interviews, document and videograph reviews, and observations of administrative meetings. The participants for the interview portion of the study included 10 individuals defined as administrators. ^ The study revealed that administrators’ perspectives of these cultures demonstrated five themes (student-centered, size, location, Hispanics, and family) served as contributors to the campus culture. The administrative culture was supported by six themes (size, team, collaboration, open, Inclusion, and rewards and recognition). ^ The findings revealed three of Kuh’s conventional organizational models (rational, bureaucratic, and collegial models) were seen as being in place at Neighborhood Campus. Levin’s traditional and service cultures were seen in the campus culture with the service culture demonstrating dominance. Using Bergquist and Pawlak’s definitions, components of the collegial, managerial, and developmental cultures appear to be present in the administrative culture with the collegial culture serving as the dominant administrative culture. ^ Through an understanding of these cultures and themes, administrators can provide leadership that is sensitive to these cultures, especially if institutional change is required.^

The Politics of Culture and the Space for Islam : Soviet and Post-Soviet Imaginaries in Uzbekistan

Peer reviewed

The Politics of Culture and the Space for Islam : Soviet and Post-Soviet Imaginaries in Uzbekistan

Peer reviewed

The Politics of Culture and the Space for Islam : Soviet and Post-Soviet Imaginaries in Uzbekistan

Peer reviewed

Fashioning a city of culture: ‘life and place changing’ or ’12 month party’?

The current trend in public policy is to valorise culture as a tool for social, economic and political transformation. This paper offers a direct contribution to debates that seek to unpack and problematise cities of culture. We adopt a more circumspect approach towards some aspects of the anticipated transformative powers of culture, and in particular the tendency to fetishize the economics of culture. Our empiricism is grounded in a detailed study of Derry~Londonderry as the inaugural UK City of Culture in 2013. We question whether City of Culture was ‘life and place changing’ or a ’12 month party’, and reveal different interpretations of success. In our view there is more potential in viewing culture as a peace resource for overcoming divisions in a socially and culturally segregated city, rather than its ability to tackle entrenched economic problems. Moving beyond the specifics of the case study we also provide lessons for future cities of culture and more generalizable insights for the academic and policy literatures.

Resident’s Perceptions on Impacts of Hosting the Guimaraes 2012 European Capital of Culture: Comparisons of the Pre- and Post Periods

Residents tend to have high expectations regarding the benefits of hosting a mega- event, in particular the creation of new infrastructure, growth in GDP and employ- ment, image enhancement and the spin-offs of attracting tourists and fostering sustainable growth of the cultural supply (Jeong and Faulkner 1996; Deccio and Baloglu 2002; Gursoy and Kendall 2006; Getz 2008; Langen and Garcia 2009; Ritchie et al. 2009; Gursoy et al. 2011; Palonen 2011). Nevertheless, they normally recognise that some costs will be incurred (Kim and Petrick 2005; Kim et al. 2006; Ritchie et al. 2009; Gursoy et al. 2011; Lee et al. 2013). So, it was not surprising that the nomination of Guimaraes, a small city in the northwest of Portugal, as one of the two European Capitals of Culture in 2012 (2012 ECOC), had raised great expectations in the local community vis- a-vis its socio-economic and cultural benefits. Our research was designed to examine the Guimar~aes residents’ perceptions of the impacts of hosting the 2012 ECOC, approached at two different times: before and after the event, to try and capture the evolution of the residents’ assessment of its impacts. From the empirical literature, we know that residents’ perceived impacts tend to change as time goes by (Kim et al. 2006; Ritchie et al. 2009; Gursoy et al. 2011; Lee et al. 2013). The data were gathered via two surveys applied to Guimaraes residents, one in 2011, before the event, and the other afterwards, in 2013. The Guimaraes residents’ assessment was thought to be essential to get an accurate appraisal of the impact of the mega-event as they were a main part of the hosting process. 2012 ECOC impacts were mainly felt by local people who, in most cases, will go on feeling them in the short and long term. The research was thought to be socially pertinent as the opinions collected through the surveys can help to prevent repeating mistakes when similar mega- events are organised in the future, and to increase the positive impacts derived from hosting them. When we talk about the social pertinence of the empirical results, we want to stress that the expertise acquired can be useful to any host city or country.

Roads to Health in Nigeria – Understanding the Intersection of Culture and Healing

The most important attribute for which we all aspire as human beings is good health because it enables us to undertake different forms of activities of daily living. The emergence of scientific knowledge in Western societies has enabled us to explore and define several parameters of “health” by drawing boundaries around factors that are known to impact the achievement of good health. For example, the World Health Organization defined health by taking physical and psychological factors into consideration.

How valuable is web 2.0 to music criticism? An investigation into the role of web 2.0 and social media in the reception of Benjamin Britten's operas

The internet is deeply integrated with many people's day to day lives, including that of musicians and musicologists. In this thesis, the impact of the internet on classical music criticism in the Web 2.0 age is examined. Using the examples of Britten's operas, Gloriana and Peter Grimes, an overview of their critical reception is examined, using printed reviews found in The Times since their premières, internet based reviews of two specific performances, and the reactions to these performances on Twitter. Theories of media behaviour including de Mul's view of the 'ludic self' are used in order to explain the content found in reviews in conjunction with citizen journalism, of which blogging is an extension. While there are some consistencies between the print reviews and those online, there are stylistic differences, and wider repercussions for the world of criticism in the wake of the democratisation of culture, as critics find their previously regarded authority obsolete to some. Music criticism is no longer the reserve of the musicologists

The commodification of culture in the Thai tourism context: a study of culinary experiences in touristic traditional markets

The purpose of the thesis is to examine the relationship between tourism and the local culture expressed in culinary experiences offered in the traditional, nostalgic-themed markets that have arisen as popular attractions in the 21 st century. Central to the thesis is an examination of how the traditional cultural values are articulated in the production, promotion and consumption of culinary experiences in order to understand the value of culture when embedded in the process of commodification, as well as to understand influential socio-cultural factors. The thesis investigates the potential of traditional markets to promote food as the main attraction in the market. Field studies were conducted from December 2012–March 2014 in eight traditional markets in the central region of Thailand. Based on the ethnographic approach in studying the narratives in the markets, a variety of methods were implemented in the process of data collection. Besides observational analysis of the venue, semi-structured interviews and the self-administered questionnaires were used to collect data from actors who engage in food experiences, including management team members, food traders and visitors. Data was also collected from interviews with officers working for Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT).  Keys findings of the thesis reveal that the cultural expressions of food experience in each market is an outcome of both the interactions of worldviews expressed by actors involved in the traditional market and the socio-cultural condition of Thailand. The relationships between stakeholders’ attitudes towards food experiences and the commercial potentials and limitations of food were analysed. The analysis of the cultural value of culinary experiences demonstrates that the existing academic discussions of the authenticity of tourism are insightful in explaining the character of food experiences offered in this tourism scenario. Most importantly, authenticity in tourism experiences, being a desirable element in culinary experiences, is a reflection of the how the pre-modern aspect of Thai society is embraced in a contemporary context. In addition, the commodification of culinary culture generates multidimensional consequences on the value of traditional culture and local lives. Moreover, the performance of culinary experiences can be viewed from the perspective of how Thai society interacts with globalization. The thesis also points out that it is possible to compare the situation of the traditional markets with the marketing positioning of food in Thai tourism marketing policy.

Job-related strain and sexual health difficulties among heterosexual men from three european countries: The role of culture and emotional support

Introduction. Epidemiological evidence for the association between job-related stress and sexual difficulties in men is largely lacking. Little is known about the factors that may mediate or moderate this relationship. Aim. This study analyzes the association between job-related difficulties and men’s sexual difficulties. Main Outcome Measures. Job-related difficulties were measured by 10 yes/no questions that addressed a range of adverse workplace situations. The experience of sexual difficulties in the past 12 months was assessed by using seven dichotomous indicators developed in the National Study of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (NATSAL) 2000. Method. Analyses were carried out using data from a 2011 online study of Portuguese, Croatian, and Norwegian men (N = 2,112). Multivariate logistic regression and mediation analysis were used to test the hypothesized association. Results. Men with job-related concerns reported lower sexual satisfaction than men without such concerns did (F = 7.53, P < 0.001). Multivariate analysis confirmed the association between job-related and sexual health concerns. The odds of experiencing one or more sexual health difficulties in the past 12 months were about 1.8 times higher among men who reported the highest levels of workplace difficulties than among men who experienced no such difficulties. The odds of reporting sexual health difficulties were significantly reduced by a higher income (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] = 0.87, P < 0.01), emotional intimacy with one’s partner (AOR = 0.93, P < 0.001), having children (AOR = 0.62–0.66, P < 0.01), and country-specific effects (AOR = 1.98–2.22, P < 0.001). In all three countries, the relationship between job-related and sexual health difficulties was mediated by anxiety and depression. Conclusions. The findings suggest that negative mood is the mechanism behind the association between workplace strain and sexual difficulties. Emotional support, such as couple intimacy and fatherhood, can reduce—independently from sociocultural and socioeconomic factors—the risk of sexual health concerns.

The empty child: the reproduction of culture through schooling

This research provides a needed glimpse at the ‘underside’ (Giroux, 1981) of Australian pedagogy.By charting the lives of six teachers and six students from a range of Victorian schools, the research examines our assumptions about how identities are produced and reproduced through schooling. It provides a detailed analysis through a combination of photo elicitation and narrative inquiry methods. The study examines the resistance to sameness and why some students and teachers submit and accept the sameness, while others push back.Building initially from the work of Michael Apple and his positioning of ideology, curriculum and power relations, this study explores what are the values and assumptions that shape pedagogical practice and in what ways do these practices inculcate Victorian students into ideologically ridden‘common sense’ practices that are not articulated but understood through the consumption of cultural capital?This research seeks access to the powerful undercurrents that shape the identities of our teachers and our students as ‘foot soldiers in the long front of modernity’ (Willis, 2003, p. 390). The research is concerned with schooling and the process that happens to an individual within a school. It examines power and education and asks how do both students and teachers internalize and express the pedagogies of contemporary schooling and in what ways do the everyday aspects of teaching and learning reinforce the notion of schools as mechanisms of cultural capital distribution?

‘We just call them people’: positive regard as a dimension of culture in group homes for people with severe intellectual disability

BackgroundA dimension of the culture in group homes is staff regard for residents. In underperforming group homes, staff regard residents as being not ‘like us’ (Bigby, Knox, Beadle-Brown, Clement & Mansell, 2012). We hypothesized the opposite pole of this dimension, in higher performing group homes, would be that staff regard residents positively.MethodThree in-depth qualitative case studies were conducted in higher performing group homes using participant observation, interviews and document review.ResultsConsistent pattern of staff practices and talk, as well as artefacts, demonstrated staff had a positive regard for residents, who were seen as being ‘like us’. Explicit and continuing attention was given to sustaining positive regard for residents in everyday staff practices and to turning abstract values into concrete realities.ConclusionsThis positive cultural norm was established, operationalized and embedded through structures, such as a formal policy about language, and processes such as peer monitoring and practice leadership.

A study of culture specific items and translation strategies in Bahram Beyza'i’s play “Marionettes”

L'objectif de cette recherche est de fournir une analyse de la pièce de théâtre perse ''Marionettes'' de Bahrām Beyzā'ī (1963) ainsi que de sa traduction anglaise (1989) afin de comparer et de mettre en contraste les traits propres à la culture «Culture-specific items» (CSI) et des stratégies de traduction. Les formes problématiques pertinentes des différences culturelles seront étudiées et les procédés suggérés par Newmark (1988) seront examinés afin de déterminer dans quelle mesure ils sont pertinents dans la traduction des différences culturelles du perse à l'anglais. La pièce a été traduite par une équipe de traducteurs: Sujata G.Bhatt, Jacquelin Hoats, Imran A. Nyazee et Kamiar K. Oskouee. (Parvin Loloi et Glyn Pursglove 2002:66). Les oeuvres théâtrales de Beyzā'ī sont basées sur les traditions ainsi que sur le folklore iranien. L'auteur aborde la réalité sous une perspective philosophique. « (Un point de vue) enveloppé dans une cape de comparaisons complexes à tel point que nombre des personnages de son oeuvre errent entre des symboles de la mythologie et de l’histoire, ou sociaux» (M.R. Ghanoonparvar, John Green 1989, p.xxii notre traduction). La classification des éléments culturels de Newmark (1988) va comme suit: «Écologie, culture matérielle, culture sociale, organisations, coutumes / moeurs, gestes et habitudes» (Newmark 1988:95). La recherche mettra l’accent sur les procédés suggérés pour traduire les CSI ainsi que sur les stratégies de traduction selon Newmark. Ces procédés comprennent : «traduction littérale, transfert, équivalent culturel, neutralisation, équivalent fonctionnel, équivalent descriptif, synonymie, par le biais de la traduction, transposition, modulation, traduction reconnue, étiquette de traduction, compensation, analyse componentielle, réduction et expansion, paraphraser, distique, notes, additions, gloses» (Newmark 1988:81-93). L'objectif ici est de déterminer si les procédés suggérés sont applicables à la traduction des CSIs du perse à l'anglais, et quels sont les procédés les plus fréquemment utilisés par les traducteurs.