The Cultural Heritage of Pilgrim Itineraries: The Camino de Santiago

The Camino de Santiago comprises a lattice of European pilgrimage itineraries which converge at Santiago de Compostela in north-west Spain. This Working Paper introduces the historical and contemporary representation of these routes as a heritage complex that is imagined and codified within varied cultural meanings of a journey undertaken. Particular attention is given to the Camino Frances and the Via de la Platawhich contrast as mature and formative pilgrimage settings. Within this spatial sphere, the analysis deals with the Camino de Santiago as official heritage, as development instrument, as civil society, and as personal experience. The paper concludes by critically reviewing a previous conceptualisation of pilgrim route-based tourism, derived from fieldwork completed in 1994. Some substantive additions to that model are then advanced which arguably fit better with the many context changes that have occurred over the past two decades.

New Perspectives on the Role of Cultural Intermediaries in Social Inclusion in the UK

Based on interviews with arts administrators responsible for addressing targeted groups labelled “socially excluded,” this paper highlights new understandings of the term “cultural intermediary” (Featherstone 1991; Bourdieu 2000) within art galleries and art centres. It considers the unique role of such figures in crossing the exclusion/inclusion boundary within the arts and developing more personal approaches to marketing activities in their institutions through relationship building. While it is acknowledged here that such workers find themselves in a privileged position in being able to shape questions of taste and particular consumerist dispositions to understanding the art world, little, if not no, effort has been made to understand this process. As such, there remains a void between the cultural policy‐oriented conception of social inclusion, which implies a version of repairing the “flawed consumer” (Bauman 2005), and the way in which such policy is played out on the ground.

Resistance is Feral: Digital Culture, Community Arts, and the New Cultural Gatekeepers

The Community Arts sector in Australia has a history of resistance. It has challenged hegemonic culture through facilitating grassroots creative production, contesting notions of artistic processes, and the role of the artist in society. This paper examines this penchant for resistance through the lens of contemporary digital culture, to establish that the sector is continuing to challenge dominant forms of cultural control. It then proposes that this enthusiasm and activity lacks ethical direction, describing it as feral to encompass the potential of current practices, while highlighting how a level of taming is needed in order to develop ethical approaches.

Cultural and Genetic Influences on the “Biological Standard of Living”

This study suggests an improvement of a popular measure of living standards, namely the biological standard of living. One influence on it is a population's consumption pattern. Since there are different dietary patterns all over the world, researchers estimate the influences of national diets on final average male height. These habits are predominantly related to income, but also to genetics, cultural history, and decisions regarding whether to trade or consume high-quality foodstuffs. Systematic differences are found when analyzing protein-consumption habits among 51 countries between the 1960s and the 1980s. The author calculates metric correction values which can facilitate international comparisons of male average height. While the proposed correction values make a little difference on average, they can be valuable in a comparison of countries with markedly different dietary patterns.

The Outcomes of Cross-Cultural Adjustment: A Case of British Expatriates Working on International Architectural, Engineering and Construction Assignments

The main aim of this study is to investigate the consequences of cross-cultural adjustment in an under researched sample of British expatriates working on International Architectural, Engineering and Construction (AEC) assignments. Adjustment is the primary outcome of an expatriate assignment. According to Bhaskar-Srinivas et al., (2005), Harrison et al., (2004) it is viewed to affect other work related outcomes which could eventually predict expatriate success. To address the scarcity of literature on expatriate management in the AEC sector, an exploratory design was adopted. Phase one is characterised by extensive review of extant literature, whereas phase two was qualitative exploration from British expatriates’ perspective; here seven unstructured interviews were carried out. Further, cognitive mapping analysis through Banaxia decision explorer software was conducted to develop a theoretical framework and propose various hypotheses. The findings imply that British AEC firms could sustain their already established competitive advantage in the global marketplace by acknowledging the complexity of international assignments, prioritising expatriate management and offering a well-rounded support to facilitate expatriate adjustment and ultimately achieve critical outcomes like performance, assignment completion and job satisfaction.

The outcomes of cross-cultural adjustment: A case of British expatriates working on international architectural, engineering and construction assignments

The main aim of this study is to investigate the consequences of cross-cultural adjustment in an under researched sample of British expatriates working on International Architectural, Engineering and Construction (AEC) assignments. Adjustment is the primary outcome of an expatriate assignment. According to Bhaskar-Srinivas et al., (2005), Harrison et al., (2004) it is viewed to affect other work related outcomes which could eventually predict expatriate success. To address the scarcity of literature on expatriate management in the AEC sector, an exploratory design was adopted. Phase one is characterised by extensive review of extant literature, whereas phase two was qualitative exploration from British expatriatesÕ perspective; here seven unstructured interviews were carried out. Further, cognitive mapping analysis through Banaxia decision explorer software was conducted to develop a theoretical framework and propose various hypotheses. The findings imply that British AEC firms could sustain their already established competitive advantage in the global marketplace by acknowledging the complexity of international assignments, prioritising expatriate management and offering a well-rounded support to facilitate expatriate adjustment and ultimately achieve critical outcomes like performance, assignment completion and job satisfaction.

The Nature of Religious Diversity: A Cultural Ecosystem Approach

Studies of religious and other cultural groups tend to be particularistic or focus on one or more axes of variation. In this article we develop a more comprehensive approach to studying cultural diversity that emulates the study of biological diversity. We compare our cultural ecosystem approach with the axis approach, using the distinction between “tight” and “loose” cultures as an example. We show that while the axis approach is useful, the cultural ecosystem approach adds considerable value to the axis approach. We end by advocating the establishment of field sites for the study of religious and cultural diversity, comparable to biological field sites.

The Cultural Heritage of Pilgrim Itineraries: The Camino de Santiago

The Camino de Santiago comprises a lattice of European pilgrimage itineraries that converge at Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain. This article introduces the historical and contemporary representation of these routes as a heritage complex that is imagined and codified within varied cultural meanings of a journey undertaken. Particular attention is given to the Camino Frances and the Via de la Plata, which contrast as mature and formative pilgrimage settings. Within this spatial sphere, the analysis deals with the Camino de Santiago as official heritage, as development instrument, as civil society, and as personal experience. The article concludes by offering a contemporary conceptualization of the evolving Camino de Santiago cultural heritage complex.

The Long Aftermath: Cultural Legacies of Europe at War, 1936-2016

In its totality, the “Long Second World War”—extending from the beginning of the Spanish Civil War to the end of hostilities in 1945—has exerted enormous influence over European culture. Bringing together leading historians, sociologists, and literary and film scholars, this broadly interdisciplinary volume investigates Europeans’ individual and collective memories and the ways in which they have shaped the continent’s cultural heritage. Focusing on the major combatant nations—Spain, Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Poland, and Russia—it offers thoroughly contextualized explorations of novels, memoirs, films, and a host of other cultural forms to illuminate European public memory.