Trapped in white space : the allegations and denials of organ trafficking

Allegations of body parts trafficking implicating the West have been surfacing persistently in the media of many non Western countries for almost 20 years. Western media has responded to the allegations with denials and denunciations. This thesis considers the competing accounts and places them in a framework for analysis.

The early Australian press and the Middle Eastern 'other'

In recent years, and particularly since the events of September 11 2001 and the subsequent “War on Terror”, much scholarly attention has been paid to the Australian news media’s role in stereotyping, homogenising, victimising and demonising people of Middle Eastern descent or of the Islamic faith. However, contemporary Australian journalists have not so much invented the tropes and stereotypes that they have used to construct this negative image and limited discursive field, as they have invoked a rich tapestry of pre-existing notions about the non-Western world. This paper therefore seeks to investigate the relationship between Edward Said’s notion of Orientalism and the Australian press of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Beginning with its deplorable coverage of Australia’s Indigenous people and the paranoia surrounding the “Asian Invasion” this paper sheds new light on the coverage of Islam and the Middle East in the early Australian press and the emergence of the “Muslim Menace”. Finally, this chapter concludes by noting that such a racialist history raises a host of questions and challenges for the contemporary Australian news media.

Intercultural relations in a global world

The exploration of cross-cultural contact in a global and transnational world is essential for understanding how we can learn to live with difference in ways that go beyond tolerance. This book explores such contact in Euro-American/Australian societies as well as non-western multiethnic societies such as China, Malaysia, Indonesia and countries within Easter Europe. The contributors in this book expose the power relations underpinning such encounters as well as explore the possibilities for meaningful dialogue.

Zebra crossing : walking in two continents sharing and celebrating difference through music

I use the metaphor zebra crossing in my reflective narrative to describe my plight and struggle as a non-white person growing up and working in Johannesburg, South Africa, during the apartheid era. This article considers and compares the notions of culture, diversity and identity as I now work in a tertiary institution in Melbourne, Australia. I reflect on my teaching of African music and position myself as ‘the other’ at zebra crossings, as I create a space in multicultural Australia. By engaging in meaningful dialogue with music and culture, I contend, we do have opportunity to explore, experience and express music making and sharing globally. The inclusion and embracing of non-western music can serve as a dais for understanding and celebrating cultural difference not as distant experiences but as integral aspects of our daily lives.

Multicultural thought in Australia : the legacy of Jerzy Zubrzycki

This paper redresses common misconceptions concerning the origins of Australian Multiculturalism by returning to the thought of Jerzy ‘George’ Zubrzycki (1920–2009). Zubrzycki’s view of multiculturalism is based on Durkheimian sociology, and thus needs to be conceived as a philosophy and policy of effectively managing integration, the goal of which is the minimizing of anomie. The concern with building a well integrated and cohesive society around a pluralist cultural framework was paramount to Zubrzycki. I see an understanding of Zubrzycki’s thought as essential to an understanding of the way the policy has been articulated by successive governments. However, this paper also points to the need to move beyond the theoretical framework and concepts used by Zubrzycki in directions that can better respond to new social challenges and realities. Section One gives a description of the central intellectual features underpinning Zubrzycki’s thought. Section Two then looks at Zubrzycki’s original conception of multiculturalism and the features that remain relevant to contemporary policy and public debates. Section Three moves beyond Zubrzycki’s more conservative thought in order to conceive of a cultural pluralism more responsive to and inclusive of the increasingly non-Western demographic changes in Australian society.

Consumer-citizens of China : the role of foreign brands in the imagined future China

This book presents a comprehensive examination of Chinese consumer behaviour and challenges the previously dichotomous interpretation of the consumption of Western and non-Western brands in China.

Forgiveness, empathy and gender - a Malaysian perspective

Recent theorising has suggested that in non-Western collectivist contexts, the need for social harmony may play a greater role than empathy in motivating forgiveness, and that women may be more impacted than men by this cultural value. In this study, a sample of 233 Malaysian undergraduate students, 100 males and 133 females, recruited from four English-mediated universities completed the Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI) and the Transgression-Related Interpersonal Motivations Inventory-12 (TRIM-12) to assess dimensions of empathy and forgiveness. Women exhibited greater empathic concern than men, but not greater perspective-taking. Men were less forgiving in terms of revenge-seeking behaviour, but men and women did not differ in avoidance of transgressors. The relationships between empathic concern and both facets of forgiveness were similar for men and women, as was the relationship between empathic concern and avoidance. However, the relationship between perspective-taking and avoidance was stronger among men than women. We found little support for the prediction that in this collectivist cultural context, perspective-taking would play a greater role than empathic concern in forgiveness. Further research is recommended to explore empathy and forgiveness in non-Western populations, with a need to take into account cultural factors.

Social support and clinical depression in China

Introduction It has been recognised for many years that in Western contexts social support is associated with depression. However, relatively few studies have investigated this association in non-Western countries, and few, if any, in a clinical population. The present study aimed to establish how the perceived quality of social support provided by their spouse, their family and their friends to people in China who have a clinical diagnosis of depression is associated with aspects of their illness.

Methods The sample comprised 50 males and 50 females ranging in age from 19 to 62 years. All participants had a clinical diagnosis of depression. They completed the Beck Depression Inventory and a scale assessing perceived social support.

Results Contrary to predictions and previous research findings, no significant association was found between perceived quality of social support and level of depression, length of depression, and number of episodes of depression.

Discussion A variety of cultural factors may be associated with the quality of social support provided to patients with depression. Further research is required to investigate if these findings generalise across other non-Western populations, and also, to explore other factors that may influence the onset and continuation of depression among people in China.

The Copenhagen school on your in Kyrgyzstan : is securitization theory useable outside Europe?

The article argues that the theoretical framework presented by the Copenhagen School is currently unsuited to empirical studies outside the West owing to two factors. First, the presence of the ‘Westphalian straitjacket’ has prevented explicit interrogation of the normative concepts underlying the framework: there is a presumption that European understandings of society and the state are universal. Second, the centrality of the speech-act for securitization to the exclusion of other forms of expression, such as physical action, results in the theoretical framework producing a Westernized description of a given situation. The extent to which these factors limit the utility of the concepts of securitization and societal security in a non-Western setting is illustrated through the case of the overthrow of the government in Kyrgyzstan in March 2005. This example forms an empirical critique to highlight how theoretical shortcomings result in a simplified and Westernized description of the situation that does not take into account the specific local socio-political context. The article concludes that if the Copenhagen School’s theoretical framework is to be considered suitable for universal application, future theoretical developments must explicitly address the issues discussed to enable progress in escaping International Relations’ Westphalian straitjacket.

The role of cultural values and religion on views of body size and eating practices among adolescents from Fiji, Tonga and Australia

Objectives This study investigated cultural values related to body image and eating practices in Western and non-Western societies.

Design and Methods In total, 628 Fijian, 463 Indo-Fijian, 598 Tongan, and 534 Australian adolescents completed measures of cultural values and religious influences in relation to the ideal body and eating practices.

Results Fijian and Tongan adolescents were more likely to value a large body. Religious influences were most strongly associated with eating practices for Fijians, Indo-Fijians, and Tongans.

Conclusions The findings support the role of religion in transmitting cultural values regarding eating practices in Pacific Island communities.

Statement of contribution
What is already known on this subject? Previous research has demonstrated that sociocultural factors shape body image and eating behaviours. Most of this research has been conducted in Western countries.

What does this study add? The current study identifies the role of cultural values and religious influences on body image and eating behaviours in a number of different cultural groups. This is the first study to use the same methodology to explore these relationships across Western and Pacific Island communities.

Tribes as civil society organisations: the case of Iraq

The socio-political discourse about civil society inclines to use Western models in coneptualising civil society both in Western and non-Western societies. Iraq is one of those countries where civil society is mostly discussed the formally organised type. This paper critiques the disengagement of literature and empirical studies with exploring social structures like tribe within the civil society arena. It contends that civil society organisations should be understood based on their functions rather than forms. This paper argues that studying civil society should be comprehensive by studying other non-Western theories like 14th century Ibn Khaldun’s Muslim/Arab theories in its indigenous Arab and Muslim societies. On the premise of two factors: the Khaldunian asabiya or olidarity concept and the function of tribes in peace-building, policy formulation and democratisation, this paper uncovers how tribes in Iraq can be regarded civil society organisations.

Trauma-related symptoms in Sri Lankan adult survivors after the tsunami: pretraumatic and peritraumatic factors

Limited research has addressed factors associated with psychological distress following disasters among non-Western populations. The 2004 tsunami affected 1.7 million people across South Asia and Africa, with considerable variations in trauma-related outcomes. Pretraumatic and peritraumatic conditions associated with trauma-related symptoms in 305 Sri Lankan adult survivors (28% male, aged 18-83 years; mean = 39.9 years; standard deviation = 15.3), clinically assessed 1 month posttsunami, were evaluated retrospectively. Outcome measures were total scores on 11 trauma-related symptoms. Multivariate linear regression analyses tested for associations between pretraumatic and peritraumatic conditions and symptom scores, with peritraumatic conditions adjusted for pretraumatic variables. Pretraumatic conditions of female gender, employment, prior health and social issues, and substance use and peritraumatic conditions of loss of family, witnessing the tsunami, or suffering an injury were associated with trauma-related symptoms. The findings facilitate understanding cultural contexts that define risk factors associated with trauma-related symptoms in Sri Lankans, which are critical for developing culturally appropriate interventions.

Islam and globalization

Globalization has opened up non-Western societies to forces of economic, political and cultural liberalism for the first time, and this process has had a profound effect upon Islamic societies, causing unease and concern among many Muslims. Moreover, this apprehension has been exacerbated by the fact that globalization as a concept and as a process seems to originate from the West, and because many Muslims equate globalization with colonization. The conflict between Islam and globalization and the West is perhaps the most pressing issue in the post-September 11th era, and this set seeks to represent the shape of international relations - conciliatory and otherwise - between the two ‘civilizations’ in the late-twentieth and twenty-first centuries. With a general introduction by the editor, the volumes include articles by leading scholars that will initially examine the various ways in which Islam has tried to protect itself against the encroachment of the West, before investigating a more outward-looking Islam that encourages religious reformism and evolution in order to contend with the new challenges and priorities of a global community.

The relationship between perceived interparental conflict and Malaysian young adults' attitudes toward divorce

In the context of an upward trend in divorce rates in Malaysia, this article explores the relationship between Malaysian young adults' perceptions of interparental conflict and their own attitudes toward divorce. Two questionnaires were administered to 160 young adults between 18 and 30 years old: the Attitude Towards Divorce Scale and the Perceptions of Interparental Conflict−Intensity/Frequency Scale. A positive relationship was found between perceived intensity and frequency of interparent conflict and attitudes toward divorce in males and females, respectively; however, the associations were weak. Future investigations of divorce need to take into consideration both the cultural factors that are influential within a society and how they shape gender norms within that population to gain a greater understanding of this relationship. Such investigations will increase the understanding of non-Western culture's unique interaction between attitudes and divorce, thus potentially aiding future efforts to strengthen marriages and families.