Submitted to the Faculty ofArts in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of General Linguistics, at the University of Zululand, 2007. / This thesis reviewed the South African Constitution, the Language-in Education Policy (2004) and the National Language Policy Framework (2002), with the intention to compare certain promulgations on the issue of language use in South Africa. The constitution is unequivocal about the promotion of multilingual ism and use of indigenous languages. The study focused on the role which schools can play to achieve this objective. Schools are viewed as the most fertile ground toward the promotion of multilingualism, as stipulated by the South African Constitution (1996), particularly urban schools which are multiracial, with learners from different linguistic background. Data were solicited from schools in urban areas (English medium and Afrikaans medium), and those in rural areas (English and isiZulu medium). Comparisons were made between the two. The status of indigenous languages prior to and post 1994, is discussed. The study observed that while the South African government is committed to promote multilingualism, the documents (the constitution and the Language-in-Education Policy, 2004) are very good, but implementation of the stipulations of such documents is lacking. It was established that a considerable number of former Model C schools still offer the languages which were offered prior to the first democratic era, in 1994. Therefore, unless the government sanctions the language policies, schools cannot change what they have decided between the school principal and the School Governing Body (SGB), and which they have already implemented. The study concluded that besides the freer and wide speakership of indigenous languages their dignity and restoration also ought to be restored. This could be achieved easier if these languages were documented, and adequate material available in them in order to enable future generations to access information in their mother tongue if they choose to. Furthermore, if multilingualism is to bear fruit, indigenous African languages ought to be tied to employment, e.g. journalism, medical practice and nursing, revenue collectors, traffic officers, etc. In the case of medical doctors, for instance, they should know at least one indigenous language that is widely spoken in the area where they practice, regardless of their racial background. The idea here is that unless learners see the functional value in learning indigenous African languages, they might not be as strongly motivated to learn these languages as when they learn English.

In the last two decades, a shift in the museological paradigm has changed the way in which Native American history and culture is interpreted and represented to the general public. As legal mandates and growing institutional pressures increasingly call for the integration of tribal representatives into the decision-making bodies of museums and authoritative institutions, cross-cultural collaboration and partnerships have increased significantly. With little precedent guiding public historians and museum professionals through this new and complex system of collaboration, the path unfolding in the journey towards the “indigenization”; of museums has been marked with achievements and challenges that have both taught and tested historical professionals. The following is a case study that examines the ways in which this unfolding shift in Native American representation manifested itself in the reconstruction of a Chinookan plankhouse in the early 21st century. With a common objective of educating visitors about the significant cultural and natural history of the former site of the Cathlapotle village, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Chinook Indian Nation teamed up to design, fund, construct and interpret the Cathlapotle Plankhouse in Ridgefield, Washington. Despite sharing a common goal for the reconstruction of a full-scale Chinookan plankhouse, different motivations and agendas guided the decision-making process and required both partners to make compromises that challenged each other’s understanding and expectations of the project. In this work, I analyze how these two organizations navigated the rewarding yet challenging realm of cross-cultural collaboration to create a meaningful and significant heritage site for a wide range of user groups. From this analysis, I hope to provide public historians and museum professionals a detailed example of a cross-cultural partnership that will assist them as they move forward through a continuously unfolding and largely uncharted system of collaboration.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / A significant literature gap exists in our understanding of the motivating mechanisms for creation of foundations by philanthropists, a rapid paradigm shift that is occurring in many countries. This study aims to address the literature gap by discovering Chinese entrepreneurs' heterogeneous responses to the conditions that may lead to creation of their own foundations. Adopting the institutional entrepreneurship theory, which examines agency/change in breaking from an old institution, the researcher tested and operationalized four major factors derived from the institutional entrepreneurship theory--i.e. conflict, heterogeneity, institutional logic, and power--to account for the behavioral change. Through investigating 209 wealthy Chinese entrepreneurs from the 2003-2004 Top 100 Philanthropists List produced by the Hurun Research Institute, utilizing the event history analysis method, the study discovered that among the four factors only heterogeneity resulting from strategic industry intersection and the entrepreneurs' political power are the antecedents of their creation of foundations. Other factors--such as conflict, heterogeneity resulted from civil network, and institutional logic--were not relevant in this study. These results suggest that Chinese entrepreneurs who benefit from their improved political and social standing and increased capital are also making endeavors to take initiatives to contribute to the social and economic well-beings in the social areas that the entrepreneurs' industry intersect heavily. This study enriches our understanding of the creation of foundations from entrepreneurs' contextual background in an emerging market. The empirical validation of the antecedents of behavior change and civic leadership innovation also provides practical implications for policy-makers, philanthropy advisers, and nonprofit leaders.

No description available.

Current practices in music education parallel the expansion of globalization and cross-cultural contact. However, the multicultural music education movement—referred to by some as "world music education"—has been primarily about the diversity of musical experiences and less about the circumstances and processes of the music itself. As a result, Western music educators often neglect inseparable learning pathways and unintentionally distort the meaning and value of diverse musics from around the world. While there is considerable research examining the teaching and learning of diverse music cultures, significant portions of that literature only represent the observed accounts of cultural outsiders. In this study, I examined the lived experiences of world music culture bearers who teach in Western university institutions in the Southwest region of the United States. I used narrative inquiry to learn more about their pedagogical experiences and documented their storied accounts of interactions with university students. I based the theoretical framework in this study on Clandinin and Connelly's narrative inquiry three-dimensional space model and Schippers' twelve continuum transmission framework. My primary findings revealed that teaching in a cross-cultural setting involves several musical and contextual choices. Moreover, the perceived authenticity of the research participants' transmission processes was often a byproduct of their teaching realities—the intersection of their music culture and Western institutional structures—and included numerous adaptations. As was the case with all three participants, their past experiences constituted their present teacher knowledge and became a significant part of how they perceived their futures.

Understanding the factors responsible for successful interactions between cultures has been an ongoing investigation among anthropologists, social workers, and organizational psychologists. The need for employees who are able to function effectively across cultures has resulted in a great deal of research examining which factors enable expatriate effectiveness. Despite the necessity of a workforce that is able to function across cultures in today’s global economy, an even greater case can be made for cross-cultural competence (3C) in the U.S. military. The potential for loss of life and international-level consequences is high if our military forces are not adequately prepared. This is why the Department of Defense has identified 3C as a critical determinant of success for military missions. Despite the critical need for military 3C, a review of the literature found no validated instruments developed to assess the readiness of our troops to work closely with foreign nationals and coalition forces in the context of military deployments. As such, the overarching goal of this validation study was to enable the U.S. military to prepare and train its forces in 3C, specifically allowing the military to: (1) better assess troop readiness to engage other cultures; (2) target training to those skills that help achieve missions in the field; (3) design more authentic cross-cultural training exercises; (4) assess the effectiveness of crosscultural training; and (5) guide the development of future cultural training efforts. To that end, a blended approach to scale development was undertaken, whereby critical-incident interviews with subject matter experts informed which of the individual difference predictors from the civilian literatures would likely be applicable to the military domain. Initial administration of the prototype instrument to 792 military members, followed by exploratory factor analysis, revealed six hypothesized factors of 3C. Following scale development, the Cross-Cultural Competence iv Inventory (3CI) was administered to almost 5,000 service members, and the six-factor structure was confirmed as well as cross-validated. Another data collection effort focused on assessing the stability of the six factors over time, via test-retest reliability analysis. A final validation study revealed Cultural Exploration to be a significant predictor of three of the four performance criteria, as rated by supervisors on deployment. Furthermore, this study offered the unique perspective gained by administering two popular civilian instruments along with a military-based tool, providing insight into the nature of military 3C and the ways in which it is similar to, and distinct from, civilian 3C. Additionally, important theoretical contributions may help guide future empirical research and military applications. This study is the initial step in assessing readiness for cultural interaction in the military. The results may serve to guide future efforts in military research in order to support our forces in the field as well as to guide the military establishment in making decisions on training, education, and operations in the context of mission success.

<p dir="ltr">This study conducts a comprehensive multimodal analysis of online food reaction videos (OFRV), uploaded by Buzzfeed, featuring Americans consuming and engaging with East Asian foods. Employing social semiotic theory, Orientalism, and colonialist discourses as theoretical lenses, this research aims to discern how these videos contribute to narratives that perpetuate the orientalized view that East Asian culture is fundamentally different from American culture and examine how these narratives are constructed multimodally via the YouTube platform. The methodological approach involves moment analysis, multimodal transcription, and in-depth analysis of selected moments to unravel narrative patterns and the various multimodal methods employed. Findings reveal pervasive decontextualization, stigmatizing, and an us vs. them paradigm surrounding the food, which reinforces orientalized portrayals. The study identifies distinct narrative patterns such as savagery, strangeness, sickness, and fear surrounding representations of Asian food, highlighting the multifaceted ways these narratives are constructed. The term "gastronomic orientalism" emerges from the analysis, encapsulating the complex process by which these videos utilize food representation to create an oriental narrative. This paper not only illuminates the multimodal construction of gastronomic orientalism but also contributes to future research by introducing a qualitative analysis method. The findings from this research suggest that media producers should prioritize cultural sensitivity and inclusivity to counter othering narratives against Asians in online media. Additionally, it suggests that future studies delve into more diversified video content and incorporate quantitative methods to yield more generalizable findings on cultural representation narratives.</p>

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The study was conducted with the aim of assessing the Saudi Arabian cultural knowledge among the non-Muslim nurses. These nurses work in the obstetric units at the King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre, Jeddah and come from different cultural groups and are caring for the Saudi Arabian Muslim women. In order for care to be congruent, comprehensive and of a high quality, the patients' needs should be met at the best attainable level. Nurses in all health care settings are expected to demonstrate knowledge of the culture that they serve in order to eliminate barriers. Data analysis was facilitated with the use of the SPSS 11.5 computer program. The study findings may suggest the development of educational guidelines, which will direct the activities of an educational intervention. / Health Studies / M.A. (Health Studies))

The study is a comparative analysis of conceptual metaphors in English and Shona. The objectives of this study were: to compare the metaphorical expressions of English and Shona in the same or similar domains in order to establish on the one hand whether there are similarities and/or differences cross-linguistically and cross-culturally in the metaphorical construal of reality between these two languages and on the other hand, to establish what the underlying motivation is for the similarities and the differences between these two unrelated languages. The thesis also explores the reasons for the similarities in terms of particular assumptions underlying conceptual metaphors, that is, embodiment and ecological motivations. / Linguistics / D. Litt. et Phil. (Linguistics)