• Title/Summary/Keyword: Cultural Studies

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New Orientations of Cultural Studies in 21st Century China

  • Ning, Wang
    • Journal of English Language & Literature
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    • v.60 no.2
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    • pp.233-247
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    • 2014
  • Cultural Studies is characterized by being opposed to (elite) literary studies not only because it points to popular or non-elite literature which is usually not dealt with by elite literary scholars or comparatists, but also because it severely challenges the established literary canon and even tries to subvert this elite-oriented canon. In addition, Cultural Studies complements literary studies in that it contributes a great deal to the reconstruction of new literary canon by expanding the narrow domain of (elite) literature and its studies. What was not touched upon by traditional literary scholars is now studied by Cultural Studies scholars. In this sense, we should realize that it is not the field of Cultural Studies that occupies the domain of literary studies, but rather, it has expanded its traditional domain and added some new cultural elements. This article will illustrate how the interdisciplinary writings of some of the representative Anglo-American literary scholars have paved the way for effective dialogues between literary studies and Cultural Studies. I argue that the practice of Cultural Studies in China will not only contribute to global Cultural Studies in general, but also carry on equal dialogue with its Western and international counterparts. My purpose is to deal with the challenge of Cultural Studies to comparative literature studies in general before mapping the new orientations of Cultural Studies in $21^{th}$ century China.

The Approaches of Cultural Studies to Theatre -The Limits of Theory Application- (연극에 대한 문화연구적 접근 -'이론' 도입의 한계를 중심으로-)

  • Kim, Yongn Soo
    • Journal of Korean Theatre Studies Association
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    • no.40
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    • pp.307-344
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    • 2010
  • Cultural Studies built on the critical mind of New Left exposes the relationship between culture and power, and investigates how this relationship develops the cultural convention. It has achieved the new perspective that could make us to think culture and art in terms of political correctness. However, the critical voices against the theoretical premises of Cultural Studies have been increased as its heyday in 1980s was nearly over. For instance, Terry Eagleton, a former Marxist literary critic, declared in 2003 that the golden age of cultural theory is long past. This essay, therefore, intends to show the weak foundations on which the approaches of cultural studies to theatre rest and to clarify the general problem of their introduction to theatre studies. The approach of cultural studies to theatre takes the form of 'top-down inquiry' as it applies a theory to a particular play or historical period. In other word, from the theory the writer moves to the particular case. The result is not an inquiry but rather a demonstration. This circularity can destroy the point of serious intellectual investigation as the theory dictates answers. The goal-oriented narrow viewpoint as a logical consequence of 'top-down inquiry' makes the researcher to favor the plays or the parts of a play that are proper to test a theory. As a result it loses the fair judgment on the artistic value of a play, and brings about the misinterpretation. The interpreter-oriented reading is the other defect of cultural studies as it disregards the inherent meaning of the text, distorting a play. The approach of cultural studies also consists of a conventionality as it arrives at a stereotyped interpretation by using certain conventions of reasoning and rhetoric. The cultural theories are fundamentally the 'outside theories' that seek to explain not theatre but the very broad features of society and politics. Consequently their application to theatre risks the destructive criticism, disregarding the inherent experience of theatre. Most of, if not all, cultural theories, furthermore, are proven to be lack of empirical basis. The alternative method to them is a 'cognitive science' that proves scientifically our mind being influenced by bodily experience. The application of cultural materialism to Shakespeare's is one of the cases that reveal the limits of cultural studies. Jonathan Dollimore and Water Cohen provide a kind of 'canonical study' in this application that is imitated by the succeeding researchers. As a result the interpretation of has been flooded with repetitive critical remarks, revealing the problem of 'top-down inquiry' and conventional reasoning. Cultural Studies is antipodal to theatre in some respect. It is interested chiefly in the social and political reality while theatre aims to create the fiction world. The theatre studies, therefore, may have to risk the danger of destroying its own base when it adopts cultural studies uncritically. The different stance between theatre and cultural theories also occurs from the opposition of humanism vs. antihumanism. We have to introduce cultural theories selectively and properly not to destroy the inherent experience and domain of theatre.

An Examination of the Theoretical Foundations of Cross-Cultural Studies through an Analysis of Cross-Cultural Research in ELT

  • Pederson, Rod
    • Cross-Cultural Studies
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    • v.45
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    • pp.497-517
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    • 2016
  • This paper interrogates the theoretical foundations of Cross-Cultural Studies across the Social Sciences through an examination of the field ELT. Through an examination of ELT's major theoretical and pedagogical moves, this paper illustrates how ELT is by nature a field of cross-Cultural Studies. A closer examination of the history of ELT shows how the colonial genesis of the field indicates a skewed representation of power between native English speaking nations and non-native speaking nations both in terms of academic theories and pedagogies, as well as socio-cultural relations of power. A further analysis of how the field theorizes and represents various relations of power between disparate cultures in ELT literature explicates the dilemma of the objectivity and neutrality of Cross-Cultural research in ELT. In doing so, the analyses included in this paper thus necessarily raises questions regarding the theoretical foundations of research methodologies of Cross-Cultural Studies in terms of the reflexivity of researchers and the problematic of how, or if, relations of power are included in the studies. This paper questions whether studies that do not include these research perspectives properly represent the disparate cultures under study, or are more of a biased, or Orientalized (Said, 1979) interpretation of cultures.

Lost in Cultural Studies: Searching for an Exit in Drama/Theatre/Performance Studies (문화연구에서 길을 잃다: 한 드라마 연구자의 출구 찾기)

  • Choi, Sung Hee
    • Cross-Cultural Studies
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    • v.21
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    • pp.189-211
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    • 2010
  • The purpose of this paper is to 1)examine the current state of cultural studies in Korea with a focus on recent discourses about its 'crisis' and 2)attempt to find some ways out of these dilemmas in drama/theatre/performance studies. As Raymond Williams redefined 'culture' as 'a whole way of life,' performance studies has expanded the boundary of 'performance' from traditional performing arts onto almost everything that can be studied and analyzed 'as' performance. Performance is not only the final product on display but a whole process that includes training, workshop, and rehearsal of culture. According to Richard Schechner, workshop and rehearsal are the most critical and creative 'liminal' phases that allow traditional knowledge and alternative challenges to coexist in conflict and intentionally delay the final decision by putting itself in a perpetual process. From this view, this essay attempts to find an-no matter how limited and temporary-answer to or a possible exit from political and theoretical aporias of cultural studies.

Re-reading Birmingham Cultural Studies for 'Non-representational Cultural Studies' in South Korea -with Stuart Hall's Philosophy and Methodology (버밍엄 문화연구에 대한 재고찰과 '비재현적 문화연구'의 필요성 -스튜어트 홀과 주요 연구자들의 사유와 방법론을 중심으로)

  • Park, Sungwoo
    • Korean journal of communication and information
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    • v.70
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    • pp.95-131
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    • 2015
  • This paper points out the importance and necessity of 'non-representational cultural studies' in South Korea. For this, Stuart Hall's seminal research "Encoding/Decoding" (1980) is to be re-read thoroughly with articulation of his later practices. Along with, this research looks at how non-representational cultural studies can expand the scope of understanding various comtemporary phenomenon of our society usually untold by mainstream cultural studies' themes and methods which focus more on abstract division and representational discourses. Notably, Stuart Hall's influential early writings and practical later engagements could bring us to think more seriously not only where contemporary cultural studies goes but also where cultural studies in South Korea should go. This article narrows the attention into Hall's EC/DC theory and related research-practical activity influenced by his own philosophy. Indeed, cultural studies in South Korea still seems to be almost same as early Birmingham cultural studies especially in the aspects like research direction and theme; however, that is quite unusual in some points. These points are to be explicated by this attempt of following Hall's meaningful life-long trajectory as a cultural activist as well as media theorist.

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A Literature Review of the Studies on Cultural Competency of Nurses and Nursing Students in Korea (국내 간호사와 간호대학생의 문화적 역량 연구에 대한 문헌고찰)

  • Kim, Min-A;Choi, So-Eun
    • Research in Community and Public Health Nursing
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    • v.29 no.4
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    • pp.450-466
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    • 2018
  • Purpose: The purpose of this study is to identify trends in research on cultural competency of nursing students and nurses in Korea and to provide suggestions for future studies. Methods: A literature search was conducted with 432 papers published between 1985 and 2016 from five electronic databases and other sources using such key words as 'cultural competency', 'cultural nursing', 'multi-cultural competency', 'nursing students', 'nurses', etc. Results: The research design of 86 nursing researches on the cultural competence of nurses and nursing students analyzed in this study was 90.7% in quantitative research, 9.3% in qualitative research, and 2.3% in mixed research. Cultural competence was the most measured concept. A total of 41 papers (47.7%) out of 86 papers were used to measure cultural competence. Ten different tools were used various instruments of cultural competency were used in 41 papers. In 11 experimental studies, new methods such as role playing, case study, four stage 3D puzzle model, newspaper reading, and writing reflection note were used other than traditional method of lecture. Conclusion: The overall findings of this study suggest that future research should include more well-designed experimental studies, qualitative studies and repeated studies to confirm the effects of findings from previous studies. Development of effective and highly diverse teaching methods is recommended to increase cultural competency. Supporting systems and funding are required to help activate research of nurses.

A Ten-Year Analytical Comparative Study on the International Journal of Consumer Studies

  • Shin, Dongjin
    • Journal of Distribution Science
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    • v.12 no.7
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    • pp.63-75
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    • 2014
  • Purpose - This study analyzes topics discussed in the International Journal of Consumer Studies through a content analysis, to reveal the impact of cross-cultural management in consumer research. Research Design, Data, and Methodology - The International Journal of Consumer Studies has the highest impact factor among international consumer journals, and was chosen for research. This study investigated 712 articles, covering a ten-year period. Results - A total of 82 articles were found to be related to cross-cultural management, out of 712 articles. This shows a need for improvement in the area of cross-cultural management, and implies that the discipline of cross-cultural management will continue to have a significant impact on consumer studies. Conclusions - While content analyses have been conducted in the area of consumer research in the past, a comparative content analysis in the International Journal of Consumer Studies is unprecedented. This study offers insights on the comparative analysis of general articles and articles related to cross-cultural management, which will be useful reference points for future global markets and fields in distribution and consumer research.

Persian EFL Learners' Cross-Cultural Understanding and Their L2 Proficiency

  • Nasrabady, Azadeh Nasri;Rasekh, Abbass Islami;Biria, Reza
    • Cross-Cultural Studies
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    • v.24
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    • pp.62-83
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    • 2011
  • The totality of language learning comprises three integrated components: linguistic, cultural, and attitudinal (Wilkes, 1983).Positively sensitizing students to cultural phenomena is urgent and crucial. A positive attitude toward L2 culture is a factor in language learning that leads to cross cultural understanding. This research examined, through a survey analysis, how three groups of students (one high school group and two university student groups) viewed the role of their foreign culture (i.e., American and British cultures) in achieving cultural understanding. The focus was upon how EFL learners approach the target language culture as well as their own culture.

Abduction as Methodology of Cultural Studies (문화연구의 방법론으로서 가추법이 갖는 유용성)

  • Lee, Hee-Eun
    • Korean journal of communication and information
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    • v.54
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    • pp.76-97
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    • 2011
  • What are the meanings of abduction as a methodology of Cultural Studies? By contextualizing Charles Sanders Peirce's logic of abduction in the discipline of Cultural Studies, I explore the epistemological discussion on the modern scientific research methodology of social sciences. Abduction is a kind of logical inference, which is often associated with guessing or intuition. Peirce's method of abduction and Cultural Studies' contextual formation in effect address an alternative methodology to positivism. Criticizing the modern Eurocentric structure of knowledge construction, I suggest that the virtue of abduction, as a logic of discovery, should be re-discovered in the context of Cultural Studies. Abduction holds important lessons for Cultural Studies as well as social sciences in general because of its focus on intuition, empathy, and intellectual collaboration. Through its elaboration of the logic of abduction, Cultural Studies is able to maintain not only its epistemological ground but also its methodological communicability.

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Transnational Reception of Korean Film: Analyses of Film Reviews (한국영화의 초국가적 수용: 영화리뷰를 중심으로)

  • Chung, Soh-young;Nho, Yunchae
    • Cross-Cultural Studies
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    • v.26
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    • pp.405-444
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    • 2012
  • This paper is based on the view that film should be conceived as a form of cultural practice whose meaning is always in the process of being produced within diverse socio-cultural contexts and aims to examine the ways in which the meaning of Korean film is (re)mediated or received in diverse cultural contexts outside the country. In this paper, we employ two theoretical grounds. Firstly, it positions itself in line with the audience studies within the field of cultural studies where the audience is conceived as active agents who produce the meaning of a popular culture text. The recruitment of the theoretical propositions from the audience studies enables recognition of the significance of the reception in film practice which recently seems to be oriented on production and distribution. Secondly, we conceive transnationality of film as that which is being produced in the process of transaction between the film and the audience, that is to say, transnationality is a form of discourse that emerges upon cultural interaction. The empirical work involves examination of a set of reviews of four films--Chihwaseon, Oldboy, Thirt, Poety--that have been published in daily newspapers and some popular film magazines in the U. S., the U. K. and France. Through the analysis of the film reviews, we identify four interpretive schemes or rather discourses recruited via which the Korean films are approached and understood: auteurism, formalism, universal themes, emotional response. We propose that these four kinds of discourse provide a common ground for the audience from different cultural backgrounds to understand Korean film. Furthermore, we also suggest that transnationality of Korean cinema needs to be reconsidered in terms of the reception as the audience from different socio-cultural backgrounds should be understood as active agents who are capable of engaging in Korean cultural texts such as film in their own way producing various meanings and these are also constituent of the meaning of the cultural texts.