“He's Doing Fine”: Hope Work and Emotional Threat Management Among Families of Seriously Ill Children

In this study, I examine how people in emotionally fraught circumstances strategically structure social interactions in order to protect fragile emotional states. Data come from interviews and observations with 18 families of children being treated for life‐threatening conditions at an elite university research hospital. I show how families worked to ward off emotional threats to their ability to maintain hope that their children would recover by preempting and restructuring social interactions with friends and family members and pruning social networks. These efforts allowed families to minimize reciprocal obligations and avoid encountering pessimistic reflected appraisals that might trigger “emotional shortcuts” leading to states of fear and anxiety. Similar efforts to reconstruct social interactions and social networks may be common among those working to maintain fragile emotional states in a variety of challenging circumstances.     

Student mobility and identity-related language learning

This paper reviews some recent studies problematizing various aspects of identity in relation to mobile students’ encounters with the social interactive and pragmatic dimensions of language. The paper will examine several salient demographic categories represented in the literature: nationality, ‘foreigner’ status, gender, age, and sexuality. These studies clearly demonstrate that student sojourners abroad may encounter challenges not only to their language skills, but also to their identities. Furthermore, these challenges can influence both the overall quality of study or residence abroad as an environment for language learning and the particular aspects of language that students choose to appropriate or reject. In light of these findings, it would appear that simply enjoining language learners to become more engaged or less judgmental may not be sufficient. Rather, what is in order is a renewed emphasis on awareness of language and culture as well as approaches helping students to understand how linguistic choices both reflect and create interpersonal, social, and cultural contexts.     

Ingesting the organization: The embodiment of organizational food rituals

This exploratory paper asks: ‘how do organizational food and drink rituals shape, reflect or create organizational culture?’ Adopting an embodied approach based on Merleau-Ponty's [1945. Phenomenology of Perception. Translated by C. Smith, 2003. London: Penguin. New York: Routledge] phenomenological work, this paper explores the significance of food-based rituals. Data were collected from different organizations using mixed methods and an embodied, reflexive approach – which is relatively novel in organizational research. Embodied experiences are potent, and this paper proposes that workplace food and drink rituals can powerfully influence perceptions of organizational culture. The unique contribution is in showing how embodied organizational rituals create and sustain organizational culture by using the pre-reflective moment of food ingestion to shape cognitive reconstructions of organizational culture. However, food rituals can be controlled and shaped by the organization to specifically influence employee perceptions of organizational culture. Control of food rituals can be perceived as a deliberate effort to create a constructive culture and encourage reciprocity through employee loyalty and effort.     

现代化进程中民族文化的嬗变与和谐民族文化的构建

在现代化进程中,民族传统文化遭受到前所未有的巨大冲击,发生了三种类型的嬗变,这是一个动态调整的过程,其结果是使民族文化适应现代化的发展方向,发生嬗变后的民族文化不同于和谐民族文化。现代化进程中民族文化的嬗变,可以说是一个被动的适应过程;构建和谐民族文化,可以说是一个主动的追求过程,它以发生嬗变的民族文化为基础,积极倡导民族和谐的价值取向,为构建和谐民族以及和谐社会提供智力支持。     

论中华民族的多元民族文化观

民族文化观是人们对一个民族包括自身民族与他民族文化的观念、态度和价值取向。中华民族的多元文化观产生于多元的文化起源,形成于多民族长期的接触与交往。它既有多元的特征,也有一体的特征。在历史上,这种文化态度对中国各民族团结、国家和平统一以及社会发展都发挥了积极的作用。在世界格局与中国社会发生重大变革的当今社会,多元民族文化观依然具有很强的现实意义。     

越南濒危民族语言的现状及应对濒危语言的政策

由于交际环境变小、与其它人口多的民族杂居等原因,越南的尔都、布依、仡佬、阿连和马良等少数民族的语言正在出现逐渐消亡的危机。要保留和发展这些濒危语言,笔者认为这些民族必须得到良好的普通话(即国家通用语言)教育,以便创造与各民族进行平等交际的环境。同时,要多种形式地组织这些民族的传统文化活动,为他们使用母语进行交际创造环境。     

民族角色创新论

民族角色是民族性与时代性统一,规范性与创新性统一。但长期以来,人们对角色规范性研究较多,而相对忽视了角色的创新性。事实上,伴随现代化、城市化、市场化与全球化,民族角色创新不可避免。它不仅反映在角色规范的创新上,而且反映在角色期待与扮演的实践中。角色创新是继承传统基础上的创新,是传统民族角色的现代重构、丰富与发展。     

西部开发、劳动力流动与少数民族教育

为了推动西部大发展 ,我国政府开始实施西部大开发战略 ,各种体制改革不断深化 ,地区劳动力流动更为频繁。处在这一背景下的西部各民族特别是少数民族面临着严峻的就业挑战。本文分析了西部劳动力的结构、就业特点 ,希望能通过具体的教育措施提高少数民族劳动力的竞争能力 ,为保持西部地区繁荣、稳定做出贡献。     

《大唐西域记》与西藏文化

《大唐西域记》与西藏文化有着千丝万缕的联系。不管是在地理位置、宗教传播,还是在与周边国家的关系方面,都是有迹可寻的。从这种联系,我们可以窥见唐初西藏文化的一些蛛丝马迹,同时也可以看出周边文化的多元化对整个西藏文化所产生的影响。     

论西部大开发中的民族法制建设

本文分析了西部大开发中民族法制建设的必要性、原则 ,提出了加强民族法制建设的几个方面。作者认为 ,必须重视和加强西部大开发中的民族法制建设 ,特别要加强少数民族政治权利、少数民族文化、少数民族风俗习惯、少数民族宗教 ,以及民族地区生态、民族地区市场经济方面的法制建设。惟其如此 ,才能顺利实施西部大开发的战略 ,才能真正实现民族平等、团结和共同繁荣 ,才能帮助少数民族走上现代化的发展道路。