Understanding cultural singularities of ‘Indianness’ in an intercultural business setting

Analysing data from the Indian information technology (IT) industry, this paper advances an understanding of cultural singularities of ‘Indianness’. The research context of an intercultural meeting place of IT and business process outsourcing firms’ overseas subsidiaries, Belgium in this case, allows the authors to identify 10 cultural singularities that typify ‘Indianness’. This ethnographic, reflexive study is further validated by employing Ghoshal's ‘smell of the place’ metaphor through the authors collective experiences as consultants and researchers, and builds and extends upon the popular cultural dimension frameworks for understanding intercultural business and management. Existing cultural dimensions do not sufficiently describe the contemporary intercultural dynamics that typically take place in workplaces, especially so in offshore and outsourcing environments. A provisional set of parameters for understanding Indian culture, with its relevant impact on business life (customs and manners), business processes and business deliverables are proposed in this study.     

美好抑或悲哀:旅游演艺的文化真实性研究

文化是旅游演艺的灵魂,旅游演艺即为通过对真实的地域文化进行抽离、截取、裁剪等艺术性加工所形成的具有舞台美感的旅游表演,并使真实的文化转变成舞台上的文化。由于利益诉求不同,旅游演艺相关各方对于文化真实性的关注角度存在一定差异。旅游演艺在对地域文化进行艺术加工的同时,也在对地域文化进行着解构与重构。地域文化真实性在解构与重构过程中发生改变,也使得旅游演艺相关各方对文化真实性产生了不一样的理解。尽管地域文化真实性因旅游演艺的介入而发生变化这一客观事实引起了一定的悲哀性慨叹,但总体而言旅游演艺重构或生产"新文化"这一过程既是美好的现实,更是美好的"真实",另外,这类"新文化"同样值得尊重,其是地域文化变迁过程中的真实性存在。     

Figures of youth: on the very object of Youth Studies

ABSTRACT

‘Youth’ as a social category is used and abused in all manner of ways across an array of fields, platforms, discourses and spaces, Youth Studies notwithstanding. When we talk about ‘young people’ sometimes we seem to be referring to different phenomena, depending upon our political interests, theoretical perspectives and research methods. This article interrogates how the concept of ‘youth’ is figuratively put to work. By suggesting different figures of youth, and inviting suggestions for more, I propose that tracing how they are situated in different ontological spaces can develop a clearer conception of our research object(s) and help reduce confusion and the possibility that we are talking past each other. The incomplete picture I want to paint of figures of youth, in quite broad-brush strokes, all inter-relate in something of a feedback loop, a material-semiotic assemblage that forms powerful affects for the ways that ‘youth’ is brought into being, how youth are researched, governed, co-opted and exploited.     

试论西部大开发中少数民族传统文化重构的特点

本文通过对西部大开发过程中少数民族文化重构的必然性、多元性、个体自愿性、长期性等特点的分析,论证并指出:西部开发过程中少数民族传统文化的变迁、重构是必然趋势,并且这个重构是长期的发展过程。在此过程中,应以个体自愿的原则为基础,让各种文化的主人从多元的社会文化取向中自主选择取舍,以达到“中和位育”的最终结果,在西部民族地区形成“各美其美”、“美美与共”、“和而不同”的多元文化混一的文化环境。与此同时,笔者对学术界中值得商榷的提法也进行了必要的修正。     

旅游语境下藏文化的真实再造:九寨沟《藏迷》的个案分析

随着我国民族旅游业的迅速发展，旅游开发中过度“商业化”和“表演化”的倾向日益突出，旅游者由此而产生的真实体验需求也更加强烈。在此背景下，一些旅游开发商开始将“真实性”作为民族文化旅游开发的重要内容之一，在不断提升游客体验质量的同时，也出现了一些问题，包括偏重于“真实”符号的堆砌而忽略了文化内涵的有效传递，片面强调“真实”场景的打造而缺乏对细节生活片段的展示，以及在展出中过度追求艺术化、精品化而忽略了旅游体验的娱乐性和大众性等。本文通过对九寨沟《藏迷》中“真实再造”的个案分析，指出上述所存在的问题及其根源，并提出相应的策略建议，以利于民族旅游中“真实再造”的顺利进行。     

无时间性的真无限：黑格尔哲学初期的一个关键问题

1803年前，黑格尔对时间问题缺乏关注。相形之下，在1807年《精神现象学》中，他已将时间看作哲学的重要主题。为什么黑格尔从1795到1802年曾对时间问题无动于衷。在1795年左右，黑格尔主要关注爱的无限性问题。在其法兰克福时期和耶拿初期，他虽然看到了时间性的客观世界的地位，但却并未对此加以强调，而只是强调了主体性的爱与客体性的世界的统一的绝对自身。1802年，通过研究雅各比和康德关于时间问题的争论，黑格尔刻意歪曲了雅各比哲学中的时间问题的重要性，以自己的方式，将时间性的有限存在者问题与物自身问题连接进行考察，从而以一种哲学性的真无限问题策略性地取代了时间问题。这一策略运用与黑格尔原初性的哲学体系理解直接相关，由此，黑格尔将雅各比哲学与康德哲学一并归类为反思性哲学，并对之加以“超越”。     

传承中的再造：羌族口头传统的文化生境及特征

口耳相传的口头传统构成了羌族传统文化的主体内容，其特征表现在内容的丰富性、内部文化的差异性、传承形态的宗教性、文化影响的多元性等方面。这些特征既是羌族民众基于深厚的历史传统中传承生成的，也是在与多元文化互动共融中不断进行合理性改造中达成的。传承中的再造构成了羌族口头传统生成与发展的内在动力。     

政治权力的反思与重构——基于女性主义国际关系理论视角

政治权力是政治学与国际关系等社会科学中的一个核心概念,其中权力可以视作手段、目的、关系过程与行为结果。女性主义国际关系理论对政治权力的认识、发现并批评了古典政治哲学与现实主义政治权力观的不足,在再认识的基础上,对政治权力的载体、目标和话语等进行了深刻反思,相应地从内涵、认知、目标等方面对政治权力进行重构。本文认为,政治权力的主体价值,是使政治权力的领导者构成得以重塑,而女性主义国际关系理论则推动了区域化与全球治理进程,促进了国际关系民主化。     

A Bayesian Model and Stochastic Exposure (Dose) Estimation for Relative Exposure Risk Comparison Involving Asbestos‐Containing Dropped Ceiling Panel Installation and Maintenance Tasks

Assessing exposures to hazards in order to characterize risk is at the core of occupational hygiene. Our study examined dropped ceiling systems commonly used in schools and commercial buildings and lay‐in ceiling panels that may have contained asbestos prior to the mid to late 1970s. However, most ceiling panels and tiles do not contain asbestos. Since asbestos risk relates to dose, we estimated the distribution of eight‐hour TWA concentrations and one‐year exposures (a one‐year dose equivalent) to asbestos fibers (asbestos f/cc‐years) for five groups of workers who may encounter dropped ceilings: specialists, generalists, maintenance workers, nonprofessional do‐it‐yourself (DIY) persons, and other tradespersons who are bystanders to ceiling work. Concentration data (asbestos f/cc) were obtained through two exposure assessment studies in the field and one chamber study. Bayesian and stochastic models were applied to estimate distributions of eight‐hour TWAs and annual exposures (dose). The eight‐hour TWAs for all work categories were below current and historic occupational exposure limits (OELs). Exposures to asbestos fibers from dropped ceiling work would be categorized as “highly controlled” for maintenance workers and “well controlled” for remaining work categories, according to the American Industrial Hygiene Association exposure control rating system. Annual exposures (dose) were found to be greatest for specialists, followed by maintenance workers, generalists, bystanders, and DIY. On a comparative basis, modeled dose and thus risk from dropped ceilings for all work categories were orders of magnitude lower than published exposures for other sources of banned friable asbestos‐containing building material commonly encountered in construction trades.     

Reconstruction of populations by stochastic optimization: Sensitivity analysis

The reconstruction of populations by stochastic optimization solves the nontrivial problem of finding demographic flows from population registers or vital statistics and censuses, if available. These flows allow the reconstruction of stocks (age pyramids and vital statistics). After a review of reconstruction methods, the sensitivity analysis shows the robustness of the method by stochastic optimization to flawed or missing values, to the length of the reconstruction period, and to variations in the actual demographic flows.