Intercultural Communication

"The aim of this paper is to offer insights into one type of personal/autobiographic narrative, as a special form of accounting, considered not only an object, but also a means/tool of research in education. The paper starts from the general idea that linguistic autobiographies constitute an important source of information about the experience second/foreign language learners pass through, as well as about the way in which they come to make sense of it. One case study constitutes the basis for our analysis, in an attempt of identifying the reasons for which languages are learned, acquired, (re)used in everyday life various settings or, on the contrary, abandoned. The analysis is followed by the presentation of some possible implications that the practice and study of linguistic autobiography may have in language teaching and in student education, in general.

Key words: account/ personal narrative, linguistic autobiography, content, context, form"

"Under pressure of the continuing need to modernize, Vietnam is rapidly reforming its education system. Cooperative Learning (CL) with a Western-based model is being enthusiastically applied. This paper suggests that an authentic form of CL has long existed in the foundations of Vietnamese education. The reasons why Western-based CL is encouraged can be attributed to false universalism (the belief that a practice that originated from elsewhere can be “cloned” with similar results) and neo-colonialism
(the perpetuation of a colonial mindset under the pressure of financial loans). While an adjusted form of CL has been suggested by previous studies to make CL culturally appropriate, this paper argues that a true hybrid form of CL which takes into account the authentic CL will have more potential to make this method not only culturally but institutionally appropriate. The paper indicates a strong need to identify and incorporate indigenous practice in the process of educational reform."

"As we gain increasing access to differing cultures around the word it is hardly surprising that we tend to seek to learn from one another. This is particularly likely to be the case in those domains where other societies appear to be more successful. While it may be comparatively easy to borrow ideas from others in design, engineering and fashion, taking ideas from the educational practices of others has often proven to be more complex than was thought in the 1980s and 1990s.
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This chapter opens by discussing the eagerness of countries such as the US and UK to emulate a number of educationally high performing countries in Asian and Eastern Europe. It discusses the initial focus upon pedagogy, in particular, whole class interactive teaching, which is a feature of many of these societies’ educational practices. The chapter draws upon developments in Russia to illustrate our argument that more meaningful reasons for educational success concern attitudes and behaviour, not only those of students and teachers, but also those of the wider society. The chapter concludes by drawing upon the Russian experience to highlight a number of risks to Asian education systems that are posed by rapid social change underpinned by globalising influences."

"This article discusses four issues related to the central theme of ELLTA:

(i) West-East transfer with the influence of Western approaches in non-
Western countries where neocolonialism happens in the sense that
Western paradigms tend to shape and influence systems and thinking
elsewhere through the process of globalisation;

(ii) East-West transfer with the similar failure as the consequence of the West ‘borrowing’ policies and practices from Asia without caution of false universalism;

(iii) While encouraging each country to consider particular aspects of its
heritage to develop a culturally appropriate body of theory and practice
in accordance with their own world views and in line with their own
norms and values,

(iv) the article draws attention to the unavoidable
multicultural dimension of the global economy and argues that each
theory should be researched and introduced to the world citizens with
different perspectives, widening their knowledge repertoire so that a
tailor-made, customized solution can be reached for each specific particular
problem in our internationally economical, educational and political
landscape.

In short, each theory has a universal part which transcends time and location.
These powerful continuities should act as foundation for different
cultural perspectives to be constructed. However, moving upwards
to the level of practice, this East-West dichotomy should be synergised
and customizable, as this multicultural world gives us exclusively only
particular, specific case-sensitive challenges."

"O filmskim i životnim lažima i istinama bez pardona. Provokativna, korisna i zanimljiva knjiga eseja i kritika na temu lica i naličja savremenog života, pojavnog i suštinskog u novokonponovanoj (kvazi)estetici funkcionalnog, teogonijskog, kozmogonijskog i teološkog rakursa tumačenja prošlosti, sadašnjosti i budućnosti kroz filmsku i medijsku realnost, dobro je napisana na podlozi zrelih razmišljanja i alarmantnih pitanja naše svakodnevnice i još alarmantnijih budućnosti čovječanstva i nas smrtnika, zarobljenih u mreže njegovanog neznanja o sebi i o drugima, ušančenih u samoljubivom i sladostrasnom zadovoljstvu u nečinjenju onoga što bismo morali činiti za buduće naraštaje. Mediji su postali branša koja sve više zna o ničemu, a znanost područje koje sve manje zna o svemu.
Prof. dr. Besim Spahić

Današnji konzument socijalnih ili kulturoloških fenomena ne sudi ni o čemu, priroda tih fenomena je takva da konzumenta apriori ubijedi da sud i nije potreban. Lejla Panjeta, prepoznata u znanstvenoj zajednici kao akribičan i lucidan kulturalni fenomenolog iz oblasti propagande, filma i medija, u ovoj knjizi bavi se semiotikom u dva globalna gnoseološka podučja – religijom i filmom – najvećim manipulatorima ljudskog duha, tendirajući ka općeaksiološkom značenju.
Da li je novovampirizam, povezan sa seksizmom, „apokalipsa vrijednosti zdravog razuma“? Da li je čuveni filmski zahtjev „biti poseban“ zahtjev jadne i ispodprosječne stvarnosti? Koliko državne administracije ili nacionalni dušebrižnici koriste film u svoje propagandne svrhe? To su samo neka od važnih pitanja koja otvara – a na mnoga i odgovara! – ova knjiga.
Prof. dr. Zilhad Ključanin

Iz predgovora
Po obimu teksta o filmu i ova knjiga je mogla biti knjiga sineaste, ali ona tako izvanredno zrači u svim pravcima, da ju je nemoguće svesti samo na tu odrednicu. Ovakve knjige eseja na “opšte” teme nismo imali ni u predratnom periodu, a u današnjem svijetu “posebnosti” kada se autori gotovo isključivo bave posebnim temema, ona je dragulj.
Prof. dr. Tvrtko Kulenović"

The Council of Trent established the requirements that a marriage be celebrated by the parish priest and two or more witnesses be present at the marriage (1563), but neglected to specify who the parish priest was. The decrees provoked confusion among both laymen and churchmen. Traces thereof can be found in the hitherto essentially unexplored documentation of The Congregation of the Council. This institution was founded in 1564 specifically to resolve the questions that arose all over the catholic world by the application of the decrees promulgated at Trent. The related records are held in the Vatican Secret Archive. Through an examination of this documentation, complemented by files of the Holy Office the author analyzes how the new rules were understood, experienced, used, circumvented, and manipulated both by laymen and churchmen in order to end an unwanted marriage, to facilitate a union that was socially transgressive, opposed by family, or even heterodox, and to respond to pastoral concerns.

"Communication skills are one of the main distinctions that make mankind different from other beings. Communication Studies is an inter-disciplinary field which can be defined as the centre of all fields. It enables all sciences, including the axiom and social sciences, to work properly. The origin of the ‘media’, which comprises all channels and means that enable mass communication, term comes from Latin. Media is obligated from the task of mediation or arbitration. In other words, it is responsible from acting as arbitrator between society and events as well as institutions and public sphere; due to enabling the flow of information and knowledge, media/communication became indispensable in our lives.
The knowledge given by media can also include the idea about the ‘Other’ cultures. While informing its audiences about other cultures; it enables cultural diffusion, sustainable developments in intercultural contexts and also constructs the knowledge about ‘Other’.
Movies as part of media, via representations that are included, can also be a force that strengthens the communication between cultures. Though this, during the present study, the movie “Big Man, Little Love” [also known as Hejar], which is a Turkish-Greek-Hungarian production that involves intercultural (Turkish-Kurdish) relations in Turkey will be analyzed.
During the present study, the relations of people from these two different cultures [Turkish-Kurdish], their manners, discourses and attitudes will be examined through the semiological and discursive analysis. Thus the significance of the movies that comprises intercultural contexts at the construction of social relations will be figured.
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