Culture and Context

After the tsunami of 26 December 2004, local discourses in the prevalently Muslim Satun province in Southern Thailand were characterized by religious interpretations of the disaster. The range of Islamic interpretations varied, and was far from homogeneous. Statements are framed in plural theodicies and ultimately impute disasters to human responsibility, in apparent contrast to both scientific explanations and other Islamic tenets. The aim of this article is to present the range of theodicies associated with the event and to analyze their use in relation to the specific socio-historical and ethno-political context, in the words of people belonging to the Islamic and Buddhist religious élites. In these examples religious discourses leave behind the theological universalistic explanations of the existence of suffering and evil to become context bound commentaries on the state of morality of local communities, with the aim of defining social boundaries.

This book presents a new framework of analysis to assess natural and man-made disasters and humanitarian crises, and the feasibility of interventions in these complex emergencies.

The past half-century has witnessed a dramatic increase in such crises - such as in Haiti, Iraq and Sudan - and this volume aims to pioneer a theory-based, interdisciplinary framework that can assist students and practitioners in the field to acquire the skills and expertise necessary for evidence-based decision-making and programming in humanitarian action. It has four major objectives:

To provide a tool for diagnosing and understanding complex emergencies, and build on the concepts of state security and human security to provide a ‘Snap-Shot Analysis’ of the status quo;
To provide a tool for analysing the causes of crises as well as the related stakeholder field;
To provide a frame to structure and analyse the information required to evaluate, monitor and/or design interventions for different actors on a project and/or programme level;
To combine concepts used in the humanitarian field with underlying theory in a practically relevant way.
The book will be of much interest to students of humanitarian intervention, human security, peacebuilding, development studies, peace studies and IR in general.

1. Introduction: The Need for Evidence-based Programming in Humanitarian Action, Liesbet Heyse, Andrej Zwitter, Rafael Wittek and Joost Herman 2. Existing frameworks for humanitarian crisis analysis, Liesbet Heyse 3. Context analysis and securitization, Andrej Zwitter and Joost Herman 4. From theory to analysis: H-AID methodology, Rafael Wittek and Andrej Zwitter 5. Conducting a Comprehensive Context Analysis (CCA), Andrej Zwitter 6. The political context, Chris K. Lamont 7. The economic context, Fleur S. Mulder and Bartjan J.W. Pennink 8. The social context, Cécile W.J. de Milliano and Barbara Boudewijnse 9. The health and food context, Rensia R. Bakker 10. The environmental context, Peter D.M. Weesie 11. From context analysis to intervention design, Liesbet Heyse 12. Stakeholder analysis: towards feasible interventions, Rafael Wittek 13. Monitoring, evaluation and learning in humanitarian organizations, Chamutal Afek-Eitam and Adriaan Ferf Conclusion, Liesbet Heyse, Andrej Zwitter, Rafael Wittek and Joost Herman

Most photo-portraits concentrate on the face, the instrument of most human expression and communication. However, without a shared context, it is in fact difficult to read all but the most obvious signs on the face. How much more can we read there of thte personality of another human being which is undoubtedly the most complex entity that we can comprehend? How much can a face tell us? We try to read the faces of the people we meet, but there is always something hidden, ‘masked’.
What is the importance of the mask – the face – in the portrait?

This paper focus on a single print workshop in sixteenth century Venice - that of Giovanni Andrea Vavassore, a maker and retailer of maps, ephemeral prints and books of all types - and explores the importance of the microhistorical approach in contextualising the individual in order to gain a richer understanding of contemporary life and work. Based upon extensive thesis research, this paper makes use of both archival material and the extant body of work produced by the press from the early 1510s until c.1580; and in so doing reconstructs the social, cultural, religious and working life and network of the early modern printmaker. Working out from Vavassore as an individual and moving through a series of concentric rings, this paper will explore the role of one printmaker and his workshop in informing our ever-expanding understanding of many of the broader issues at work in contemporary Venice: the importance of the parish microcosm; the place of parochial and supra parochial institutions; the vast and well-connected network of printmakers, publishers and sellers; the city as a centre of immigration from the Veneto and beyond; and the changing nature of the cultural and religious landscape.

Whilst the case for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) has been made there has been little discussion on how such scholarship might lead academic development at the local level. Through analyzing the recent history of Trinidad and Tobago this paper proposes that the conceptualization of SoTL should embrace the nuances of its particular context. It is argued that, since gaining independence, the education system of Trinidad and Tobago has failed to shake off the remnants of its former colonizer and that the Ministry of Education has looked to import educational ‘best practice’ from other countries. This paper suggests that ‘borrowing’ the drivers of development is culturally naïve and, instead, proposes that educational change should be led through a context-specific examination of the relationship between scholars of teaching and learning and the society in which they find themselves.

The article is devoted to the history of contextual approach in folklore studies. In the literature survey the author focuses on lively disputes about the text/context controversy between American folklorists in 1970–1980-s and analyses attempts of theoretical reflection on the topic by modern Russian researchers.

Speaking self-perceived communication competence (SPCC) is a construct with many potential implications for foreign language learning, but one that has been little studied. SPCC itself is a major predictive factor in willingness to communicate, a construct which has been widely conceptualised and researched. This study (N=103) used a repeated measures ANOVA to investigate SPCC and its correlation with actual L2 speaking proficiency over the course of a year; there was no significant correlation. Qualitative data was then treated with grounded theory to establish why SPCC was inaccurate and to provide pointers as to how SPCC accuracy might be improved. The findings are discussed with reference to the literature to try to establish a deeper understanding of SPCC, particularly in the Japanese context, its formulation and its implications for foreign language learning.