LCC INTERNATIONAL
UNIVERSITY
LCC LIBERAL ARTS STUDIES / 2008
VOLUME I: CULTURE AND DIALOGUE
LCC Liberal Arts Studies, Volume I, 2008
Papers from “Culture and Dialogue: An International Conference on Interdisciplinary
Research and the Future of Higher Education,” April 11-12, 2008
LCC International University
CONFERENCE COMMITTEE:
Simona Mačiukaitė, Chair
Conference Organizing Committee Members:
Jurgita Babarskienė
Robin Gingerich
Eric L. Hinderliter
Andrew Kaethler
Gina Levickienė
J.D. Mininger
Jennifer Stewart
Radvyda Vaišvilaitė
Eglė Zalatoriūtė
Lina Zenkienė
EDITORIAL COMMITTEE:
Eric L. Hinderliter
Simona Mačiukaitė
Jennifer Stewart
Eglė Zalatoriūtė
ISSN: 2029-1485
Copyright: LCC International University
Kretingos g. 36
LT-92307 Klaipėda
Lietuva | Lithuania
Tel. (+370 46) 31 07 45
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. FORWARD
2. INTRODUCTION
3. PLENARY SESSIONS
White spots with the energy of black holes: Intersections
between histories, religions and cultures
Eugenijus Gentvilas
'Truth' and 'values' in a pluralistic society: A conundrum for the academy
David Shenk
4. PARALLEL SESSION PAPERS
Conceptualizing migration through metaphor: A voyage by Odysseus or Crusoe?
Liudmila Arcimavičienė
Doing household chores in Lithuania: Expectations and practices
Jurgita Babarskienė
The US nation image in German newspapers
Melanie Breunlein
New media democracy: On expertise and selection criteria in the news
production process of citizen's media versus mainstream media
Raven De Nolf
Intercultural rhetoric: Slavic and Anglo-American styles of writing
Iryna Dyeyeva
Culture as a repository of nonviolence
Giedrė Gadeikytė
Can I go home now? Maintaining professional-level first languages in
international higher education
Geri Henderson
Two cultures in academia: Still not talking after 50 years?
Eric L. Hinderliter
Slavic myth in context of the revolutions of 1991 and 2004 in Ukraine
Oleksandra Kharchyshyna
The concept of community cohesion in British politics
Malgorzata Kulakowska
Culture against itself; or, culture as a system of non-culture
J.D. Mininger
Dialogue against itself, chatter and nomadic thinking
Bartholomew Ryan
Corpus-assisted Learning of Academic Writing across Disciplines
Birutė Ryvitytė, Erika Jasionytė
Pragmatic transfer from L2 to L1 in request making
Olena Poplavska
Sustaining adolescents in transitions: A synthesis of qualitative and
theological analyses
Rebecca Anderson Powell
Interdisciplinary study of literary criticism and the Christian perception
of the world
Radvyda Vaišvilaitė
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FORWARD
4
FORWARD
One of the principal objectives of the 2008 European Year of
Intercultural Dialogue is to “foster the role of education as an important medium
for teaching about diversity, increase the understanding of other cultures and
developing skills and best social practices, and highlight the central role of the
media in promoting the principle of equality and mutual understanding.” (EU,
2006). Thus it is appropriate that LCC International University, in keeping with
its ambitious new name, hosted this conference on culture and dialogue. To be
international requires much more than simply assembling flags and counting up
the number of countries. A more considered judgment and evaluation of the
meaning of 'international' is required. In keeping with the goals of this EU year
LCC as a new university seeks, in the words of the EU, to “contribute to exploring
new approaches to intercultural dialogue involving cooperation between a wide
range of stakeholders from different sectors” (EU, 2006). We are especially
pleased that half of the papers here are from students; the future requires the
active engagement of European youth in shaping a new tolerant, just and
inclusive society. In a modest way the papers that follow address the role of
higher education in encouraging citizens to think more deeply about what
intercultural may mean in terms of languages, worldviews, metaphors and
images. It seems to me as well that the liberal arts, because it seeks a
broadness of mind and represents an effort at integrating the various disciplines
and ways of thinking and knowing, is indeed a valid starting point to think about
what culture and dialogue mean in the 21st century.
LCC International University is pleased to offer this first issue of LCC
Liberal Arts Studies. It is our hope that succeeding years will feature an
academic conference on an important contemporary topic considered with that
broadness of mind so characteristic of the liberal arts. We invite your
participation in 2009.
Simona Mačiukaitė, PhD, 2008 Conference Chair
Reference
EU (2006). DECISION No 1983/2006/EC OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE
COUNCIL of 18 December 2006, concerning the European Year of Intercultural
Dialogue (2008). Retrieved August 6, 2008. from http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/
site/en/oj/2006/l_412/l_41220061230en00440050.pdf
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INTRODUCTION
6
INTRODUCTION
CULTURE AND DIALOGUE: AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON
INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH AND THE FUTURE OF HIGHER EDUCATION
Organized to coincide with the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue
2008, this conference brought together scholars from ten countries: Lithuania,
Latvia, Poland, Germany, Belgium, Nigeria, Canada, Russia, Ukraine, and the
United States to present research, debate issues, share ideas, generate new
questions, and rigorously reflect on the interrelation of culture and dialogue as
reflected across academic disciplines.
To produce and to reflect critically upon interdisciplinary research is a
task that demands an eye to the future of education and the possibility of
reorganizing traditional disciplinary boundaries. Still further, such work must not
merely concoct new combinations from tired standards, but it must imagine
entirely new possibilities. For example, if the EU is a unique geopolitical
innovation established upon the basis of respect for cultural diversity, then the
EU must become more than a mere business market. By exploring its own
culture(s), cultural dialogues, and dialogues about the very nature of culture, the
EU must reflect on its own status and identification as a community of values. In
microcosm, every academic community around the world faces this same task
of hosting intercultural dialogue. In the spirit of this intellectual self-reflection, we
invited papers from across the disciplines and across all national borders, within
and beyond the EU.
Fifteen individual papers from the conference, together with two plenary
addresses appear here in this first issue of LCC Liberal Arts Studies. The
address by Eugenijus Gentvilas, a member of the European Parliament,
describes the need for the the expanded European Union to place its dialogue
within an accurate historical context.
Misunderstandings, even ignorance about European history preclude
real dialogue. David Shenk describes the need for authentic and meaningful
dialogue between Christian and Muslim, one of the core goals of the European
Year of Intercultural Dialogue.
This collection of essays offers a diverse array of topics. The terms
“culture” and “dialogue” are approached in a very broad manner. Seven papers
are linguistic studies that focus on language as the definition of culture and the
impact of multilingual settings on dialogue. Papers by Liudmila Arcimavičienė,
Oleksandra Kharchyshyna and Radvyda Vaišvilaitė look at myths, metaphors
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and images in society and in literature. The studies by Iryna Dyeyeva, Geri
Henderson, and Olena Poplavska examine the effects on the first language of
students who study in a second language. A paper about how news is created
and disseminated by Raven de Nolf explores the workings of independent
citizen's media and how this phenomenon shapes democratic process.
Melanie Breunlein’s contribution examines how media shapes culture by
studying how the U.S. Is represented in German newspapers. Two papers deal
directly with social conflict and culture. How culture affects views about violence
is the subject of a study about Lithuania by Giedrė Gadeikytė; a second paper by
Malgorzata Kulakowska traces the development of the concept of social
cohesion in Great Britain after the urban violence of the summer of 2001. The
essays by Bartholomew Ryan and J.D. Mininger challenge traditional
understandings of the notions of culture and dialogue. Two papers look at
dialogue at the micro level. A paper by Jurgita Babarskienė investigates
communication within households; a second paper by Rebecca Anderson
Powell presents a case study of “third culture kids.” Eric L. Hinderliter’s paper
discusses culture as a worldview by reviewing the difficult dialogue between
science and the humanities, given the advances in science.
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3
PLENARY SESSIONS
10
WHITE SPOTS WITH THE ENERGY OF BLACK HOLES:
INTERSECTIONS BETWEEN HISTORIES, RELIGIONS
AND CULTURES
Eugenijus Gentvilas
Member, European Parliament
Abstract
Dialogue within the European Union depends on one's understanding of history.
Misrepresentations of the Soviet era have distorted the dialogue about culture
within the EU. New Europe is not well understood by old Europe. EU culture is
not homogeneous. Cultural dialogue within Europe, even within Lithuania itself,
is as important as dialogue with non-Europeans. More efforts to increase the
cultural infrastructure and to guard against over-centralization are needed.
Introduction
Europe is becoming more and more culturally diverse. Many countries became
multicultural due to expansion of the European Union (EU), more freedom for
labor movement and globalization. Therefore, cultural dialogue is gaining a
significant role in forming Europe's identity and citizenship of its people. High
cultural diversity gives unprecedented advantage to Europe. This year all
Europeans will be encouraged to discover the treasures of our cultural heritage
and will have an opportunity to learn from cultural traditions of others.
The European Year of Intercultural Dialogue (EYID) is based on eight
main topics: culture and media; education and science; migration; minorities;
multilingualism; religion; workplace; and youth (DG EAC, n.d.). Several Europewide projects will be carried out during 2008. The EU will also sponsor national
projects of each member state; the goal is to involve civic society. Famous
people were selected as the year's ambassadors. They will encourage
understanding of the importance and benefit of cultural dialogue.
2008 was declared to be the Year of Intercultural Dialogue in the end of
2006, as proposed by the European Commission and decided by the European
Parliament and Council (Official Journal, 2006). The idea was proposed in 2004
by European Commissioner Jan Figel from Slovakia. He is responsible for
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education, culture and youth. The EU allocated a 10 mil euro budget to sponsor
various projects of the Year of Intercultural Dialogue.
Lithuanian priorities
The Lithuanian Culture Ministry has decided on three priorities for the European
Year of Intercultural Dialogue:
- Encouragement of respect and interest in cultural, ethnic and social
diversity
- Civic integration of ethnic minorities
- Encouragement of public discussion about continental and regional
cooperation, migration processes and cultural dialogue.
I am confident that the Year of Intercultural Dialogue will help us know each
other better, disregarding skin color, religion, language and sexual orientation.
Today there is still much misunderstanding, lack of tolerance and even conflicts.
However, in comparison to other regions, there is more tolerance and respect in
Europe than elsewhere. It is even acknowledged officially, as Europe's identity.
Furthermore, tolerance for diversity is one of the core European values.
When talking about European attitudes, one often has to talk only about
the European Union and not the whole continent. However, EU expansion
warrants the expansion of tolerance. We have experienced it in Lithuania during
the four years of EU membership.
White spots in our knowledge
Certainly, Europe has not been this way forever. Here the cruelest wars took
place; here religious and ethnic tolerance was the scarcest. A long way had to
be traveled before civilization could select what not only helps it to survive and
become stronger, but makes it the strongest. Slowly, but it was understood that if
we complement each other with our experience and customs, we can become
wealthier without losing our initial identity.
How often we know almost nothing about the ones who were raised in a
different language or religious background! These are the white spots, terra
incognita in our knowledge. Even more often we do not see a purpose in
learning about others and different ones; because we think that it will destroy our
tradition, language, belief. We seldom realize that synthesis of two different
cultures may give an unimaginable cultural push toward the strengthening of
both cultures. Using astrophysical vocabulary, it is like a black hole, which
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EUGENIJUS GENTVILAS
contains an immense collection of energy. So immense that humanity cannot
measure and comprehend it.
Therefore, the white spots in our knowledge have the potential to
develop into the energy of a black hole! Just, do we always want to learn?
Maybe sometimes we are afraid what comes next?
This is what my speech will be about.
The Moorish conquest of Spain
In 711 A.D. Tarik ibn Zijad with 12 thousand soldiers in four ships sailed 14
kilometers between Jabal Musa in Morocco and the island of Gibraltar. These
men were Moors, who started the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula. In 719
Muslims were near the Pyrenean mountains, and in 732 in Tours, 100 km from
Paris. Moorish country, El-Andalus (territory of contemporary Spain and
Portugal), held out until 1492, when Christians reclaimed their last stronghold in
Grenada.
The conquest of Iberia and later reconquest claimed many victims.
However, for the rest of the time Muslims, Christians and Jews lived in peace
and harmony. Crafts, trade, sciences and arts flourished. Moors have given
Europe new knowledge about philosophy, mathematics and astronomy.
Moorish medicine of the time is the basis of homeopathic medicine; gave the
experience of healing with plants; created music therapy. Arabic works of
science were translated into Latin and Hebrew. This way, the Muslim
experience has spread throughout Europe.
Cordoba has reached the population of 0.5 million and became the
second biggest European city after Rome. Moors created irrigation systems
and started to grow new vegetables and fruit.
There have been no Moors in Europe for more than 500 years.
However, their architecture remains in Saragossa, Sintra, Cordoba and the
whole Iberia, in Grenada- Alhambra gardens. Even Spain palace in Seville, built
in 1929, looks like an example of Moorish architecture. The experience,
knowledge and sense of aesthetics of the occupants are still alive in Iberia.
Multicultural Sicily
From the multicultural tolerance perspective, Sicily is even more interesting.
Before Saracens (Arabs of Tunisia) conquered it, Sicily belonged to Byzantine
Empire. The majority of people spoke Greek. Even though the Arabs exercised
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religious and economic oppression, neither Christians nor Jews were made to
convert to Islam; old churches and synagogues were not being destroyed.
The Saracens ruled for only 200 years, but their legacy is very wealthy.
Arabs built excellent irrigation systems in Sicily (some of the canals are still
functioning). Muslims developed the famous Sicilian silk industry. Under their
rule, agriculture became more effective and varied; they started growing rice,
sugarcane, cotton and oranges.
During that time several cities were created and expanded greatly:
Palermo became one of the most beautiful and third by size Arabic city after
Baghdad and Cordoba. By 1050, Palermo had a population of 200 thousand.
Naturally, the Arabic language was used widely and had a great
influence on the Sicilian language. Sicilian dialect has been forming for a very
long time, before Arabs the most popular language was Greek. Under Moorish
rule, Sicily became a polyglot society, where some spoke Greek, others Arabic,
and near churches and synagogues mosques stood.
Arabic Sicily was one of the flourishing European regions, intellectually,
culturally and economically way ahead of England and continental northern
Europe. Arabs of Sicily peacefully cohabitated with other nations of Apennine
Peninsula. Sicily has also benefitted from strengthened ties with eastern
countries- China, India. During the Arabic period the great inventions of these
countries came to Sicily: paper, compass, Arabic numbers, and chna dye. An
interesting fact: literacy level in 870, which was 17%, was higher than in 1870.
The Normans in Ireland
An interesting cultural synthesis was happening in 12-14 century Ireland.
Normans descended from Vikings and northern France, invaded Ireland. They
influenced Ireland's architecture and expansion of cities. Being great builders,
they built strong castles around which villages and towns started to form, crafts
and trade expanded. Together with Normans came various monk orders, who
built monasteries and churches. The most beautiful Irish cathedrals have been
built by Normans. Some are still open.
One of the major achievements of the Normans is administrative
division of Ireland; Ireland was divided into 12 counties. Some of the
administrative laws are considered to be based on Norman ones. English and
French languages also were brought by Normans.
Normans taught the Irish to grow various foodstuffs and implemented a
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three-field system, which greatly increased fertility and effectiveness of land.
However, Normans not only brought their experience and customs.
They also were inclined to absorb the cultures and ways of life of conquered
nations. While living in Ireland, many started to speak Gaelic, dress according to
Irish tradition, men started to grow mustaches as customary, to ride without
saddle, also many created families with the Irish and started to live by Irish
traditions.
Europe closes up
I could give more beautiful examples of cultural tolerance and cooperation in
Europe. However, the emerging influence of Christianity became power that
closed itself in Europe and forgot experience of other regions. It is especially
regrettable that Christianity has distanced itself from cultural heritage, created in
the same Europe, destroyed and ignored it, proclaiming it to be unchristian. This
way Eastern medicine was forgotten, this way Greek science was hidden.
European culture has withdrawn into itself and progressed only as much as it
was in the Church's interest and only as much as it allowed.
It is difficult to talk about religious tolerance in that time period.
Interaction of cultures was limited to knowledge from the Crusades. The Church
subjected society's and individual's creativity for its purposes. The artist became
only a servant fulfilling the orders of the Church. Cultural history of that time was
only a history of popes and bishops.
A famous art historian Ernst Gombrich writes: “we do not know the
names of sculptors of Chartres, Strasbourg, and Newburgh. We know only that
their art was valued at the time, and that they gave their glory to the cathedral
they worked in. In this way, Giotto (Florentine artist Giotto di Bondone, 12661337) starts a new chapter in the history of art. Since him, history of art becomes
the history of great masters.”
This dark time, which denied the dialogue of cultures and
acknowledged only the servitude to the Church, gained radical forms. Not only
was there no drive to learn about other cultures. The experience of other
cultures, if it did not match the dogmas of Catholicism, was hidden. This way
many creations of Antic were hidden and even destroyed.
The situation is best reflected by historic facts. Literature, however,
provides excellent examples too. Umberto Eco in his novel The Name of the
Rose (1980) writes about the efforts of a fundamentalist guardian of Church
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dogma to save his peers from Greek wisdom. A blind monk Chorche hid
Aristotle's “Poetics” in the labyrinth of the monastery's library. According to him,
this book could refute a multitude of truths that were the base of Christianity's
theory and practice. Chorche says: “Each book by this man has destroyed a part
of wisdom that Christianity has been collecting for centuries.”
Chorche has tainted the corners of “Poetics” pages with deadly poison
so that anyone, who found the book and, licking his fingers, turned its pages in
secret, would die and take what he has learnt into the grave. “The power of a
thousand scorpions lurks” in this book, said Chorche, meaning not only the
deadly poison, but also the danger to the Christian way of defining the world.
The age of European discovery
Gradually, religious and secular powers were separated. The Great Geographic
Discoveries took place. More information about Antic was available.
Renaissance started and arts and architecture gained new momentum.
Reformation and Martin Luther's thesis in Wittenberg in 1517 delivered a great
blow to the Church's influence. All these factors encouraged more active cultural
interchange, expanded Europe's understanding of humanity. Thousands of
Europeans traveled to other continents, some remained there as colonizerscarriers of European culture.
Europe itself was greatly influenced by a reciprocal relationship.
Colonizers brought stories back home. Their stories about different lands,
people and faith made a great impression.
For the majority of Europeans, travel was the first time they met people
of different races. To make their claims over conquered peoples official, Spain's
monarchs had to acknowledge first, that non Europeans are people too. It even
required a decree from Pope Paul III in 1537, which said all Indians are real
people, not only able to understand catholic faith, but also very capable to
accept it (Sublimus Dei).
Such is the start of cultural dialogue between Europeans and peoples of
other continents.
New lands became a banishment place for religious dissidents. French
Huguenots ended up in Florida, religious fugitives from England in Virginia and
Massachusetts. English convicts became the first inhabitants of Australia (Mc
Callough, Morgan's ways).
Intensifying relations brought not only gold and spices to Europe, but
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also new knowledge. Even if an image of the New World was often distorted,
scientists and artists, however, had an opportunity to collect data about the
civilization of the whole world.
The schism of the Church certainly created new conflicts. Wars with
infidels were replaced by Reformation wars - wars between different kinds of
Christians. Talk about religious tolerance was impossible. Ethnic differences did
not mean anything - only religious ones mattered. However, gradually Europe
calmed down, religious lines were defined. Cultural dialogue became possible
again.
The Enlightenment, called the most important event in Europe's history
after the birth of Christianity, started and continued until the middle of 18th
century. New knowledge about astronomy, mathematics, optics, and physics did
not fit well with popular ideas and practices. New knowledge and novel attitude
had a difficult passage, having to prove everything many times. It was the age of
Newton, Copernicus, Galileo, Francis Bacon, the age of philosophers Rene
Descartes, Blasé Pascal, and Benedict Spinoza.
On the parallel, new understanding of art started to develop. Certainly, it
still was influenced by religion, but fragmented religion caused different ways for
art. Radical Protestants doubted if it is even proper to engage in artful activity.
Eventually, in the protestant world, all visual arts shifted from religious themes to
secular objects. In Holland and Scotland music was limited to singing hymns and
psalms, and in catholic countries art met only the needs of the Church. These
differences are especially visible in protestant Netherlands and catholic
Flandreau, which is a northern part of contemporary Belgium. Before it belonged
to Spain (P. Breughel, P. Rubens the Elder).
The rise of nation states
The map of Europe changed, religious differences remained sharp, but they
ceased to be the reason for wars. This relative religious tolerance allowed a new
type of relationship to form, which gradually lead to prominent ethnocentrism.
Europe started a period of “nation states” ideology. Actually, every one of the 27
European member states can be defined as “nation states.” Also, the creation of
such states has not ended yet (2006- Montenegro, 2008- Kosovo).
The emergence of nation states had its specifics. Religious factors were
weaker, but the language gained priority. This period has been no less militant
(combatant), but cultural tolerance and dialogue were not the main weapons.
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However, even this time period offers a charming example - Russian influence
on Finnish national identity and birth of their state.
Finland and Russia
While Finland was a part of Sweden, it practically did not have its own
institutions. It can be claimed that only after Finland became a part of the
Russian empire, the governance system was created for the first time, and a
nation was formed, foundations of nation state were set.
While Finland was a part of the Russian empire, bureaucrats, appointed
by the emperor, governed the region. However, many of them were local Finns.
The so-called “bureaucracy era” was a time of rising wealth, favorable economic
conditions and peace (except the Crimean war) for many Finns. The population
grew more than twice and reached 2 million. The majority fared in agriculture,
also in wood products, wood export, ship building. Despite that Finland was
ruled by an authoritarian and bureaucratic “hand”, many reforms were
implemented: territories that Sweden gave up to Russia were adjoined, and
Helsinki was declared the capital, which influenced rapid development of the
city. However, because Finland remained an agricultural region, liberal national
ideas were not active. In 1850, publishing of books (except religious and
economic) in Finnish was prohibited. Swedish was the only language allowed to
be used in administration. Every level of education was also conducted in
Swedish, Finnish literature was almost nonexistent.
Probably the most liberal Russian czar Alexander II, who is still called
“the good czar” in Finland, initiated reforms that gave the biggest push for the
formation of Finnish identity. First, the czar issued a decree in 1863, which
prescribed that in 20 years time Finnish language was to be equalized with
Swedish in administration and the courts. Also, the czar convened Finnish
legislature, the Diet, for the first time since 1809, and declared that it will be
called continuously. In 1865, Finnish autonomous region gained its own fiscal
system, currency Markka, military service laws, which created the foundations
for a Finnish army.
Under Aleksandr III's rule the liberal period continued, though in Russia
more often instigation rumors were heard to withdraw autonomy from Finland
and assimilate Finns with Russians. Eventually czar Nicholas II ordered to stop
effect of Finland laws which influence Russia. This was done without
acceptance of Finns Diet. This way an intensive Russification process started:
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the Russian language became the third official language of Finland, Finland's
army was disbanded and Finns had to serve in the Russian army. As a reaction
to this situation, in Finland for the first time political views were crystallized and
new political parties were formed. While the activity and influence of political
parties increase, in 1906 parliamentary government reform was performed:
Finland till that time having one of not representative systems in Europe, now
got the most modern one solid parliament, elected by universal suffrage. This
reform became a background for the modern political system, and even
parliament's significance was low, in 1910 responsibility for important laws was
given to the Russian Duma.
Even though Russification was active during liberal Russian rule,
Finnish nationalism was already strong and vital. After the Russian revolution,
Finland got back its autonomy. After the Bolsheviks came to power on
December 6, 1917, Finland declared independence.
So, in the period of Russian empire, especially in czar Aleksandr II's
rule, role of Finland was important because in this period while being part of the
empire but autonomous Finland created a government system and prompted
formation of national identification. Later, when russicism started, strong feeling
of nationalism and Finn's resistance for changes, determined modern political
system and finally the creation of the republic of Finland (of course not forgetting
circumstances in Europe and Russia).
The problems of intercultural dialogue
I am not a specialist of culture or history of culture. I am a politician. So after this
long cultural introduction let me give some political comments related to the
problems of cultural dialogue.
In different cultural environments there are different understandings of
simple historical facts. Europe knows that WWI started in the summer of 1914
after events in Sarajevo. However, the USA thinks WWI started only on April 5,
1917, when the USA joined the war. We were taught in the schools in the Soviet
Union about criminal Nazism, which killed many people. However secretly we
knew that the communist regime was no better: 20-25 million people in jails and
concentration camps became victims of communism. We should add another
12 million who died in Ukraine during unnatural starvation in 1932. The
difference is only that results of Nazism were condemned in court in Niunberg,
while communism didn't get any attention from legal courts.
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In the European Parliament in 2005, Jean-Claude Juncker, the premier
of Luxemburg, thanked the Red Army for saving Luxemburg from the Nazis.
However didn't he know or remember that due to secret Soviet and Nazi
agreements, Hitler was allowed to occupy Luxemburg. So what is there to be
thankful for? Even if it is known that the same Red Army which saved Western
Europe, occupied Eastern Europe!
Different understandings of history
It is obvious that different knowledge of history or different understanding of it
divides Europe. Different treatment of cultures increases hate (it is obvious even
in subculture punks, goths, hippies, and skinheads).
Different treatments of history (social and economic) raise different
political views and political parties. Different treatment of both culture and
history increase politically reasoned hate and intolerance. Often the result of this
was genocide. It doesn't matter where it happens, in Siberia, Armenia, Rwanda
or Germany.
That's why we can't devalue loss which was brought to culture dialogue
by different treatment of history and selective memory. Politician-philosopher
Karl Popper once said "a true presentation of history would be possible only if
we were able to reconstruct the whole of it" (Popper n.d.).
However this different view of history is today's biggest barrier between
old and new EU countries. Real cultural dialogue is hardly possible, if general
topics won't be found. Franco Frattini, vice president of European Committee,
said to post communism Europe: "your history is our history" (Frattini 2005).
However real understanding is very rare.
Let's remember colonial history. Western Europe countries had
colonies in every world continent, and we can say they created their prosperity
using these colonies. However I'm talking not about economics, but about
cultural exchange and cultural differences. Western Europe had ties with
Islamic, Buddhist and polytheistic countries. I'm talking about recent history, 20th
century and even the second part of it. It means today in Western Europe there
are many people who physically and mentally experienced other cultures. There
are many British homes where you can find father's or grandfathers photo taken
because he was a British officer in colonized India or Pakistan. The same
situation happens with the French and their ancestors in Algeria or Syria, with
Belgians in Congo, with Italians in Ethiopia or with Netherlander in Indonesia or
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Suriname. We can state that Western Europeans know Islamic countries and
cultures better than post soviet Eastern Europe.
When old Western Europe started lacking labor force, doors were
opened to “gastarbeiter” (foreign workers). At first people from Turkey and other
former Ottoman Empire countries came. These people joined Austrian, German
and Scandinavian labor markets, most of them successfully integrated into new
environment and even more strengthened acquaintanceship with Islamic world.
Former colonial countries opened doors for people from their former
colonies. They were given as compensation not only possibility to be employed,
but also less difficulty to get citizenship. However nowadays immigrants cause
headache, which sometimes becomes acts of terror.
Former communist countries, which recently became EU members,
have never had colonies. Conversely, these countries were colonies of the
Ottoman Empire or occupied by the Soviet Union directly (as Baltic states) or
directly dependent on the Soviet Union. That's why the experience of Eastern
Europe is totally different from Western Europe. Only Cyprus and Bulgaria are
familiar with the Islamic world, while for other new EU countries Islam is almost a
mysterious thing.
On the other hand, the communist regime created the “iron curtain”,
which restricted Eastern Europe from any contacts with Western European
culture. Exceptions were only Slovenia, Hungary and the Czech Republic which
had historical ties with the Austrian-Hungarian Empire and also Cyprus which
had strong relationships with Greece while being British colony for a long time.
That's why new EU members have so little cultural ties with Western European
culture, especially in the last 70 years. According to professor
Aleksandravičius,“in the middle of 20th century more people read western
papers in Kaunas than currently read in all of Lithuania. Local newspaper
editorials often discussed international relations and world order“
(Aleksandravičius, 2008).
The meaning of intercultural dialogue
This dissimilar cultural situation in Europe lives today. That's why the wish to
initiate cultural dialogue is valuable, but has many meanings. Creators of this
initiative of course seek tolerance among ethnic EU people and immigrants from
third countries, not EU countries mainly Muslim. However it is obvious that
differences exist between old and new EU ethnic inhabitants. Honestly, British
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and Spanish know Muslims well. However they have a hard time understanding
new immigrants from Eastern Europe. I'm not talking about linguistic
differences, but about a different mentality. Western Europeans have contacts
with Islamic countries which are based not only on solid academic culture
studies, but as I mentioned before miscellaneous personal contacts. In the
meantime studies about Eastern Europe, its inhabitants and post-soviet
mentality are still in the stage of jokes about Russian vodka. According to
famous historian, Norman Davies, most British and French historians do not
mention Eastern Europe in their works about Europe. It is not because they think
Eastern Europe is not Europe, it is because they do not know the history of those
places (Davies 1996). For example, Maurice Keen in the work about medieval
Europe gives just a few small references about Lithuania which at those times
was the biggest Latin Christian country in the world (Keen 1991).
So in this meaning the Year of Intercultural Dialogue is perhaps even
more significant than dialogue with non-European and non-Christian cultures.
EU culture is not homogeneous: it is as varied and different as a mosaic.
Undoubtedly this cultural variety is fundamental feature and strength of Europe.
Of course in order to use this feature we need to know each other better.
Luckily old EU countries also understand that they do not know Eastern
Europe. In 1988 European Committee sponsored a big cultural project, which
was called “Attempt to understand”. The goal was to publish a history of Europe
in the form of a10 part movie and history textbook. However the authors ignored
Greek and Byzantine Europe, they forgot Ottoman heritage, and they did not
mention the Balkan people, Slavs or orthodox culture. Also in 1990 Lithuania,
Latvia, Estonia, Slovenia and Croatia became independent countries. Western
Europe's attempt to limit Europe to only Western Europe failed. Finally even the
European Commission disassociated itself from this project.
Cultural misunderstandings in the EU
Nowadays sometimes initiatives appear that we can call cultural
misunderstanding as well. As we know, since 1992 the term “EU citizen” gained
legitimacy through the Treaty of Maastricht. It is stated that “Citizenship of the
Union is hereby established. Every person holding the nationality of a Member
State shall be a citizen of the Union.” However in 2006 the European
Commission offered to change the idea of EU citizenship. It was suggested to
recognize all members as EU citizens who had lived in an EU country at least for
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EUGENIJUS GENTVILAS
five years. Such people would get the chance to vote in European Parliament
elections and to become members of European Parliament.
However the European Commission was thinking only about old EU
member states. Not all immigrants from post-colonial countries who came to the
EU gained citizenship and neither did “gastarbeiters”. For them the European
Commission intended to give extra political rights. However EC didn't think
about many Russian citizens living in Eastern Europe and especially in the
Baltic States, but refused to take those rights. They refused because they were
not happy that these countries became independent from Russia.
It is obvious that the EC, whether deliberately or not, confused two
essential things. They put together “gastarbeiters”, colonials and Russians who
had occupied Baltic states. The French and British wanted to make it an apology
for colonization. But do Baltic countries have to make an apology for Russia?
After all it wasn't us who were the occupiers in 1940…
The crimes of the communist era
Such happenings show that the EU still has a different understanding of recent
historical events. So I return to the previously mentioned different
understanding of Nazism and communism in Europe. Nazism and its symbols
are legally forbidden in Europe. But Communism and its propaganda are not
forbidden. There is a Leftists faction in the European Parliament (41 members
from 13 countries), but Italy, France, Greece and the Czech Republic have
representatives to the EP as members from communist parties. So is
communism good just because the communist Soviet Union helped to defeat
Nazi Germany? Is the winner always right? Today Germany and German
politicians feel and publicly demonstrate their guilt. However Russia as a cradle
of communism does not show any sense of indictment for all the crime and
offense they committed, even though the number of victims is larger than
caused by Germany.
In 2006 the EP debated a resolution about communist terror and its
crimes. There was outrage and they came to a compromise; instead of
“communism” they wrote “Stalinism”. So all the communist crimes in Europe
were thrown on one person, Joseph Stalin. As an explanation we can say that
communists didn't organize massive killings in Greece and Italy (maybe
because they have never been in power?), so they cannot condemn
communism. However I can reply Saddam Hussein didn't kill Kurds in Italy or
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the USA, but his regime was blamed for killings in Iran, Sudan and Kampuchea.
But when Europe faces Russia or China, principles and standards become
more flexible.
The EU has (in terms of moral and historical view) treated genocide
victims of Nazis and communists equally. As Harry Truman, a president of the
USA said: "a totalitarian state is no different whether you call it Nazi, Fascist,
Communist or Franco Spain” (Truman 1948). There should not be gaps created
in European history or different criteria applied to the same crime.
Cultural politics in Lithuania today
Finally I want to mention several Lithuanian cultural life aspects. They maybe
are not directly related to the year of European Culture dialogue. But I am sure
that without settled culture management inside the country we can't reach goals
of the EU.
First, Lithuania does not have clear promotion policies for culture. The
country can't give enough financial support for all cultural organizations or
projects. The solution would be to legislate new modern laws favorable to
business. However today we still do not have it. Even if we type “culture
support/sponsorship” in the search bar of culture sponsorship website we get a
short answer “not found”. The government as in totalitarianism times wants to
portray itself well and to control everything, but it is obvious that it can't do that
efficiently.
Another problem is the lack of cultural infrastructure, a bad situation.
After recovery of independence in 1990 Lithuania lost many cultural centers
especially in rural areas. Many of them became markets or shops, and the ones
that are left are not very active. And again the government is not able to give
enough financial support for renewal of cultural infrastructure and development.
The solution is to give incentives to business to take such actions. Another
solution is to support local communities which want to renew cultural centers or
create new ones. Hopefully this situation will improve as EU structural funds
started support for local activity groups. But it is an EU, not a Lithuanian
initiative.
However, the main Lithuanian culture problem is its centralization. It is
natural that the centralization process happens through sponsorship. In Vilnius,
cultural bases, culture organizations, festivals or single concerts get about 70%
of all government sponsorship. The last scandalous episode was when a private
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EUGENIJUS GENTVILAS
company got 700,000 litas support from the Ministry of Culture for the Bjork
concert in Vilnius. Of course there is pretence that this concert is part of the
project “Vilnius - European Capital of Culture 2009”. In any case private
companies can expect sponsorship in Vilnius in 2010 or even later….
By the way I am happy that Vilnius has been selected to be the
European Capital of Culture and I myself voted for this in the EP. However,
knowing Lithuanian traditions already in 2006, I publicly warned that all
resources will be given to Vilnius, and regional culture will suffer. Unfortunately,
today I clearly see this happening.
Even worse is that such cultural centralization creates changes in
mentality. Artists from other cities and regions feel inadequate. While Vilnius
experiences self prominence syndrome. There is a joke I like that according to
Lithuanian culture politics Lithuania ends at Grigiškės, it is 20 km away from
Vilnius center. I have experienced that many times while being with artists or
government representatives responsible for Lithuanian culture.
This view was demonstrated in 1999 Parlament's organized pictorial
exhibition “the end of 20th century Lithuania pictorial art”. There were 58 artists
displaying their works. Hard to believe, but all of them were from Vilnius. This
way Vilnius, its government, intellectuals and artists identify the capital with the
whole country, and everything that's not created in Vilnius is not worthy.
Such an attitude is reflected in many decisions that often end in
sponsorships to Vilnius and fast emasculation of other cities. Of course it
happen not only in terms of culture, but in other spheres as well, and no matter
where you go there is the same tendency of centralization.
Such situation shows that even in Lithuania itself there is no cultural
dialogue between regions that have different history, ethnography and culture.
The National Song and Dance festival happening every five years alone can't
compensate for the lack of everyday cultural exchange. So it is unclear if
Lithuania will manage to become a full-fledged partner in terms of the European
culture dialogue. And it is hard to imagine that Lithuania is ready for active
culture exchange with countries across European borders.
Last Saturday, April 5th in the small French village of Avinoth there was
an annual cabaret show. All money collected was given to the children of
Guatemala. It is important to note that there are only 125 people living in that
village, but those people do not want to live just in their boundaries. They want to
be citizens of Europe and the whole world. They want to not only take, but also to
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LCC / LIBERAL ARTS STUDIES / 2008
give and spread the news about their village and their country.
I often associate Lithuania with a province which limits itself to just a few
symbolic signs to other countries. Of course I can't say this about theatre culture,
but it is an exception. Living only with our village interest, without big ambitions, we
may remain as only a cultural province of Europe.
So to conclude I want to come back to the parallel of white marks and
black holes. Disclosing of unknown cultural layers and spaces and opening
ourselves to the world frees such cultural potential that we can't imagine its power.
But this power is not dangerous; it's a huge light of world knowledge. That's why I
always say and will keep saying that the key to human evolution is an
understanding of each other, tolerance and cooperation.
References
Aleksandravičius, E. (2008). Istorinių palyginimų pagundos. balsas.lt. Retrieved August 5,
2008, from http://www.balsas.lt/print/181523
Davies, N. (1996). Europe: A History. Oxford: Oxford University Press
DG EAC (n.d). European Year of Intercultural Dialogue: Topics Retrieved August 4, 2008 from
http://www.interculturaldialogue2008.eu/411.0.html?&redirect_url=my-startpage-eyid.html
Frattini, F. (2005) Comment by Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs (2005), quoted in 60
Years after World War II ends in Europe. Speech of József Szájer, EPP-ED Group ViceChairman Retrieved August 4, 2008, from http://www.epped.eu/Press/showpr.asp?PRControlDocTypeID=1&PRControlID=3625&PRContentID=67
70&PRContentLG=en
Keen, M. (2001). The History of Medieval Europe. London: Penguin
Official Journal of the Eurpean Parliament. (2006). DECISION No 1983/2006/EC OF
THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 18 December 2006
concerning the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue (2008). Retrieved August 4, 2008
from http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/site/en/oj/2006/l_412/l_41220061230en00440050.pdf
Popper, K. (n.d.). Quoted in: Can European History Unite Europe? Contribution by Wojciech.
Conference "United Europe - United History" Brussels, 22 January 2008 Roszkowski.
Retrieved August 5, 2008, from http://www.lnak.org/pdf/c.pdf
Truman, H. (1948). Letter March 3, 1948, quoted in: Applying equality and common values to the
perception of the European history: Suggestions on assessment of totalitarian
Communism. by Tunne Kelam, MEP. Retrieved August 5, 2008, from
http://www.lnak.org/pdf/e.pdf
About the Author
Dr. Eugenijus Gentvilas is a member of the Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
in the European Parliament. As MEP he is a member of the Committee on Regional Development and
the Delegation for relations with Belarus. He earned a Doctorate in 1993. He has been a Researcher
at the Academy of Sciences (1983-1990) and Lecturer at the University of Klaipėda (1993-1996). He
has served as Chairman of the Liberal Union (1996-1999, 2001-2003); first Vice-Chairman of the
Liberal and Centre Union (2003-2004); Member of Klaipėda City Council (1995-2004); Mayor of
Klaipėda (1997-2001); Member of the Lithuanian Parliament (1990-1992); Group chairman (19911992): Lithuanian Minister of Economics (2001); and Lithuanian Prime
M i n i s t e r ( 2 0 0 1 ) . ( a d a p t e d f r o m M E P p r o f i l e , h t t p : / / w w w. e u r o p a r l . e u r o p a . e u /
Members/Expert/AlphaOrder/view.do?Language=EN&id=28283).
26
“TRUTH' AND “VALUES” IN A PLURALISTIC SOCIETY:
A CONUNDRUM FOR THE ACADEMY
David W. Shenk
Global consultant, Eastern Mennonite Missions
Abstract
The historical foundation of western universities was overwhelmingly by
Christians seeking freedom in academic study. However by the 21st century this
was no longer the core idea of a university. The Christian faith has been
marginalized in the academy. Truth has been abused and there is resistance to
God-centered truth in the university. Relativism is not the solution. Rigorous
exploring of ultimate questions and ultimate truth is required. We must
commend the truth with humility to solve the conundrum of the university.
Five years ago I was invited to contribute to a one-day forum on Islam and the
Christian faith by the missiology department of the University of Budapest. The
young imam of the large and rapidly developing Islamic Center in Budapest
showed up. The dialogue between this young Hungarian-born Muslim and the
Reformed pastors, students, and professors was intense.
One of the pastors stated, “We believe that God has created us in his
image, and therefore we must respect the freedom of people, even to deny faith.
The democratic values that we cherish are the fruit of the Christian truth that we
embrace.”
The imam responded, “I need to inform you that Islam is the truth, and
so Islamic Shari'ah (law), not democracy, is the value we Muslims embrace. We
are working for the day when Shari'ah values will replace democratic values in
Central Europe. This will include circumscribing the freedoms of the church.”
It was tumultuous! That day of conversation, dialogue, confrontation,
and anger is relevant to the concerns of this consultation. The different truths
and values that collided that day are not trivial. Truth commitments are the
foundations upon which people build their lives, the beliefs that provide answers
for life's ultimate questions. Values develop out of our truth commitments. For
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LCC / LIBERAL ARTS STUDIES / 2008
the imam, the Qur'an was his nonnegotiable foundation. The application of
Shari'ah was a value that he yearned for. In modern pluralist society the
academy has a special vocation providing forums as we seek to find the way
forward even in the midst of perceived impasse amidst a cacophony of truths
seeking to be heard, as was true in that day of encounter in the University of
Budapest (Of course, the Muslim movement is also pluralist, and the Wahhabist
vision of Islam that the Imam of Budapest championed is not the dominant
stream of European Islam.) (Ramadan 2005).
Historical foundations
The historical foundation of Western universities has been overwhelmingly
Christian. For example, the Harvard University charter of 1636 was written
sixteen years after the Pilgrims arrived in the new world seeking religious
freedom. The college law stated, “Everyone shall consider the main End of his
life and studies to know God and Jesus Christ in whom is Eternal Life” (Marsden,
1994, p. 43). A century and a half ago, all students admitted to Oxford University
had to subscribe to the 39 Articles of Faith of the Church of England and all
students attended compulsory chapel; at Cambridge a requirement for
graduation was commitment to the Church of England (Marsden & Longfield,
1992, pp. 259-60). By mid-nineteenth century Harvard had developed liberal
Unitarian inclinations; nevertheless chapels were still compulsory (Marsden,
1994 p. 181). Both in Europe and North America it was assumed that the
Christian faith and the university belonged together. John Henry Newman, a
Catholic, lovingly idealized Anglican Oxford where “Religious faith is not only a
portion, but a condition of general knowledge” (Marsden & Longfield, 1992, p.
259).
Why have Western societies historically nurtured a close affinity with
Christian faith and the academy? The reason lies deep within the soul of the
Christian faith, with the conviction that all truth proceeds from God in whom all
truth is integrated within meaningful unity. Therefore all areas of knowledge are
worthy of exploration.
In the early third century, the Alexandrian Catechetical School was a
harbinger of the Christian liberal arts university. Origen was one of the founding
fathers, and students from countries afar came to study under his guidance. A
student described Origen in this way:
No subject was barred, nothing was kept from us… We were
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DAVID SHENK
allowed to make ourselves familiar with all kinds of doctrine,
from Greek and Eastern sources, on spiritual or secular
subjects, ranging freely over the whole field of learning... He
kindled in our hearts the love of the divine Logos, the supreme
object of love, who by his unspeakable loveliness draws all
irresistibly to himself (Bettenson, 1970, pp. 19-20).
That kind of zest for learning energized the church to establish
universities wherever the church took root around the world. The meaning of
the word, university, is unity and truth. The church believed that the truth is
unified emanating from one center who is God in Christ. Europe led the way
with the establishment of several hundred universities, all established by the
church. This wave of university development swept North America as well;
within six years of the founding of Plymouth Colony, the Puritans had initiated
what has become Harvard University! (Marsden, 1994). However, the Puritans
were not as inclusive of all knowledge as was Origen of the third century; they
debated whether students should study Plato and Aristotle.
The vast majority of American universities were established by the
churches in the confident expectation that all areas of truth will be investigated
with a commitment to God from whom all truth proceeds. For this reason
science was enthusiastically included within university curriculums. Science
was the exploration of God's amazing creation; theology dealt with the purpose
of creation. When teaching at the Free University in Amsterdam recently, my
classroom was on the top floor; I learned that the top floor of Dutch universities
has always been the theology department, as a sign that theology oversees and
unites all the other academic disciplines.
Science and Truth
However, in the public university of the 21st century God is not the truth center.
Although theology departments might be on the top floor in the Netherlands, in
reality theology has been moved to the periphery. Science has replaced God as
the center. The shift has been precipitous and sometimes ruthless. For the
American university, George Marsden's insightful tome is pertinent in
understanding the shift in the American experience. The title of his book speaks
for itself: The Soul of the American University, From Protestant Establishment to
Established Nonbelief.
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Harvard University is a bellwether. The influential Harvard report of
1945 entitled “General Education in a Free Society” advises that religious
studies courses be excluded from the undergraduate program and that the
university should “reject the unique authority of the Scriptures…” (Marsden,
1994, p. 389). Instead of the study of Scriptures, students would be exposed to
great literature. Science would become the foundation for the quest for truth.
However, experience demonstrates that science is incapable of
providing integrative meaning. This is indeed paradoxical for science thrives
within a world view that embraces coherence; that assumption of coherence is a
gift of Biblical faith that formed the cultures from which the scientific revolution
developed. Furthermore, science does demonstrate, as the Australian
physicist Paul Davies asserts, astonishing “organized complexity” of the
universe (Davies, 1992, p. 139). Although I am informed that he is not a theist,
Davies observes that Biblical theism does make sense as an explanation of the
evidence of design within the universe (Davies, 1992).
Yet even the observation that there is evidence of Intelligent Design
cannot be admitted into American high schools, the evidence notwithstanding.
The scientific plausibility structure that the public academy has come to
embrace cannot countenance that there is evidence of a Designer.
Consequently we explore the amazing wonder of the universe, but purpose
eludes the researcher. There is no integrative meaning. It is evident that we
can only meet the purpose of it all when we open ourselves to the revelation of
the Designer; there is no other way.
Science can speak to important questions, but cannot address ultimate
questions. The theologian Paul Tillich states that there are three ultimate
realities that confront every human with the ultimate questions: 1) Death. How
can I cope with death? 2) Guilt. Am I an adequate person? and 3) Personal
existence. What is the meaning of life? (Hughes, 2005, pp. 79-81). Providing
satisfactory response to such ultimate questions is beyond the capabilities of
science.
The university introduces students to the study of facts, but there is no
integrative truth that provides meaning to the facts or that addresses the
universal and ultimate questions of humanity (Hughes, 2005, pp. 80-1). For
example, when I was in graduate school my professor of anthropology informed
us, “Scientific investigation has proved that you are only intelligent monkeys,
nothing more than monkeys.”
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If she is right, then what is the meaning of life? If we are only monkeys,
then one might assume that the laws of nature are supreme; those laws can be
ruthless. Behind the seemingly benign faces of nature are the claws and fangs
of the hyena; too often I have laid awake at night in my boyhood bedroom in
Tanzania hearing a pack of hyenas bringing slow death to their bleating victim.
This was Darwin's discovery: survival of the fittest. I refuse to believe that is the
meaning of human life.
However, what are the alternatives? Suppose another anthropology
teacher in a public university would say, “God has revealed that you are created
in his own image so that you might glorify God. You do that by loving God and
loving your neighbor as yourself. In Christ God offers you the gift of forgiveness
and grace so that you may be transformed and empowered to really love your
neighbor. God's intended destiny for you is to joyously enjoy God forever.”
Most certainly the teacher would lose her job!
During my four years at LCC International University, teaching theology
to the third year students was a great joy. Most were agnostics or atheists.
Some were into New Age and others forthright relativists. Some were
committed Christians. The static in the class always became intense, when we
explored the question: who are you? Are you only biology? Or are you more
than biology, a biological being created in God's image? And what difference
does that make? No matter what the religious or philosophical inclination of the
student might be, that question sent electricity through the class.
In their weekly journals students would mull over that question with
comments like this. “In high school my teacher taught me that science proves
that we are just monkeys. I would look at myself in my bedroom mirror and say, 'I
am just a monkey.' I hated that, but I also knew that is all that science could say
about me. But now in this class I have learned that God has revealed that I am
created in his own image, and that God loves me, and invites me into a right and
joyous relationship with him. I hope this is true. But I want to be a scientist, and I
do not discover that I am created in God's image through science. I don't know
whether to believe what the Bible says about me, or to base my selfunderstanding on science alone.”
Reasons for the marginalization of the Christian faith
How has this happened, that science has usurped Biblical revelation in the
Western academy? Why did my students at LCC look whimsically at Biblical
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LCC / LIBERAL ARTS STUDIES / 2008
faith, but feared to embrace the faith because they had been taught that truth is
known through science, not God. What is this genie that has nudged God to the
peripheries, enthroned science at the center, and left the academy bereft of
meaning-giving integrative truth? There are three reasons I submit for
consideration.
Moral transformation demanded
Christians believe that the human narrative demonstrates the reality of
people turning away from God. If God is the truth center, then he has the
authority to command our commitment. We resent commitment to our Creator,
so we just ignore God.
Some years ago I asked an academic colleague who was a professed
atheist, “When will you believe?”
“Never,” he responded, “I reject belief because the theory of evolution
has disproved the God hypothesis.”
“Make a fist,” I urged him.
He did so, and then I said, “Do you mean that this amazing phenomenon
of the hand that has just made a fist was all put together without an Intelligent
Designer? You really believe it just evolved through impersonal chemical
processes?”
His comment surprised me, “Actually the evidence clearly shows that
there must be a Creator God, but I am still an atheist, because I hate my dad. If I
ever believe in God I know I must get right with my dad. I will never do that.”
I pushed him further. “So you teach your university students that there is
no God, although you know that cannot be true.”
“Yes,” he replied with refreshing candor. “We all do it, and we all know it
is a lie, but we call the lie academic sophistication.”
My friend had identified a key dimension of the truth question. If the
truth center is God as revealed in Jesus, then the professor is exactly right:
commitment to God requires moral transformation. A Biblical God-centered
world view confronts independent arrogance and demands a commitment that is
morally transforming. (Of course, not all understandings of God demand moral
transformation; that is why I have particularized this statement as a Biblical
understanding of God.) We prefer to honor authorities or gods of our own
creation than to commit ourselves to the God who created us.
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DAVID SHENK
The abuse of truth
There is another core source of resistance to commitment to Godcentered truth in the university. That is the abuse of truth. Even theism can
become an ideology that smothers the human spirit. In England it was the
nonconformist Christians who were the principal challengers of a Church of
England-centric truth for the public academy. For example, the nonconformists
challenged the right of the academy to deny admission to any who did not
subscribe to Church of England doctrine (Marsden & Longfield, 1992, pp. 26366).
In England the secularization of the university in the 19th century was not
on the whole an anti-Christian movement. Rather it was the free churches who
vigorously critiqued the establishment Christianity embraced by the universities
that disenfranchised dissenters such as Methodists or Baptists. It was
pluralistic Christianity, not the atheists, who were the primary movers for
dethronement of theology in the establishment British universities (Marsden &
Longfield, 1992). There were exceptions to be sure such as the agnostic
philosopher T.H. Huxley, but the agnostic or atheistic resistance was not centerstage in the transformation (Marsden & Longfield, 1992 p. 267).
Similarly on the continent the Anabaptists as early as the 16th century
challenged all state-established churches. They experienced state established
truth as abusive truth, and contrary to suffering truth as revealed in Christ. The
Anabaptists believed that the marriage of church and state that commenced with
Constantine (4th century) was a departure from the suffering love that Jesus
demonstrated. They believed that the coercive nature of the Christendom truth
paradigm was a radical departure from vulnerable truth as expressed in Jesus.
The philosophers of the Enlightenment carried forward the Anabaptist
challenge to abusive uses of truth. Rene Descartes', “I think, therefore I am,”
was a statement of rebellion against the promulgators of a revealed truth that
killed its opponents. By the second half of the 19th century, especially in France
and Italy, opposition to the Christian faith succeeded in jettisoning theology from
several universities (Marsden & Longfield, 1992, p. 266).
Why did Descartes and his fellow travelers feel the need to become
liberated from the revealed truth championed by the church? Was it not the
horrendous actions of the inquisition that sowed the seeds of a deep aspersion
against all claims to revealed truth? Descartes was a contemporary to the Thirty
Years War where armies slaughtered one another as well as civilians to defend
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Catholic versus Protestant visions of revealed truth. So Descartes and his
sympathizers placed reason rather than revelation at the truth center.
While the Anabaptist critique of abusive truth was anchored in Jesus of
the New Testament, the Enlightenment looked to reason as the inspiration for
their critique. As the Enlightenment and its political expression in the French
Revolution and the American Revolution extended its influence, the motif of “self
evident” truth and “nature's God,” rather than revealed truth, shaped both the
political landscape and the academy. The notion continues to prevail that the
promulgators of revealed truth are a threat to democratic freedoms (Akers,
1988).
The difficulties of pluralism
Pluralistic culture is a third reason for the transformation of the academy
away from revelation-centered truth to a reason-centered truth (Newbigin, 1989,
pp 14-26). For example, I live in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA which a half
century ago was overwhelmingly Protestant. Today my immediate neighbors
are Bosnian Muslim, Cambodian Buddhist, God-and-country independent
Baptist, practicing Catholic, Orthodox, and we have had a Jewish family from the
Soviet Union and a deist humanist as neighbors as well. Our neighborhood is a
microcosm of the modern Western world. LCC International University includes
students from over 20 countries with widely divergent approaches to life's
ultimate questions. How does a public university deal with truth questions in this
kind of pluralistic world?
When our large pluralist city high school planned to introduce a course
on values, it ignited intense public debate. What values will be taught? The
administration said, “Values such as integrity.”
The detractors proclaimed, “Who said integrity is a value! Our society
demonstrates that integrity is not a common value!”
Imagine trying to teach “truth” when even a course on “values” elicits
such emotive responses. That is what the Harvard Report of 1945 was
attempting to address. The authors sought an academic common ground for a
pluralistic world with its “…varieties of faith and even of nonfaith” (Marsden,
1994, p. 389). So the academics at Harvard simply jettisoned religion and put
science at the center.
Harvard was not alone. Those directions were already reflected in the
American Declaration of Independence. Those commitments to human rights
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were grounded in nature's god, not Biblical revelation. The conviction of the
writers of the Declaration was that Biblical theism excludes whereas nature's
god is all inclusive (Hughes, 2005, pp. 9-20). The same challenges have faced
the European Union. The voices that urge including in the constitution God or
references to the common Christian heritage of the European Union countries
have been muted in favor of a secularist stance that will presumably more
adequately reflect European pluralism.
Alas the gods of secularism can be as rigid as those of any religion.
Witness the prohibition of head scarves for Muslim girls in French public schools
and universities. Apparently John Locke was right! He worried in his Essay on
Tolerance (1689) that commitments to respectful tolerance would not endure if
those commitments were not grounded in the conviction that God has created
humankind in his own image (Sanneh, 2005, p. 83). The Marxist intolerant
stranglehold on dissent that has so deeply wounded so many, including
Lithuanians, is a tragic demonstration of the truth of Locke's insight.
Professor Leonidas Donskis, at the time chair of the Department of
Philosophy of Klaipėda University, in his 1998 commencement address at LCC
essentially said the same thing. He observed that the values that nurture
healthy democratic civil society have Judeo-Christian theistic foundations.
Likewise, key leaders in the independence movement in Lithuania negotiated
for the establishment of a Christian university (LCC) for they believed that the
values of respect, integrity, and personal responsibility that are essential for
healthy civil society are most energetically nurtured in Judeo-Christian faith, not
secularist ideology or the god of the philosophers.
Alternatives within the conundrum
Religion is exceedingly formative; entire civilization systems are grounded in
religious “truth.” These truth centers form the values of societies. In our
pluralist world, as never before, civilizations engage one another (Huntington,
1996). Truth engages truth. How do we find the way forward? That should be
the exhilarating challenge and mission of the modern university. Ignoring
religious-centered claims to truth simply because we live in a pluralist world is a
devious detour that augurs disaster.
What are the alternatives? A general assumption in much of Western
academia is that relativism is the only solution. Science has been incapable of
discerning integrative truth, so there must be many truths all of which are valid.
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The American philosopher, Allan Bloom, writing two decades ago deplored the
soft-headedness of this approach, although it was the nearly universal
assumption of his philosophy students at the University of Chicago. “So you
believe that widow suicide in India was just fine?” he asks his students. The gut
response of his students is that this is a terribly unfair question. He argues that
this is not an unfair question, and in fact a most urgent question. Bloom urges a
return to Greek philosophical foundations and the logos of Neo-Platonism,
wherein reason and intuition seek to discern the truth. Bloom argues that the
Enlightenment went astray by being hijacked by scientific empiricism.
However, many find Bloom's argument that the logos of Neo-Platonism
is the key to unlock the door into a universal truth-centered future unpersuasive
(Bloom, 1987). Helpful as intuitive reason might be, I, nevertheless, believe
that the human condition is so flawed that we need more than intuition and
reason to acquire a true perspective.
Confessing truth in the academy
Lesslie Newbigin invested some 40 years in church-mission engagement in
India, where he was immersed in the philosophical sea of Hindu relativism.
Then in retirement he became pastor in an urban parish in Birmingham in the
United Kingdom where the modern challenges of truth and pluralism were his
daily experience. He wrote a number of books dealing with truth and pluralism,
wherein he addresses the philosophical and practical challenges of confessing
the Christian faith as truth in the public square amidst the pluralistic milieu of
modern society where many truths are being confessed (Newbigin, 1989). The
academy is of critical significance in that enterprise.
Bishop Newbigin calls for a commitment to seeking truth. In the realm
of science, there are divergent theories. Yet scientists research the data,
debate the evidence, and submit to peer review until a theory is established as
truth. For example, when the HIV epidemic commenced, there were numerous
theories. Scientists investigated the evidence, debated their findings, but all
were sure that a day would come when they would know the source of the
disease. Today they know HIV backward and forward.
The Bishop argues that if in the area of science investigators look at the
data and debate the evidence so that the truth for a disease such as HIV might
be known, how much more so should the academy be engaged in a vigorous
discussion and debate about ultimate questions and ultimate truth. That
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DAVID SHENK
commitment must proceed from the conviction that ultimate truth can be known
and that the truth is of ultimate significance. This commitment welcomes debate
and dialogue. All claims to truth need to be heard, challenged, and tested within
a commitment to seeking and knowing the truth. That is the genius of the
Christian liberal arts college.
Newbigin has written several books that are remarkably pertinent. He
does not appeal for a reinstatement of the privileged place that Biblical revelation
once occupied in the public academy. But he does passionately argue for public
space within the academy for Christ to be heard, investigated, debated, and
commended within a pluralist academia that is home to all the pluralisms of
modern society. That should happen in the public university.
The Christian academy
The engagement of truth with truth most certainly must happen in the Christian
academy, whose mission is to forthrightly encourage students to confront life's
ultimate questions. Within the dialogue, the Christian academy winsomely
commends the gift of Christ within those questions. It provides space for
questioning and doubt within the dialogical engagement. This vocation of the
Christian liberal arts college is enormously enhanced when the academy lives in
lively engagement with the church and with society. The church, with all its
inadequacies, is nevertheless the community that incarnates the faith that the
Christian academy embraces and the grace of Christ in whom our woundedness
is touched with healing (Hughes, 2005, pp. 70-106).
Several years ago the Muslim Student Association in the United
Kingdom invited me for six major dialogues. One was in the Central London
Mosque and the other five venues in UK universities. Each event was about
three hours. The dialogues focused on a core dimension of truth as confessed
by the Muslim community and the Christian church. For example, the first theme
was: revelation. Another evening: salvation. One event: God. An exceedingly
pertinent evening was the crucifixion of Christ which Muslims deny, an event in
Christian faith that goes to the very core of life's ultimate questions. The
engagements were very intense, but provided a forum for dynamic encounter.
Professors and students participated with very good attendance.
For each presentation, my Muslim colleague began with several points
to prove that the Qur'an is revealed scripture. With an eye on the university
crowd, he asserted that the evidence includes scientific accuracy. Then with
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LCC / LIBERAL ARTS STUDIES / 2008
that truth established from his perspective, the dialogue would proceed. I did
not begin with proofs of the truth of the Bible. Rather I centered all of my
presentations in the God who acts within history as redeemer. I confessed that
God is not known through philosophical proofs. Rather the Bible written over
some 1,500 years is a narrative demonstrating that God is known because he
has revealed himself in numerous acts of saving grace, and supremely so in
Jesus the Christ.
We both entered into the engagement with commitments to knowing
truth. We both believed that we know about God through revelation; for me that
revelation is most fully present in Jesus Christ of the Biblical scriptures; for my
Muslim colleague, his center is the Qur'an. This was not just an academic
event. We were passionate, for we knew that we were in dialogue and even
confrontation in regard to the most significant issues of life. The format also
provided space to listen and to respond respectfully to one another.
There were convergences to be sure. Yet in very significant ways there
was also divergence. That whole experience brought memories of teaching
world religions at Kenyatta University College in Kenya some years ago. I teamtaught the course with a Muslim. Truth commitments were debated and
examined right within the classroom experience.
These three-hour
engagements in UK universities were similar; they were events electric with
audience engagement. All knew that the concerns were not trivial. Our
approach was confessional, not polemical or coercive, but passionate. Each
person or group in the audiences was free to discern their responses to the
different truth claims that were openly presented and challenged. These were
events vigorously exploring ultimate questions and ultimate truth.
Science and scientism
One of the most provocative essays (unpublished) I have read in recent
years that is relevant to the theme of this presentation was the 1998 LCC
commencement address by Professor Leonidas Donskis, that I have referred to
above. He insisted that scientism elevated to ultimate authority has spawned
diabolical ideologies. (As I understand it Donskis views science as the laudable
empirical study of data; scientism exalts that commitment into an absolutist
ideology with ultimate authority.)
He observed that in scientism as expressed in the theory of evolution,
the person is viewed as only a biological creature. Furthermore, the law of
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DAVID SHENK
nature is survival of the fittest. When applied to human societies these scientific
laws spawned Nazism and then Marxism. The person was only a biological
creature; so the slaughter of millions was fully acceptable, for at the end of the
road the universal natural law is survival of the fittest. It was impossible to
critique these systems for they were grounded in objective scientific truth. Yet
for the Lithuanian people these expressions of scientism brought hell.
Professor Donskis also commented on the mission of LCC. He
observed that this institution is centered in the conviction that God has created
the person in his own image, and that God is love. Therefore the person is to be
respected and loved. This commitment to loving and respecting the person
gives hope for the healing of lives and of societies. His presentation was an
enthusiastic affirmation of the mission of LCC International University as an
academic institution with a healing mission within Lithuania and the region.
Conclusion
In 2002 in my final year at LCC International University my wife, Grace, and I
were commissioned by the college to travel in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
to introduce the college to prospective students.
In remote Aqtobe,
Kazakhstan, we visited an English medium high school. We informed the
principal that we were representatives of Lithuania Christian College. She
rather jarringly objected, “I do not want you to meet with the students because
religion terrifies us.” She then showed us some God-and-country curriculum
someone had sent her from the United States.” We responded, “Religion also
terrifies us, for religion can be very abusive. However, LCC is centered in Jesus
Christ. What does that mean? A Christ-centered university means that each
person is respected as a human created in God's own image. It means that God
loves us and suffers with us and because of us as he seeks to redeem us from
our human woundedness. We therefore seek to love one another as Jesus
loved. It means people are free to choose or reject faith. It means a
commitment to exploring all areas of knowledge for all truth proceeds from
God.” She was amazed. She rang the bell and called for all students to meet
with us. We rejoiced, and the engagement with the students was awesome.
The Jesus we commended in that Aqtobe school calls us to commend
truth with humility. Humility is indeed a most significant dimension of Christcentered academic excellence. For those who confess Christ as the center,
then all else is relative to his authority. The academic conundrum becomes a
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symphony when we seek Truth with passion, embrace Truth with zest, and live in
genuine humility.
References
Akers, J. (1998, September 2) Evangelisms Search for Tommorrow. Christianity Today
32(12)
Bettenson, H. (1970) The Later Christian Fathers. London: Oxford University Press.
Bloom, A. (1992). The Closing of the American Mind. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1987
Davies, Paul, The Mind of God: The Scientific Basis for a Rational World. New York:
Simon and Schuster.
Hughes, R. T. (2005) Vocation of the Christian Scholar, How the Christian Faith Can
Sustain the Life of the Mind. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
Huntington, S. (1996) The Clash of Civilizations. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Marsden, G. M. (1994) The Soul of the American University, From Protestant
Establishment to Established Nonbelief. New York: Oxford University Press.
Marsden, G. M., & Longfield, B. J. (Eds. 1992). The Secularization of
the Academy. New York: Oxford University Press.
Newbigin, L. (1989) The Gospel in a Pluralist Society, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
Ramadan, T. (2005) Western Muslims and the Future of Islam. New York: Oxford University
Press.
Sanneh, L. (2005) Islam the West Anabaptist. In J. Kraybill, D. Shenk & L. Stutzman (Eds.),
Anabaptists Meeting Muslims: A Calling for Presence in the Way of Christ (pp. 83-88).
Scottsdale: Herald Press.
For Further Reading
Bellah, R. N., et al, (1985). Habits of the Heart. Berkley: University of California Press.
Keller, T. (2008). The Reason for God, Belief in an Age of Skepticism. New York: Dutton.
Newbigin, L. (1986). Foolishness to the Greeks, the Gospel and Western Culture, Grand
Rapids, Eerdmans.
Newbigin L. (1994). A Word in Season, Perspectives on Christian World Missions.
Grand Rapids: Eerdmans.
Shenk, D. W. (1999). Global Gods, Exploring the Role of Religions in Modern Societies.
Scottdale: Herald Press.
About the Author
David Shenk, PhD., is the former academic dean of LCC International University and a global
consultant with Eastern Mennonite Missions in Salunga, PA. Shenk was born and raised in a
Christian missionary home in Tanzania. For ten years he was involved in educational work in Islamic
Somalia and lectured in comparative religion and church history at Kenyatta University, Nairobi,
Kenya for six years. He has been an advocate for dialogue between Christians and Muslims,
opening doors of fellowship and ministry within churches and missions in about 100 countries. David
has authored or co-authored 15 books related to missions and the relationship of the gospel to other
religions. He helped develop a Scripture course for Muslims, The People of God, which has been
translated into 45 languages (adapted from Crossroads, Fall 2007, Eastern Mennonite University).
E-mail: [email protected]
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4
PARALLEL SESSION PAPERS
42
CONCEPTUALIZING MIGRATION THROUGH
METAPHOR: A VOYAGE BY ODYSSEY OR CRUSOE?
Liudmila Arcimavičienė
Institute of Foreign Languages, Vilnius University,
Vilnius, Lithuania
Abstract
The present study aims at examining how migration is conceptualized from the
cross-linguistic perspective, i.e. in Lithuanian and English languages. Forty
articles from a Lithuanian and a British website were examined. They
automatically were sorted by the key search word “migration” (Lith. migracija).
The method applied to analyze migration metaphor is that of hypothetical
deduction combined with the qualitative analysis in the framework of cognitive
linguistics. The findings reveal that “migration” has a two-fold representation in
both English and Lithuanian discourses: migration as adventure and migration
as survival. The latter metaphor strongly prevails in both languages. There is a
parallel between contemporary migrants and Robinson Crusoe. Both are
desperately seeking survival in the host countries rather than acting as
Odysseus embarking on an adventurous voyage.
Introduction
Various contemporary political theories circulate around two basic concepts:
globalisation and its impact on social individuals (Tétreault & Lipschutz, 2005).
Globalisation is therefore seen as the closer integration of the countries and
people brought about by the enormous reduction of travel costs and rapid
technological advancement (Tétreault & Lipschutz, 2005, pp. 145-165).
Citizens of today's “global village” are perceived as social individuals or wilful
actors taking an active role in the life of their country, state, and community.
Moreover, the western tradition emphasizes individual free will over all possible
social constraints taking place in the globalization processes.
However, this theoretical approach based on the concept of wilful and
active social individuals functioning in the global community is paradoxical by
nature in its practical implementation. It rather seems that economic goods,
capital and merchandise circulate freely, yet people, or the so-called wilful
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agents, dream of an impossible visa or risk their lives to reach forbidden shores.
The paradox lies in the fact that it is consumer goods but not people that are
unconstrained by any territorial or national borders.
Thus, migration has been regarded as an issue of the highest
sensitivity in the today's world community. Theoretically, migrants are viewed as
active and purposeful agents, or adventurers (Niessen, Huddleston & Citron,
2007). Nevertheless, there is much doubt whether migrants seek adventure or
survival in their host countries. Do they undertake the voyage of adventurous
Odysseus or survival-seeking Crusoe? In other words, are migrants as
adventurous as Odyseeus was in the Odyssey, or do they seek survival as
Robinson Crusoe on the deserted island challenging its hostile environment?
This article aims at analysing the conceptualisation of migration in the
discourse of two different cultures, i.e. Britain and Lithuania, with the purpose to
find out how migration is perceived or conceptualized in these two cultural
contexts. The term of conceptualisation here refers to the knowledge
construction reflected in people's language use (Croft & Cruse, 2004).
Knowledge, in its turn, is constructed by categorizing reality into concepts that
are expressed in a language.
For example, we cannot just think with a computer as such. We think
with a concept of a computer or its mental representation that stands for this
computer. Thus, we need concepts to think about the world, to interpret and
make use of it. Finally, all concepts are systematically related and form a
conceptual mapping, relating all of them through difference and similarity. This
conceptual map results in the possibility of common understanding and
collective action that is also governed by certain constraints in interpreting one
or another external phenomenon.
Common understanding and collective action is possible by sharing the
linguistic understanding of a concept. In other words, people share linguistic
practices that help to identify and interpret these conceptual mappings
(Kövecses, 2005). Accordingly, the analysis of language used about migration
will result in the collective understanding of this concept. As an abstract and
obscure concept, migration is represented by other more specific, clearer and
more knowable concepts. This is a clear-cut case of conceptual metaphor.
The pioneers of conceptual metaphor theory Lakoff and Johnson
define “conceptual metaphor” as a result of early conflations in everyday
experience leading to the automatic formation of hundreds of metaphors (1999,
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p. 63). In other words, the conceptual metaphor is a mapping across conceptual
domains that structure human reason, experience, and everyday language. The
conceptual domains are differentiated into metaphorical sources and targets,
whereby the conceptual target is metaphorically structured via the conceptual
source.
Therefore, conceptual metaphor is represented by the following
formula: target is/as source, i.e. the former stands for the abstract concept
people try to understand, such as love, relationship, democracy, or morality,
whereas the latter refers to the more specific domain of human experience, such
as motion, size, proximity, or closeness.
As a result, the analysis of the conceptual metaphor explains the
intricate structure of abstract concepts that are structured via more specific
experiential domains of human experience. Metaphor conceptualization in the
human mind is explained by three major tenets of second-generation cognitive
science (Lakoff, 2002) such as follows:
(1) The mind is embodied. This means that human bodily experience in
the world is based on pairing sensorimotor experience such as moving or
touching with subjective experience such as loving or moralizing.
(2) Thought is largely unconscious. This means that the system of
metaphors is a part of human cognitive unconscious. This results in its
abundant and automatic use in social discourses. In other words, people are not
consciously aware of the way they think and reason. At the same time we cannot
think just anything.
(3) Abstract concepts are largely metaphorical. This means that most of
our non-physical reality (psychological, social) is conceptualized via physical
reality, or in terms of physical domains of experience.
Hence, the concept of migration as an abstract concept is represented
metaphorically without realising that it is really so. It is of primary importance to
identify what conceptual metaphors represent the concept of migration because
the way people act in the world is largely determined by the way they
conceptualize it.
Let me illustrate this tendency with the notoriously abstract concept of
time. First, the concepts of time does not exist as an objective event in nature;
thus, there are different ways of conceptualising it, i.e. different metaphors can
be used to represent and make it knowable. If I say 'I am running out of time' or 'I
haven't got much time left', or 'don't waste your precious time', I represent time by
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the more specific domain of quantity, i.e. time as quantity. This use of the time
metaphor will affect my general understanding and eventful actions in the
following way: time is something that can be bought and sold, guarded and
protected, or given away.
Another time metaphor is that of time as a moving object as in the
following: 'the time will come', 'time is flying by,' 'Christmas is coming up on us',
etc. This metaphor allows us to have a linear representation of Time in terms of
past, present and future, wherein the past is conceived as behind us (e.g. in the
preceding days), present here and now, and future as ahead of us (e.g.
following Monday). Moreover, this understanding of time results in the most
wide-spread metaphor of life as journey where in the concept of life is perceived
as an ongoing journey.
In this article the following research questions have been raised:
(1) How is migration conceptualised in English and Lithuanian public
discourses?
(2) What is the most pervasive metaphor used while talking about
migration?
(3) How does it affect the collective understanding of migration?
(4) Is migration perceived as a threat, problem or advantage to
European community?
(5) Are immigrants conceived of in the role of adventurous Odysseus or
surviving Crusoe?
(6) Does it have negative or positive implications for further human
activities concerned with migration?
Thus, the major aim of this research is not only to identify and analyse
metaphors that structure migration discourse, but also to draw implications on
what lies beyond the use of certain conceptual metaphors.
Data and methodology
The research data is extracted from on-line articles in a Lithuanian corpus
www.politika.lt; and an English corpus www.economist.com. The overall
number of words equals 135, 507. The articles were sorted automatically by the
key search word migration (Lith. migracija). The first 20 articles, i.e. most
recent, in each language (a total of 40) have been analysed in the theoretical
framework of cognitive linguistics which is exclusively qualitative by nature. This
qualitative method refers to the analysis of linguistic corpus in the following
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direction: metaphorical linguistic expressions→migration metaphor.
In order to identify what conceptual metaphors structure the concept of
migration, metaphorical linguistic expressions have to be primarily located,
analysed and classified in accordance with the source domain they represent.
Thus, the linguistic expressions are only illustrations of one or another source
domain, i.e. natural disaster, which structures the target conceptual domain, i.e.
migration. Consequently, the conceptual metaphor has the following conceptual
representation: A is B, e.g. migration is natural disaster, and the following
linguistic representation B: a, b, c, or natural disaster: migration flooded the
Western world.
The findings of this study reveal that migration is mainly conceptualized
via two metaphorical groups: Crusoe and Odysseus. The former is represented
by the conceptual metaphor migration is survival, while the latter has been
metaphorically structured in terms of adventure metaphor. Let me start my
discussion with the central conceptual metaphor that largely dominates the
analysed data, referred to here as the Crusoe group.
“Migration as survival” metaphor
This conceptual metaphor dominates in the analysed data of the current
research; moreover, migration as survival metaphor is a complex mapping that
entails the following conceptual elements or the so-called sub-metaphors: (1)
natural disaster, (2) substance, (3) commodity, and (4) disease.
The first and foremost conceptual sub-group structuring migration
discourse is that of natural disaster. In other words, migrants are perceived as a
natural event that cannot be easily prevented or foreseen. Moreover, this kind of
natural disaster threatens to overwhelm the continent of Europe in such
distinctive forms as hurricane, storm, flood, flow etc. Consider the following
examples below where linguistic expressions in the English data were classified
under their representative metaphor migration as natural disaster:
- inflow of migrants, seal borders tightly to keep them out, endless stream
of workers, a surge of migration, a big influx, to curb the rapid migration, a trickle
of people might turn into flood.
Similarly, the same tendency is observable in the Lithuanian data where
migration is perceived as a wave or inflow whose arrival can neither be predicted
nor foreseen, as in the examples below:
- katastrofa, imigracijos banga, ieškančių geresnio gyvenimo srautas,
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gerokai smarkesnė nei tikėtasi emigracija, Vilnius, Kaunas, Klaipėda taps dar
didesniais traukos centrais ir tuomet vidinė migracija bus nesustabdoma.
The metaphor of natural disaster is closely related to the metaphor of
substance, wherein migrants are perceived in terms of formless or deformed
mass. This metaphor reveals the prevalence of the existing negative attitudes
towards migrants. Consider the following examples below extracted from both
sources, i.e. English and Lithuanian:
- to squeeze foreign labour, patterns of migration, another pool in which
to fish for workers, circular migration, a net gain of 500,000 illegal migrants
every year, the global stock of migrants, huddled masses.
- Lietuvių srautas į Šiaurės Airiją nemažėja, ateities migracijos srautai.
By using this metaphor the concept of migration is being dehumanized,
as migrants are perceived as a collective mass where individual needs are
totally disregarded. Moreover, considering migration as substance metaphor
we learn that the liberal conception emphasizing high respect for individuality in
making choices and decisions in modern world is practically not applied to
migrants, as they are not regarded as free individuals but rather a humble mass.
Accordingly, migration is not seen as an issue of human sensitivity and concern
but rather as a certain economic advantage.
That economic advantage is vividly illustrated by the dominant use of the
commodity metaphor. The migration as commodity metaphor entails the
conceptual mapping of migrants as commercial /merchandise. In other words,
in today's globalised economy migrants have become another product whose
market value lies in its physical potential to develop host country's economy by
working hard therein. Hence, the most valuable migrants are young and healthy
and thus physically strong to do mundane and manual work (see examples):
- regions faring well with it, foreign labour, sending better brains/exporting
Brown, gains from importing the young, insatiable appetite for foreign labour,
-Kol kas jie neša naudą Airijai, darbo jėgos teks įsivežti iš kitų šalių,
demografinius nuostolius iš visų Rytų Europos šalių patyrė Lietuva, prisideda
prie ekonomikos augimo, užpildo tuščias darbo vietas.
Another prevalent metaphor in the analysed data is that of disease or
illness. To be more precise, migration is perceived as an illness or disease that
spreads at a fast rate thus requires strict preventative measures to be urgently
taken to tackle it; otherwise the whole situation might lead to irreversible social
consequences such as in the examples below:
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- we can't touch a comma without killing each other, addicted to foreign
labour, put a strain on public services raising, worries about a brain drain,
migration greatly benefits both recipient and donor countries
- svetur dirbant mažiau kvalifikuotą darbą lietuviams gresia atsilikimas,
minėti skauduliai.
To conclude, the analysis of the Crusoe conceptual model reveals that
the use of such metaphorical sources as natural disaster, substance,
commodity, and disease to structure the target domain of migration results in the
formation of negative attitudes towards migration and its policies. This negative
tendency is even more intensified by the use of such binary oppositions as host
country vs. receiving country, and insiders vs. outsiders. They explicitly create
conditions for social inequality wherein migrants have less equal status and
rights in comparison to non-migrants or natives.
“Migration as adventure” metaphor
The second conceptual metaphor, though to a much lesser degree dominating
in migration discourse, is that of adventure in this article nominated as the
Odysseus model.
Migration as adventure is a complex metaphor that consists of such two
related conceptual elements: motion and journey/traveling. What makes this
metaphor system distinguishable from the previously discussed survival
metaphor is that it is entirely positive in its evaluation. The analysis of migration
as adventure metaphor reveals that migrants are perceived as travelers on their
journey to a better life, seeking for more opportunities or just in search of
something new as the following examples below illustrate:
- go in search of dynamic economies, a legal route to jobs in Europe.
- imigracija paliko aiškiai matomą pėdsaką Airijos gyvenime, tokiais
tempais emigruojant, vaikinas grįžo nepasiekęs numatyto tikslo, migracija
sulėtės, stabdyti Lietuvos išsivaikščiojimą, ateitį kurti svetimoje šalyje.
Accordingly, the conceptual metaphor of migration as adventure allows
perceiving migration in terms of mobility which is a natural human prerogative
with the aims of travelling or discovering new worlds, new life, and new future.
Conclusions
The analysis of the collected data (i.e. 40 articles retrieved from such websites
as www.politika.lt and www.economist.com) reveals that today migration is
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perceived via two conceptual models: Crusoe vs. Odysseus. The former
metaphorically structures migration as a form of continuous self-survival,
whereas the latter emphasizes it from the perspective of an on-going
adventurous journey.
The Crusoe model represented by the complex metaphor migration as
survival systematically based on other sub-metaphors such as natural disaster,
substance, commodity, and disease.
The Crusoe model metaphors illustrate the prevailing negative attitude
to migration. This results in the application of the xenophobic metaphor
outsiders vs. insiders. The use of such a metaphor creates conditions for social
hierarchy to take place within a society wherein migrants are perceived as
people from outside contaminating foreign lands with their otherness. Further,
this metaphor implies that sedentary and state-central perspective dominates in
today's politics.
More importantly, the metaphors in Crusoe model point at another
negative view towards migration. The use of substance metaphor shows that
the concept of migrants in European community is depersonalized, as migrants
are conceptualized in terms of deformed or humble masses. Thus, migration
has become not an issue of concern and human rights but rather an economic
advantage, what has been illustrated by commodity metaphor.
By comparison, the Odysseus model reflected in such metaphors as
traveling/journey/motion has shown that migration can also be perceived as a
natural prerogative of human mobility aiming at new discoveries, new
opportunities, or new jobs. However, the use of metaphors under the Odysseus
model is very sparse comparatively to the metaphors of Crusoe model. Most
collective thought is based the conceptual representations where migrants are
viewed as contaminators, formless mass, or unpredictable disaster.
The major implication of this small-scale study however lies in the
following question: if the collective thought is largely governed by xenophobic
metaphors what collective action can we expect in response?
References
Croft, W. & Crusoe, D.A. (2004) Cognitive Linguistics. London: Cambridge University Press.
Kövecses Z. (2005) Metaphor in Culture: Universality and Variation. London: Cambridge
University Press.
Lakoff, G. (2002) Moral Politics: How Liberals and Conservatives Think. Chicago: The University
of Chicago Press.
50
LIUDMILA ARCIMAVIČIENĖ
Lakoff, G. & Johnson, M. (1999) Philosophy in the Flesh: the Embodied Mind and its Challenge
to Western Thought. New York: Basic Books.
Niessen, J., Huddleston, T. & Citron, L. (2007). Migrant Integration Policy Index (MIPEX).
Retrieved April 12, 2008 from http://www.migpolgroup.com/documents/3901.html.
Tétreault, M.A. & Lipschutz, R.D. (2005) Global Politics as if People Mattered. Rowman &
Littefield Publishing Group, Inc.
Data Sources
www.politika.lt. Accessed 25 March, 2007
“Pasaulis 2008 metais“.
The Economist. www.economist.lt. Accessed 25 March, 2007.
51
LCC / LIBERAL ARTS STUDIES / 2008
52
DOING HOUSEHOLD CHORES IN LITHUANIA:
EXPECTATIONS AND PRACTICES
Jurgita Babarskienė
LCC International University,
Klaipėda, Lithuania
Abstract
This study examined housework division expectations, practices and marital
happiness among married men and women in Lithuania. Respondents reported
their beliefs about who should do nine household chores, and who actually did
them in their families. Men did more traditionally male, and women did more
traditionally female chores. Both genders largely agreed on the hours spent
doing the chores, even though the women did more hours of chores and
preferred sharing tasks with their spouses. Men who believed that women
should do many chores by themselves were less happy, while men, who did
more hours of chores, had happier wives. More masculine men and more
feminine women reported being happier, while more feminine women did fewer
chores alone and more together with their spouse. Furthermore, self-reported
religious commitment was related to marital well-being and more traditional
roles for the women. Implications of housework expectations and practices are
discussed.
“Woman's place is in the home, and she should go there directly after work.”
(Author unknown)
In Lithuania there is a saying that the woman holds all four corners of the house.
That mainly means that the home is the domain of the woman, who does most of
the household labor. Household labor can be defined as unpaid work that
contributes to the welfare of family members and maintenance of the home
(Shelton & John, 1996; Lee & Waite, 2005, p. 328). “Housework” or “household
chores” is a more specific term referring to physical acts, such as cleaning,
doing laundry and other tasks. Various studies have consistently shown that
even employed women do more housework or “the second shift” in the home
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LCC / LIBERAL ARTS STUDIES / 2008
(Greenstein, 1996; Parkman, 2004; Hochschild, 1989; Maslauskaitė, 2004).
For instance, according to Statistics Lithuania (2006), Lithuanian women spend
about 2 hrs and 20 min. per day more on housework and caring for the family
than men do (Ambrozaitienė, 2006).
Moreover, men and women usually differ on the types of household
chores they perform. Wives are most likely to do traditionally female household
tasks (preparing meals, washing dishes, cleaning house, washing, ironing, and
grocery shopping), husbands work more on traditional male tasks (yard work
and auto maintenance, various repair jobs); both spouses do gender-neutral
tasks (bookkeeping and driving other family members) about equally.
(Greenstein, 1996; Bartley et al., 2005). Similarly, Lithuanian women spend
three times more hours on cooking, washing dishes, and taking care of the
children as well as twice as much time on housecleaning, while men are more
likely to report doing repair and maintenance jobs (Šemeta, 2004, Kublickienė,
2003).
Other studies have demonstrated that many Lithuanian people accept
egalitarian attitudes about housework. For instance, European Values Study
showed that 67.4 % of participants from Lithuania believed that sharing
household chores is rather important, 27.9% said it is very important, and only
6.7% disagreed with the statement (European Values Study, 2006). Even
though more couples embrace egalitarian ideals, traditional gender role
stereotypes and practices are still prevalent in Lithuania (Purvaneckienė,
Purvaneckas, 2001; Maslauskaitė 2004, Navaitis, 2005; Kublickienė, 2003).
The discrepancy between the declared egalitarian values and traditional
housework practices may be one of the reasons why couples and women in
particular may be dissatisfied with their marriages (Maslauskaitė, 2005).
Several theories have been used to explain household chore allocation
among married couples. Relative resources perspective suggests that
allocation of housework is based on implicit negotiations about the resources or
inputs (e.g., education, income) and outputs (e.g., who does the housework)
(Greenstein, 1996; Parkman, 2004). Gender ideology perspective explains how
marital roles are influenced by gender ideology. For instance, if both spouses
hold traditional ideologies, housework labor will be more traditional, with women
doing most of the chores, but if both have more egalitarian attitudes, more
balanced housework will occur (Blair & Lichter, 1991; Greenstein, 1996).
Nevertheless, spouses often have different gender ideologies; thus, other
54
JURGITA BABARSKIENĖ
perspectives, such as time availability, economic dependency model as well as
social exchange approach are helpful in understanding the final housework
division (Parkman, 2004; Blair and Lichter, 1991; Greenstein, 1996).
By emphasizing the importance of negotiation in housework allocation,
this study examines the dynamics of household chore division, focusing on the
relationships between household labor beliefs, practices, and marital
happiness. It could be hypothesized that, first, male and female beliefs about
chore appropriateness will differ, and be more egalitarian for the women.
Second, practices will reflect a more traditional pattern of household chore
division, with females doing more feminine and males doing more masculine
chores. Third, it would be reasonable to expect that men and women will differ in
their masculinity and femininity scores and marital happiness. Fourth, this study
will attempt to explore whether masculine and feminine traits, self-reported
religiosity and marital happiness are correlated.
Methods
Participants
The participants in this study (n = 118) were seventy-five married women
(mean age = 39, SD =10.9) and forty-three married men (mean age = 40, SD =
9.9) living mostly in western Lithuania. Included in this sample were 31 married
couples. The average length of marriage of the participants was 15 years; they
also had a mean of 1.9 kids. Males had higher mean income (t (114) = 4.73,
p<.001) and worked more hours in paid employment (45 hours for males and 35
for females). In terms of education, 20% of female and 25.6% male participants
had high school education, 18.7% of women and 32.6% of men had vocational
degrees, and about 58.7% of women and 39.6% of men had university degrees.
Measures.
Participants' chore beliefs and practices were assessed with the list of
nine chores: preparing meals, washing dishes, ironing and mending clothes,
cleaning the home, shopping for groceries, outdoor and indoor household
maintenance tasks, paying bills, automobile maintenance and repair, and
driving family members around (Bartley, et al., 2005; Lee, & Waite, 2005;
Parkman, 2004). In order to compare male and female responses, participants
also reported hours per week spent doing the chores by themselves, by their
spouse, and by any third person.
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LCC / LIBERAL ARTS STUDIES / 2008
Other instruments used in this study were BEM Sex-Role Inventory
(BSRI; Bem, 1974) which measured gender role orientation in terms of selfreported masculinity (alpha =.82) and femininity (alpha =.72), and Marital
Adjustment Scale (MAS; Locke & Wallace, 1959) which assessed total marital
health, marital happiness (alpha=.78), and conflict levels (alpha=.85).
Respondents reported their religious commitment by answering the question:
“How would you describe your religious commitment?” The response items
included “highly religious,” “somewhat religious,” “slightly religious,” and “not at
all religious.”
Results
Marital happiness and beliefs about chore allocation.
In terms of the total chores assigned to females and males, there were
some differences noticed between the genders. First, men assigned more
chores to women and men alone. They thought women should do 25% of chores
by themselves, while women believed they should be responsible for only 17%
of the chores (t (116) = 2.8, p = .006). Interestingly, males took responsibility for
31% of the chores, while females thought husbands should do only 25% alone (t
(116) = 2.47, p =.015). Second, women wanted a higher number of the chores to
be done together than men did (58% vs. 43%; (t (70.4) = 3.2, p=.002).
Therefore, a higher percentage of men divided the chores along traditional
gender lines, while more women preferred sharing tasks with their spouses.
In this study marital happiness and chore beliefs were correlated for the
men, but not for the women. Males who believed that a high proportion of the
chores are appropriate for women alone reported unhappier marriages (r = -.53,
p=.001). On the other hand, men who assigned a high proportion of chores to
men alone were not significantly happier (r= -.22, p=.187). Instead, men who
said that more chores were appropriate for both men and women tended to
report the greatest marital happiness (r = .46, p=.004). Thus, for the men in this
sample, it is important to have realistic chore expectations and to consider more
sharing of the chores.
Marital happiness and chore practices
Even though there were some differences in chore beliefs among men
and women, no such statistically significant differences were found in chore
practice reports. For instance, females reported doing 35.7% of chores by
56
JURGITA BABARSKIENĖ
themselves, while men believed women did 31% (t (116) =1.23, p=.223). Males
reported doing 31.2% of housework alone, while females said their husbands
did 29% (t (116) =.754, p=.452). In terms of chores done together, women
thought that 33.8% of chores were shared, while men said that they shared
35.9% of the chores (t (116) =. 482, p= 631). Still women, who had a husband
doing more hours of chores, were happier with their marriages (r=.32, p=.007).
This could be explained by the fact that men's more active participation in
household labor may also meet some companionship and emotional needs for
the women.
Similarities and differences in male and female reports on chore hours
Similarly to agreement about practices, participants largely agreed on
the hours spent doing housework, except for several chores. As Table 1 shows,
women reported spending significantly more time on traditional female chores,
such as meal preparation, cleaning the home and especially shopping for
groceries. Men, on the other hand, performed more traditionally male tasks,
such a household and automobile maintenance. They also reported doing more
hours of washing and ironing than the women thought they did (t (116) =2.34,
p=.021).
In terms of total hours per week spent on housework, women believed
they put in more hours than men thought they did (t (107) =2.07, p=.040).
Conversely, reports of total male hours did not significantly differ between
genders. It should be noted, however, that previous research has found that
women and men often overestimate the amount of time they spend on
housework, and this is especially true of the estimates of the women's time (Lee
& Waite, 2005).
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LCC / LIBERAL ARTS STUDIES / 2008
Table 1.
Male and Female Reports of Chore Hours per Week for Nine Chores.
Reported by
Men
Women
t
p-value
df
Chore hours done by
Preparing meals
Wife**
5.38
8.92
3.01
.003
116
Husband
2.74
2.72
.033
.974
116
Washing dishes
Wife
2.65
3.79
1.59.
.115
116
Husband
1.38
1.23
.512
.610
116
Washing & Ironing
Wife
2.30
3.38
1.93
.056
116
Husband*
.68
.24
2.34
.021
116
Cleaning home
Wife*
2.38
3.72
2.13
.036
116
Husband
1.38
1.28
.304
.761
116
Shopping for groceries
Wife***
2.01
3.68
3.33
.001
116
Husband
3.01
2.41
1.07
.288
116
Household maintenance
Wife
1.44
2.04
.726
.469
116
Husband
2.72
4.18
1.60
.112
116
Paying bills
Wife
.64
.79
703
.484
116
Husband
.59
.72
.672
.503
116
Wife
.26
.16
.806
.422
116
Husband
2.12
1.23
1.24
.218
116
Wife
1.00
1.17
.423
.673
116
Husband
2.02
2.27
.423
.673
116
Automobile maintenance
Driving
Total chore hours
Wife*
21.58
28.41
2.07
.040
107
Husband
17.89
16.96
.384
.702
110
Notes: *p ≤ .05
**p ≤ .01
***p ≤ .001
58
JURGITA BABARSKIENĖ
Marital happiness and masculine and feminine traits
According to BSRI (Bem, 1974), men in this sample thought of
themselves as being more masculine (t (110) = 2.77, p=.007) and less feminine
than women (t (110) =2.4, p=.017). This fits with studies showing that men in
Lithuania are often expected to be masculine, which largely implies the
breadwinner role and doing masculine household chores, and women are
supposed to be more feminine, which is mostly understood as emotional care
and doing feminine chores (see Tereškinas, 2004; Navaitis, 2005; Kublickienė,
2003; Maslauskaitė, 2004). Also men who had higher scores for BSRI
masculinity items, were happier (r=.40, p=.011), and women who scored higher
on the feminine items, were also happier (r=.244, p=.047). Interestingly, more
feminine women did fewer chores by themselves (r=-.36, p=.005) and more
chores together with their spouses (r=.32, p=.014), but had less help from third
parties (r=-.447, p=.048). Androgynous women, on the other hand, had more
domestic help from parents, in-laws, children or home keepers (r=.28, p=.036).
Marital well-being and religious commitment
In this study, self-reported religious commitment was positively
associated with marital well-being for the women (MAS total r=.44, p=.001; MAS
happiness r=.39, p=.003; MAS agreement r=.40, p=.002), but not for men (MAS
total r=-.30, p=.101; MAS happiness r=-.18, p=.323; MAS agreement r=-.18,
p=.315). Religious commitment was also associated with traditional gender
beliefs (i.e., agreement that the husband should provide for the family and that
the wife should stay home to care for the house and family) for women (r=.31,
p=.018), though not for men (r=.11, p=.533). Some other data suggests that
religiously committed wives tend to report happier marriages, and couples who
are more religious also tend to have more traditional views about marriage
(Wilcox, & Nock, 2006, p. 1339). While religiosity will not always indicate
traditional gender roles, religious commitment in this study was associated with
self-reported traditionalism. This relation of religious commitment with marital
well-being might also or instead be due to the fact that religious groups give
more social support to such couples (Wilcox, & Nock, 2006; p. 1323-1324).
There was, however, no significant relation between age and religious
commitment (r=.12, p=.380 for women; r=.09, p=.62 for men).
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LCC / LIBERAL ARTS STUDIES / 2008
Limitations of the study
It is important to be aware of some of the limitations of this study. First,
the numbers of men and women participating in the study were relatively small,
thus comparisons of men and women, and not couples, were done. Second,
even though the participants were in agreement about chore hours and chore
allocation, their responses were based on self-reports. Therefore, they may
have had different interpretations of what the chores meant and how they were
performed in their families. As one husband pointed out, doing chores together
may mean planning them together, but still doing them separately. Thus, focus
groups or interviews with the couples and clarification of what “together” or
“alone” means would be helpful in the future. Finally, further research could be
done on religiosity, attitudes, and roles of married couples in Lithuania. Possibly
an in-depth qualitative analysis could address the differences among male and
female beliefs and practices, and especially of older and younger generations.
Conclusions
This study has demonstrated that the statement about women holding all four
corners of the house may not always be true in both belief and practice. Since
many women are employed, beliefs and practices need to be adjusted to fit the
reality. For the women, it may mean having their spouse more involved in
housework and especially in doing chores together. For the men, the
importance of realistic expectations should be emphasized, and hopefully
turned into helping their wives more.
Moreover, it is necessary to be aware of the culturally prevalent gender
stereotypes, yet not to be tied down by them. Thus, it may be valuable for both
genders to develop androgynous traits as well as to appreciate each other's
masculinity and femininity. Spouses would also benefit from being more
thankful to each other and pressuring each other less, since some studies have
confirmed that women who complain and demand less of their husbands
actually get more help (Wilcox, & Nock, 2006). This may explain why in this
sample more feminine women reported doing less chores alone and more
together with their spouses.
Results about self-reported religiosity suggest that couples may find it
advantageous to emphasize religious commitment and to pursue involvement
in religious community, which could possibly give one more venue for
meaningful discussion and support.
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JURGITA BABARSKIENĖ
In conclusion, marriage therapists, teachers, priests and others working
with couples as well as couples themselves may need to consider the findings
above as they look for ways to strengthen marital relationships. Sensitivity to the
spouses' needs and continuous negotiations about housework may be some of
the means how to become more content with the way the four corners of the
house are taken care of.
References
Ambrozaitienė, D. (March 2006). Lietuvos moterys turi mažiausia laisvo laiko, palyginti su ES
šalių moterimis. Pranešimas spaudai. Statistikos departamentas prie Lietuvos
Respublikos Vyriausybės. Retrieved April 3, 2007, from https://www.statgov.lt.
Bartley, S. J., Blanton P. W., & Gilliard, J. L. (2005). Husbands and wives in dual-earner
marriages: Decision-making, gender role attitudes, division of household labor, and
equity.” Marriage & Family Review, 34(4), 69-94.
Bem, S. (1974). The measurement of psychological androgyny. Journal of Consulting and
Clinical Psychology, 42(2), 155-162.
Blair, S. L., & Lichter, D.T. (1991). Measuring the division of household labor: Gender
segregation of housework among American couples. Journal of Family Issues, 12, 91113.
European Values Study (2006). Retrieved on June 16, 2008 from http://zacat.gesis.org
Greenstein, T. N. (1996). Husbands' participating in domestic labor: Interactive effects of wives'
and husbands' gender ideologies. Journal of Marriage and the Family, 58, 585-595.
Hochschild A. (1989). The second shift. New York: Viking Penguin.
Kublickienė, L. (2003). Vyriškų vaidmenų ypatumai dabarties Lietuvoje. Sociologija. Mintis ir
veiksmas. 2, 77-86.
Locke, H. J., & Wallace, K. M. (1959). Short marital adjustment prediction tests: Their reliability
and validity. Marriage and Family Living, 21, 251-255.
Lee, Y. S., & Waite, L. J. (2005). Husbands' and wives' time spent on housework: A comparison
of measures. Journal of Marriage and Family, 67, 328-336.
Maslauskaitė, A. (2004). Lytis, globa ir kultūriniai gerovės kapitalizmo barjerai Lietuvoje.
Sociologija. Mintis ir veiksmas, 3, 39-51.
Maslauskaitė, A. (2005). Tarpusavio santykių kokybė Lietuvos šeimose. Sociologija. Mintis ir
veiksmas, 1, 122-134.
Navaitis, G. (2005). Vyrų nuostatos į vyriškumo sklaidą šeimoje. Socialinis darbas, 4(1), 34-39.
Parkman, A. M. (2004). Bargaining over housework: The frustrating situation of secondary wage
earners. American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 63, 765-794.
Purvaneckas, A., & Purvaneckienė, G. (2001). Moteris Lietuvos visuomenėje. Vilnius: Danielius.
Shelton, B. A., & John, D. (1996). The division of household labor. Annual Review of Sociology,
22, 299-322.
Šemeta, A. (2004). Kiek laiko dirbame ir kaip leidžiame laisvalaikį? Retrieved May 23, 2007 from
http://www.stat.gov.lt/lt/news/view/?id=916
Tereškinas, A. (2004). Tarp norminio ir subordinuoto vyriškumo formų: vyrai, jų seksualumas ir
maskulinizmo politika šiuolaikinėje Lietuvoje. Sociologija. Mintis ir veiksmas, 3, 28-38.
Wilcox, B. W., & Nock, S.L. (2006). What's love got to do with it? Equality, equity, commitment
and women's marital quality. Social Forces, 84, 1321-1345.
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About the Author
Jurgita Babarskienė, MCS, teaches in the social science department at LCC International
University, Klaipėda, Lithuania.
E-mail: [email protected]
62
THE US NATION IMAGE IN GERMAN NEWSPAPERS
Melanie Breunlein
University of Leipzig,
Leipzig, Germany
Abstract
The terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, D.C., on September 11,
2001, have changed world politics and German-US foreign relations. Since then
the media and public have even more thoroughly been discussing about the US
nation image abroad. Nation images play an important role in society and
politics. They reduce the complexity of impressions that individuals get of other
nations and thus facilitate orientation. The study delivers valuable insight on the
US nation image that quality newspapers in Germany delivered before and after
September 11, 2001. The news coverage on the United States was examined
through a quantitative content analysis of German leading daily newspapers Die
Welt, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Süddeutsche Zeitung and Frankfurter
Rundschau. The paper discusses the functions of nation images in politics and
society and the influence of mass media on image-building processes. The
content analysis shows that the German news coverage about the US
significantly changed after September 11, 2001.
Introduction
Nations profit from a positive image and reputation. Nation images therefore
fulfill important functions in society and politics. They reduce the complexity of
impressions that humans get of other nations and facilitate orientation for
citizens as well as decision makers in politics, economy and society. The
scientific interest of this work was to analyze what effects the terrorist attacks on
September 11, 2001 had on the United States' nation image in Germany. US
foreign relations had already been carefully observed and scientifically
investigated during the Cold War, and this has continued to date. However the
terrorist attacks catapulted the US into the center of public discourse and
therefore suggested America as the object of investigation. The terrorist attacks
significantly altered the global political situation as well as German-US foreign
relations. The German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder announced absolute
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LCC / LIBERAL ARTS STUDIES / 2008
solidarity with America. The US forces marched into Afghanistan and Iraq both
military engagements, also involving support from German forces, endure to
this day. Since then public debates about what represents and constitutes
nations have increased. This was the basis for developing the central questions
for this research project: What nation image of the United States does German
media display and how did the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001
influence this image?
Theoretical framework
The theoretical framework clarifies the image concept and distinguishes related
terms. This paper describes definitions and functions of nation images in politics
and society as well as the role of media in the image building process.
Furthermore selected approaches of nation image analysis are presented that
provided relevant concepts for this research work.
Image
Definitions from image research help explain the term nation image.
The following paragraphs will describe and distinguish central terms and
related concepts. The English term “image” is by now commonly used in the
German everyday and written language.
Definition and development
Bergler (1991, p. 47) his psychologically oriented definition shall represent
many authors, for example Boulding (1956/1958) and Faulstich (1992), here
defines image as a simplified, over-explicit perception, a quasi-opinion without
any boundaries. He refers to the omnipresence of images and states that all
objects accessible to human perception and thinking are always processed in a
simplified way. Also Bentele (1992, p. 152) sees images present in manifold
ways. There is nothing that cannot have an image be it persons, products,
companies or nations.
How do images develop? Individuals frequently face new facts and
circumstances with prefabricated views and therefore perceive them
selectively. Lippman (1922, p. 81) describes this process as follows: “For the
most part we do not first see, and then define, we define first and then see“. For
Böhme-Dürr (2000, p. 28) images are based on individual perceptions. She
claims that images are no copies of reality but more or less integrated,
information reducing, subjective pictures. They reduce the complexity of
64
MELANIE BREUNLEIN
everyday impressions, provide orientation and facilitate classification of events,
persons and nations. Within a scientific context the term “image” includes the
micro- as well as the macro-level. The former emanates from psychological
research and covers images as they occur in the heads of individuals. The latter
comprises more extensive societal coherences and also comprehends nation
images (Böhme-Dürr, 2000).
If numerous individuals share a certain perception, collective
awareness processes develop. Predominantly the mass media communicate
information which most individuals would not be able to learn by themselves.
Media therefore provide the foundation for the development of images in public
(Böhme-Dürr, 2000, p. 34; Freese 1994, p. 70). The following reflection of
related concepts on the micro-level shall help integrate the term image in the
scientific context.
Related concepts
The term “stereotype” is closely linked to the image concept. Bassewitz (1990,
p. 21) defines it as an emotional value judgment that is wholly or partly contrary
to the facts and geared to social objects. In the process of socialization and
experience individuals gain stereotypes, which then remain resistant against
changes. The term emerged from social psychology (Lippman 1922). Research
on social stereotypes (Gredig 1994; Tajfel 1982) reveals analogies with (nation)
image research (e.g. Hahn / Mannová 2007; Kuntz 1997). Böhme-Dürr (2000,
p. 41) accentuates a crucial difference: images unlike stereotypes can be
changed under certain circumstances. The term “prejudice” carries a different
connotation. Prejudices are negative or hostile attitudes about an individual or a
group (Nicklas, 1976, p. 1). Like stereotypes, prejudices are cognitive
anticipations. But they are often emotional and include a negative value
judgment. In contrast, stereotypes can also be neutrally or positively occupied
(Böhme-Dürr, 2000, p. 41; Bassewitz, 1990, p. 22). Just like images,
stereotypes and prejudices are necessary to reduce the complexity of everyday
experience. Among these concepts, the image can be considered as the most
holistic and therefore suited best for this research.
Nation image
The term “nation image” describes the perception of a nation abroad as
well as within the country. How do nation images develop and what functions do
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they fulfill within society? The following chapter will give an overview of relevant
research approaches.
Central terms and definitions
Generally the term “nation image” encompasses two concepts or meanings. On
the one hand it describes the perception that individuals have of a certain nation
and its citizens, based on their own experience. On the other hand it means the
nation image that mass media communicate (Böhme-Dürr, 2000, p. 46;
Sullivan, 1976). Bentele (1995, p. 61) distinguishes two types of images: selfimage describes the image that a nation has of itself. The outsider's image
means the image that a different country and its citizens have of a nation.
Numerous studies use definitions containing the criteria systematic and
closeness. Images usually seem systematic because scientists measure them
systematically. But it mostly remains unclear whether this depends on the way
of measurement or on the images themselves (Böhme-Dürr, 2000, p. 46). This
research project was designed to systematically measure the US nation image
in Germany, but it surely could not gather all factors and characteristics. The US
image therefore was not considered a closed system. The systematic
measurement was meant to identify crucial aspects in Germany before and
after September 11, 2001.
Development and functions
What factors influence the image of a nation? Most individuals perceive
other countries based on second-hand experience (e.g. Schmidt & Wilke, 1998,
p. 169; Bentele, 1995, p. 63). Many researchers assign a central role to the
media. So does Kunczik (1997, p. 5): „The mass media are, in fact, continuously
offering images of nations“. Luhmann (1996, p. 9) claims that whatever we know
about society, we know through mass media. They considerably contribute to
the process of nation image building.2
What functions do nation images fulfill in politics and society? They
supposedly influence decision makers and opinion leaders in a stronger way
than other images (e.g. Of products). Süssmuth (1995, p. 10) highlights the
influence of images on trust and mistrust in foreign relations. In addition nation
images provide orientation and create identity. The image that human beings
have of another nation encompasses the crucial aspects of its national
character. This enables individuals to evaluate their own country more
effectively and to distinguish it from others (Böhme-Dürr, 2000, p. 37).
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Research methods and approaches
Until the 1980s nation image research was dominated by rather unsystematic
and qualitative analysis (Rubin, 1979; Hofstaetter, 1978). There already had
been a demand for objective, replicable research methods and holistic results
(Klineberg, 1978, p. 288). Since the late 1980s scientists have increasingly
turned to empirical methods. Today researchers often work with quantitative
content analysis or employ methods from the field of social psychology such as
observations and surveys.
Marten (1989) chose a survey as research method. He analyzed the
German nation image in US foreign media coverage and therefore interviewed
American foreign correspondents. Marten demanded, corresponding to the
growing importance of nation images in international politics, a more intense
and systematic research on nation images, especially with quantitative
methods (ibid, p. 485). How the Germans perceive the USA after the German
reunification in 1990 was Asmus' (1991) main question in a survey among 3,000
individuals in Western and Eastern Germany. Noticeable results are vast
opinion gaps between old and new federal states.3 A representative survey
among German citizens would also have been a possible approach for this
research, but would have exceeded the possibilities of this project. Therefore
Marten's demand for more quantitative research was followed by employing a
quantitative content analysis.
Starting in the 1990s, researchers increasingly employed quantitative
content analysis. Because of their method, the following studies delivered a
valuable foundation for this research. Bassewitz (1990) examined the German
nation image in French newspapers through stereotypes. She determined the
topic spectrum of the news coverage and political evaluations. A
comprehensive article collection came from Kamalipour (1999). Two studies
from it employed quantitative content analysis: Iordanova (1999) analyzed the
US nation image in Bulgarian print media. She revealed that Bulgarian
journalists predominantly evaluated the US ambivalently, while among the rare
evaluations the negative prevailed (Iordanova, 1999, pp. 83-84). In the second
Ferguson, Horan and Ferguson (1999) examined the Canadian perception of
the United States through a survey among students and a content analysis of
newspapers in Canada. The survey showed by means of semantic differentials
that Canadians viewed Americans particularly as patriotic, materialistic and
competition-oriented (Ferguson, Horan & Ferguson, 1999, pp. 162-164).
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Böhme-Dürr (2000) examined the German nation image in the American press
and its changes after the end of the Cold War until 1998. As a theoretical
foundation for her quantitative content analysis she developed the perspective
approach. She claimed that American news coverage of Germany was
conducted through changing perspectives and that these influenced the
displayed image (Böhme-Dürr, 2000, pp. 127-143). Böhme-Dürr's results
reveal that the fall of the German wall had a considerate impact on news
coverage (Böhme-Dürr, 2000, p. 459).
Nation images are considered stable and need continuity of news
coverage to develop and consolidate (Kunczik, 1997, p. 39). However they are
not fixed but can be modified through long-term impacts as well as key events
(e.g. Kepplinger, 2001; Kepplinger & Habermeyer, 1995). Therefore this study
analyzed the impacts that the key event September 11, 2001 had on the US
image in German newspapers.
Methodology
The central research questions of this study were the following: What nation
image of the USA did nationwide German newspapers draw in their political
news coverage before September 11, 2001? Did this image change during six
months after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001? If yes, in what
respects did it change?
The study was conducted through a quantitative content analysis. This
method permits to understand and compare media content intersubjectively. It
reduces complexity of media content by classifying large amounts of text
regarding relevant criteria. This inevitably involves loss of information, which at
the same time is the foundation for gain of information on a different level (Früh,
2004, p. 39). Media-conveyed content can serve as indicator for nation images.
Considering the goal of the investigation, leading nationwide newspapers
served as an ideal sample since they significantly influence political opinion
making processes within a democracy. The sample contained four nationwide
quality newspapers: Die Welt, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ),
Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) and Frankfurter Rundschau (FR). They all consider
themselves as independent and however contain their own “political face”
(Meyn, 1999, p. 110). Therefore the sample covered a proximately complete yet
broad range of public opinions.
The investigation period was arranged around the key event
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MELANIE BREUNLEIN
September 11, 2001. It included nine months between 12 June 2001 and 18
March 2002 and was divided in three periods. The first phase covered three
months right before the key event. The second covered three months starting
one week after the key event.4 The third period in 2002, covering three months
before 18 March 2002, was supposed to reveal the US nation image with some
distance to the key event. The sample consisted of 346 articles from 216 issues
who had been identified by a multi-stage sampling procedure. Reliability and
validity tests revealed satisfactory results.
Results: the US nation image in German newspapers
Below the central results are displayed. The topics of news coverage are the first
issue. Outcomes on protagonists and their roles follow. Qualities and attributes
that the media use with regards to the US are presented in the next chapter.
Topics
The topics of the analyzed news coverage helped to understand the
context in which US protagonists act and journalists describe the US. From the
development of topics over the research phases one can detect the impact of
the key event September 11, 2001. Compared to phase 1, in phase 2 political
topics took a back seat (29 percent compared to 50 percent in phase 1).
Incidents and statements appeared predominantly in a violence context (54
percent compared to 28 percent in phase 1). A closer look at certain topic groups
reveals how this trend composes. Right after September 11, 2001 media
reported significantly less about diplomatic relations (23 percent) than before (5
percent). In this period the international community was affected by military
actions and alliances. This reflects the then starting war in Afghanistan, the
aftermaths of the terrorist attacks themselves and the cases of anthrax
infections that occurred shortly after. Warnings and fear of further terrorist
activities also played a role.
Concerning topics a comparison between the analyzed newspapers
revealed differences between the leftist Frankfurter Rundschau and the other
sample newspapers. In the FR journalists mainly reported about violence topics,
armament and military actions (56 percent) over all three research periods.
They hardly observe general societal topics (10 percent). This trend could result
from the leftist tradition of the paper that often becomes manifest in a critical
attitude towards America. It also suggests a rather negative US nation image in
the FR.
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Protagonists and roles
Regarding the protagonists and their roles within the media coverage,
there was a clear focus on the US political leadership, which represented more
than 80 percent of all protagonist mentions. In order to filter tendencies of
evaluations, an adequate way is to confront the positive with the negative ones
(Böhme-Dürr, 2000, p. 571). The ambivalent evaluations do not account for
either of the two groups. This approach revealed a rather negative image of US
protagonists (35 percent negative, 27 percent positive). This finding became
more obvious when exclusively regarding a prominent group of main
protagonists. There the negative evaluations (39 percent) outweighed the
positive ones (29 percent) even more clearly.
After September 11, 2001 journalists evaluated the main protagonists
more frequently positively or ambivalently than in other research phases (33
percent compared to 27 percent in phase 1 and 28 percent in phase 3). This
suggests a more positive nation image of the US after the key event. The high
percentage of ambivalent evaluations in phase 2 (37 percent compared to 26
percent in phase 1, and 30 percent in phase 3) gives reason to assume that after
the terrorist attacks journalists reported more carefully and less critical about
America. Entman and Rojecki (1993, p. 172) also observed this coherence:
“When elites and a majority of the public support the president, we can expect
journalism to be cautious in separating itself from the government line.”
A comparison of all four newspapers revealed predominantly positive
evaluations of US protagonists (38 percent) solely in the Frankfurter Allgemeine
Zeitung. A reason might be the paper's rather conservative position. However,
the ultraconservative Welt provided an opposed picture. The paper published
by Axel Springer publishing house clearly presented, also regarding other
nation image indicators, its negative attitude towards America (predominantly
41 percent negative evaluations). This is astonishing as Die Welt is the only
German newspaper to have its “orientation at the Atlantic west” (Orientieriung
am atlantischen Westen) anchored in its editorial statutes. Similar features
could be noticed in the Frankfurter Rundschau at the left end of the political
spectrum. The evaluations of US protagonists were predominantly negative (51
percent). This suggests a more negative nation image in the FR than in the other
newspapers.
Regarding the roles that journalists ascribe to US protagonists, the key
event also seemed to have a positive impact. Right after September 11, 2001
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the roles with a positive connotation occurred more frequently (47 percent) than
in research phases 1 (39 percent) and 2 (40 percent). When comparing the
assignation of roles in the four sample newspapers, the ultraconservative Welt
and the leftwing-liberal Frankfurter Rundschau stood out. They both evaluated
protagonists more often negatively (Welt: 60 percent, FR: 70 percent) than the
other two papers. Süddeutsche Zeitung and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
assigned roles to US protagonists in a well-balanced way (SZ: 48 percent
positive, 52 percent negative; FAZ: 50 percent positive, 50 percent negative).
These findings reveal that the newspapers in the center of the political spectrum
(FAZ, SZ) displayed a more balanced US image than those on the left (FR) and
right edge (Welt) of the sample. The latter tended to a more negative nation
image.
Qualities and attributes
Journalists evaluated the character of the United States by assigning
qualities and attributes to the nation as a whole rather negatively (48 percent).
This finding added conclusively to the predominantly negative evaluations of US
protagonists. A comparison of the three research phases revealed the impact of
the key event on the displayed US character. Like the protagonists' evaluations,
the conveyed US character changed positively after September 11, 2001. The
negative evaluations clearly dominated in research phases 1 (55 percent) and 3
(52 percent). Right after the terrorist attacks ambivalent evaluations occurred
comparatively often (23 percent), whereas positive and negative ones balanced
(39 percent in each case). Entman and Rojecki (1993, p. 172) state that
journalists tend to gear media coverage along government lines in times of high
public acceptance of the US President. This leads to the assumption that
journalists reported less critically about the United States after the key event and
that this fostered the comparably positive nation image after September 11,
2001.
When comparing the four sample newspapers, the ultraconservative
Welt and the leftist-liberal Frankfurter Rundschau evaluated the US character
overall predominantly negatively (Welt: 51 percent, FR: 59 percent). Solely the
moderately conservative Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung displayed the US in a
rather positive way (42 percent). These findings verify the impression of a rather
negative US nation image on the very left and right edges of the political
spectrum within the sample. The key event had a comparably strong impact on
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the US character displayed in the FAZ. While its journalists evaluated the US
rather negatively in research period 1 (41 percent negative, 28 percent
positive), this picture turned after the terrorist attacks (20 percent negative, 60
percent positive). In the contrary the leftist Frankfurter Rundschau stood out
from the sample trend of showing a more positive US image after the key event.
The FR evaluated the US character continuously more negatively by and by
(phase 1: 53 percent, phase 2: 55 percent, phase 3: 66 percent). Unlike in the
other sample papers the terrorist attacks did not induce less critical news
coverage in the FR. It remained with its clearly critical position towards the US
and conveyed a consistently negative US nation image.
Conclusion
The past pages have brought forward how the German view on the United
States changed after the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. After the key
event the US nation image changed in a positive sense: Journalists assigned
roles with a more positive connotation to US protagonists than before. In
general they also evaluated the character of the US as stated through qualities
and attributes more positively. This suggests a less critical attitude of the
sample newspaper journalists towards America than before September 11,
2001. The key event has certainly not changed the world as often stated. But it
brought about significant alterations in international politics: the military actions
in Afghanistan and Iraq, irritation in German-US foreign relations and especially
between then Chancellor Gerhard Schröder and President George W. Bush
that continued until Chancellor Angela Merkel took office in 2005, the execution
of the former Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein, just to name a few. The United States
established a new Ministry of Homeland Security and confined civil rights due to
the often proclaimed “war on terrorism”. It will be interesting to see what
developments the presidential election in November 2008 will trigger and what
impact it will have on the US nation image in Germany and around the world.
Notes
1. Dorsch-Jungsberger (1995, pp. 86-7) provides a comprehensive overview of related and
constituting terms. Theoretically fundamental contributions in the field of cognitive psychology
come e.g. from Gardner (1987) and Neisser (1976).
2. With The Press and Foreign Policy Cohen (1963) presented a classic on interdependency
between media and international politics. A comprehensive collection of conditional factors for
nation images see Suessmuth (1995, pp. 14-19).
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3. The old federal states represent the Federal Republic of Germany as it was before unification, i.e.
Western Germany. The new federal states represent the former German Democratic Republic, i.e.
Eastern Germany.
4. The week right after the key event is considered as “orientation period”. It is strongly influenced by
the terrorist attacks to be part of the analysis. This is how e.g. Brosius and Epps (1993 pp. 518-9)
proceed when analyzing the impacts of attacks on foreigners in Germany on news coverage.
References
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About the Author
Melanie Breunlein, MA is a doctoral student in mass communication at the University of Leipzig.
E-mail: [email protected]
74
NEW MEDIA DEMOCRACY: ON EXPERTISE AND
SELECTION CRITERIA IN THE NEWS PRODUCTION
PROCESS OF CITIZEN'S MEDIA VERSUS
MAINSTREAM MEDIA
Raven De Nolf
Vrije Universiteit Brussel,
Brussels, Belgium
Abstract
In modern democracies the mainstream corporate media concerns and the
grand public media concerns are claiming to be the unquestionable informers of
the truth, in the sense that citizens are updated everyday on what is happening
in the local and global world. However, the media environment in modern
democracies is changing rapidly with the rise of internet and alternative media.
While new alternative media seems to grow and to gain in popularity,
mainstream media concerns seem to concentrate in grand profit-based
corporations. In this paper a critical approach is developed towards the societal
and cultural function of news in a democratic society. The emphasis will be put
on news selection and construction process of alternative citizens' media
compared to mainstream corporate media. Further the consequences of this
news making process for the democratic empowerment of the citizen in the
media democracy are examined. The bottom-up approach of citizens' media
and the top down approach of mainstream media will compared and analyzed
concerning their weaknesses and strengths in the function they fulfil as
democratic outlet of information.
Introduction
In the academic world, especially within human sciences, no general
consensus amongst academics can be reached on defining the concept
'culture'. Some assert that culture is limited to the objects, traditions and
religions of populations, while others claim that culture also embraces the frame
working of paradigms and the signifying practices in a collectivity. Perhaps the
elusive meaning of culture is inherent to culture itself. In this paper the concept
culture is specified as the collective and historically grown process of giving
meaning to reality. Anthropologist Clifford Geertz (1973) gives this definition of
culture: “a historically transmitted pattern of meanings embodied in symbols, a
system of inherited conceptions expressed in symbolic form by means of which
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men communicate, perpetuate and develop their knowledge about and
attitudes towards life (p. 89).
The French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu notes that every individual
obtains his perception of reality by the cultural environments in which he is
socialized, in which he grew up. Every individual has his own frameworks which
he obtained during his/her past, and through which he/she perceives, judges,
and behaves in reality. The most important socializing environments Bourdieu
considered the family and the school; nevertheless modern sociologists agree
on a third main socializing institution, the media.
This paper analyses the meaning-giving processes or signifying
practices which are imbedded in different media, more specifically in
mainstream media versus 'citizensmedia news'. We will question what is the
social and cultural function of news in the media democracy, and we will analyse
and compare how mainstream media and citizensmedia fulfill this function.
Afterwards the emphasis will be put on freedom of speech and expertise in the
news making process of the media democracy.
The role of news in the media democracy
Before we elaborate on the function of news in a media democracy, we must
clarify some notions of specific media. We must understand that media concern
all the globally spread communication means, however in this paper we will
speak about news in particular.
Mainstream or mass media are forms of media available and consumed
by the masses, while mainstream corporate media points at the mass media
that's produced and published by the grand corporations, such as RobertMurdock (CNN, FOX) in the US, or Reuters in England, or Roularta and
Persgroep in Belgium. Another part of mass media is the public media, where
journalism is perceived as a public service, where journalists have the mission
to involve the citizens in the democratic mission.
Participatory journalism points at journalism in which citizens participate
in the (professional or amateur) news production process. Citizens' media
however, is an extreme of participatory journalism, and can be understood as
amateur journalism because the citizen does the journalism himself. This kind of
media is considered as a subgroup of alternative media, which has to provide an
alternative source of information then what the mass media produces.
Media actually provides a representation of the reality of society, and
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they do that in a way by explaining society. The news gives an explanation on
the reality, and hereby has a kind of monopoly on how the global and local
society is perceived by the citizens (Elchardus, 1999). Citizens are receiving a
daily update on what are the important facts in the world that are happening right
now. This one way stream of information provided by mainstream media
concerns makes them have a status as unquestionable informers of the truth.
Mark Elchardus (1999), a Belgian sociologist, even goes further. He
claims that the secular knowledge and media society is a very distrustful society,
which has a need for explanation and representation of its distrust. The media
provides an explanation of the reality by highlighting events. By doing this they
spread out dominating discourses, representations of reality, values, and norms
into the democratic society. Furthermore, Elchardus states that the society
wants to receive a representation of its distrust in a dramaturgical way. The
collectivity wants to receive stories which give shape to its central values and
norms, which confirm them, and which expose the fundamental conflicts in
society. The crisis is the perfect moment for the dramaturgical representation of
society's values, norms, and fundamental conflicts. A typical example is the
murder of a 17 year old boy, who was killed in the train station in Brussels, and
which resulted in a media hype concerning the issue of pointless violence. We
will get back on this case later.
In his work drama democracy (1999), Elchardus introduces the notion
of 'democratic empowerment' to put the emphasis on the social and cultural
function of media in a democracy. With this notion Elchardus refers to the
capacity of the citizen to get a hold on the institutions and factors which are
influencing his life, constructing his taste, identity, values, etc. So the media
should have the function of enlarging the democratic empowerment of the
citizens, they should have the function of providing the information which
enables the citizens to have an impact on the institutions and factors which are
influencing him.
The journalists of mainstream media believe in general that they have
the expertise on news making and a kind of 'megaphone function' in society:
journalists are highlighting every objective fact that must be heard into a
democratic society, and believe to contribute in this way to the democratic
empowerment of the citizens. It's a kind of believe that the news they are
constructing is a kind of a mirror in front of society (Elchardus, 2005). The
newsmakers (journalists, redactions, and corporations) believe they have the
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representative function as experts on news making in a democracy (top down
approach).
On the other hand the ideal of citizen's media is that every voice must be
heard in the media to be democratic, so every individual can post his story and
concern on the net and all citizens in society can read these concerns (Pickard,
2006). This bottom up approach of news making is considered by citizens'
media advocates as the radical democratic function of news, since it represents
all concerns and needs in the media. Citizens' media aims at enlarging the
democratic empowerment for all citizens, especially those who are not heard in
mainstream media.
In this paper the argument will be deducted that the claims made by
mainstream media concerns and citizens media are both not credible and
tenable. The expertise of mainstream media in the news making process and
the 'representative' role of citizens media news making process, will both be
questioned and analysed, and strengths and weaknesses will be discussed.
Both models of news making are obliged to perform a selection since there is a
never ending stream of objective facts worldwide, of potential newsworthy facts,
so some things has to be selected to be highlighted in the news. Some items
have to be selected to transmit the chaos of newsworthy facts to a structured
and easy to understand reality.
Questioning the news making process of mainstream media
When discussing on the matter of how the news is constructed and what
'newsworthy facts' are selected, one have to bear in mind that there are a never
ending number of factors which interfere in the news production process
(structural, cultural, unconscious).
In general one must be aware that the whole process of frame working
the news story and creating context, stimulates a certain reality to the news fact
presented (Elchardus, 2005): what context the news story is put in, what angle
of camera is used, what colour is applied, where the emphasis is put (on the
comment of the neighbour, or on the collectivity). Concrete examples are
described below under real time coverage.
The main selection and construction criterion of news within
mainstream media concerns is the targeted public or the market segment the
media concern is aiming at. Corporations, redactions, and journalists have a
certain idea on what the public wants which they envision. These idea's might be
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based on research or not, nevertheless they newsmakers (journalists and
organisations) have guidelines on which news to bring and how to bring it. One
can imagine that mainstream media concerns, which play such an important role
in the representation of societal and cultural reality, create distorted images of
reality when its practice becomes profit based.
The local culture itself in which the journalists, redactions, and
corporations have its roots and work in, plays a role in what they considers
relevant for its own country and environment. Journalists and redactions value
and perceive, according to their local culture, the needs of the public targeted by
the news medium. Elchardus (2005) explains that the international news in
Belgium focuses a lot on situations in Africa, while Russia and Asia does not
have a lot of media attention at all, which confirms the historical relationship
between Belgium and Africa.
Another example of this cultural influence of the environment the news makers work in is the tendency to be 'politically correct'. Since there is no time to
investigate the situations which must be published, journalists are led by what
the mass accepts as consensus on sensitive issues, e.g. they have to be careful
with racism and sexism.
Another criterion is the ideological selection (Elchardus, 2005). In
America there's much news on the private life of public figures and politicians
because the Americans believe that a person's ability to act correctly in his public
role is directly linked with his 'proper behaviour' in his private life (e.g. the affaire
of Bill Clinton, the 'equipment malfunction' of Janet Jackson).
A reoccurring trend in news stories is the emphasis on the individual:
news stories are constructed in a way which gives the impression that the
individual construct its own life by individual choice, where structural constrains
and conditions don't exist. This emphasis on the individual can lower solidarity
feelings in the community, since lower class and marginalized people have to be
blamed themselves for their misfortune. They are considered victims of their
own choices.
This kind of emphasis on the individual is also felt when the politicians
are heard on the news (Elchardus, 1999). We see a kind of personalisation of
politicians; they have to act like individual humans on the screen or in there
discourse. What matters are not their policy propositions and guidelines, but
their ability to show emotions concerning difficult issues. In stead of the wise
representative which bases his argument on reason, the politician has to act as a
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human with its mistakes and emotions, who is suffering from the troubles in the
world, and who gives priority to subjective decision making.
Actually lots of questions rise when thinking about the performance of
politicians in the news. The roles of PR specialists and spin doctors, who are
working on the public image of this politicians and/or political parties, have
never been this important (Elchardus, 1999 & 2005). Politicians try 'to score'
votes more by communication strategies in stead of scoring by the policy
programs they propose or by the ideologies and convictions they strive for. A
larger threat towards the whole ideal of a democracy arises, when one
questions how much time and attention politicians and political parties receive
in the media, and what the colour is of this attention (stimulating or negative).
Time pressures
To return to the news making process: the main quality difference between
journalistic research and scientific research can be explained by the lack of time
news makers have to create the story. Both science and news have the social
and cultural function of explaining reality (Elchardus, 2005): of providing
frameworks to perceive, observe, and give understanding of the reality; of
making the 'objective reality' understandable; of providing structure in the
chaos. However, science needs its time to process the chaos to structure, and
to transmit its empiric observed facts in scientific theory. This, while news
makers are on the front line of transmitting the chaotic reality to a simple and
structured story of reality. Every day there needs to be news for the broad
public, so as a consequence journalists must have a news story ready in which
the explanation of the 'reality' must be easy to understand and well structured.
A consequence of this time pressure is the popularity of real time: you
see it happening so it must be true. As described above live news can be
manipulated in any way, or is just not valid according to the 'objective reality' of
the situation.
An example of the bias in real time news can be illustrated by the news
feed on CNN and other American mainstream media concerns on the Iraq war.
It was filmed live that the statue of Sadam was being torn down by native
citizens of Iraq, which gave the impression that the citizens of Iraq were
revolting against the tyranny of Sadam. However, the whole scene was set up
by the US Army in collaboration with some press offices, while some Iraqis were
told to act in the 'news scene' as they were pulling down the statue. The statue of
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Sadam was being torn down by a vehicle of the US army itself.
Because of the time pressure journalists have to make use of
conventional observation and selection techniques, known to them as
professional tools to transmit the chaos of newsworthy data into a structured
and understandable story of reality before the deadline. In this way historically
grown political and societal discourses are confirmed. These kinds of
techniques are certain types, roles, and scenario's which are used to make an
easy to understand picture of the reality of the situation which occurred
(Elchardus, 1999). Examples of these types can be 'the hero', 'the chaotic
professor', or 'the good versus the bad'.
Irving Goffman claims that news offers a problem frame for the
population to absorb reality. In this problem frame good news is “NO news”
(Elchardus, 2005). The news presented must be able to offer an explanation to
the problem. There are three usual suspects stigmatized in the media:
minorities, politicians and governments, and criminals. This use of types will
transfer (a possible collective) problem on a personal level, which is easy to
ignore (“they are just bad people”). In this process the media gives incentive to
discomfort in society instead of explaining it.
The case of the killing in Central Station in Brussels is a typical Belgium
example of the distortion created by the newsmakers which have to provide an
explanation of a crisis under time pressure, and where conventional types are
used in the explaining process as described by Goffman. Joe, a young man of
17 years old, was stabbed several times in the chest because he didn't want to
give his mp3 player to his attacker. The images of the security cameras in
Central Station were blurry, but the attacker could be identified as wearing
typical sport clothes which are worn mostly by North African youth in Brussels.
Since the mass public demanded an immediate explanation of the brutal and
cold murder by next news broadcast (fundamental values and norms were
crossed), all news agencies tried to provide an explanation of the situation. The
first reports of the murder stated that the attackers of the boy were “probably”
North Africans, which gave incentive to a whole stigmatizing process in Belgium
of the undesired Islam minorities. When the attackers were traced back, the
news agencies had to correct themselves because the attacker of Joe is a
Polish youngster who was illegally staying in Belgium at that time.
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The changing media environment
The importance of the media as a socializing institute, which plays a manifest
role in the creation of the citizen's representations of the reality, is dependent on
the amount of citizens who is engaging with a specific media. That mainstream
media reach the masses and that citizens media and other alternative media
stay in the periphery, is no question, however the media environment is
changing.
With the rise of internet and new technologies the media environment
is transforming towards a more participatory model, where every citizen can
contribute to the news making process. However there are different models of
participating according to the media itself: in mainstream media the participation
is limited to commenting on blogs, and to mobile texts and calls to the news
agency when something 'newsworthy' has happened, while citizensmedia urge
all citizens to write their own articles and put them online.
So there's a general shift in the media production process: a
participatory model of media is gaining in popularity in both mainstream and
alternative media, which has as a consequence that the control on news making
moves from institutions to the end user. However, this shift is resisted by
mainstream media corporations, since there's no clear business model for user
generated content (e.g. amateur journalism), and since this kind of participatory
journalism doesn't fit the 'expertise of the journalistic profession' (Bowman &
Willis, 2003).
Besides the transformation towards a participatory model, mainstream
media is also subject to another change. The grand media corporations are
concentrating and getting larger, which causes a loss of diversity in the news
production (Elchardus, 1999). This centralizing of grand media corporations
creates a situation in which almost every news data the mainstream journalists
use (and as a consequence also the amateur journalists use), is originating
from one profit based organisation.
Below mainstream media and citizens media are compared on how
they perceive their function in the media democracy, and how they specifically
engage in news production process. The major differences between these
models of news media are illustrated in We Media: How audiences are shaping
the future of news and information (Bowman & Willis, 2003). Citizens media is
based on complete participation by everybody who whishes to engage in the
news production, it's open to all public, and it consists of active users which all
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can generate and change news content on the news site. The newsfeed is
mostly community driven, and the production has a bottom up flow: news is
made by 'amateurs' and is spread out to the wide public on the web. However,
traditional media know limited participation by the public, the newsmakers
consist of schooled experts on the matter which makes it closed to the public,
and the media is spread out to passive users known as the audience. The
newsfeed is journalist driven, and the production has a top down flow: news is
made by experts before its spread out to the public.
The rise of citizens' media: Indymedia
The most known and successful example of citizens media is Indymedia. To
define Indymedia we can use the definition on their website “ Indymedia is a
collective of independent media institutions and hundreds of journalists offering
grass-roots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and
political issues in Seattle and worldwide” (About Indymedia ).
Indymedia was created by a group of media activists during the weeks
before the Seattle Battle in 1999, where more than 40,000 people occupied the
streets to protest against the World Trade Organization and their 'new
millennium negotiations', which they considered to enlarge the gap between
poor and rich, instead of closing it. The activists started an internet news site
where all citizens can upload articles and news. Their purpose is to provide a
democratic media outlet for the creation of radical, accurate, and passionate
telling of the truth. [...] to work for a better world, despite corporate media's
distortions and unwillingness to cover the efforts to free humanity (About
Indymedia).
By making use of internet technology and open source code, the
activists were able to create a website design that can be easily duplicated.
Today there's IMC's all over the world, in more than 50 countries, with more than
150 IMC's websites. In all these countries, and on all these websites, citizens
from all over the world can post articles they have written.
The radical democratic approach of Indymedia
Common to all radical democratic theories is the belief that corporate capitalism
and liberalism is seen as another totalizing grand narrative, and instead favors
radically non-hierarchical and decentralized structures. These theories are
inspired by participatory politics, post-structuralist conceptions of power, and
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concerns about global social justice. Laclau and Mouffle (1985) state that
“difference must be celebrated in the political subjectives and identity
formations; focusing on discursive formations of power; and distrusting civil
society's ability and commitment to advance democratic practices” (Pickard,
2006).
Indymedia's understanding of a radical democracy can be defined as
(Pickard, 2006) “an expansive version of participatory democracy that seeks to
equalize power hierarchies, correct structural inequities in all institutions, and
counter proprietary logic.” Indymedia's particularly aims at empowering
marginalized voices, since these are not heard in the liberal and competitive
system of profit based corporate media concerns.
Analysis shows how this radical democratic practice is expressed in
Indymedia's discursive, technical, and institutional contructions (Pickard,
2006). Each Indymedia Centre (IMC) is autonomous, except for the network
design they use and the 'Principles of Unity', which is considered as a kind of
constitution of Indymedia. This Principles of Unity serves as a guiding document
which is not yet ratified as a binding document on global and local level. In this
document the democratic mission of Indymedia is codified. The document
states that all IMC's are based upon principles of equality, decentralization, and
local autonomy; of openness and transparency of access and exchange of
information; of open publishing to all points of view and judgments on society
and reality; of non-for-profit organization; of consensus-based decision making,
to develop a direct and participatory democratic process, etc.
Technically Indymedia makes use of open source software in stead of
propriety software, which enables all citizens to help ameliorate the software
(same case with Linux). The feature which expresses the radical democratic
practice of Indymedia the best is the open publishing feature which allows
everybody to publish news content online without a central editorial hierarchy
and checkup. There are only limited restrictions on content, e.g. unethical views
as racism, and corporate advertisements. This open publishing feature obliges
the readers to approach the content with a critical mind, which stimulates an
active process of developing a critical approach, instead of the passive
approach stimulated by mainstream media. Another technical feature is the use
of wiki's and twiki's. Wiki's are web-based, open documents, in which multiple
people can write into, and change the content of a webpage. They can serve as
a kind of collective blackboard on news articles. Twiki's are wiki's with tracked
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editing, so changes of an original article or document can be traced back.
However, wiki's can also lower news content online in stead of ameliorating it.
So any citizen with no knowledge or expertise on the topic presented can
change the content.
Institutionally Indymedia also demonstrates its radical democratic
belief. As stated above, the local IMC's are only united by autonomous design,
hyperlinks, and the Principles of Unity. So there's a network-wide decision
making which enables a complete decentralisation of power. The decisions are
made by consensus, which is considered to be reached in meetings when
everybody feels that his or her input is considered in the decision making
process. To check for unspoken feelings in the group, or note if certain people
are dominating discourse, a vibe watcher is installed. When decisions have to
be made on issues which are too difficult, or when the group becomes to large to
make consensus based decisions, a spokes council model is applied. These
spokesmen are chosen by consensus in local IMC working groups on financial,
technology, and editorial issues, too facilitate the process between working
groups of IMC, and are chosen per IMC to facilitate the process between IMC's
in global decision making. All meetings in IMC's are open to any one.
Weaknesses in Indymedia's radical democratic approach
The ideal of leveling all hierarchies in a radical democracy has been criticized
with the warning that when the ideal of structurelessness (no hierarchies)
reaches the level of dogma, it ceases being a progressive force (Pickard, 2006).
Informal elites will arise in the myth of non-hierarchy, which can become
undemocratic space. Another critic is that unstructured groups become
politically impotent by taking ages on taking the simplest decision.
Consensus-based decision making is subject to criticism because
consensus discourages the creative process of dissensus and deviation
(Pickard, 2006). Decisions based on consensus does not include opinions that
deviate, there's a pull towards mediocrity and populist normality, a pull towards
the least controversial. In the end the model of decision making defended by
Indymedia can exclude marginalized voices and deviating opinions, which
they intended to include by their radical democratic practice. When an ideology
and consensus model becomes a rigid structure, there's no more place for
diversity of opinions.
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In small groups with people that know each other consensus reaching
practices might be a good tool, however in large groups it becomes inefficient
since the process takes too much time, where sometimes even no decision is
reached.
Many questions arise with the ideal of leveling all hierarchies within the
Indymedia news production. The spokes council model that's needed for an
easy communication inter and intra IMC's creates leadership positions which
concentrates power on decision-making process (Pickard, 2006). The most
active members (with luxury of time) accrue respectability and prestige which
enables them to be more heard in the decision making process. People with
strong communication skills, self-confident and socially outgoing are more
heard in the consensus reaching process, but do not necessarily have the
wisest arguments.
Indymedia's claim on providing a radical democratic newsfeed,
symbolized by their open publishing feature and their slogan 'Be the media',
also give rise to lot of questions. There are flaws in there slogan 'be the media'
when you have a closer look at the website: a small link to the open published
newswire is visible on the main page of every IMC, while the half of the main
page is occupied by a feature article section. This implies that feature articles go
through an editorial selection process, which is controversial with their ideal of
'being the media' and representativity. Jonathan Lawson (Pickard, 2006)
explains the editorial selection procedure by Seattle IMC. A member comes up
with an idea, taken from the open published newswire or from significant stories
published by other media sites or institutions. Afterwards the member
composes the feature article, and before it's published on the website it has to
be approved by consensus by the editorial collective. Criteria in this approval
process are: stories that are prominent, pithy, well-written, etc.
Note that the original idea for a feature article on the Indymedia website
can come from mainstream media corporations (which confirms their dominant
role in spreading discourses). Also note that mainstream media concerns can
stimulate the prominence of a certain news story in the public opinion.
Another objective to the claim on representability of a newsfeed
produced by all citizens: mostly posting on this Indymedia websites is done by
people whom politically can be more allocated left of center, plus they are mostly
advocates of a radical democratic society.
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On freedom of speech in the media democracy
One of the ideals in a modern democracy is the 'freedom of speech'. People
should have the freedom to express all their thoughts, feelings, and opinions.
However, in any society there's always social control so a complete freedom of
speech doesn't exist. Not all opinions and thoughts can be spread out in the
public, because of social control and its collective values and norms which are
internalized by socializing in a culture (Elchardus, 1999 & 2005). For example,
racist thoughts are not acceptable in society and we can not just speak whatever
we feel like.
The free speech through public communication means, through media,
has been an instrument of democratic empowerment for the citizens during last
200 years. With free speech in the media the citizens could express their
concerns and their discontent towards the ruling elites. Nevertheless, in the
modern media democracy free speech is more like an oppressing power then an
empowering tool for the citizens (Elchardus, 1999). Grand media organisations
have the means and resources to spread their profit-based 'free speech'
(advertisements, discourses, populist thought), while marginalized groups are
not heard in the broad public.
This raises the question for a kind of control on the never-ending, liberal
profit making business of grand media corporations. It raises the question for
expertise on providing news which is democratic empowering to all citizens, and
not based only on the profit motive of the media corporate concerns. Public
media is claiming to have this representative function as experts on providing
democratic empowering news for all citizens, but their newsfeed doesn't seem
to differ that much from profit based media concerns.
In this situation we can accept that Indymedia does empower the
marginalized voices, they are heard in the broad public, and add diversity to the
discourses spread in by the different media. However, Indymedia allows all
people to post articles on the news site, which may produce low quality news
content on the website, since most topics need knowledge of the subject you are
writing on. This low quality news content raises the question for expertise, for
journalists who have been studying on the profession and on the subjects they
are writing on.
On expertise in the media democracy
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Before we elaborate on the question of expertise on producing news content
linked to the democratic empowering function of news in a democracy, we must
head back to the question of expertise and representativity, which is inherent to
the concept democracy itself.
When the founding fathers of democracy where thinking what would be
the ideal situation, they were faced with a structural problem. Or the democratic
government would be a representation of the diversity of the people, attitudes,
beliefs, opinions, backgrounds, and race in the democratic society. This
democratic government would be a complete representation of the diversity in
the society, which is impossible in big and diverse countries. Or the government
would consist of wise, rational, open-minded experts, who would represent the
people intellectually. These representatives would not be a literally
representation of the diversity in a democratic society, but a model in which the
most capable person is chosen by the public to represent that public.
This second model is the ideal of a democratic society we know today.
And if we think in the same way concerning the democratic function of the
media, we can say that (public) mainstream media newsmakers (journalists
and news agencies) are trying to fulfill the function as representative experts
which create news that is democratic empowering for the citizens. However we
see by analysing the news construction of mainstream media concerns, that
their profit based origin and other factors are not contributing to the democratic
empowerment of the citizen.
Indymedia, on the other hand, is as news site more an outlet of the first
model of representation in a democracy: they try to give a representative picture
of all needs and concerns in society, by enabling all citizens to be newsmakers.
However, as described above, there are many flaws inherent in letting
all citizens generate news content. Some amateur journalists don't have the
knowledge and expertise to write certain news content, especially on difficult
issues, because they lack education or other privileges.
Concluding remarks
In this paper an analysis was made of the function of news in current media
democracy, and more specifically on how mainstream media and alternative
citizens' media are fulfilling this function. It was questioned how both models of
media are constructing their news, which exposed clear inequalities between
their actual news making process and how the function they believe to fulfill with
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their newsfeed.
Mainstream media has a top down process of news making, which
entails their claim on representativity by expertise in the news making process.
They believe they have the expertise to construct news which must be heard by
society, they consider themselves as holding a kind of megaphone above the
important facts of the day.
Analysis of the selection of 'newsworthy facts' and the news
construction process of mainstream media concerns prove that there are a lot of
factors which biases the reality of the news. Only the profit motive itself is
believed to be an opponent of democratically empowering the citizens, because
concerns and needs of citizens are not always heard.
Mainstream concerns oppose that profit based news making equals
providing the people 'what they want'. This would be an interesting topic for
further research. How media concerns perceive 'what people want' might not be
based on sufficient research. The public opinion is such a blurry concept which
can be easily manipulated by media itself. What is sure is that providing 'what
people want' doesn't necessarily cause democratic empowerment. News that is
democratic empowering should provide information which enables the citizens
to have added influence on the factors and institution which are influencing his
life.
Citizens media and Indymedia have a bottom up process of news
making, and believe they are providing a radical democratic newsfeed which
represents all needs and concerns in society. But the 'be the media' slogan has
some limitations as well: the fact that there's a featured article selection, the fact
that only some citizens with specific background post items on the net, and the
other institutional, technical, and discursive constructions prove that their claim
of providing a radical democratic newsfeed which enables a representative view
of all needs and concerns in society, is not valid. Just the fact that diversity in
needs and concerns in society is too big to include all in a newsfeed makes
selection obligatory.
However, Indymedia can be considered as democratic since it involves
citizens in the news making process. Indymedia adds diversity to the media
environment, and it makes sure that marginalized voices are heard in society.
References
About Indymedia. (n.d.). Independent media center. Retrieved June 20, 2008, from
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http://www.indymedia.org/en/static/about.shtml.
Bowman, S. & Willis, C. (2003). About “We media.” 'We media': how audiences are shaping the
future of news and information. Retrieved June 20, 2008, from
http://www.hypergene.net/wemedia/weblog.php.
Elchardus, M. (1999) De dramademocratie. Lannoo:Uitgeverij Terra.
Elchardus, M. (2005) Cultuursociologie. Brussels: VUB.
Geertz, C. (1973). The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books.
Pickard, V.W. (2006). Assessing the radical democracy of indymedia: discursive, technical, and
institutional constructions. Critical Studies in Media Communication, 25, 1, pp. 19-38 X.
Retrieved June 20, 2008, from http://www.victorpickard.com/upload/rcsm157052.pdf.
About the Author
Raven De Nolf is a second Licentiate Sociologie from the Vrije Universiteit Brussel.
E-mail: [email protected].
90
INTERCULTURAL RHETORIC: SLAVIC AND
ANGLO-AMERICAN STYLES OF WRITING
Iryna Dyeyeva
LCC International University,
Klaipėda, Lithuania
Abstract
University students studying in their second language have to acquire a writing
style of that language. In this research are examined twenty essays by ten
freshmen students from Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus at LCC International
University. The purpose of this study is to define unique writing characteristics of
Slavic languages which students transfer into L2 writings, and which aspects of
Anglo-American writing style International Slavic students have to acquire. The
data analysis shows that these students tend to transfer acquired writing skills
from their native language into L2 writing. Such transfer happens on discourse
level (general features of essay writing) and sentence level (sentence structure,
direct translation of expressions, and punctuation). But practice and
constructive feedback from instructors help these students to acquire
necessary writing skills for successful performance at this university. One can
make generalizations based on the results, but they have to be limited to Slavic
language speaking students studying at LCC International University.
LCC International University students come from many cultural and linguistic
backgrounds. Their learning experiences in their high schools (or even
universities for some) have shaped their academic skills and proficiency in
English, which is their second or third language. LCC recognizes and values
these differences, but, at the same time, professors evaluate all the students
according to one set of standards preferred by English for academic purposes
(EAP). Academic English is the basis for any kind of writing in academic,
business, or any other kind of professional world. That is why professors pay
such a close attention to the development of linguistic and cognitive skills in
students, including communication, critical thinking, and research skills, which
are essential for academic English (Singhal, 2004). International students from
Russian, Ukraine, and Belorussia (Slavic language-speaking countries) come
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to LCC with strong abilities to understand, speak and read in English, but not to
write. This skill, in contrast to others, is not taught in ESL classrooms.
Nevertheless, they, now as students of a university, should write essays or
research papers on academic level.
Research Questions
1. What are some major defining features of the Slavic and AngloAmerican rhetorical styles?
2. What are some of the characteristics of the Slavic writing style which
Slavic language speaking students transfer from L1 in L2 writing?
3. What characteristics of the Anglo-American writing style do LCC
students who are Slavic language speakers have to acquire to fulfill the
requirements of basic Academic Writing successfully?
Hypothesis
Slavic language speaking students who study in an Anglo-American
institution in English tend to transfer writing skills from L1 into L2. The features of
Anglo-American writing style can be acquired by L2 learners by the means of
practice and constructive feedback.
Literature review
Contrastive rhetoric is one of the areas of interest for ESL teachers. In 1966 the
first study in this area identified that writing reflects the culture, language, and
thought (logic) of a writer, which all, when combined, create a style or rhetoric
(Matsuda, 2001, p. 257). Similarly, writers bring their own linguistic and cultural
background into communication; thus, a different name for contrastive rhetoric
intercultural rhetoric was proposed (Connor, 2004).
There has been different research done on writing across cultures and
languages and the conclusion is that “different languages have different
patterns of written discourse” (Brown, 1994, p. 322). A case study with Russian
learners of English investigated their use of thesis statements in argumentative
essays in English (Petric, 2005). This is one of few investigations done with
Slavic groups, but it gives very valuable results and hints for further
investigations. It focused on the Slavic culture-specific elements of writing and
discovered a number of them, such as less linear writing, delayed expression of
the purpose, less reader friendly writing, less strictly regulated than English
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academic writing, and other elements. The results of the study show that
language-based elements are present in students' writings, but those patterns
can be changed after exposure to target language structures and elements, and
practice of writing in a target language.
The role of writing instruction is an important issue to mention. Writing
as a skill for learning in other classes and acquisition of rules of rhetoric is not
taught much in Russian or Ukrainian or other schools in countries of Slavic
languages. Lessons on writing focus more on practicing grammar and
examining knowledge of students of a literary piece as well as learning to write in
different genres (Petric, 2005). However, rules of rhetoric, such as defining
audience and purpose, are hardly mentioned in such classes. While there are
writing classes in elementary, secondary, and high schools, writing is not taught
in universities. The lack of books on writing is one of the reasons why it is not
taught explicitly in schools. There is not even an equivalent for the term
“academic writing” in Russian, Ukrainian, or Polish (Duszak, 1997; Yakhontova,
2001, in Petric, 2005). One of the underlying reasons why less attention is paid
to writing essays is that the assessment is done orally and writing is less of a
determiner of academic achievements.
The lack of practice of writing, including writing compositions in general
and writing in different genres is a serious drawback in curricula of modern
schools (Govzich, 2004). Teachers give few specific exercises for practicing
specific writing skills, such as identification of a narrow topic, use of descriptive
words, ability to write logically, or organize a composition. As Govzich suggests,
teachers should pay more attention to helping students understand a topic
deeply, come up with key words, etc. If this is not done, students will not be
equipped with necessary skills when they have a writing task in universities. This
is also the reason why students from Slavic countries face difficulties in taking
written exams, and writing essays during entrance exams to international
universities where assessment is done through writing.
Three types of mode (description, narration, and argumentation) are
introduced to students in literature classes, and those have been considered the
main modes (Shen, 1989). Different genres of compositions show students'
creativity, individuality, and level of written discourse.
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Structure of a composition
The structure of a composition is explicitly taught at school both in
countries of Slavic and English languages. Nevertheless, there are differences,
which are discussed below and briefly presented in Table 1.1.
The composition structure in Slavic languages follows a general outline
that includes introduction (what is given), body (what has to be proven), and
conclusion (summary of proofs and additional information, if desired)
(Tashlykov, 2001). An Anglo-American composition has a very similar structure
to Slavic writings: introduction, body, and conclusion. The writing center Harvard
University provides an overview of an academic essay (Duffin, 1998). An essay
should have a purpose which does not repeat somebody's ideas, but is original
and important. Clear and visible argument is the main requirement of a
composition. The argument is expressed in a thesis statement and supported
with evidence throughout the text. Each paragraph (which is a new idea)
contains a topic sentence in the beginning and its restatement at the end of the
paragraph. There is no one possible way of organizing an essay; nevertheless, it
should be orderly, clear, and logical. Introduction can be a general or assertive
statement supported by evidence in the body. On the other hand, introduction
and body may contain facts or observations and an argument made in the
conclusion. The structure of a piece of writing is symbolic of the life of busy
people who prefer going straight to the point to attract readers and save their
time (Shen, 1989).
Table 1.1 Comparison of a Structure of a Composition
Slavic languages
Anglo-American
Introduction
Introduction of the topic/general information
Introduction of the topic/narrow information
Thesis (optional)
Thesis
Body
Each paragraph:
Each paragraph:
Argument + supporting ideas
Argument + supporting ideas + concluding sentence
Conclusion
Thesis / restatement of arguments
or
Restatement of the thesis
Summary of main points
Extra knowledge, effects, suggestions, implications,
etc.
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IRYNA DYEYEVA
Differences in the Writing Process
Writing requires much time and effort (Singhai, 2004). The process
of writing is long and complex that includes prewriting activities, drafting, and
editing. The major difference in the writing process between Slavic and AngloAmerican writing is seen in the prewriting section. Prewriting for Slavic students
consists of identifying vocabulary relevant to a particular mode, expressing
thoughts orally, discussing a topic during literature classes, and preparing a
general outline. In addition to preparatory elements used in Slavic writing,
Academic English has a number of additional ones, such as free writing, listing,
brainstorming for ideas, narrowing a topic, researching a topic, and preparing a
detailed outline. Prewriting for Slavic students does not focus much on
identifying and exploring a narrow topic, coming up with ideas, but rather on
understanding a general structure of what a composition should look like. In
general, L2 learners spend less time for planning and revision (Stegemoller,
2004). In contrast, AE requires students to compose several drafts before a final
version. Students also receive peer feedback before polishing the writing.
Table 1.2 Comparison of a Writing Process
Slavic languages
Researching topics
Choosing a narrow topic
Deciding on purpose
Outlining
Drafting
Individual editing
Polishing / final drafting
Anglo-American
Prewriting activities
Choosing a topic
Deciding on purpose
Deciding on audience
Researching a topic
Brainstorming for ideas
Narrowing the topic
Outlining
Drafting
Individual and peer editing
Polishing / final drafting
Components of AE: why it is important to know
Acquisition of Academic English is the basis for entering an
international college or university. Such skills should be mastered as basic
literacy skills, as well as critical thinking, communication, and research
(Singhal, 2004).
Linguistic components of Academic English include “phonological,
lexical, grammatical, sociolinguistic, and discourse component” (Singhal,
2004), all of which contribute to students' abilities of reading, writing, and
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understanding a language and its use. The ability to think critically during writing
helps determining important information, analyzing events, arranging
information in a cohesive and coherent way. Finally, the language discovery
component of AE comes when the previous two components are successfully
acquired.
Research skills are necessary for finding additional material,
supporting material, distinguishing between reliable and unreliable sources,
citing courses correctly to avoid plagiarism, etc. These skills are widely
practiced in American schools, but much less in schools from the Slavic group.
However, it is necessary to mention Small Learning Academies which exist
within each school in Slavic countries (L.I. Denysyuk, personal communication
January 7, 2007). Such academies consist of high school students with strong
academic skills who are interested in writing research papers on a topic of
interest in any field, including language. These students develop strong
research skills, critical thinking, communication, and linguistic abilities.
Pedagogical implications
The methods of teaching writing in ESL classrooms are constantly
developing (Brown, 1994). One of the pedagogical implications is to help
students creating a rhetorical scheme of a target language (Leki, 1991) by
providing examples, rules/plan/structure. However, research shows that mere
understanding of the scheme does not automatically mean that new knowledge
will be applied.
One of the advantages for ESL teachers is to have a classroom with
representatives from one language group only (Leki, 1991). Together with
students they can discuss some features in details and focus on specific
problems. Understanding that international students are not familiar with AE,
teachers should try to explain to their students in detail what AE is, what is
required from the students, and how work is assessed.
Methodology
Participants
A group of 10 freshmen students was chosen from one of the Academic
Writing classes. The participants were chosen according to the following
criteria: having received Russian, Ukrainian or Belorussian as a medium of
instruction in high school, having no previous study in an Anglo-American
institution, and no preparation courses for academic writing.
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IRYNA DYEYEVA
Data collection and analysis
The data was collected in two sets. The first set included ten personal
essays written for the First Year Seminar class on the topic “The most influential
person/event in my life.” These were complete essays, each 3-4 pages long,
submitted during the second week of September 2007. The second set of data
included response papers written by the same students for First Year Seminar
class on a variety of topics in December, at the end of the semester. During the
semester the participants attended Academic Writing class where they were
taught the principles of Academic English and practiced writing essays. This
served as a treatment to help students acquire necessary knowledge and
develop skills in L2 writing.
By relating theory from the literature review to the data analysis, the
major features of Slavic and Anglo-American writing styles were defined. By
comparing these two writing styles to the data, I was able to notice which
characteristics of the Slavic writing style these students transfer into L2 writing.
Finally, by analyzing common mistakes on discourse and sentence levels, I
outlined some features of Anglo-American writing style which the students will
have to acquire.
Discussion of data I
As a summary of the following discussion, below are the major distinctions in
essay writing between Slavic and Anglo-American styles: (a) broad
introductions; (b) the main idea presented in the conclusion; (c) a new idea
presented in the conclusion; and (d) greater reader responsibility of interpreting
the main idea of an essay.
It is important mentioning that the essays were written for the First Year
Seminar class as reflections and story-telling. Thus, students were free to
organize their essays however they want. Some students included slang words,
very short, incomplete sentences, etc which are not suitable for AE, but
acceptable for writing in such a class. This data reflected these students' real
abilities and basic writing skills.
All the essays follow general organizational rules of Slavic composition
writing: there is introduction, body, and conclusion. Only one student wrote a big
paragraph as the body of his essay where he included all his ideas, but the rest
of them separated the body into several paragraphs with a new idea or a subfocus in each paragraph.
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Introductions
The most distinctive in these essays are introductions. Introductions set
the tone of essays (personal or impersonal), make them creative, and often
serve as a frame for an essay when a theme of introduction is repeated in the
conclusion. Each introduction satisfies the requirements of Slavic writing style.
But AE prefers introductions to be narrow, specific, and at the same time
creative (Singhal, 2004). Thus, taking into consideration features of AE, six
introductions will have to be rewritten to make them more specific.
Main ideas
There is a great variation how the main idea is presented in essays.
Though it was hard to identify the main idea in some essays, each essay had
one. It is common for students from Slavic language group to develop an idea
gradually and have a delayed expression of a purpose (Petric, 2005). Those four
students who expressed the main idea in the conclusion or both in introduction
and conclusion developed their idea slowly through the whole essay and at the
end they reached a peak of their stories.
Table 1.3 Where the main idea is expressed in the text (N = 10)
Where the main idea is expressed in the text
Last sentence of the introduction
st
1 sentence of introduction
Within the introduction
Within the whole text
Conclusion only
Absent
New idea in the conclusion
Introduction and conclusion create a frame
Number of participants
5
2
2
1
0
0
3
4
Five students presented the main idea in the same sentence as the
transitional sentence at the end of introduction. This is exactly where a thesis is
found, which may imply that L2 learners from Slavic language background can
easily acquire the use of a thesis statement.
Conclusions about data I
Conclusions are of several types. The most simple and straightforward
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IRYNA DYEYEVA
conclusion includes a short summary of the main points, what a writer has
learned, or what is the lesson for readers to learn. It is relatively short, from two
to five sentences. Such words as “so”, “thus”, “to conclude”, “as a result” are
used. Another type of conclusion is completion of the frame: an introduction and
conclusion make a frame inside which the body is inserted. Usually, an abstract
idea serves as a frame. For example, one student wrote about windows through
which we look at the world, another compared life to sheets or paper on which
we write everything we do and say. After these ideas are introduced in the
introduction, a student returns to it in the conclusion and ties the main idea to
this frame in one or two sentences. In this case, readers should take
responsibility to interpret the meaning and find out how to apply that idea to
personal life. Finally, students present a new idea in the conclusion in addition to
the general summary. The new idea is expressed in one or two short sentences
and serves as food for thought. Often, it is a rhetorical question, a line from a
poem, or a proverb.
A combination of these types of conclusion, such as short summary of
the main points, completion of the frame, and presentation of a new idea was
used in the essays.
Based on the instructions of Tashlykov (2001) and findings of Petric
(2005), the data presented here shows that the two types of conclusion, such as
completion of the frame and presentation of a new idea, reveal students'
creativity and are highly valued by Slavic language speaking teachers. Such
conclusions make essays less reader-friendly which is common among Slavic
language speaking writers.
Due to the limitations of this study, it is hard to generalize, though not
impossible. The common textual patterns described above are based on the
essays of only 10 students. Thus, it is possible that other students from the
Slavic language group will follow the same patterns in their writings. There are
also factors affecting the writing process of each individual such as teaching
style a student has been exposed to; acquired literacy skills; L2 proficiency; and
writing experience.
Discussion based on data II
A set of data II included short essays or response papers on a variety of topics.
Only one of those responses was written not in an essay form, but rather
numerated answers to questions. Comparing these response papers to first
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essays I can draw some conclusions, focusing on sentence level.
There is a great improvement in punctuation use in the second part of
data. There is only one student who is consistent in her punctuation in both
pieces of writing. She transferred punctuation rules from her L1. Other students
made fewer mistakes in punctuation before determiners.
Conclusion
This was a study with Slavic language speaking freshmen students at LCC
International University. Comparing the literature review and the collected data, I
have identified some features of writing specific to Slavic language speaking
group. These features include broad introductions, delayed expression of the
main idea, insertion of a new idea in conclusion, and greater readerresponsibility.
The students may transfer acquired writing skills from their native
language into L2 writing, as it can be concluded from data analysis. Such transfer
happens on the discourse level (general features of essay writing) and sentence
level (sentence structure, direct translation of expressions, and punctuation). But
practice and constructive feedback from instructors help these students to
acquire necessary writing skills for successful performance at this university.
This study also helps ESL and Academic Writing teachers must
understand what Slavic language-speaking students struggle with at the
academic level during their freshmen year at LCC. It is helpful for both students
and instructors to know differences in writing styles. Instructors may provide
specific examples and exercises for students to practice defining the main idea,
writing a thesis statement, and narrowing a topic. Close attention should be paid
to the students' use of punctuation and sentence structure.
References
Brown, D.H. (1994). (3rd ed.). Principles of language learning and teaching. New Jersey: Prentice
Hall.
Brown, D.H. (1994). Teaching by principles. An interactive approach to language pedagogy. New
Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Conlin, D. A., & Herman, G. R. (1971). Modern grammar and composition. American Book
Company: Litton Educational.
Connor, U. (2004). CR and EAP Issue Introduction [Electronic version]. Journal of English for
Academic Purposes, 3, 271-276.
Connor, U. (2004). Intercultural Rhetoric Research: Beyond Texts [Electronic version]. Journal of
English for Academic Purposes, 3, 291-304.
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Duffin (1998). Overview of the Academic Essay. Retrieved March 10, 2008, from
http://www.fas.harvard.edu/~wricntr/documents/Overvu.html
Govzich, I. N. (2007). Writing Compositions in Literature Class. Retrieved October 28, 2007, from
http://academy.edu.by/materials/official/NIO_programm2007/ruskayaliter/sochinenia.doc
Hirose, K. (2003). Comparing L1 and L2 Organizational Patterns in the Argumentative Writing of
Japanese EFL Students. Journal of Second Language Writing, 12(2). Retrieved
November 11, 2007, from EBSCO database.
Leki, I. (1991). Twenty-five years of contrastive rhetoric: Text analysis and writing pedagogues:
TESOL Quarterly, 25(1), 123-142.
Petric, B. (2005). Contrastive Rhetoric in the Writing Classroom: a Case Study [Electronic
version]. English for Specific Purposes, 24, 213-228.
Reid, S. (2003). (6th ed.). The Prentice Hall guide for college writers. New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Safronova, T.I. (2004). How to Work on a Composition. Essay as a genre of Composition and one
of the Tasks for Common State Exam on the Russian Language Course in the 11th
Grade. Retrieved October 20, 2007, from
http://rus.1september.ru/articlef.php?ID=200700704
Shen, F. (1989). Staffroom interchange. The classroom and the wider culture: Identity as a key to
learning English composition. College Composition and Communication, 40 (4), 459466.
Singhal, M. (2004). Academic Writing and Generation 1.5: Pedagogical Goals and Instructional
Issues in the College Composition Classroom. The Reading Matrix, 4. Retrieved
November 11, 2007, from http://www.readingmatrix.com/articles/singhal/article2.pdf
Stegemoller, J. (2004). A comparison of an international student and an immigrant student:
experiences with second language writing. The Reading Matrix, 4. Retrieved November
11, 2007, from http://www.readingmatrix.com/articles/stegemoller/article.pdf
Tashlykov, S. A. (2001). A Composition: Secrets of Genre. Retrieved November 7, 2007, from
http://window.edu.ru/window_catalog/redir?id=30178&file=isu056.pdfVashaeva, M. L. (2007). Improvement of Coherence in Written Discourse in Russian by Teaching
Essay Writing to Students in Ossetia State School. Retrieved November 6, 2007, from
http://www.nosu.ru/msgmedia/16dc114c238c4dc3cb318c8ff736b45a/file/vashaeva.doc
The Methods of Teaching Composition Writing in Elementary School. (2000). Retrieved October
20, 2007, from http://ref.net.ua/work/det-22244.html
About the Author: Iryna Dyeyeva, BA, is a 2008 graduate of LCC International University, Klaipėda,
Lithuania. She majored in English.
E-mail: [email protected]
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102
CULTURE AS A REPOSITORY OF NONVIOLENCE
Giedrė Gadeikytė
LCC International University,
Klaipėda, Lithuania
Abstract
The study focuses on the role of culture as a repository of nonviolence. Cultures
contain resources for resistance and desired changes are found under the most
oppressive circumstances. Lithuanian nonviolent resistance of the 1950s1990s is part of the “Geography of Nonviolence” of the twenty-first century.
Vogele and Bond note that each instance is shaped by “unique influences of
individual cultures, histories and institutions” (Vogele & Bond, 2000).
The study is innovative: whereas there are many historical accounts of
Soviet occupation, there is little research that combines a variety of approaches
to analyze the historical period as a phenomenon of constructive conflict
resolution within a particular cultural context. Nonviolence should not be taken
for granted or treated as an accidental happening; it is phenomenal, complex
and intentional. The fact that Lithuanians, comprising 2% of the whole
population of the USSR waged over 90% of the dissent, largely nonviolent, is
phenomenal and demands a closer look.
The thesis of the study is as follows: a combination of unique social
structural and psycho-cultural factors shapes a culture's response to changes
and large scale conflicts. This study identifies and analyzes what made up
Lithuanian culture's potential for nonviolent change and constructive conflict
transformation. It is recognizable that cultures are not quite cohesive: they can
contain the contradictory levels of peace and violence across different types of
conflicts and social relationships. This attests to the complexity of culture and
stresses the phenomenon of nonviolence. The case study is analyzed in
reference to other similar historical cases of Lithuanian nonviolence in the 11th16th and 19th century.
For the analysis of the Lithuanian nonviolence an integrated and interdisciplinary theoretical framework is developed. It is constructed from the theory
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LCC / LIBERAL ARTS STUDIES / 2008
pertinent to nonviolence and social change in numerous fields: sociology,
history, group dynamics, cultural studies, social movement theory, political
science and others. Culture, the cornerstone of the study, can be best
understood as a “repository” (McAdam 1994, p. 43) of sources for present and
future movements. Inherent cultural structures shape and prescribe responses
to conflicts of different scope.
The study aims to address two questions. The first is establishing what
unique cultural factors shaped the Lithuanian nonviolent potential in the
resistance of the 1950s-1980s. The second question set asks: Do cultures
contain repositories of nonviolent patterns that are activated and repetitively
used across different time frames in history, in similar types of conflicts? And,
does Lithuanian culture contain nonviolent continuity in conflicts of similar,
large-scale national scope?
Culture as a repository of nonviolence
A study on recent cases of nonviolence observes that nonviolence has a “global
geography” (Vogele & Bond, 2000). Its application is universal; its geography
covers continents and cuts across time periods and political rules. In India,
resistance to the British rule culminated in the 1940s and provides one of the
most prominent known cases of nonviolent struggle in human history. It also
produced one of the “fathers” and the key philosophers of nonviolent resistance,
Mahatma Gandhi. The North American continent hosted the Civil Rights
movement of Black Americans under the leadership of a minister, Martin Luther
King, Jr., in the 1950s and 60s. The last decade of the 20th century is known for a
wave of nonviolent revolutions in Eastern Europe. Nonviolence continues to the
present: Dalai Lama works peacefully in India in opposition to Tibet's occupation
by China, and people turn to nonviolent means in a number of other locales.
Nonviolence, as these examples illustrate, can be incorporated by
entire societies, smaller groups or individuals. The bigger the movement, the
more complex its dynamics will be. But within the big picture of nonviolence, a
distinctive face of each nonviolent case can be discerned. Vogele and Bond
note that each instance is shaped by “unique influences of individual cultures,
histories and institutions” (Vogele & Bond, 2000). Histories and institutions are
only some factors that play a role in the emergence, nature and effectiveness of
nonviolent action.
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But one does not need to look far for instances and heroes of
nonviolence. The case for this study is taken from the author's immediate
cultural context, Eastern Europe, Lithuania. The focus lays on a large-scale
national conflict and its peaceful resolution, namely, a nonviolent national
resistance in Lithuania under the Soviet occupation. Lithuanian nonviolent
resistance of the 1950s-1990s comes as a part of the “Geography of
Nonviolence” of the Twenty-first century. This particular movement is a good
example of nonviolence because it evolved into a nonviolent revolution. It also
shows that nations and groups can successfully utilize nonviolence in the face
of the most oppressive circumstances. The contrasts between the two types of
power, aggressive and peaceful, and their methods, are sharp. Nevertheless,
the results of what seems like an imbalanced and doomed struggle are
astounding. The oppressed and the disadvantaged regain power without
resorting to arms. Under the most oppressive regimes esources for resistance
and desired changes are found within culture.
The study is innovative: whereas there are many historical accounts on
the phase of Soviet occupation, there is little research that combines a variety of
approaches to analyze the historical period as a phenomenon of constructive
conflict resolution within a particular cultural context. A focus on the 1950s1980s is meant to highlight the interplay of certain historical circumstances and
cultural features that culminate in what is part of the nonviolent global
geography. Nonviolence should not be taken for granted or as an accidental
happening; it is phenomenal, complex and intentional. The fact that
Lithuanians, comprising 2% of the whole population of the USSR waged over
90% of the dissent, largely nonviolent, is phenomenal and demands a closer
look.
The thesis of the study is as follows: a combination of unique social
structural and psycho-cultural factors shape and determine a culture's
response to changes and large scale conflicts. This study identifies and
analyzes what made up Lithuanian culture's potential of nonviolent change and
constructive conflict transformation in the specified timeframe. The study does
not seek to address overt nonviolence that started at late 1980s or conflicts and
violence of other times and scopes. It is recognizable that cultures are not quite
cohesive: they can contain the contradictory levels of peace and violence
across different types of conflicts. This attests to the complexity of culture and
stresses the phenomenon of nonviolence.
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LCC / LIBERAL ARTS STUDIES / 2008
The study aims to address two questions. The first one is establishing
what unique cultural factors shaped the Lithuanian nonviolent potential in the
resistance of 1950s-1980s. The second question set consists of: Do cultures
contain repositories of nonviolent patterns that are activated and repetitively
used across different time frames in history, in similar types of conflicts? And,
does Lithuanian culture contain nonviolent continuity in conflicts of similar,
large-scale national scope?
Theoretical framework
For the analysis of the Lithuanian nonviolence an integrated and interdisciplinary theoretical framework is developed. It is constructed from the theory
pertinent to nonviolence and social change in numerous fields: sociology,
history, group dynamics, cultural studies, social movement theory, political
science and others. Various academic disciplines and studies offer prisms that
help identify unique factors that made up the face of Lithuanian nonviolence.
The prism of culture is foundational to theoretical framework and
pertinent to the LCC International Conference Culture and Dialogue. In
consideration, most of the theoretical discourse below is centered on culture.
Culture is ubiquitous and its definitions vary. The connotations of culture
assumed in this work are compatible with the definition of anthropologists
Kroeber and Kluckhohn:
Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behavior
and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements
of human groups, including their embodiments in artifacts; the essential
core of culture consist of traditional (i.e., historically derived and
selected) ideas and especially their attached values; culture systems
may, on the other hand, be considered as products of action, on the
other, as conditioning elements of further tradition. (Kroeber &
Kluckhohn, 1952, p. 181)
Elements of culture, as the definition offers, are both intangible, like values, and
tangible, like symbols or systems. Cultural factors will be referred to in the case
study as the most identifiable elements that are displayed in nonviolent
movements. The concept also encompasses a repertoire of pertinent systems
and structures.
It can be stated in short: culture does matter in nonviolent movements.
It shapes movements and provides a base for them. Culture prescribes certain
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GIEDRĖ GADEIKYTĖ
pathways of behavior in social conflicts. It imparts certain beliefs and
assumptions about conflict. Inherent cultural structures can be constructive or
destructive in particular conflict situations. Culture interacts with social change
in a circular manner: it monitors movements, but it is also transformed by them.
Cultural processes can either facilitate or constrain social movements
(Larana, Johnson & Gusfield, 1994, p. 37). According to him, culture can
facilitate in three ways: through framing appropriation, expanding cultural
opportunities and through long-standing activist subcultures. The first
facilitating process is framing as an act of cultural appropriation. Social
movements rest upon culturally available resonant frames. Frame alignment
occurs when the leaders or leading groups work within the culture and use the
language and traditions to shape a new movement. For instance, a leader may
evoke culturally resonant themes, like faith, Scriptures, or freedom to “legitimate
and motivate protest activity” (Larana et al., 1994, p. 37). Movements are
effective when they use culturally appropriated language and norms. Larana
notes that a movement is the most effective when its frame resonates with the
cultures of both the oppressor and the oppressed. Framing appropriation seeks
to establish a balance between the two powers of the movement and that would
allow the activist culture to press on its goals.
There is a similarity between framing appropriation and Tarrow's
concept of repertoire of convention (Tarrow, 1998, p. 31), which is both a
structural and a cultural concept. Tarrow argues that people are drawn into
movements “through known repertoires of contention and by creating
innovations around their margins” (Tarrow, 1998, p. 1). Every culture develops
its repertoires of conflict and action that are culturally resonant and
appropriated. The sustenance of conflict is tied to its setting, too. The denser the
social networks, the stronger the symbols and the more familiar the social
relations, “the more likely movements are to spread and be sustained” (Tarrow,
1998, p. 1).
Expanding cultural opportunities is another stimulus to action. There
are two different views on the role of culture in the emergence of a movement:
one says that culture matters, while the other one holds that culture is of
secondary importance. The latter one holds a stance that “movements are
created when political opportunities open up for social actors who usually lack
them” (Tarrow, 1998, p. 1). It is often thought that Eastern European national
liberation movements started with the advent of more democratic policies of the
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state, like perestroika and glasnost. However, while many social movements
achieve momentum when a political opportunity arises, the cultural
opportunities can not be minimized. It means that before political opportunities
come, a movement can be well on its way into an active phase.
Finally, long-standing activist subcultures are powerful stimulators for
new movements. New movements are not always 'new' or fully autonomous:
they emerge within a particular cultural context, and draw from it. There are
certain 'prototypes' of social struggles that are followed. McAdam makes an
interesting observation that there is “cultural continuity in activist traditions”
(McAdam, 1994, p. 44). Culture plays an imperative role in shaping new
movements: “Most new movements rest on the ideational and broader cultural
base of ideologically similar past struggles” (McAdam, 1994, p. 43). Tarrow
supports the same line of thinking in recognizing an anthropological element to
movement. Larana, Johnson and Fusfield note that for anthropologist Kertzer,
social movements are inscribed in a collective culture, and “the learned
conventions of collective action are part of a society's public culture” (Larana et
al., 1993, p. 18). This “public culture” resonates closely with the concept of
“repertoires of contention” and illuminates activist subcultures.
For an illustration of repertoires of contention we can again in brief turn
to Lithuania and see that its national movement drew from earlier historical
struggles and parallel the struggle for religious rights. Cultural and structural
expressions in the 1970s through the 1980s and beyond bear similarities with
earlier historical periods. Culture, then, can be best understood as a “repository”
(McAdam, 1994, p. 43) of sources for present and future movements. While
movements come into life, culminate and terminate, subcultures of activism can
be seen as persisting and connecting changes of various kinds.
The relevance of culture once again emerges in cases of cross-cultural
and inter-ethnic conflict. While it may seem that the issues at stake are political,
economic or of other kind, what backs all these issues is culture. Cultural
differences tend to enforce movement subcultures. When one culture plays
politics of authoritarianism and domination, the minority culture develops its
more distinct 'face.' Linguistic distinctiveness, different socialization, religion,
traditions, values and different historical foundations help form and maintain
national consciousness of a minority group. The ethnic antitheses between the
Baltic and the Russian cultures maintained the subcultures of the occupied
nations and prevented them from assimilation. Among the many pairs of
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GIEDRĖ GADEIKYTĖ
antitheses, some were: Baltic-Slavic, Catholic-Orthodox, democraticauthoritarian, individualist-collectivist. Culture as played out through ethnicity
and nationality will be given closer consideration in coming paragraphs.
This study is greatly enriched by Ross's insights on conflict's relation to
culture. Ross identifies two cultural 'faces' of conflict social structural interests
and psychocultural interpretations. It has been clarified that the two sets of
factors central to the thesis statement social structural and cultural owe to
Ross' theory but differ in their meaning. The sociostructural theory stresses the
importance of how a society defines interests and how it is organized. The
psychocultural theory centers on interpretations. Psychocultural dispositions
include: “deep-seated, socially constructed internal representations of the self,
others, and one's social world that are widely shared in a society” (Ross, 1993,
p. 24). Some examples of these dispositions are religious beliefs, personal,
group and social identity. Like Larana, Ross emphasizes the role of culture in
collective identity formation: “culturally shared interpretations of the self and the
social world … are regularly reinforced through a variety of culturally sanctioned
messages and experiences” (Ross, 1993, p. 26). The psychocultural factors
construct a mindset that affects conflict behavior.
The two avenues of culture are more than features: they shape a
society's culture of conflict. The culture of conflict refers to “culturally specific
norms, practices, and institutions associated with conflict in a society” (Ross,
1993, p. 21). Societies cope with conflict depending on their culture of conflict. It
can mean deploying more or less violence, selecting certain methods of dealing
with conflict, and having a particular level of constructive conflict management.
Societies are typified by low-conflict or high-conflict societies. Ross defines a
low-conflict society as that which avoids extreme polarization and violence
(Ross, 1993, p. 37). A low-conflict society does not exist without disputes, but it
manages to handle them constructively and without protracted violence.
The discussion of low-conflict cultures should consider the broader
historical and situational circumstances. The type of conflict we look at in trying
to determine if the culture is low-conflict can influence the observation. If a
society is analyzed under an oppression that is national, political or of another
kind, its conflict dynamics will be different than under independence and an
absence of strong outside hindering forces. In fact, its conflicts will be different,
too. The kind of conflict a society deals with shapes its culture of conflict. It is
important to notice that the same society can have different levels of conflict on
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different social levels. The society that historically has established itself as lowconflict in terms of inter-ethnic conflict may manifest unusually high conflict
within the society. Ross's concept, therefore, is here understood as situationally
shaped.
In sum, the theoretical framework emphasizes the importance of
culture and its elements in the dynamics of nonviolent change. Culture
prescribes certain pathways of behavior in social conflicts, imparts certain
beliefs and assumptions about conflict. Culture monitors movements, but it is
also transformed by them. Social movements rest upon culturally available
resonant frames. Cultural makeup and processes can either facilitate or
constrain nonviolent movements. These are leading posts in the analysis of
Lithuanian nonviolent dissent.
Case study
The case study is narrowed down to the covert nonviolent resistance starting
with mid-1950s and ending with the Nonviolent Revolution of late 1980s. The
overt phases of guerilla warfare and the nonviolent revolution are omitted,
though are worthy of further research. The case study can be seen in reference
to other instances of Lithuanian cultural nonviolence: the phases of nonviolent
change in the 11th-16th and 19th centuries. Looking at this context helps test the
hypothesis of cultural continuity and a culture's ability to maintain consistent
patterns of nonviolent change across conflicts of similar nature across different
historical settings.
Sociostructural factors
The following sets of social structural and psycho-cultural factors characterize
the nature of Lithuanian covert nonviolent resistance in the 1950s-1980s. Brief
explanations seek to capture only the key highlights.
Population composition: ethnic, language and religious. This refers to
the high proportion of the eponymous population in Lithuania (a steady 80%,
compared to a decline to 60-70% in Latvia and Estonia) and its distinct linguistic
and religious characteristics that served as strong factors of group
differentiation.
State administration. Eponymous Communist other and other public
figures advocated subtle levels of autonomist rule and protection of national
interests while not overtly opposing the political ideology.
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Cultural organizations. Cultural organizations united the Baltic elite and
generated progressive ideas. The Union of Writers, the Union of Artists, Institute
for Monument Restoration, theatres, academia were hotbeds of cultural and
national interests.
Ethnographic groups. On the grassroots level, ethnographic clubs
carried multiple functions: cultural education, preserved Lithuanian
communities in other republics, visited historical places, celebrated cultural
holidays and folk customs, studied history, collected information on traditions,
discussed art and literature and maintained contacts with ethnographic clubs in
other countries. The Institute of Lithuanian Language and Literature contained
the largest folklore archives in the USSR 800,000 items.
Educational institutions and youth dissent. Educational institutions
were a hub of youth dissent. Youth gathered in legal and illegal groups and
produced petitions, demonstrations, rallies, and other forms of resistance.
Publishing. The preservation of national identity in large part rested
upon book publishing, and it became a portent of national assertion. Exhibit 1
indicates the highest proportion of Baltic topics in Lithuania compared to other
Baltic states. Lithuania also had the highest percentage of publications in
eponymous language.
Table 1.
Number of Titles for Each Category per 100 Historical Titles in Each Soviet Baltic
Republic, 1960-64 and 1970-74.
Topics and Years
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania
Baltic
Average
Baltic Topics
+3.4
+61.9
+207.2
+57.8
Soviet Topics
-33.6
-17.9
-48.6
-32.8
World/Foreign Topics
+323.1
+56.7
+7.7
+101.3
Percentage change:
Source: Allworth, Edward. Nationality Group Survival in Multi-Ethnic
States.
Underground leadership. Leadership of nonviolent resistance came
from various segments of the population: intelligentsia, and workers, religious
leaders and common believers.
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Cross-cutting ties of dissenters. As noted above, dissent had crosscutting ties in terms of social class, educational background, generations, and
urban versus rural settlement.
Underground communications. Alternative communications consisted
of three underground radios and the most diverse and prolific samizdat press in
the Soviet Union, and also in Eastern Europe. (Alexiev, 1983, p. 36) Lithuania
had the greatest per capita number of underground periodicals (Vardys, 1996,
p. 85).
Catholic Church. The largest organized body of resistance, the Church
organized publishing, petitions and documented data on violations of human
rights. The largest documented underground publication, Chronicle of the
Catholic Church of Lithuania was smuggled into the West.
Dense social and familial networks. Nonviolent resistance was aided by
the tight social structures of extended families, rural communities and dense
social networks.
Émigré support and communications. Organized resistance efforts in
the country were supported and aided by the émigré. Émigré maintained close
contacts, communications networks, and helped collect political pressure
against the human rights violations.
Alternative power and willingness to bear sanctions. The structural
ability of the population to tap alternative sources of power, to decline
cooperation with the regime and risk persecution and punishment contributed
significantly to the nonviolent potential.
Psycho-cultural factors
Collective consciousness and grievances. A consciousness of a long
history of Lithuanian statehood and strong national and religious identities
continued into the years of occupation. Grievance patterns built around
deprivations marginalization of eponymous leadership, national, economic,
religious, linguistic rights. Grievances, as Smith observes, can be utilized as
“ammunition to forward the cause of national self-determination” (Smith, 1994,
p. 122). Inequalities and quotidian grievances served as a driving force of
dissent.
Publishing and book-smuggling. Publishing and the heroism of secret
book-smugglers occupy a special place in the culture. These pre-existing
patterns helped continue the tradition and value of eponymous and independent
press.
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GIEDRĖ GADEIKYTĖ
Cultural and national symbols. Symbols of tangible and non-tangible
culture included geographic locations of historical and religious importance, the
medieval coat of arms, the tri-color flag, national anthem, folklore and other that
fostered group identity. Catholicism and Christian values, in a symbiosis with
Baltic pantheism, were sustained in traditions, and artistic expressions, like
folklore, literature and arts. Religious and ethnic identities have been mixed;
Catholicism often was synonymous with nationalism.
Cultural observations and national dates. Religious (Catholic and
pagan) observations and political dates refer to Independence Day, King's Day,
Easter, Christmas, Saint John Festival, All Saints Day, Shrove Tuesday and
others.
Religious traditions. Despite religious persecution and imposed
atheism, people have continued observing religious traditions and practices.
Religious observations were somewhat less common in urban settings.
Cultural inculcation and socialization. Despite state ideology and
indoctrination in schools, families and especially grandparents offered primary
cultural and national socialization. Historical truths narrated by older
generations challenged the “official” truths. The Church was also influential in
the cultural inculcation.
Artistic and intellectual expression. National and anti-Soviet messages
were indirectly communicated through literature, music, arts, film, academics
and other channels.
Extended family and community networks. In the 1950s-1980s
Lithuanian families were largely extended; if nuclear, the older generations
continued to play active roles in families and communities.
Baltic Teleology and perseverance. Shtromas distinguishes between
Baltic teleological and practical-pragmatic orientations to change (Smith, 1994,
p. 101). The teleological mindset is prevalent in the Lithuanian independence
movement starting in the 1950s and in earlier historical phases. Teleological
political consciousness is defined as coinciding with the people's vision of a
political future for themselves, their nation and the world around. It implies a
certain way of achieving change: a strategic nonviolent way with the least
losses and the least violence. The Baltic teleological consciousness is known
by a remarkable cohesion.
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Findings
Indeed, nonviolent power rests in the unique “geography” of the society its
structures, culture, mentality, and its capability to organize itself for violence-free
action. The unique combination of Lithuanian social structural and
psychocultural factors were conducive in the nonviolent potential of Lithuanian
culture. Those factors form a cultural repertoire that is activated when
conflicts/social change of a certain type, macro-level national struggles, occur.
The comparison of the three periods of resistance: the 11th-16th, the 19th
century and the1950s-1980s, suggests that cultural continuity and problemsolving patterns exist. The discovered common patterns include strong cultural
identity and differentiation; national self-determination; religious institutions as
key agent of dissent; underground leadership and social organization; an ability
of the population to cooperate and apply nonviolent principles and the crosscutting ties of the dissenters; organization of underground press and
communication networks.
The study raises the following observations and further questions. First,
the findings should not be treated as generalizable into conflicts of other scopes
and issues. The same culture deals with conflicts of other scope very differently,
and can also have very destructive tendencies, for example on the interpersonal
level. It raises a question, what factors influence the same culture to respond to
conflicts of other scope in less constructive ways. Second, in relating the case
study to other cultural contexts, it would be worthy to explore what sets of factors
shape the nonviolent potential in other societies, and whether there are certain
factors are in common. Finally, considering the importance of the Catholic
Church in Lithuanian nonviolent struggle, the modern reality of secularization
and decreasing religious institutions suggests a decrease of nonviolent
capacities of a culture. The relationship between secularization and nonviolent
potential offers another topic for future research.
References
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the twentieth century. Westport, CT: Praeger.
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Appelbaum, R. (1970). Theories of social change. Chicago: Markham.
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Bonosky, P. (1992). Devils in amber: The Baltics. New York: International Publishers.
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Gandhi, M. (1972). Nonviolence in peace and war. New York: Garland Publications.
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Johnson, J. Gusfiel. (Eds.). New social movements: From ideology to identity.
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Landsbergis, V. (2000). Lithuania independent again. Cardiff, Wales: University of Wales Press.
Larana, E., Johnson, H., & Gusfield, J. (Eds.). (1994). New social movements: From ideology to
identity. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.
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independence. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
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Misiunas, R., & Taagepera, R. (1993). The Baltic States: Years of dependence, 1940-1990.
Berkeley: University of California Press.
Powers, R. S., & Vogele, W. B. (Eds.). (1997). Protest, power, and change: An encyclopedia of
nonviolent action from ACT up to women's suffrage. New York: Farland.
Remeikis, T. (1980). Opposition to Soviet rule in Lithuania, 1945-1980. Chicago: Institute of
Lithuanian Studies Press.
Roberts, A. (1991). Civil resistance in the East European and Soviet revolutions. Boston: Albert
Einstein Institution.
Ross, M. H. (1993). The management of conflict. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.
Rucht, D. (Ed.). Research on social movements. Frankfurt, Germany: Campus Verlag, 1991.
Ruseckas, P. (1929). Spaudos draudimo gadyne. Kaunas, Lithuania: “Sakalo” bendrove.
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Sharp, G. (1973). The politics of nonviolent action. Boston: P. Sargent.
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Princeton University Press.
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New York: St Martin's Press.
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European Quarterly, Boulder. Distributed by Colombia University Press, New York.
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About the Author
Giedre Gadeikyte, MA, teaches conflict and peace studies at LCC International University since
2002 and pioneered a conflict studies minor program. She is also interested in organizational
communication and international peacemaking.
E-mail: [email protected]
116
CAN I GO HOME NOW? MAINTAINING
PROFESSIONAL-LEVEL FIRST LANGUAGES IN
IINTERNATIONAL HIGHER EDUCATION
Geri Henderson
LCC International University,
Klaipėda, Lithuania
Abstract
The increasing popularity of international universities bespeaks of more than a
generation of students and graduates who have access to and are attracted by
the promise of increased professional and academic possibilities that will be
open to graduates from such schools. The assumption by students and faculty
alike in these universities is that as graduates, they will graduate with the skills to
cross the communication and language divide that includes an ability to
communicate in at least two languages, verbally and in writing, at the
professional level in their chosen fields.
The reality however is much different. After four years in an all-English
educational environment, reading professional journals, writing academic
papers, discussing ideas, especially abstract ones, at the level required by
higher education, graduates find themselves well prepared for an all-English job
or graduate school but sometimes ill-equipped to function in their own native
languages at academic or professional levels. Their vocabularies in highly
specific and technical fields in their mother-tongues have not kept pace with
their abilities in English. Case studies detailing the experiences of several
seniors at LCC International University bear out these informal observations.
The final section of the paper suggests several possible remedies
schools can implement to challenge students to increase their native language
levels for professional competency. This issue is under-researched and will
need much more study before direct cause-and-effect relationships can be
established. In the meantime, there are some things universities can do that will
help students assimilate back in their home countries and with their first
languages.
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LCC / LIBERAL ARTS STUDIES / 2008
Intoduction
The subtitle, “Maintaining Professional-Level First Languages in International
Higher Education,” is probably incorrect because of the implication that, for a
student's first language, a professional, academic level was ever there to be
maintained. Perhaps the title should be something like, “Encouraging the
development of Professional-level First Languages in International Higher
Education.” Furthermore, this paper will not address first language attrition
directly. Although it is a factor in graduating seniors from all-English
international universities, this paper has much more to do with first language
maintenance and development than its attrition.
Students at LCC International University report misgivings about their
ability to function at an academic level anywhere other than LCC or another
English-speaking university. The interviewees for this paper have come from
diverse backgrounds and languages as well as varying levels of English
language preparation. However, by their fourth years all students report a
greater comfort level in English than in their first languages in specific,
especially academic areas, of their lives. The way first languages are affected
by the increasing fluency and use of the second have been studied by several
researchers.
Research
Among them, Vivian Cook, is a leader in the area of what is called reverse
transfer. She points out a number of prior assumptions that no longer can be
said to be completely true and asks researchers and readers to look at language
acquisition, first language attrition and change in ways that remove the negative
connotations usually associated with some of those terms. She has coined the
term “multi-competence” to mean “knowledge of two or more languages in one
mind which gave rise to questions of their relationship (2003, p. 2).
Furthermore, she attempts to redefine competence so that people are
measured by their success in their second or more languages rather than their
approximation to native speakers (2003, p. 5). The characteristics associated
with multi-competence subjects include findings showing that their first
language is not the same as it is for monolinguals; their minds are different as
well (2003, p. 5). The lack of recognition of this and the focus on native-level
ability led to the view that code-switching was deplorable, “a sign of confusion
rather than skilful” (Cook, 2003, p. 6).
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A larger question she asks is which areas of the first language are not
affected by the second. Additionally, it has been discovered that a first language
is often enhanced by knowledge of the second, but, what if enhanced
metalinguistic ability is not useful or what if the loss of the first language is not
particularly important because these factors do not interfere with the functioning
of the second-language speaker's life? That was one of the important questions
to answer in a paper such as this and one of the important issues addressed by
the students interviewed. These issues may not be problems if graduates do
not wish to “go home” at all. The fact that the first language changes is a given,
whether its recall is diminished or its use is changed. That is neither good nor
bad, according to Cook (2003, p. 13). As she points out, the English vocabulary
owes its rich variety to the fact that this first language of millions is changing all
the time, absorbing new words like “bungalow, kangaroo and ciabatta.”
If these changes are seen from a dynamic point of view, treating
language as a living organism, then we will understand the individuality of first
and second language exchange in every speaker. Ulrike Jessner has explained
that as a dynamic system the effect of the second or third languages on the first
is 'a set of variables that mutually affect each other's changes over time' (Van
Geert, 1994, p. 50, as cited in Jessner, 2003). Furthermore, “each variable
affects all the other variables in the system and thus affects itself” (Jessner,
2003, p. 235). Clearly, an attempt to generalize about students' ability to
engage in academic discourse in their first languages is futile and fraught with
error. There are, however, some studies that have taken large samples and
studied the specific ways in which first languages are affected during the
process of acquiring the second.
Aneta Pavlenko's research looks at several areas of influence that have
been noticed by students here as well:
Borrowing transfer - the addition of second language elements to
the first language.
Convergence - the creation of a unitary phonetic system that is neither
first language nor second language, something that Cook stresses, and
Jessner's dynamic systems discussion demonstrates.
Shift - the move away from first language structures or values to
approximate second language structures and values, for both
languages.
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LCC / LIBERAL ARTS STUDIES / 2008
Restructuring transfer - the incorporation of second language elements
into first language that result in changes, simplifications, and
substitutions.
First language attrition - the acceptance of syntactically deviant
sentences under the influence of second language “constraints”
(Pavlenko, 2003).
Though each of these areas has been previously studied separately by other
researchers, in Pavlenko's work, they were studied together (Pavlenko, 2003, p.
34).
She studied 30 Russian speakers of English, 14 males, 16 females,
ages 18-31. As she had previously documented, their differing exposures to a
second language do not significantly affect the amount of language transfer
(2003, p. 34). She compared this group with four simultaneous Russian/English
bilinguals and 12 American foreign language learners of Russian enrolled in
advanced Russian classes (2003, p.35). After watching a film each subject was
given a tape recorder and told, in Russian, 'Please, tell what you just saw in the
film' after which all instances of errors or deviations from the range exhibited by
Russian monolingual native speakers watching the same film, were noted
(Pavlenko, 2003, p. 36). Of course, as the study was produced in an American
bilingual setting, Pavlenko notes that they may have no longer had access to a
purely Russian monolingual mode (2003, p. 37).
There were a number of words transferred directly from English into the
Russian narrative such as intruzivnost, dauntaun, lendlord, appointment,
boifrend (p.40). There were other instances of loan translation“literal
translations of compound words, idioms, and lexical collocations from the
source language” (2003, p. 41). These tended to be in cases where no Russian
equivalent was available, but also occurred when a Russian equivalent would
have been correct and appropriate (2003, p. 41).
Among semantics, errors were in categories such as semantic
extension where a word in both languages shares some but not all of its
meanings, but were used in Russian to include the English definitions. This
same kind of error was observed both in American foreign language Russian
learners and Russian bilinguals. Another semantic error occurred when
Russian subtleties were lost because of the lack of English equivalents.
Pavlenko called this “semantic narrowing” (2003, p. 42). Generally, this
occurred in the area of human emotions where one Russian word could indicate
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shades of meaning that requires several English words to indicate.
There were other noticeable differences between these and the monolingual
narratives. One was in the hesitations participants demonstrated when
searching for correct words, “lexical access and retrieval difficulties” (Pavlenko,
2003, p. 43). Besides hesitating, some participants vocalized their difficulty, “A
notion came to me but I didn't find Russian words to describe it….I would have
had to describe it for a long time and inexactly” (2003, p. 44).
In a 2000 study Pavlenko conducted, her research suggested that
lexical difficulty was not the only area affected by second language influences
on first language. “Morphosyntactic” performance and even competence and
attrition in first language in adulthood were affected (2000, p. 44). But in 1994 K.
DeBot, in an extended study, determined that immigrants who managed to
maintain their first language in the first years of their stay in the second language
context remained fluent in their first languages (cited in Pavlenko p. 44). DeBot
goes on to conclude that it is difficult to define what she observed as language
attrition and thinks that “language loss” may not really exist. It may be a
temporary “inhibition or deactivation of particular linguistic items and
morphosyntactic constraints (DeBot, 1994, as cited in Pavlenko, 2000, p. 57).
On a completely different level and from quite different motivations and
needs, the EU has expressed its concern with language learning, linguistic
exchange and preservation, and its assessment of language needs in their
ever-widening borders that encompass increasing numbers of languages. In
quick succession two separate EU-appointed commissions produced
documents discussing concerns and proposing solutions. To a great extent,
these documents were in preparation for The European Year of Intercultural
Dialogue.
EU language initiatives
Last year the EU published the results of a Final Report by the “High Level
Group on Multilingualism.” The opening states, “Multilingualism has been a part
of Community policy, legislation and practices from the time of the Treaties of
Rome.” The report reminds us that its first regulation of 1958 “confirmed the
equality of the official state languages of the Member States and their status as
official and working languages of the European Institutions” (2007, p. 5). They
go on to say that ever since the Maastricht Treaty of 1992 language learning,
and indeed multilingualism, has been promoted as the cornerstone of the EU's
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educational policy (2007, p.5). The preliminary research for this paper seems to
show that true multilingualism cannot be achieved simply by placing young
people in language immersion environments. We might be simply exchanging
one or more languages for another rather than adding to the first, second, or
more languages.
Furthermore, Vivian Cook's research has led her to conclude that the
second/multilingual learner has a “new” hybrid language because of reverse
transfer, that is, the influence of the third on the second, the second on the first
and so on. The EU Group noted that the “policy of promoting foreign language
study, by itself, is not having the desired effect. 90% of all people in the EU have
elected to study English in secondary school (2007, p. 7). The perception,
indeed the reality, that English is money in the bank for graduates has
diminished the importance of improving the level of learners' first languages.
Whatever the EU may say officially or even propose or plan to do
regarding the language learning situation within the governing body of the EU,
there are problems as researched by one of our own graduates working as a
translator of official documents in Luxembourg. It is best described by laying out
the improbabilities of some scenarios faced by the challenges of translation
staffing. How often will the Lithuanian translator know Greek or vice versa?
How about attempts to hire a Hungarian who can read Portuguese? By the time
the original document arrives in each EU country, even the UK, it has been
translated with varying degrees of competency and accuracy from Greek to
English and from English into Lithuanian, for example (Delfinass, 2008).
Clearly, competency in English is an important skill and one on which accurate
documentation of EU policies depends, but so is complete competency in one's
first language. What this translator is witnessing and experiencing is less than
ideal and she has noted specific and important misunderstandings that have
resulted (Delfinass, 2008).
Leading up to this Year of Intercultural Dialogue, in the last half of 2007
another group called the “Group of Intellectuals for Intercultural Dialogue” met
several times. Their recommendations are published in a document titled “A
Rewarding Challenge: How the Multiplicity of Languages Could Strengthen
Europe” (2007). If their recommendation is taken seriously and adopted by all
then the need for a discussion and research on this subject may diminish
because every citizen of the EU would enjoy two “mother tongues,” one, their
local language, the language of their heritage and the other, their “personal
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adoptive language,” with the addition of English as a language of public,
international discourse. The population speaking all languages would increase
and no language would be marginalized. Their proposal would emphasize lifelong language learning and force colleges and universities to provide the
settings where this would be possible. The impracticality of someone in Athens
studying Lithuanian and someone in Klaipėda studying Modern Greek is
resolved by online courses with Master Teachers. In this atmosphere, the
complete dominance of English over every other language would be greatly
diminished.
Interviews and report
Would that plan have helped the students interviewed for this paper?
Undoubtedly. The plan, were it to be implemented, would have had the added
benefit to students of requiring universities continue to provide students with
upper-level first- language classes throughout their academic work. The
specifics of exactly how that might be accomplished were not laid out in the
group's report. Some solutions are proposed later in this paper.
Interviewees differed in their responses to questions about the levels of
their abilities to function in first languages. For some, the process of the
interview has been a dawning realization that their graduation would bring with it
some additional study if they planned to return home or, even if they are
Lithuanians, planned to stay home here in Lithuania. However, none do, and
graduate school and work abroad will create an even greater distance between
English and their first languages. But almost all said they plan to return home
eventually.
The problem for young people seems to be that, as stated earlier on in
research, the changes in their first language would, contrary to the easy
assessment of Cook (if it does not prevent one from functioning multilingually,
then it is not an issue), hamper their advancement academically and
professionally, at least for a time. At the higher academic levels, where the
language and vocabulary is very specialized, casual conversations with friends
and family will not suffice to instill confidence in their first language abilities to
function in graduate school or the professional world.
Though the interviews are obviously all self-reporting, it is important to
remember that it would have been in participants' best interests to state that they
have no first language issues. Instead, there were times when young people
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appeared to be truly shocked at the possibilities and scenarios I proposed and
were surprised as they reported many incidents of code-switching and retrieval
difficulties in their first languages that, taken altogether, cause them problems
or, at least, inconvenience and embarrassment. One student realized that she
has Lithuanian for the home, i.e. Lithuanian that can be used for everything to do
with the home: cleaning, cooking, family relationships and English for
everything academic and the university setting: the technical language of her
field, the general language of academics and assignments. Apparently these
two languages do not cross the lines of their separate locations in her
experience.
The nine seniors included all majors currently offered here at LCC,
business, theology, and English. One would expect to notice differences
between the English Majors in Translation and Interpretation. Indeed, there
were a few but generally, their responses were quite similar, across the majors.
They were all, at the very least, uncomfortable with the scenario of functioning in
their first languages at professional levels but several were deeply concerned
and one student began to consider other options for her future as the interview
progressed and she began to think about the challenges she might face.
Interviewees generally began their English studies between the ages of
8-10 and continued them through high school. Additionally, they continued
studying their first languages steadily until they left high school. However, one
student attended an all-English high school and had her Russian grammar and
literature classes only once a day. Most have not used their first languages
academically since leaving high school, but the 3 who have reported retrieval
difficulties, sometimes with the most basic of expressions, and, more
problematically, a complete lack of knowledge of the names of technical,
discipline-specific terms and vocabulary in their first languages. It must be said
that for Lithuanian students, some of the research they have done is simply not
available in Lithuanian. One student said that she discovered many Lithuanian
academics who publish in English for the wider academic audience, making it
nearly impossible to find journals specific to her research in Lithuanian. That is
not the case for the Russian speakers, but almost no one troubled themselves
with a search for non-English sources of information knowing that they are more
difficult to locate and that they would have to be translated into English should
they wish to use them.
If planning to attend a graduate school in their native country,
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interviewees were asked to answer this question: If the university were to
immediately begin offering all of its classes in your first language, how well do
you think you would function? Responses varied only in the degree to which
students felt they would handle what all judged to be an alarming situation.
Some students laughed, nervously, others stared in shock. In one degree or
another, such a scenario would have resulted in confusion and fear, especially in
the expectation they would have to express themselves in class either audibly or
in written form. All hesitated in trying to imagine what such an experience would
mean for them. When asked what they might do to help themselves, most said
they would start reading everything they could about their subject area in their
native languages. Since, in the follow-up question, no one expressed a wish to
attend graduate school in their native country; this situation appears to be highly
unlikely.
Solutions and remedies
The next step would be to move toward solutions and suggestions. This list, by
no means comprehensive, is a compilation from the students, from an interview
with the author/editor of Developing Professional Language Proficiency, Betty
Leaver, and from my observations. Some of these suggestions are admittedly
impractical though probably highly effective, based on Dr. Leaver's years of
experience in the field. What Leaver stressed is that whatever initiatives are
adopted, they need to be implemented in the first, freshman year; language is
learned over time:
- First language study groups formed to discuss research, papers, and
courses. Where technical vocabulary is needed, students would be
responsible for researching this and providing glossaries.
- Throughout their college careers students could be required to
develop a personal glossary of technical terms. It would be part of
every final grade in the major, in the areas of concentration. For
underrepresented languages that would have to be turned in online to
a master teacher of that language.
- Expert teachers in the fields could be brought in to conduct two-week
end-of-term seminars of technical, professional-level language.
- When new terms are in linguistic flux, discussions with other academic
Specialists in the field can help to standardize vocabularies.
- Hold a mini-conference in first languages where students could work
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up papers to present.
- The university offers advanced-level courses in first languages.
- Provide a pre-exam prep and a competency exit exam in the first
language of each student's major. (B. L. Leaver, personal
communication, April 4, 2008).
Conclusions
Depending on the use and location, serious changes, constant code switching in
the first language could cause problems. Academic settings, for example, are
notoriously difficult places for variation in perceived standard, academic
language use. On the other hand, the invasion of generally accepted terms in
German for literary criticism, theology and philosophy, in English for technical
and most computer vocabulary, for example, makes any attempts to invent or
use terms in other languages almost incomprehensible to the experts in those
fields. Long ago the accepted language for all musical terms was accepted as
Italian, allowing multi-national orchestras to be conducted by one of another
nationality and understand each other. Medical and scientific terminology will
continue to use Latinate roots for the same reason -- standardization across
international, multi-lingual borders. It seems unnecessary and redundant
besides, for inventors of similar ideas and things to use completely different
terminologies. Much of the rapid advance in medicine and technology relies on
shared vocabulary that leads to shared wisdom.
This work serves merely to open the discussion. To really understand
the needs of graduating seniors one would need to assess linguistic trends in
individual languages. There is not, for example, as great a need for Danish
where the government has made English their official second language, as there
is for Lithuanian or Russian. Furthermore, the science of linguistics can tell us
more precisely than the students themselves, the degree to which students in
international universities have lost the use of their first languages or maintained
them. Then there is yet another variable. How difficult would maintaining and
improving the levels of first languages be? The answer to that question would
not be one, but many, depending on the discipline.
Finally, no matter how dire the problem, if indeed there is one, there is a
limit to the resources, financial and physical, that LCC International University or
any other university can devote to additional programs not mandated by
accrediting bodies, needed by programs of study, or requested and perhaps
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demanded by students. As it is, the European model, the three-year degree plan,
is already limiting possibilities for additional degree requirements. Universities
who are sensitive to this issue can take some small steps in assisting and
encouraging students to read first language research and to discuss papers and
projects in their first language. Students who are made aware or are already
aware that this issue exists have noted their efforts to improve their levels and
manner of speech in their first languages. Indeed, there was one important
exception amongst the students interviewed. This student said that while she
needs discipline-specific vocabulary in her first language, she has noticed that her
Lithuanian has become less regionally dialectic and more educated, which was
obviously a matter of pride for her. Perhaps awareness is all that is needed.
References
Commission of the European Communities. (2007). High Level Group on Multilingualism: Final
Report. Luxembourg: European Communities.Retrieved June 20, 2008, from
http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/lang/doc/multireport_en.pdf.
Cook, V. J. (2003). The changing L1 in the L2 user's mind. In Cook, V. J. (Ed.), Effects of the
Second Language on the First (3 (pp. 1-18)). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.
De Bot K. & Kleine M. (1994). 16-year longitudinal study of language attrition in
Dutch immigrants to Australia. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural
Development, 15 (1), 17-28.
Group of Intellectuals for Intercultural Dialogue. (2008). A Rewarding Challenge: How the
Multiplicity of Languages Could Strengthen Europe. Brussels: European Commission.
Retrieved June 20, 2008, from http://ec.europa.eu/education/policies/ lang/doc/
maalouf/report_en.pdf.
Jessner, U. (2003). A Dynamic Approach to Language Attrition in Multilingual Systems. In Cook
Vivian (Ed.), Effects of the Second Language on the First (Second Language Acquisition
3: pp. 234-46). New York: Cambridge University Press.
Leaver, B. L. (2002). Developing Professional Level Language Proficiency. Cambridge: University
Press Cambridge.
Pavlenko, A. (2003) 'I feel clumsy speaking Russian': L2 influence on L1 in narratives of Russian
L2 users of English. In: V. J. Cook. (Ed.), Effects of the second language on the first (pp.
32-61). Clevedon, UK: Multilingual Matters.
Saliamonaitė, S. (2008). The declared principle of „Language Equality“ of the
European Union vs. its practical implementation. Thesis, LCC International
University.
Van Geert, P. (1990). Dynamic Systems of Development: Change between Complexity and Chaos.
New York: Harvester Wheatsheaf.
About the Author
Geri Henderson, Ph.D. has been chair of the English Department at LCC International University
Since 2006.
E-mail: [email protected]
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128
TWO CULTURES IN ACADEMIA: STILL NOT TALKING
AFTER 50 YEARS?
Eric L. Hinderliter
LCC International University,
Klaipėda, Lithuania
Abstract
Two distinct cultures exist in academia - the culture of the 'literary intellectuals'
who view the world as story and metaphor and natural scientists who explain the
world mathematically. Neither can understand the other: there is no dialogue
between the two cultures. Scientists claim to have a superior understanding of
what counts as true knowledge; the literary intellectuals see their authority as
arbitrators of culture challenged and adopt an anti-scientific attitude. Literary
intellectuals are suspicious of what they see as the ill-effects of science. In the
meantime, science proceeds inexorably to alter society and to infringe on the
traditional disciplinary territory of the humanities and the social sciences. After
50 years the motifs in academia are variegated. Some scientists have recently
argued that the revolution in cognitive psychology has eroded the standard
social sciences model. Sympathetic scientists have proposed that faith and
science are compatible. Still others have proposed a 'third culture'. of wellinformed scientists and intellectuals.
C.P. Snow's 'two cultures'
The paradigm of 'two cultures' in academia continues to attract attention as a
useful metaphor; several articles appear each year affirming a continuing
cultural divide within the academy (Freedman, 2001; Kováč, 2002; Day, 2004;
Ortolano, 2004; Barash, 2005; Luckhurst, 2007; Gottschalk, 2008). The British
novelist and physicist Charles Percy Snow (1905-1980) is credited with coining
the phrase in a series of lectures in 1959 (and subsequently published as Two
Cultures and the Scientific Revolution). Snow claimed that two distinct cultures
exist in academia - the culture of the 'literary intellectuals' who view the world as
story and metaphor, and natural scientists who explain the world
mathematically. Neither can understand the other: there is no dialogue between
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the two 'cultures.' In Snow's words, “a gulf of mutual incomprehension,
sometimes (particularly among the young) hostility and dislike, but most of all
lack of understanding” exists between the two cultures (Snow, 1959, p. 4).
Culture as Snow defined it is a worldview. Dialogue requires both a will to
understand and a technical and literary expertise that comes only from rigorous
study of diverse disciplines.
In this bi-polar world scientists claim to have a superior understanding
of what counts as true knowledge. The “scientific culture” is characterized by
common attitudes, common standards and patterns of behavior. The scientific
worldview gives an identifiable uniformity: “without thinking, they respond alike.”
Scientists have hope: “the future in their bones” (Snow, p. 10). They are the
optimists. Moreover, it is the natural sciences that bring the prospects of
applying technology to the alleviation of the world's problems. The application of
science to industry systematically is championed by scientists. Snow sided
more with scientists as they offered hope for improving the lot of the poor. They
understood the plight of mankind and knew how to apply science and
technology systematically.
In Snow's view, the culture of the 'literary intellectuals' is home to the
champions of imagination. In academic life “literary intellectuals” are the
trustees of traditional culture. It is this worldview that “manages the western
world” (Snow, p. 11). Their tendency, however, is to be unscientific even antiscientific. “If the scientists have the future in their bones, then the traditional
culture responds by wishing the future did not exist” (Snow, p. 11). As a result,
the literary intellectuals saw their authority as arbitrators of culture challenged
and consequently adopted an anti-scientific attitude. Literary intellectuals are
suspicious of what they see as the ill-effects of science. In the meantime,
science proceeds inexorably to alter society. They may teach each widely but
“nothing like so rigorously” (Snow, p. 18). The literary intellectuals are
pessimistic; they are deeply suspicious of the results of science and technology.
In short, they have come to terms with neither the scientific revolution nor the
industrial revolution. They are latter-day Luddites, determined resisters of the
progress of modern science.
“Two cultures” represent the polarization of academic thinking. Each
camp is incomprehensible to the other. Each has its own domain or so it seems.
One focuses on science (progress as the application of technology); the other
on humanities (meaning traditional culture but not the natural sciences). The
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solution was education reform, Snow claimed. Students needed a balanced but
rigorous education so that they could operate effectively in both cultures. The
outcome was to develop and to diffuse a public language in which nonquantifiable considerations can be given their proper weight; otherwise
understanding of the nature of the human condition would remain superficial.
More rigorous education in math and science was needed to create truly literate
intellectuals.
Advances in psychology
Snow's 'two cultures' paradigm is too simplistic a motif for today's academic
landscape; Snow himself recognized that “2 is a very dangerous number”
(Snow, p. 9). After nearly 50 years, Snow's metaphor may seem an apt
characterization of academic life in the western world. But the academic world
has become more complex and specialized since Snow's lectures in 1959. Little
progress has been made in bridging the gap of mutual incomprehension but the
relationship has clearly evolved, often to the detriment of the humanities and
social sciences. Classically the relationship between society and technology
involves society adapting to technological developments. Inevitably society
'culturally lags' behind technology because technological development is faster
than social and cultural adaptation. Scientists see a simple solution: society
has to catch-up with change (Bauer, 2002, p. 21). Yet today the accelerated
pace of scientific change presents nearly insurmountable challenges to the
world of the literary intellectuals. How the 'two cultures' divide plays itself out in
the real world today is instructive for the mission of the academic community.
Snow was particularly concerned with the “practical consequences” of the
failure of dialogue between the two cultures (Snow, p. 16) and so should we.
Perhaps the most serious lag is found in absorbing the revolution in
cognitive psychology. The advances in cognitive psychology and evolutionary
biology have been large and pervasive. A powerful new discipline has arisen:
evolutionary psychology. The conflict between cultures continues is most
sharply between science and faith as the contemporary expression of the
'literary culture.' What has been dubbed the “questionable truce between nonoverlapping spheres of science and religion has come completely unglued”
(Miller, 1999, p. 184). Lack of mutual comprehension has led to widespread
conflict. “One of the great tragedies of our time is this impression that has been
created that science and religion have to be at war,” a prominent geneticist said
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recently. “I don't see that as necessary at all and I think it is deeply disappointing
that the shrill voices that occupy the extremes of this spectrum have dominated
the stage for the past 20 years” (Francis Collins quoted in Swindford, 2006).
The recent synthesis of evolutionary biology and cognitive psychology
has led, in the words of a popular textbook, to “a revolutionary new science, a
true synthesis of modern principles of psychology and evolutionary biology”
(Buss, 2008, p. xv). This new synthesis presses on the traditional domain of the
literary intellectual. Science is doing a better job of explaining the humanities
than the humanities are in explaining science. “What people think is explained
by how they think” (Tremlin, 2006 p. 72, emphasis in original). What has been
called the “crystallizing process of scientific integration” (Tooby & Cosmides,
1992, p. 21) has forever changed the relationship between the two cultures.
These recent challenges to the world of the literary intellectuals began in new
form with the 1975 publication of biologist Edward O. Wilson's Sociobiology:
The New Synthesis. The book generated both controversy and
misunderstanding because of the fear that evolutionary theory implies genetic
determinism. But more grounding in science makes clear that “evolutionary
theory does not imply that human behavior is genetically determined, nor that
human behavior is unchangeable” (Buss, 2008, p. 34)
The end of the standard social science model?
Did the advance of science end the need for dialogue? In 1992 a now-classic
essay, “The psychological foundations of culture” (Tooby and Cosmides, 1992)
laid out the culture divide in a new way. The traditional disciplinary definitions
have been broken down by the advance of scientific understanding. “These
intellectual advances have transported the living, the mental, and the humans-three domains that had previously been disconnected from the body of science
and mystified because of this disconnection into the scientifically analyzable
landscape of causation” (Tooby & Cosmides ,1992, p. 20). Science has become
more integrated: the unity of science is at hand. The “standard social sciences
model” was declared to be dead. The idea of a 'blank slate' perished in the face
of evolutionary biology. Not longer is culture writing the script and defining our
cognitive dispositions. The physical and mental worlds are united: the three
domains of the living, the mental, and the human are united “into the significantly
analyzable landscape of causation” (Tooby & Cosmides, 1992, p. 20). It
represents a massive erosion of the 'traditional' (tradition bound) culture of the
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literary intellectuals. “Human minds, human behavior, human artifacts, and
human culture are all biological phenomena” (Tooby & Cosmides ,1992, p. 21).
The basis of the social sciences and the humanities is gone: the very
“intellectual warrant” of the social sciences has vanished” (Tooby & Cosmides,
1992, p. 21). Today the scientific worldview has captured much new terrain. The
social sciences themselves are surrounded and isolated. But it is the social
sciences who are to blame for this isolation because they refused to deal with
the advance of science. The consequences are severe: some even claim that
the 'modern synthesis' has introduced a 'new Darwinism in the humanities'
(Fromm, 2003a).
Today the culture of science itself has two poles. One pole is hard
science. Here the “unity of science” continues its march. The scientific mindset
has triumphed: it is only a matter of time before all disciples are captured by the
rigor of the scientific methodology. Both the humanities and the social sciences
lack a defensible theoretical basis or a viable methodology. In today's academy
the socio-cultural approach no longer measures up. The “insistence of the
humanities and the social sciences on methodological autonomy has retarded
the power of social scientific explanations because this has forced social
scientists to look only to socio-cultural variables for explanations of the
phenomena in question.” As a result, only “surface correlations”, not real
explanations, “deeper causal explanations,” are offered (Tremilin, 2006, p. xiii).
Reliance on socialization as a unifying theory “simply postpones the
explanation” (Tremlin 2006 p. xv). The traditional underpinning of the 'queen of
the sciences,' theology, as a discipline, is being questioned in new ways.
Theology is seen as doing little more than providing “soothing background
noise”: theology has little to do with the growth or decline of religious traditions.
The cognitive approach to religion and not theology, it is claimed, offers the
explanation of the many motors that drive religious thought (Tremlin, 2006).
Hard science has crowded out religion. Scientific integration has replaced
theological speculation.
New cognitive research has led to the idea that scientists can explain
religion in ways that theology cannot (Where angels, 2008). The cognitive
revolution has made “looking inside the heads” of people an important and
respected scientific activity (Buss, 2008, p. 34). A new European Union-funded
initiative, 'Explaining Religion' (EXREL, n.d.), claims that the” core features of
religion arise as outcomes of the activation of particular cognitive mechanisms.”
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This interdisciplinary research seeks to understand both what is “universal and
cross-culturally variant in religious traditions” as well as “the cognitive
mechanisms that undergird religious thinking and behavior.” EXREL's principal
scientific objectives are “to characterize precisely the main elements of the
universal religious repertoire and the extent of its variation and to establish the
principal causes of the universal religious repertoire.” It seeks nothing less that
a “computational model” of religiosity (EXREL, n.d.). The search for the 'god
gene' is on in earnest.
The 'unity of science' in the extreme science pole has become the 'unity
of knowledge.' In 1998 Wilson's book Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge
forecast that the future might actually unite the sciences with the humanities. In
Wilson's terms the academic world is divided into two worldviews: religious
transcendentalism and scientific empiricism (Wilson 1998). Even the basis of
ethics is challenged. A New York Times book reviewer saw it this way:
Wilson argues that in recent decades rapidly ripening research into
genes, behavior and the brain has been bringing biology ever closer to
the domains occupied by the social sciences and parts of the
humanities, especially ethics and the interpretation of art. The core of
his claim is this: Thought, ethics, creativity, culture -- indeed, mind in
general -- are all materially grounded in the physicochemical activities
of the brain and its interactions with the body (Kevles, 1998).
From this scientific perspective a fundamental reformulation of the intellectual
world is needed to account for the new landscape created by cognitive science
and evolutionary psychology.
A more cautious and accommodating pole in the science camp is
evident. The loss of authority of science weighs heavily here. The public is not
only suspicious but is intruding into the lab in ways that inhibit scientific
advances. Opposition to the activities of science is growing. Public concerns,
public skepticism about what scientists are up to has invaded the laboratory. A
new kind of Luddite-like activism threatens the autonomy of science. Ignorance
of science no longer guarantees that scientists can do what they want. Many
spheres of research - genetically modified food, for example, are subject to
much debate. Nanotechnology is suspect in the public eye and the opposition
requires more efforts at public understanding (Nanotech 2008;
Nanotechnology, 2008).
Nanotechnology, which involves studying and working with matter on
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an ultra-small scale, is widely perceived as one of the key technologies
of the 21st century, with the potential to grow into a 1 trillion euro
industry within a decade. However, fears are growing that the field
could develop into a political battleground with fiery debates about the
dangers of nanotech and its health, environmental and ethical
consequences - as has happened with biotechnology (EU Observatory
2008).
Without better dialogue, the economic and social benefits of the systematic
application of science to industrial production will be lost, just as Snow feared 50
years ago.
Scientists see the need for more effective communication to change
hostile public perceptions. In Europe the persistence of the 'two cultures' is most
evident in the controversy over biotechnology. There is a dichotomy between
the secular academy and the general public. Scientists see their work
threatened by public opposition. The public aspect of science has become
critical to progress. The European Science Communication Network (ESConet)
asserts that further scientific progress requires “building a society in which
people have information and knowledge that empowers them in their daily and
political lives.” (Interview, 2005). Science risks being hemmed in by suspicions
about what scientists are doing in their laboratories. Scientists may want the
last word but increasingly 'scientific authority' and the 'facts' alone no longer
entirely shape public perceptions.
A new world for humanities and the social sciences
The world of today's 'literary intellectuals' is even more variegated than the
culture of science. Three strands are evident: adaptation, conversation, and
combat. The culture of adaptation introduces Darwinism into the humanities.
This motif recognizes that the asymmetry between the two cultures in favor of
science and technology continues: “Progress in the humanities typically does
not threaten science, whereas the more science advances, the more the
humanities seem at risk” (Barasch, 2005). In the face of the unrelenting
onslaught of science, literary intellectuals, some fear, have lost the confidence
Snow once described as arrogance. A recent article described the discipline in a
lament: “more and more literary scholars have agreed that the field has become
moribund, aimless, and increasingly irrelevant to the concerns not only of the
‘outside world,’ but also to the world inside the ivory tower. Class enrollments
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and funding are down, morale is sagging, huge numbers of PhDs can't find jobs,
and books languish unpublished or unpurchased because almost no one, not
even other literary scholars, wants to read them” (Gottschalk, 2008).
At one pole scholars see that the theoretical model of the literary
intellectuals has been killed off by biology. Literary intellectuals have made
weak attempts to learn the language of science but little respect from the other
side has been forthcoming: “humanists in general are totally ignorant about the
sciences and their facile references to Einstein and Heisenberg make scientists
laugh” (Fromm, 2003a, p. 99). The champions of traditional culture have been
defeated by new science. Wan attempts at adaptation have been proposed to
escape the death of the 'blank slate' theory of the mind.
Contemporary literary theory, for instance, is deeply rooted in the 'blank
slate' theory of the mind - the idea that the human mind is overwhelmingly
shaped by social and cultural influences, rather than by biology. But this
theory has perished in the sciences, killed off by advances in evolutionary
biology, cognitive science, neuroscience, and other related fields. So most
of the big ideas' in contemporary literary studies have been flawed from
their inception - they have been based, at least in part, on failed theories of
human nature. Armed with a current understanding of the sciences of the
mind, literary scholars could develop surer interpretations of individual
works, answer larger questions, such as why literary plots vary within such
narrow bounds, and even plumb the ultimate wellsprings of the human
animal's strange, ardent love affair with story. (Gottschalk, 2008)
A second motif is the culture of conversation and accommodation:
Science and technology offers new ways of teaching and new methods of
research for traditional humanities. Technology is certainly useful in the
humanities. Digital libraries have grown quickly; scanning techniques are
accelerating the availability of literature and redefining the definition of “book.”
Predictions are that soon “nearly every published work will be searchable
online” (Lesk, 2007). Traditional disciplines are being restructured to be more
internationally interdisciplinary. Technology allows new forms of collaboration
between students. “Writing across the curriculum” has become “digital writing
across the curriculum.” The Modern Language Association (MLA) is seeking
accommodation with the world of technology:
These new forms of scholarship call for new forms of presentation
beyond the traditional paper-reading panel. Though C.P. Snow surely
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exaggerated the divide between the two cultures (literary intellectuals
are no longer, if they ever were, “natural Luddites”), these unfamiliar
forms of presentation, associated for many with the sciences, may
require a slight adjustment in expectations and conventional roles on
the part of some MLA conventioneers (Jones, 2006).
The "New Humanities Initiative" at Binghamton University in New York believes
that the cultural chasm can be bridged. Cross over between disciplines is
stressed in courses: “evolutionary biology is a discipline that, to be done right,
demands a crossover approach, the capacity to think in narrative and abstract
terms simultaneously” (Angier, 2008). The qualitative and the quantitative
mindsets are to be united, ending the dichotomy.
'Cultural warriors'
Today the two cultures are often described in terms of the 'secular academy' and
'Christian scholarship.' The world of higher education is cast as openly hostile to
religious faith (Miller, 1999); this hostility has prompted a strong, even
combative response. In the USA today the two cultures divide -- increasingly
described as a 'secular' culture versus a 'religious' culture -- is most evident in
the debate over evolution. Here the focus is on epistemology; ways of knowing
include more than just science. Presuppositions are the starting point of any
epistemological system. Much is made of how to understand 'meaning.' The
debate between the two cultures centers on whether different worldviews lead
ultimately “to understanding God's word or to understanding God's world.” Here
the debate is over differences in knowledge claims. The focus is on the
assumptions behind science and the limitation of science to determine
meaning. The danger arises when the facts of science are interpreted
subjectively. Facts are one thing but “It's the meaning of some findings that
creates the conflicts” (Harris, 2004, p.174). The integration of faith and learning
sees the world as not two separate realms but as one whole. Students are
advised to “avoid mere accommodationism” (Harris, 2004, p. 240). “Naturalism
claims that all truth must derive from observation or experiment is a claim that
cannot be derived from observation or experiment: it is a metaphysical
assumption” (Harris, 2004, p174). One strand of thought characterizes two
types of science - one a true science and the other as 'scientism.'
The most vocal camp is combat. Francis Collins writes that it is hard to
escape the sense that there are two versions of the truth not seeking harmony
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but in fact are at war (Collins 2006). The evangelical image is “cultural warriors”
(Naugle 2003). The lens is the Christian worldview. Today at least among some
literary intellectuals we might call what Snow dubbed 'culture' as 'worldview.'
The literary intellectuals were aghast at the prospect of what they saw as the
conquest of traditional culture by a Darwinian-materialist worldview. The
materialistic-reduction view was assailed because man and creation were
degraded. Yet the emphasis of this motif on ways of knowing is criticized for
“epistemological arrogance” and is characterized as too dismissive of science
(Thiessen, 2007).
A “third culture”
What might an academic agenda to bridge the gap between the two cultures
look like for the next 50 years? There are four key areas: better courses in
communication, math, science; improved career education; promotion of
interdisciplinary majors - an inside the box reform; and creation of stand alone
research centers - move outside the box. The threat of global warming may
contain a silver lining that drives the two cultures together for the common good.
To answer the pressing environmental questions, stand alone research centers
may facilitate researchers crossing rigid disciplinary lines. One discipline
cannot dominate research. Moving outside the structures of the traditional ivory
tower is needed to give better answers that will in turn have a higher probability
of being adopted by society at large. (Deutsch, 2007).
In the manner of the Hegelian dialectic some have proposed a 'third
culture,' a new circle of intellectuals who are competent in the world of today's
science. Its website proclaims:
The third culture consists of those scientists and other thinkers in the
empirical world who, through their work and expository writing, are taking
the place of the traditional intellectual in rendering visible the deeper
meanings of our lives, redefining who and what we are. (Brockman, 1991).
The literary intellectuals of Snow's era have been displaced by a more
competent type of scholar. These old-style, reactionary intellectuals can no
longer get away with their ignorance of science. The new intellectuals
communicate directly with the “intelligent reading public.” The wide appeal of
the third-culture thinkers is not due solely to their writing ability; what
traditionally has been called "science" has today become "public culture”
(Brockman, 1991). The publication of The Third Culture: Beyond The Scientific
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ERIC HINDERLITER
Revolution (1995) by John Brockman helped cement this notion of a new
community of intellectual now no longer trapped within the academy. The
intellectual torch has been passed to a new bred on intellectual, one that Snow
only vaguely imagined. Sometimes scorned as merely the work of a skilled
publicist, the 'third culture' finds some significant support in recent publications
and awards.
Scientists and their faith
Scientists who are also believers are offering reasoned positions on the culture
of science and the assurance of faith. Two prominent scientists have taken
public positions on the compatibility of science and faith: coexistence is possible
and completely rational. Kenneth Miller, a biologist, and expert witness in the
2005, federal 'intelligent design' court case in Pennsylvania, is author of Finding
Darwin's God (1999). He notes “a fabric of disbelief enclosing the academic
establishment” (Miller, 1999, p. 184). “The common view that religion must
tiptoe around the findings of evolutionary biology is simply and plainly wrong.”
(Miller, 1999, p. 289). In a similar way, Francis S. Collins, head of the human
genome project, proposes an integration of faith with the dramatic advances of
science in his book The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for
Belief (2007). "In my view, DNA sequence alone, even if accompanied by a vast
trove of data on biological function, will never explain certain special human
attributes, such as the knowledge of the Moral Law and the universal search for
God." (quoted in Swinford, 2006). Critics find these statements of faith to be
uninspiring to be sure but these efforts to show the compatibility find wide
support. .
The Templeton Foundation through its “Prize for Progress in Religion” is
lauding attempts at a new synthesis. Annually the award of the prize calls
attention to efforts to increase the dialogue between faith and science (Barbour,
1997). The 2000 awardee, the physicist Freeman Dyson, affirmed that both
religion and science had their separate jurisdictions. There is a logical
foundation to belief. Neither science nor religion alone could solve all the
mysteries of life (Dyson, 2000). The 2008 Templeton Prize was awarded to
Michael Heller for his efforts to foster a dialogue between science and religion.
Heller advocates “thinking about science as deciphering the Mind of God.”
Mathematics and theology fit together: he advances the “idea of God creating
the universe by thinking mathematical structures through” (Templeton, 2008;
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LCC / LIBERAL ARTS STUDIES / 2008
Heller, 2008). In Heller's words, “Science gives us knowledge, but religion gives
us meaning” (quoted Veleasquez-Manoff, 2008).
The next 50 years
The urgency of bridging the gap between the two cultures was recently
highlighted by Edward Wilson's new book The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life
on Earth (2006). Wilson appeals for dialogue in a letter to an imaginary Baptist
minister. Despite their differences in worldview, Wilson proposes that they
lay aside principled disagreements about evolution and intelligent design.
We do not need to answer or agree upon every mystery of the universe to
confront problems that are, by any account, serious and urgent. Some will
see in the natural world a divine creation, and the Lord of Life who makes
nothing in vain. Enough for others 'living Nature,' every plant or animal a
'masterpiece of biology,' as Wilson writes. 'Does this difference in worldview
separate us in all things?' he asks. 'It does not. ... Let us see, then, if we can,
and you are willing, to meet on the near side of metaphysics in order to deal
with the real world we share (quoted in Scully, 2008).
It remains to be seen whether the problems of the modern world will lead
to a more profound dialogue between the two cultures.
The number of jobs requiring science and engineering skills is growing
at three times the rate of other occupations (Friedman, 2005 p. 258). The liberal
arts face their ultimate test in the twentieth-first century, perhaps nothing short of
a Darwinian struggle for survival. Without serious reform within the academy 50
years the 'two cultures' world of C.P. Snow might be reduced to just one, the
needless triumph of a kind of determinism masking as the units of knowledge.
The systematic application of science and technology would have conquered
the humanities; the unity of science would have been achieved. The humanities
would be reduced to dust-covered and quaint antiquarian studies, but now done
with mathematical precision by computer programs. Both scientists and literary
intellectuals would regret this 'brave new world'; all of us would be impoverished.
The question in the end is more than just how much space is left by crowding out
by science. The larger question is whether the culture of the literary intellectuals
can respond to the tremendous demands posed by the complex problems of
society caused by science's lack of credibility in the public. How things will turn
out is not simply determinism. The search for meaning and successful adaption
is more than biology.
140
ERIC HINDERLITER
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144
SLAVIC MYTH IN THE CONTEXT OF
THE REVOLUTIONS OF 1991 AND 2004 IN UKRAINE
Oleksandra Kharchyshyna
LCC International University,
Klaipėda, Lithuania
Abstract
While the myth of the battle between the thunder-god (Perun), the symbol of
order, and serpent (Veles), the symbol of chaos, can be traced in numerous
world mythologies, an essential aspect of the myth's storyline is the
reconciliation of the two elements that leads to rejuvenations in nature and
further development. In Ukraine between 1991 and 2004, the occurrence of
such archetypical images is consequently interrelated with the political scene,
in the form of the two revolutions that Ukraine has undergone in the attempt to
establish a democratic and independent state, with the so-called Orange
revolution of 2004 being the largest peaceful demonstration in post-Soviet
space. In the course of the revolutions, certain political blocks became the
object of projection of the individual cultural and national identities, and, in
relation to the Jungian psychoanalytic perspective, facilitated the establishment
of the balance of the opposing unconscious drives in the masses.
The research adopts the structuralism stance to the reading of myth
and its subsequent interpretation in the light of Jungian psychoanalytic models
and applies the research material to particular historical setting. The research
uses the most recent version of the mythic text, published within the corpus of
Ukrainian mythology The Myths and Legends of the Ancient Ukraine by Valerij
Voitovych published in 2007. As the form of criticism, the research adopts the
stance elaborated by Northrop Frye (1957) in the Anatomy of Criticism, who
presents the persona of the critique as the independent “pioneer of education”
and shaper of cultural tradition rather than artists manqué with artificial taste
and assumes the criticism to be “a structure of thought and knowledge existing
in its own right, with some measure of independence from the art it deals with.”
(p. 47) Thus, the research aims to proceed with the synthesis of the findings
within the fields of linguistics, literature, cultural studies and philosophy in order
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to achieve more profound insight in to the subject matter of investigation.
As the form of “participation mystique” the myth is capable of providing
an insight into intrapersonal processes of change, identification and selfregulation arising in reaction to the changes in the larger context of the cultural
and political scene. The myth also functions as the element of the discourse of
the categories on the art and non-art, culture and nature, myth and philosophy.
As the cross-ethnic reconciliation model, and a constructing element within
emerging the communication system, the myth deals with meaning making on
societal and individual levels.
Current need in reinterpretation
The need for reinterpretation of the currently existing material on the subject is
elaborated in the light of the semiotic study of cultural discourse according to the
model developed by the Tartu linguistic school. According to the study
conducted by Goran Sonesson, culture as system of signs in its own right,
functions as the form of text:
“Every kind of occurrence recognized by culture as its own is a text
whether it consists of the signs from the repertory of verbal
language, or is made up of pictures, behavior sequences, and so on”
(Sonesson p. 1).
The texts are acceptable within the culture and opposed to the “non-texts”
produced by the other cultures, that fall into categories of non-culture or extraculture. The deformation thus results from reading the text from another culture
using the system of interpretation available in one's own culture.
Previous research in the field approached the context of Ukrainian myth
and cultural tradition as the text of extra-culture interpreted by the colonial
cultures of Russian and Austro-Hungarian Empires as well as culture of the
totalitarian Soviet regime. Thus, the study responds to the need for the
reinterpretation of the previous findings in the field in the context of its own
culture, rather than placing it within extra-culture's text of the colonial
governments.
Cultural identity as the discourse
In structuralism perception, the identity is not a unitary stable subject that
remains consistent across time, and grounded in the history, it “is always
unstable, fragmented and continuous, since is depends on exclusion of that
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OLEKSANDRA KHARCHYSHYNA
which is the Other” (Hammond, p. 2). As argued by Hall in Cultural Identity and
Diaspora,
“cultural identity is a way of 'becoming' as well as 'being.' It belongs to
the future as much as to the past. It is not something which already
exists, transcending place, time, history and culture. Cultural identities
(…) have histories, but like everything which is historical, they undergo
constant transformation.”(Hall, 1990, p. 225)
Thus, cultural identity is viewed by the current research as an active process of
representation or as the discursive construction.
Inclusive nationalism of the multiethnic culture
Employment of the myth by the Ukrainian government in course of the formation
the independent and democratic state elaborates the need of the elite to create
new cultural and national identities in the post-soviet environment that would
function constructively in the multiethnic nation and be capable of establishing
liberal inclusive nationalism. The disappearance of the communist regime
provided the Ukrainian elite with the opportunity to ground Ukrainian identity in
the myth, symbols and values of their choice, yet “the collapse of the Communist
culture has left conceptual chaos in its wake, within which the words have lost
their traditional meaning and communication has become difficult” (Motyl, 1993,
p. 76). Thus, the creation of the multiethnic nation became an imperative, and
Ukrainian ethnic elements had to be incorporated into a larger national identity,
based not on exclusive ethnic, linguistic, religious principles but on the notion of
political, economic and territorial unity.
The myth of the struggle of the thunder god Perun and serpent Veles,
thus becomes part of the larger myth of the Kyivan Rus, which underlines the
Ukrainian aspiration for democracy and freedom, its multiethnic character and
articulates it as distinct from the northern colonial neighbor Russia. The key
feature of the myth of Kievan Rus' is that “Kyivan state, though perhaps logically
a part of Ukrainian history, was not ethnically Ukrainian in any meaningful sense
of the word. (…) Rather, the Slavs who inhabited it were at best pre-Ukrainian,
pre-Russian, pre-Byelorussian etc” (Motyl, 1993, p. 87). In attempt to establish
a cohesive Slavic state in 980s Volodymyr the Great proceeded with the
reformation of the Slavic pantheon, establishing Perun and Veles as the major
deities (Zaroff, p.1). Thus, the exploitation of the symbols of the myth, which is
discussed in the research, in the course of historical events of 1991 and 2004
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functions as the reference to the multiethnic independent state of the Kyivan
Rus,' a prototype for the future democratic and sovereign state. On other hand,
the myth becomes an element of the newly emerging communication system,
taking part in the process of formation of the new arrangement of cultural signs.
Interpretation of the myth within the Jungian model of the collective
unconscious
According to the framework of Jungian psychoanalytic model of the collective
unconscious, the struggle and reconciliation of the deities becomes the
articulation of the balancing of the unconscious tendencies toward chaos and
order in the collective unconscious of the masses, which have projected their
cultural and national identities on certain political blocks. While Perun functions
as the representation of order, mythic divine law and the legislative system,
Veles is the representation of chaos, patron of commerce and arts. In the course
of the revolution of 1991, the nationalist movement organization Ruh, with its
later legalization as the Democratic Party becomes the object of projection and
uses the archetypical elements of the myth in the course of the establishment of
Ukraine's independence from the Soviet regime. In 2004, Yushchenko's block is
like wisely launches the shift in the national and cultural identities of Ukrainians
during the Orange revolution.
In the assessment of archetypes, Carl Jung defines the phenomenon as
the form of collective unconscious shaped by “remote experiences of mankind.”
(Fordham 1966) According to Jung's findings, archetypical images are
manifestations of an a priori intuition that structure a person's perception and
apprehension of life experiences into distinctively human patterns. Although
formed over generations, archetypical images are flexible to the setting and
time. They can take either geometric form, or animal, human, semi-human
forms, as found in countless examples in world mythologies. Archetypical
images and emotional patterns are more likely to occur at significant life
situations, such as birth, death, transitional experiences or extreme danger.
According to Jung's findings the subject matter of world myth is the
direct expression of the collective unconscious. The major reason for the
statement is the fact that mythic stories are not exclusively explanations of the
natural phenomenon. To a larger degree they become an expression of how a
person experiences natural phenomenon. As argued by Levy-Bruhl, primitive
people lived in “participation mystique” with the immediate environment, making
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OLEKSANDRA KHARCHYSHYNA
no sharp distinction between themselves and their surroundings. (Fordham,
1966) Consequently, changes in the outer world were equivalent to change in
the inner world, and myth was the articulation of inner changes that followed the
outer.
Carl Jung argues that religion, poetry and folklore are largely
dependent on the employment of collective archetypes. In tribal religions
archetypical images are much easier to trace. Recurrent patterns in world
mythologies as well as the similarity of tribal religions are among Jung's
arguments in support of the existence of the archetypical unconscious, which,
according to psychoanalysis, has enormous potential and is a “hidden treasure
upon which mankind ever and anon has drawn, and from which it has raised up
its gods and demons, and all those potent and mighty thoughts without which
man ceased to be man” (Fordham, 1966). Thus the collective unconscious,
according to Carl Jung, becomes one of the sources of consciousness, the socalled “creative and destructive spirit of mankind.”
Approaching the Slavic myth of the struggle between Perun and Veles,
one can state that as a form of “participation mystique” the myth approaches the
transitional change in the natural year cycle, or, on the smaller scale, the lesser
cycle of the rain occurrence. Each of the deities represents a different natural
realm: Perun, who resides on the upper level of the symbolic universal tree of
life is associated with the natural realm of fire and the social conventions of law;
Veles, who resides in the lower parts of the universal tree of life is the
embodiment of the realm of water, and represents the underworld as well as the
creative spirit of humanity. In the course of the mythic story, because of theft or
treachery the two deities leave their places of residence and engage in battle,
which ends with Veles returning to the underworld, manifest in the form of rain.
According to the myth, although Veles acts against the sacred laws when
leaving the place of residence or stealing, he does not pay retribution for his
deeds: the deity repents and willingly returns to the underworld. The cycle of
struggle and repentance is essential since it becomes a symbolic
representation of the cyclical rejuvenence of earth and its fertility. On a larger
scale, with Veles' festivities celebrated for two weeks after January 7 and
Perun's fest organized on the July 20, to a degree the myth addresses the
cyclical year's change in nature. Thus the mythic story elaborates the changes
in the minds of primitive people exposed to the occurrence of rain and to the
cyclical occurrence of the seasons.
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The forms of the participating deities are human, animal or semi-human
and the occurrence of the mythic story can be traced across world mythologies
and is present in numerous fairy tales. As the deity, Perun takes human form,
that of a warrior, law-giver and sustainer. He is described as the patron deity of
the military elite. The animal form correspondent to the deity, which occurs in
some of the fairy-tales, is the fiery falcon. Yet the image of the fiery falcon is more
often referred to as Perun's representative or messenger and not the deity
himself. On the contrary, Veles is represented in the form of the serpent or
dragon. Veles also becomes associated with the animal form as the deity of the
cattle herds and trade.
The battle of Perun and Veles is described as the struggle of the thunder
god in human form and the serpent. Numerous parallels can be traced in world
mythologies in regard to the struggle of the thunder god and the serpent. In
Homer's Golden Fleece, Jason ploughs the Ares' field and plants the teeth of the
dead dragon killed by the legendary warrior Kadm. Analyzing Homer's epic, one
finds abundance of similar symbols and images: “Kadm wounds the dragon with
the spear and presses it to the oak tree, piercing both the serpent and the tree” (
Romanovki, 1998, p. 31). Both Greek and Slavic myths share the symbols of the
oak tree and spear. The tree of life in Slavic mythology is associated with the oak
while the weapon of the Perun deity is the bolt of lightening in the form of the
spear. Thus, the myth shares the properties described by Carl Jung in his study
of archetypes, such as the universality of certain elements of the storyline and
symbols with world mythologies and folklore, as well the representation of the
deities in human, semi-human and animal forms.
Continuing his research on the effect of the archetypes on human
psyche, Carl Jung regards the collective unconscious as the core factor that
explains the phenomenon of the mass consciousness and tendency of large
groups to act irrationally. In his study, Jung outlines that, “the psychopathology of
the masses is rooted in psychology of the individual.” (Fordham, 1966) Yet, as
he continues, when individuals are in larger groups, it is not the individual traits
of each that become powerful. Instead, what is shared by all namely the
archetypical elements take guidance over the masses as well as the average
qualities of the individual. Thus, he argues, the larger the group, the more stupid
it will act and even intelligent individuals will behave on a much lower level of
intelligence if they also fall under the influence of archetypes.
Further, what explains the tendency of the masses to act violently is the
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fact that they provide the opportunity for the unconscious to balance its needs in
chaos and order. As Carl Jung argues, modern society has enforced the “outer”
civilization upon individuals. Systems of law develop a one-sided conscious
attitude in the individual while leavening the needs of the unattained
unconscious. As the Frankfurt school of philosophy argues, the project of
Enlightenment failed since it was able to build society based solely on
instrumental reasoning, in contrast to objective reasoning. With the emphasis
on rationality, modern societies were not able to approach in an adequate
manner the issues of natural, instinctive or intuitive behavior. Archetypes
provide an outlet for the necessities that were repressed and are able to lead to
outbursts of violence in societies with a high level of organization. On the
contrary, in societies that for the long time remain in chaos, archetypes are able
to make a more constructive influence on people, promoting the establishment
of stability. Thus, when life is over-orderly, the collective unconscious manifests
itself in outbursts of chaos, while in unstable societies, the unconscious
produces the symbols of order.
Being rooted in the masses, and acting as a pendulum between the
unconscious needs of chaos or order, archetypes also have a tendency to
project themselves on governmental systems. Thus, as Jung explicates, instead
of establishing a balance between the two needs in their personal lives,
individuals often transfer the responsibility to the persona of the new leader, who
promises to establish the new order, in contrast to the existing one, regardless of
the means that will be taken to establish the new social system. (Fordham,
1966)
A revival of interest in the ancient Ukrainian myth has developed over
the past two decades, a time-period marked notably by two revolutions, one in
1991 and another in 2004. Archetypical elements of myth can be analyzed in
relation to historical events, and precisely, with the effects two revolutions on the
consciousness of Ukrainians.
The obstacle faced by both political blocks was the need for their
genuine legitimation along with the reassessment of the value system in order to
establish an independent state on the basis of democratic laws. Legitimation is
the process of the spread, discussion, reformulation and adjustment of the
norms of the legislative system while awaiting process of their acceptance by
the public, a consensus between all levels of society: “legitimation is a complex
process of integration of society of the basis of the similar values, along with the
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ability of government to put in practice the values defined by collective
unconscious” (Bystrytzky, 1996, p. 1). According the study conducted by a
historian, leaders of nation states are not capable of independently deciding
upon the values held in the collective unconscious yet they are also incapable of
proceeding with integration on the basis of the values that are not under their
control.
Political blocks that succeeded with the reformation of the state in the
course of the two revolutions thus encountered genuine legitimation in contrast
to the opponents, by adopting the values of the collective unconscious along
with the values of the democratic legislative system. The rate at which the
Soviet governments collapsed in the republic of the Union was caused by the
employment of the artificial values system that did not encounter legitimation
(Bystrytzky, 1996). In the current political environment in Ukraine, one finds
tendencies of the political powers for “authoritarian creation of the norms of
legitimation that would serve their immediate interests” in “communist reflex”
that fails to affect the identity of Ukrainians.
Conclusions
Archetypical symbols of the myth of Perun and Veles used by two political
blocks in the course of revolutions in 1991 and 2004 were capable of assessing
the collective unconscious of the ethnically diverse population of the country
due to their connection with the historical myth of the Kyivan State. The newly
formed national identity of the Ukrainian uprising in reaction to revolutions was
the result of the reestablishment of a functional communication system that
proceeded with the recovery of the balance of the unconscious drives of order
and chaos within the ethnically diverse groups, initially hostile in relation to each
other.
References
Bystrytzky, E. (1996). Ukraine in XX century (Historic-Political Analyses). Kyiv: Politychna Dumka.
Davis, R., & Schleifer R. (1991). Criticism and culture. London: Longman.
Fordham, F. (1966). An introduction to Jung's psychology. The Jung Page. Retrieved March,
20, 2008, from
http://www.cgjungpage.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=852&Itemid
=41
Frye, N. (1957). Anatomy of criticism. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Grushevslyj, M. (1937). History of Ukraine. Retrieved March 20, 2008, from
http://www.uahistory.kiev.ua/
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OLEKSANDRA KHARCHYSHYNA
Hall, S. (1990). Cultural identity and diaspora. Rutherford, J. (ed.) Identity: Community, Culture,
Difference. London: Lawrence & Wishart
Hammond, P. (1999). Cultural Identity and Ideology. Retrieved August 4, 2008, from
http://myweb.lsbu.ac.uk/philip-hammond/1999b.html
Izbornyk. history of Ukraine IX-XVIII centuries. Primary sources and interpretations. (21 August
2001) Retrieved March 20, 2008, from http://litopys.org.ua/.
Levi-Strauss, Claude. (1967 ) The Structural approach to the myth.
Morley, D., & Robins K. (1995) Spaces of Identity. London: Routledge.
Motyl, A. (1993). Dilemmas of independence: Ukraine after totalitarianism. New York: Council of
Foreign Relations Press.
Mythology. (1993). Encyclopedia of Ukraine. Retrieved March 20, 2008, from
http://www.encyclopediaofukraine.com/display.asp?linkPath=pages\M\Y\Mythology.htm
Petrov, V. (1959). . Origin of Ukrainian culture. Retrieved April 2, 2008, from
http://www.ukrcenter.com/library/read.asp?id=486.
Romanovsky, A. (1998). Homer's enigma. Moscow.
Shmorgun, E. (1994). The forgotten deities of the ancestors. Kiev: Veselka Publishing Company.
Sonneson, G. Bringing nature and culture in cultural semiotics.
Subtelty, O. (2000) Ukraine: A history. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
Vojtovych, V. (2007). Myth and legends of the ancient Ukraine. Ternopil: Bogdan.
Zaroff, R. (1999). Organized pagan cult in Kievan Rus.' The invention of foreign elite or evolution
of the local tradition? Retrieved March, 20, 2008, from
http://www.ibiblio.org/sergei/Zaroff/.
About the Author
Oleksandra Kharchyshyna, BA is a 2008 graduate of LCC International University. She majored
in English.
E-mail: [email protected]
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154
THE CONCEPT OF COMMUNITY COHESION
IN BRITISH POLITICS
Malgorzata Kulakowska
Jagiellonian University,
Krakow, Poland
Abstract
This paper analyses a concept of community cohesion as crucial for
understanding of the contemporary British policy towards various communities
present in the United Kingdom today. It is well worth noting the circumstances
of this process, beginning from disturbances which took place in several British
cities in summer 2001. As a result, numerous panels and commissions were
launched in order to examine causes of these outbreaks and to suggest steps
which should be undertaken in order to avoid their recurrence. Consequently,
the community cohesion became a key concept for governmental politics,
influencing decisions concerning such crucial areas as education, housing, or
crime prevention. In the paper, the term “community cohesion” will be then
analyzed in the context of cultural and social changes and trends present in the
British society, at the beginning of the 21st century. As the basis of such analysis,
several governmental and non-governmental reports will be used, as well as
official documents prepared by the British administration departments, both on
central and local levels.
Introduction
The aim of the paper is to present the concept of community cohesion in British
politics, in the context of recent debates on multiculturalism, and ethnic and
cultural groups present in the United Kingdom today.
This paper first describes the term 'multiculturalism', accompanied by
the presentation of a contemporary cultural mosaic of the British society. In the
following chapters, the term 'community cohesion' will be examined, with the
emphasis laid on the circumstances that might arguably lead to its growing
popularity. In the conclusion, the attempt will be made to assess critically a
concept and its novelty, questioning whether it signifies any important change or
just replaces the old attitudes with new names.
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Multiculturalism
Multiculturalism seems a very interesting concept that can be analysed on
different platforms. The ending 'ism' would suggest that it is a sort of a political
movement with an explicit ideology lying beneath that. On the other hand, it is
also presented as the set of concrete policies implemented on all government
levels, directed towards cultural minorities. The question arises whether the
government does not in fact need an ideology (or at least a philosophical
assumption) in order to be able to pursue its actions.
It seems valuable to refer here to Tariq Modood, who, in his recent book
Multiculturalism (Madood, 2007) describes the recent debate questioning the
validity of multiculturalism as the answer for ethnic and religious tensions of our
era. He emphasises the new wave of critique of multiculturalism which took
place after the events of 2001 (both summer disturbances in English cities and
September 11 in the United States), blaming multicultural policies for fostering
segregation and fragmentation of the British society. Still, he endeavours to
show that multiculturalism may be the best solution for ethnic and racial
tensions, if understood as promoting equality and integration (Modood, 2007,
pp. 10-20).
There seems to be a wide consensus that the Great Britain has
relatively recently become a multicultural country. Still, it may be worth asking
whether it is really so. The United Kingdom has always been the mixture of
different nations and cultures, and now due to the processes of devolution,
regional (or using a different term - national) differences between Scottish,
Welsh, English, and above all, Irish become more and more visible. It seems
valid to question whether it is not true that British multiculturalism has gained its
recognition because of racial (thus strongly visible) differences between former
inhabitants of British Isles and people who arrived there after the Second World
War.
While it cannot be denied that ethnic divisions and categories are too
often simplistically restricted to racial differences between those who are White
and those who are not, the whole context of multicultural policies needs to be
taken in consideration. Those who say that Britain has definitely become a
multicultural state, may mean something more than there are now cultural
minorities present in the United Kingdom. They may say that there is now a new
(or at least renewed) understanding what presence of such minority groups can
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signify, and what needs and expectations rise from such a situation, directed
both towards majority and minority groups.
Ethnic and religious minorities present in the United Kingdom
Talking about cultural minorities in any country seems endless. On what kind of
criteria such groups could be established? Music, type of household, religion,
ethnicity, race? Such question appears not to be any less difficult that a question
of the nature of culture. What would we call a 'culture'? Such sophisticated
deliberations again exceed the scope of this paper, so necessarily simplistic
solutions will be accepted. Culture will be then understood as a chosen set of
norms and values by which one agrees to govern one's own life.
Numerous groups can be defined or self-defined according to such a
broad criterion. Then again, certain simplistic approach must be adopted, in
order to proceed. In the focus of this paper, the emphasis is laid on ethnic and
religious groups present in the contemporary British society. The term race will
be avoided as much as possible, as its usage brings up controversies between
scholars. While some argue that it lost it scientific and cognitive meaning, being
a pure construct without any significant reference to reality (Giddens, 1994, pp.
253-255), the others would point out genuine biological differences between
people belonging to different genotypes (Malik, 2007a; Malik, 2007b).
According to the recent citizen poll (taken in 2001) and data published
by the Office for National Statistics (see the table 1), there is more than 92 % of
White inhabitants in the United Kingdom, while the remaining 7.9 % is defined as
minority ethnic population (here groups that diverse as Chinese, Black, Black
British, Asian and Asian British can be found). It seems worth noting that
undoubtedly ethnic groups such as Poles, Czechs, or French will not be
classified as minority ethnic population (Ethnic Group Statistics, 2006). In order
to improve the quality of the next census which is to be held in 2011, a series of
consultations took place, the fruit of which is presented in “2011 Census. Ethnic
Group, National Identity, Religion and Language consultation. Summary report
on responses to the 2011 Census stakeholders consultation 2006/07”. Several
comments were published, which noted the general need shared by
respondents for more detailed and specific information.
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Table 1. Population of ethnic groups in the United Kingdom 2001
Source: Focus on Ethnicity and Identity, 1
As far as religious groups are concerned, it would be again useful to
refer to the data published by the Office for National Statistics (see Table 2). The
biggest denomination will be undoubtedly Christian (with more than 40 million
believers, which constitutes around 70% of the entire British population),
following more than 1.5 million of Muslims, 500 thousand Hindu, and other less
numerous groups.
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Table 2. Population of Great Britain by religion 2001
Source: Focus on Religion 2
It seems well worth noting how important in the analysis of such data is
the notion of self-definition both in case of self-declared ethnicity and above all,
religious affiliation.
The concept of community cohesion
Introduction
The community cohesion concept is relatively new. The term “had no place in the
lexicon of (...) public policy prior to the street confrontations of summer 2001”
(Robinson, 2005, p.1411). Ironically this underlines how convenient this term
appeared, representing the sort of 'empty vessel' with a proper sound. Analysis
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points to the growing popularity of commmunitarianism and shifting attitudes of
the governing party, New Labour towards multiculturalism.
When explaining the phenomena of the concept of community
cohesion, Robinson refers to articles of Forrest and Kearns, entitled accordingly
“Social Cohesion and Multilevel Urban Governance” from 2000, and “Social
cohesion, social capital and the neighbourhood” from 2001, both published in
“Urban Studies”. The first one presented the concept of social cohesion on three
different dimensions, which were the following scales: national or interurban,
city and city-regional and finally the neighbourhood one. The authors wanted to
emphasise 'the need for a simultaneous, multilevel perspective on social
cohesion' (Kearns, and Forrest, 2000, 1013), underlining that there might be the
situations in which socially cohesive cities consist of increasingly divided, yet
also internally cohesive, neighbourhoods. This seems to be the starting point for
replacing the term of social cohesion with the concept of community cohesion.
The second article of Forrest and Kearns provides a useful list of
domains of social cohesion (Forrest, and Kearns, 2001), which, according to
Robinson, was later used as the important point of reference for the community
cohesion agenda (Robinson 1415). Still, Forrest and Kearns do not yet use the
phrase of community cohesion, talking about issues of social cohesion and
neighbourhood, understood in terms as diverse as 'community', 'context',
'commodity' or 'consumption' niche (Forrest, and Kearns, 2001, p. 2142). The
term 'community cohesion' gains wider recognition only after the series of
reports investigating events 2001 have been published. It seems then
worthwhile to present briefly their findings.
Summer events 2001
One of the best sources to consult would be the report of the inter-departmental
Ministerial Group on Public Order and Community Cohesion, which was
created to examine the situation and “report (...) what Government could do to
minimise the risk of further disorder, and to help build stronger, more cohesive
communities” (Denham Report, 2001, 2).
This report, called informally the Denham Report after the name of
group's chairman, explores the nature of disorders and also gives a short outline
of actions undertaken since the events took place. It benefits from findings of the
previously (or alongside) published reports such as Community cohesion,
report of the Independent Review Team, 2001 (The Cantle Report), One
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Oldham, one future, David Ritchie, Oldham Panel, 2001 (The Ritchie Report),
Burnley speaks, who listens? Report of the Burnley Task Force, Tony Clarke,
2001 (The Clarke Report), and Community pride not prejudice - making diversity
work in Bradford, Sir Herman Ouseley, 2001 (The Ouseley Report).
The report's main recommendation is to “make community cohesion a
central aim of Government” (the Denham Report 3), based on the recognition
that ”in many areas affected by disorder or community tensions, there is little
interchange between members of different racial, cultural and religious
communities” (p. 3). The report's authors also emphasise the need for open
debate about identity and citizenship.
When moving to analysis of problems occurred, the Denham Report
refers to the other reports quoted before, stating that all of them identified “deep
fracturing of communities on racial, generational and religious lines” in the cities
where disturbances took place, i.e. Bradford, Burnley and Oldham, and
provides a brief presentation of the events themselves. It is stated that the so
called “violent community disorders which erupted (...) during the summer of
2001 were some of the worst in 20 years” (Denham, 2001, p. 7; see also BBC
2003). (For details of people involved and damage, Table 3). Almost four
hundred people were arrested.
Table 3. Incidence of disorder in 2001
Source: The Denham Report, 7
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The main aim of the analysis is yet laid not on the disorders and their
internal sequence, but more on “the underlying causes which made these areas
prone to the violence” (p. 8). Still, it seems well worth noting some of the
common features that disturbances shared. Firstly, it is necessary to state that
the wards affected were amongst the poorest and the most deprived in the
country, which makes quite a powerful point of reference for further discussion
on cohesion. Secondly, most of the participants were young men (the age of
between 17 and 26), both white and of ethnic minority background. As it was
mentioned before, the disturbances occurred in areas deeply fractured, in many
cases after months of racial tensions.
The Denham Report presents also the key issues which, according to
its authors, need to be dealt with, if more cohesive communities are to be built.
As the most important factors, among others, the following are listed:
- the lack of a strong civic identity or shared social values to unite
diverse communities,
- the fragmentation and polarisation of communities on economic,
geographical, racial and cultural lines (...);
- disengagement of young people from the local decision making
process, inter-generational tensions, and an increasingly territorial
mentality in asserting different racial, cultural and religious identities in
response to real or perceived attacks;
- weak political and community leadership [accompanied by]
inadequate provision of youth facilities and services, [and (...)]
weaknesses and disparity in the police response to community issues
(the Denham Report, p. 11).
While a thorough analysis of all the proposals and suggestions
presented in the Denham Report exceeds the scope of this paper, it seems
worth noting how important the term cohesion became (mainly but not only as
the opposite term to segregation). As the authors underline, Britain “cannot
claim to be a truly multi-cultural society if the various communities within it live
(...) a series of parallel lives” (p. 13). Whereas the present and past work of
Government aiming at regenerating communities and improvement of public
services is recognized, there is a call expressed for a new more holistic
approach. There is a proposal expressed in an unequivocal manner that
“community cohesion should be made an explicit aim of Government at national
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and local levels” (p. 21) and cross-community relations should be promoted as
much as possible.
What is also emphasised is the need for a shared sense of belonging
which could be based on common goals and core social values. It is stated that
respect for difference cannot mean violating fundamental human rights and
duties. While it is underlined that there does exist no universal culture that
should be adopted by all the members of the British society, the existence of core
values (which are conveniently not that precisely defined) seems
unchallengeable.
The definition of community cohesion
Much as helpful was the Denham Report while examining the summer
events and presenting main features and key issues identified, it did not devote a
lot of space to the definition of community cohesion itself, referring, when such a
need arose, to the second report, Community cohesion, Report of the
Independent Review Team, 2001, so called The Cantle Report. Still, this report
itself make references to the article by Kearns and Forrest [discussed above]
which presents domains of social and not community, cohesion [but also
addresses the issue of socially cohesive neighbourhoods]. The fuller analysis of
the term is moved in the Cantle Report to the appendix written by Rosalyn
Lynch from the Home Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate
(p. 69-76).
The starting point for Lynch is stating that no universally agreed upon
definition does exist, and that community cohesion can be differently
understood in such diverse contexts as United States, Canadian or UK itself.
Yet, the general idea is “about helping micro-communities to gel or mesh into an
integrated whole” (p. 70).
It seems that a clear definition had not been formulated until 2002 in the
publication of Local Government Association, entitled Guidance on Community
Cohesion, where “the broad working definition” can be found saying that:
a cohesive community is one where:
- There is a common vision and a sense of belonging for all
communities;
- The diversity of people's different backgrounds and
circumstances are appreciated and positively valued;
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- Those from different backgrounds have similar life
opportunities;
- Strong and positive relationships are being developed
between people from different backgrounds in the
workplace, in schools, and within neighbourhoods (p. 6).
Nonetheless, this definition and the understanding of the term seem to
be in a constant flux. Since its publication, there have been several attempts and
suggestions how to change and improve it. One such an endeavour has been
made in the final report published by the Commission on Integration and
Cohesion, entitled Our Shared Future (2007, pp. 37-43). The authors claim that
a new definition of integration and cohesion is needed for too often these two
terms are taken to mean the same, while they are two separate processes. They
explain that whereas cohesion is needed to make sure that people from different
groups “get on well together” (p. 38), integration emphasizes the process of
adaptation of both old and new residents. Furthermore, a more precise
definition is required which would allow audiences at all levels understand that
cohesion does not only address issues connected with minorities and migration,
but, in a way, represents a much broader concept.
Besides, according to the authors, the previous definition seems to
miss the acknowledgment of a sense of local specificity, nor does it appear to
recognize the potential to divide communities connected with focusing on
diversity and difference. What is more, the authors would like to incorporate the
element of a trust in institutions, which they link with an idea of civil society.
Consequently, what the authors of Our Shared Future suggest as a new
definition of both integrated and cohesive community is one where:
- There is a clearly defined and widely shared sense of the
contribution of different individuals and different
communities to a future vision for a neighbourhood, city,
region or country;
- There is a strong sense of an individual's rights and
responsibilities when living in a particular place people
know what everyone expects of them, and what they can
expect in turn;
- Those from different backgrounds have similar life
opportunities, access to services and treatment;
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- There is a strong sense of trust in institutions locally to act
fairly in arbitrating between different interests and for their
role and justifications to be subject to public scrutiny;
- There is a strong recognition of the contribution of both
those who have newly arrived and those who already have
deep attachments to a particular place, with a focus on
what they have in common;
- There are strong and positive relationships between
people from different backgrounds in the workplace,
in schools and other institutions within neighbourhoods
(p. 42).
In response to this report, the Government presented its own definition,
combining, as it seems, all the discussed elements:
Figure 1: Definitions of cohension 2008
Source: “The Government's Response to the Commission on
Integration and Cohesion”, p. 10
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In order to comment on these changing understandings and
interpretations of community cohesion, it appears useful to refer again to the
Denham Report, where the authors express quite openly the conviction that
these matters are not to be “resolved purely through academic research and
analysis” (p. 10). This seems to be a very important point of reference, as it must
be made clear that the issues discussed here touch the core of questions
fundamental for the British, and in fact, any contemporary society.
The questions raised are presented to the society, and trigger various
responses. The key element of shaping an effective policy is to be able to listen
and grasp possible understandings, and therefore any change in defining such
a powerful concept seems to have the meaning. In my opinion, the most
interesting point in tracing the differences between these three suggested
definitions is introduction, or rather, re-introduction of the term 'integration'. Yet,
the deep analysis of this term again goes far beyond the scope of this paper.
Concluding remarks
It seems that, when trying to adopt a both flexible and successful policy aiming
at governing diversity, one has to accept the fact that all the solutions,
definitions and recommendations given will be constantly undergoing the
process of change and negotiations, and the quality of 'modifiability' will be
considered as of highest importance.
Still the questions arise whether the term of community cohesion
indeed implies a significant change in British politics? It may seem that,
especially when the recent rhetoric touches the issue of integration, the
government is just using new terms which, as Robinson put it, sounds right, in
order to gain a new momentum of popularity.
Yet, there are a number of points which should be taken into
consideration, before a hasty dismissal of the whole idea. The emphasis on
community and especially on cross-community relations seems to be a novel
fruit of debates and discussions triggered by the events of the year 2001. The
concept of communities living parallel lives, the issue of segregation both
appear to be much more vividly discussed since the beginning of 21st century.
Certainly when leading or at least attempting at conducting an
effective, and thus flexible, policy, one would either expect the emergence of
new terms (the function of which will be to serve new political goals), or the
changes in meaning of old ones. Similar processes seem to happen in case of
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multiculturalism, which appears to mean something different, depending on
whether the author of the sentence wants to criticize or support this concept.
Still, certain terms are born triggered by the new processes, and once created;
foster a better understanding of a contemporary reality. The term of community
cohesion appears to belong to this very category.
Notes
1. I admit the controversies with terms such as 'ethnic', 'racial' or 'national'. While a thorough
analysis of all the possible meanings and implications of their usage exceeds the scope of this
paper, it seems necessary to underline that none of them can be treated as purely objective and
scientific, without any hidden assumptions being in force.
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report on responses to the 2011 Census stakeholders consultation 2006/07. The
Office for National Statistics Web Site. Retrieved May 5, 2008, from
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BBC News (2003). 2001the summer of violence: reports. Retrieved July 29, 2008, from
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/uk/2001/summer_of_violence/default.stm.
Cantle.Report (2001). Community Cohesion: A Report of the Independent Review Team,
Chaired by Ted Cantle. Retrieved February 7, 2008, from
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About the Author
Malgorzata Kulakowska is a doctoral candidate in political science at Jagiellonian University,
Krakow, Poland.
E-mail: [email protected]
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CULTURE AGAINST ITSELF; OR, CULTURE
AS A SYSTEM OF NON-CULTURE
J.D. Mininger
Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas, Lithuania,
LCC International University, Klaipėda, Lithuania.
Abstract
This essay places in question the concept of culture as a stable, traditional, and
commonly used notion. Drawing from the works of Max Horkheimer and
Theodor Adorno the essay presents culture as an instrumentalized industry that
produces 'culture' only as a hypostasized commodity. In order to distinguish
between culture as a product of the culture industry and culture in whatever
more dynamic, positive form it might be imagined, the stakes of two questions in
particular are discussed: culture produced by whom, and for what purpose? In
drawing out the thread of this inquiry, attention is paid to problems attached to
forms of cultural dialogue, in particular cultural criticism and rhetorical authority.
If it were not the frequent function of bald statements of intention to undermine
their own presumed purpose, I would reveal right from the start that this essay is
no more than a univocal performative utterance. At a conference and in a book
project under the lofty thematic banner of “culture and dialogue,” and in the
midst of the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue 2008, I wish to make a
humble intervention. This essay should serve as a reminder that in any reflective
discourse, and especially in any academic context, culture and dialogue are
contested concepts. From the sometimes tense and often intense conference
discussions – I dare not elevate them to the status of dialogue – one thing seems
abundantly clear: we need more dialogue about culture and dialogue. These
topics must be pursued both individually and as the liberal-democratic hip
thematic couple that they are so often considered.
Precisely because the link between culture and dialogue seems so
natural, I offer this brief and somewhat fragmentary essay on culture as a
product of the culture industry. Culture is anything but mere ethnicity, language,
customs, norms and values, or any simple combination thereof. Modern
subjectivities under the conditions of global capitalism and spectacle societies
render culture motionless, and make culture either all too definable or radically
defined by indefinability. The following notes on Max Horkheimer and Theodor
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W. Adorno's theory of the culture industry do not seek to define culture as a
universal or eternal phenomenon. This modest commentary certainly does not
fully summarize the duo's theory; the consolation attached to easy-access
condensation and synopsis must be sought elsewhere. For the very sake of
culture and dialogue about, with, and between culture(s), this essay meditates
on a single sentence. The illusory whole to which many assimilate the concept
of culture must be approached in its fragments and splinters if the truth of its
falseness is to be referenced. If more is accomplished here than just the
performative indication by example of the contested nature of culture as a word,
thing, or practice, then it appears only as an unintentional residue or stubborn
remainder.
Culture and the culture industry
Theodor W. Adorno and Max Horkheimer claim that “to speak of culture was
always contrary to culture” (1999, p. 131). With this sentence from “The Culture
Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception,” Horkheimer and Adorno bring
their engagement with the word “culture” to its most intense rhetorical pitch. The
phrase pits the word culture (as a signifier) against its own assumed meaning
(signified). Or, so it seems at a glance. To be sure, the statement is a bit
hyperbolic, but certainly not a thoughtless or innocently worded phrase. The
terse sentence is intended to protrude from the middle of an otherwise longsentenced paragraph like a measure of sudden forte bursting from a musical
score, without the preparatory crescendo and decrescendo book-ending it – a
sort of fortepiano of the written page. In so far as it operates as a rhetorical
device this sentence grabs the attention of the reader by its very length (or lack
thereof). The phrase also works rhetorically on the reader by unfolding a
seeming contradiction in a straightforward and simple manner. But that
contradiction is indeed only illusory, and the brief sentence speaks quite real
and reasonable volumes about the concept and phenomenon of culture, as well
as buoys a critique of the culture industry.
The culture industry mass produces culture for the consumers who
believe they produce that culture for themselves. The terminology reveals a
great deal about the scope of the concept, since “mass culture” would seem the
more obvious choice. In “The Culture Industry Reconsidered,” Adorno explains
that, “in our drafts we spoke of 'mass culture.' We replaced that expression with
'culture industry' in order to exclude from the outset the interpretation agreeable
to its advocates; that it is a matter of something like a culture that arises
spontaneously from the masses themselves, the contemporary form of popular
art. From the latter the culture industry must be distinguished in the extreme”
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(2006, p. 305). Mass entertainment produces consumption only under the guise
of culture; the clear motive is profit – not for the subject of culture but for the
producers of the industry. As Adorno quips, “the customer is not king, as the
culture industry would like to have us believe, not its subject but its object” (2006,
p. 305). Modern technology (especially techniques of reproducibility), global
communications, and global economic flows have helped set a course by which
culture has been turned into a business. For that reason, culture does not
approach any sort of (decidedly romantic) Herderian notion of Kultur as
expressed exclusively by the nation. Recall Herder's theses from Auch Eine
Philosophie der Geschichte zur Bildung der Menschheit that “Jede Nation hat
ihren Mittelpunkt in sich,” and that every culture maintains a “Mittelpunkt der
Glückseligkeit” (1978, p. 220). Instead, unburdened of its primary role as nation
unifier, culture as industry and business strives to reach the maximum audience
for every product. In order to achieve this goal, the culture industry shoots for the
lowest common denominator. Because of this tactic, the powers of cultural
imagination and spontaneity are decaying and lie dormant, subjugated by the
culture industry's monolithic style.
In the face of the culture industry, resistant subjects find themselves in a
tight spot. In spite of more products, more artworks, and more diversity in
general, conformity – even the “non-conformist conformity” of the rebellious
teenager – becomes the norm for all subjects. What parades as progress in
culture is, at the structural level, nothing more than an eternal sameness. The
conundrum posed by the lack of available methods of resistance to this
structural homogeneity is similar to a problem articulated by some feminists:
how does one destroy the master's house and build a different one, completely
unique from the master's, when all one has are the master's tools, supplies, and
teachings? In the phrase “to speak of culture was always contrary to culture,” the
tacit question lingers as to how one can critique the culture industry with a
vocabulary – in this case, specifically the problematic word “culture” – that has
been forcefully shaped by the culture industry itself? Adorno and Horkheimer
imbue the word “culture” with various meanings throughout their “Culture
Industry” essay. They do so without sloppily attempting to delineate every
nuance of each instance in which they use the word culture. They rattle the cage
of meaning, and in so doing illuminate the unstable foundations of a language of
clichés built by the culture industry.
It would be a mistake to believe that Adorno and Horkheimer forgo
meaning by applying this linguistic and rhetorical tactic of wielding the word
culture in differing contexts with differing intended meanings, but without
explicitly stating as much. What takes shape when the reader applies generous
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thought to careful reading is a notion of culture that is multivalent. Couched most
vulgarly, there is culture, and then there is culture as a product of the culture
industry. This distinction dissolves the supposed contradiction in the quote, “to
speak of culture was always contrary to culture,” and underpins the critique of
the culture industry by helping to map out how the culture industry develops and
at what moments it hypostatizes.
“To speak of culture was always contrary to culture” because, for
Adorno and Horkheimer, culture is utopian, as opposed to dystopian. It is an
ought-to-be, as opposed to something that merely is. It belongs to a world of
value, as opposed to a world of fact. The notion of culture is an abstraction. Once
culture is hypostatized, once it is capable of being sold, it is no longer culture as
such. Once it becomes a product of the culture industry, which subordinates
everything to a predictable unity of style, culture effectively creates what Adorno
and Horkheimer quote Friedrich Nietzsche as describing as “a system of nonculture, to which one might even concede a certain 'unity of style' if it really made
any sense to speak of stylized barbarity” (Unzeitgemässe Betrachtungen,
quoted in Horkheimer and Adorno, 1999, p. 128). With these two notions of
culture in mind the claim that “to speak of culture was always contrary to culture”
contains no contradiction. To paraphrase for the sake of clarity, the quote states
that to speak of culture as a product of the culture industry – a “unity of style”
whose machine-like qualities control both production and reception – is contrary
to the positive notion of culture as that which contains a utopian dimension.
While the previous sentence of recapitulation clarifies how the apparent
contradiction in the quote dissolves, it does not adequately flesh out the
distinction between the two notions of culture. Another angle produces the
following view of the distinction: culture as a product of the culture industry
pretends to be something formed by the individuals within it, who create and
mold the shape of culture. In other words, modern subjects of mass culture are
presented with the illusion that they produce culture for themselves. However,
culture-industry-culture dictates its own shape by virtue of its subservience to
“the absolute power of capitalism” (Horkheimer and Adorno, 1999, p. 120). The
distinction really hinges on the following two questions: culture produced by
whom, and for what purpose? For culture as a product of the culture industry, the
answers are terrifyingly simple. The consumers themselves produce the culture
through their own consumption, and do so in the name of the industry's profit. By
its very nature, culture as a product of the culture industry is objectified. This
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hypostatization occurs in culture's move from process, the utopian notion of
culture, to product, capable of being bought and sold.
By becoming exchangeable culture no longer attempts to express the
suffering and contradiction at the heart of modern conditions of fragmented
subjectivity and consumerism. For example, the unique character of a culture is
not preserved through its celebration in popular film, as is so often assumed
today; rather, those distinctive characteristics suffer the fate of having been
reduced to mere exchangeability on the mass market of the screen. Those
unique cultural traits are reduced to neatly packaged representative morsels to
be easily digested and sampled by others, as if their unique qualities would be
perfectly translatable. As a further example, we might point to the obvious fact
that in Lithuania, with the rise in recent years of the feverishly popular
development of kaimo turizmas, the kaimas as the genial bearer of Lithuanian
originality has become an exchangeable experience for the wealthier and more
privileged city dwellers. The latter come and momentarily enjoy themselves,
which they can do for precisely the reason that the kaimas is not their culture or
their life, but, instead, is their fantasy and commodity fetish. The truth of the
wide-spread poverty and lack of technological advancement that characterizes
daily life in the kaimas gets conveniently overlooked in favor of the romanticized
ideals of simple living and communing with nature.
To speak of culture as something tangible, objectified, which one can
buy and sell, is certainly contrary to the notion of culture that would ideally
always be organically transforming and developing. In other words, to truly be
able to talk about culture, to be a “critic,” utopian culture must always already
have been supplanted by culture as an objectified product of the culture
industry. The inverse would be autonomous art within culture, which speaks
immanently of and from itself, but which remains a utopian moment given the
despotic nature of the culture industry. Even and especially we critics of culture
must take care not only to note the problematic and contested nature of the
notion of culture, but to take account of the fact that, unbeknownst to us, our
dialogue about culture may be reproducing the very conditions of exploitation
and self-deception that we claim to be addressing and unmasking. Let us hope
our efforts to dialogue about culture are more resistant to the power and
seduction of exchangeability.
References
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Adorno, Theodor W (2006). The Culture Industry Reconsidered. In Twentieth Century Political
Theory: a reader, 2nd ed., Ed. Stephen Eric Bronner. New York: Routledge.
Herder, Johann Gottfried (1978). Sturm und Drang, Band 1, Hrsg. Peter Müller. Berlin und
Weimar: Aufbau Verlag.
Horkheimer, Max, and Adorno, Theodor W (1999). The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as
Mass Deception. In Dialectic of Enlightenment, Trans. John Cumming. New York:
Continuum Publishing Co.
About the Author
J.D. Mininger is associate professor of Social and Political Theory at Vytautas Magnus University,
Kaunas, Lithuania, and teaches Literature and film at LCC International University.
E-mail: [email protected]
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DIALOGUE AGAINST ITSELF, CHATTER AND
NOMADIC THINKING
Bartholomew Ryan
European College of Liberal Arts,
Berlin, Germany
Abstract
Dialogue has become the modern fantasy par excellence and all that we have
are thinly concealed philistine totalitarian monologues. Dialogue descends into
ideology that we feed ourselves to believe that we actually have some form of
autonomy, when it is in fact “chatter”, using insights made by Søren
Kierkegaard, and exemplified in the art of Samuel Beckett. One option we have
to combat the myth of dialogue is in restoring the art of loafing/nomadic thinking.
What does it mean to loaf, to wander, to be a vagabond? In its ironic gesture, it is
the loafer par excellence who first set up the foundations for dialogue, the
educative thinker who began the dialectic: Socrates. I want to reintroduce the
loafer and nomadic thinker to remind us of the unique capacity of the human
being to live as the polemical vagabond, and in doing so presents the only
landscape left to us to rejuvenate dialogue.
“He wanders, like a day-appearing dream,
Through the dim wildernesses of the mind;
Through desert woods and tracts, which seem
Like ocean, homeless, boundless, unconfined.”
Dialogue against itself
If our understanding of culture is compromised at best, what then is dialogue all
about? What is it meant to be? What does the word mean? Where does it come
from? How does one critique dialogue about the culture industry with a
vocabulary that has been forcefully shaped by the culture industry itself?1
Dialogue is a reciprocal conversation between two or more entities. The
etymological origin of the word (in Greek διά (through, two) and λόγος (logos,
word, speech) has changed and developed in various ways in meaning over the
last two and half millennia. Components of dialogue can and have developed to
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point towards and above its parts and its language. By offering dialogue as the
vital vehicle of hermeneutics, Hans-Georg Gadamer arrives at this unfortunate
conclusion in Truth and Method when he writes:
The maieutic productivity of the whole Socratic dialogue, the art of using
words as a midwife, is certainly directed toward the people who are the
partners in the dialogue, but it is concerned merely with the opinions
they express, the immanent logic of the subject matter that is unfolded in
the dialogue. What emerges in its truth is the logos, which is neither
mine nor yours and hence so far transcends the interlocutors' subjective
opinions that even the person leading the conversation knows that he
does not know. (Gadamer 1989, p. 368)
This can turn into idealist chatter and be ultimately dangerous. Socratic
dialogue would seem to have as one of its guiding principles and defining goals
the process of coming to an understanding of some sort. What has happened?
Where are we now? Who actually speaks? Dialogue is bound by something
legal, contractual, institutional. Dialogue has become the modern fantasy par
excellence and all that we have are thinly concealed philistine totalitarian
monologues. Dialogue descends into ideology that we feed ourselves to believe
that we actually have some form of autonomy.
A fine example might be from Michelangelo Antonioni's film The
Passenger (1975). The protagonist who is a journalist interviews a local witch
doctor somewhere in Africa with his hand-held camera. The conversation goes
as follows:
“There are perfectly satisfactory answers to all your questions, but I
don't think that you understand how little you can learn from them. Your
questions are much more revealing about yourself than my answers would be
about me.”
“I meant them quite sincerely.”
“Mr. Locke, we can have a conversation, but only if it's not just what you
think is sincere but also what I believe to be honest.”
“Yes of course, but …”
The witch doctor takes the camera from the journalist and turns it around
to point it at the journalist. He then says: “Now we can have an interview. You can
ask me the same questions as before” (Antonioni, 1975).
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This is a poignant example of how we take dialogue for granted. This
journalist will merely assimilate what he already thinks he knows and what is
accepted. The interviewee forces him to confront and to question the very
medium he has grown to accept and to live by even as a journalist inquiring after
what he sees as truth and honesty.
“Blathering about nothing in particular”: chatter
The title of this paper comes from a conversation in Beckett's Waiting for Godot:
“[...] Now what did we do yesterday evening?”
“Do?”
“Try and remember.”
“Do ... I suppose we blathered.”
Trying to control himself. “ About what?’’
“ Oh .. this and that, I suppose, nothing in particular.” With assurance. “Yes, now I
remember, yesterday evening we spent blathering about nothing in particular.
That's been going on now for half a century” (Beckett, 2006, p. 61).
Dialogue is in fact “chatter”, brought to mind by diverse thinkers and
writers such as Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Heidegger, Benjamin, Adorno and
Beckett. Dialogue between people in this culture industry has become chatter
between forces to which they have no say or voice conforming to philistine,
totalitarian monologues.
Chatter, idle talk, chitchat, babble, blather, gibberish, prattle, drivel,
bullshitthis category holds a special place in language as the space of
emptiness where, as the phrase goes, language carries no weight. Søren
Kierkegaard, whose native Danish contains an especially rich and plentiful
collection of descriptors for this phenomenon (e.g. snak; ævl; vås; blær; sladder;
passier; vrøvl; pjadder; ordgyderi; pølsesnak; gas; tøv; munddiarré; bragesnak;
barl; pip), spoke frequently of chatter. He characterized his age, the midnineteenth century, as an epoch with a penchant for endless chatter, which hold
equally if not a great deal more true for today. In Two Ages, Kierkegaard
describes chatter as an “annulment of the passionate disjunction between being
silent and speaking” (Kierkegaard, 1978, p. 97). (Today, we can see how the use
of the word “like” has been introduced into conversation in American English,
probably since the early 1990s. This is a word that exemplifies chatter, a veil that
veils nothing.)
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Loafing and nomadic thought
The only option we have in order to combat the myth of dialogue is in restoring
the art of loafing/nomadic thought. This becomes an anti-discourse discourse.
But what is “loafing”? What is it to wander, to drift, to be a vagabond in the face of
corrupted culture and mono-dialogue? In its ironic gesture, it is the loafer par
excellence who gives Western philosophy the starting point who first set up the
foundations for dialogue: Socrates (Ryan, 2006). Many centuries later, amidst
the backdrop of the triumph of dialectics and dialogue in the school of
philosophy and in the nihilistic socio-political environment from modernity, this
tension of the loafer as a destructive force but which transforms into something
positively creative and critical is provocatively reintroduced in diverse thinkers
and artists. The word that Søren Kierkegaard uses in the Danish language is
“Dagdriver” which literally can be translated as “day-drifter”. Although this has
hardly ever been explored, Kierkegaard applies this word to himself and to
Socrates (Kierkegaard, 1978, p. 97). At one point, Johannes Climacus,
Kierkegaard's most philosophical pseudonym, declares halfway through the
book that after drifting and loafing through the park, he came to his idea for his
contribution to philosophy to “make things more difficult” to contrast with
philosophy around him which had made everything more easy (Kierkegaard,
1992, p. 187). At another point at the beginning of another book under yet
another pseudonym (Fear and Trembling), Kierkegaard (as Johannes de
silentio) calls himself an “Extra-Skriver” (literally “extra-writer”). This is
Kierkegaard's method of critique on philosophy and culture, thereby also
making room for peripheral thinking and bringing it into the arena. The other
nineteenth century thinker to do this though in a slightly different way is Friedrich
Nietzsche who writes thirty years after Kierkegaard. Their influence would not
be felt until the twentieth century. Kierkegaard creates masks, with his various
different pseudonyms that become characters, styles and points of view that
helps encompass this nomadic thought.
In the twentieth century, one can find nomadic thought on a greater
scale, and various thinkers have pointed to it without giving full expression to
this idea. Lukàcs mentions the idea of “transcendental homelessness”,
Benjamin develops the notion of “ruination” and makes the comment which
sums up so much of his work: “To great writers, finished works weigh lighter than
those fragments on which they work throughout their lives” (Benjamin, 2002, p.
446). Martin Heidegger mentions “planetary homelessness” as the modern
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condition, and Adorno also carves out a philosophy of homelessness in his
philosophy of non-identity and an aesthetics of disintegration. Even Jacques
Derrida is alluding to this idea of homeless thinking in his use of “undecidables”,
“postcards” and his lifelong interest in Nietzsche and Heidegger. Giles Deleuze
makes the salient point for today: “It's not on the periphery that the new nomads
are being born (because there is no more periphery). I want to find out what sort
of nomads, even motionless and stationary if need be, our society is capable of
producing” (Deleuze, 2004, p. 261). This nomadic thinking which Deleuze is
pointing to and aligns with Kierkegaard's Dagdriver is the sort that not only is
able to escape certain codes we have all around us in society, but also to be able
to transform these codes, whether they be rules, laws, contractual agreements,
closed frontiers, dialogue, and even what we think we understand by culture, art,
politics and thinking itself. In this way, nomadic thinking, in the guise of a kind of
loafer, stands opposite administrative machines and despots in their various
guises and their giving space to so-called dialogue.
“Loafing” as an aesthetic external existence and as a critical tool is not
only of course in philosophy but also in literature at its most iconic, such as in
Baudelaire in the late nineteenth century in the guise of the flâneur and in the
twentieth century weaving its way in and out in the modern odyssey of Leopold
Bloom in Joyce's Ulysses and the various vagabond creations of Samuel
Beckett. Beckett's plays and prose are on the one hand a devastating critique on
reasoning, forced frontiers and all forms of totalitarian thinking, and at the same
time hilarious depictions of human beings in the forms of tramps and vagrants
attempting to get the source of their identity and consciousness. Adorno
memorably comments: “Greece's new tyrants knew why they banned Beckett's
plays, in which there is not a single political word” (Adorno, 1996).
To be a nomad is not to say that one drops out, to be a bum, turn one's
back, etc. This is far too simplistic, in a metaphorical sense it can be viewed as
such, but to be a nomad to not to be framed or confined to one definition, one
ideology, a set of rules, an unspoken contract on how we should all behave. A
nomadic thinker need not even move or move around like nomads. Deleuze
explains, “…the nomadic adventure begins when they seek to stay in the same
place by escaping the codes” (Delueze, 2004, p. 260). Nor is being nomadic to
say that one is “homesick”, which Rousseau, Novalis and Heidegger shamefully
are. Nomadic thought is homelessness rather than homesickness. It is
affirmation rather than resignation. There is no nostalgia, guilt, wailing, anguish
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nor draining Sehnsucht. Even Kierkegaard falls victim to an ascetic world of
Judeo-Christian pain and repression. In nomadic thinking and loafing, we must
preoccupy ourselves with dancing rather than leaping. It is to be unafraid of the
chaos, rather than repress, negate or leap over it. When Lukàcs was lost,
homelessness and immersed in the chaos, he wrote The Theory of the Novel.
But he longed for a home, and he found it in Marxism-Leninism. By the 1940s he
had published The Destruction of Reason, his destruction of affirmation. The
later Lukács attacked what he had betrayed (Adorno, 1991). Another example
in the twentieth century is in regard to literature in T.S. Eliot's response to James
Joyce's work. A sentence by Seamus Deane in the introduction to Joyce's
Finnegans Wake reveals the distinction between nomadic thought and the
longing for subordination to codes.
But Joyce, unlike T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, D.H. Lawrence and many
others, saw that collapse [European civilisation up to WWI] as a disintegration
that was to be welcomed because it had been brought about by the coercive
exercise of that very patriarchal authority that many other writers wished to
rescue and re-establish (Deane, 1992).
We must not be afraid if the journey goes nowhere and if it goes
underground. We must re-ignite thought, through the art of loafing, as a nomadic
power, and ask with Deleuze: who are, indeed, today's nomads...?
Notes
1. Percy Shelly, “Fragment: A Wanderer”
2. Of course I referring specifically to Adorno's naming of “culture industry” to be found in the
essay “The Culture Industry: Enlightenment as Mass Deception” in The Dialectic of
Enlightenment (Theodor Adorno / Max Horkheimer, 1944).The paper in a way can be viewed as
a companion piece to J.D. Mininger's presentation from this same conference. With the
title,”Culture against Itself”, J.D. Mininger attacks the view of culture utilising Adorno's diagnosis
of the “culture industry”.
References
Adorno, T. (1996) Aesthetic Theory. Newly translated, edited, and with an introduction by Robert
Hullot-Kentor U of Minnesoata Press.
Adorno, T. (1982). Trying to Understand Endgame. in: Theodor Adorno, Notes to Literature, vol
1, (1991). ed. R. Tiedemann, trans. S. W. Nicholsen,. New York: Columbia University.
Antonioni, M. (1975). The Passenger. Http://www.sonyclassics.com/thepassenger/home.html
Beckett, S. (2006). The Complete Dramatic Works. London: Faber & Faber.
Benjamin, W. (2002). One-way Street. Selected Writings I. Ed M. Bullock & M.W. Jennings.
Cambrige, MA: Harvard University Press.
Deane, S. (1992). Introduction, Finnegans Wake (1939). London: Penguin Book.
Delueze, G. (2004). Desert Islands and Other Texts 1953-1974. Ed D. Lapoudjade; trans. M.
Taomina. Paris: Semiotext.
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Gadamer, H.G. (1989). Truth and Method. 2nd ed, trans. J. Weisheimer & D. G. Marshall,
London: Sheed & Wanrd.
Kierkegaard, S. (1978). The Two Ages: Kierkegaard's Writings, XIV. Trans. H.V. Hong & E.
Hong, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Kierkegaard, S. (1992). Concluding Unscientific Postscript, Kierkegaard's Writings, XII: Trans.
H.V. Hong & E. Hong, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Ryan, B. (2006). “Kierkegaard's Indirect Politics: A Dialogue with Lukács, Schmitt, Benjamin and
Adorno” PhD dissertation, Aarhus University, Denmark.
About the Author
Ryan Bartholomew . Ph.D. in Theology, Aarhus University Denmark, is Visiting Lecturer, European
College of Liberal Arts Berlin (www.ecla.de).
E-mails: [email protected], [email protected].
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182
CORPUS-ASSISTED LEARNING OF ACADEMIC
WRITING ACROSS DISCIPLINES
Birutė Ryvitytė, Erika Jasionytė
Vilnius University,
Vilnius, Lithuania
Abstract
This paper sets out to discuss learning approaches which enable students to
master genres of written communication in different disciplines. The traditional
“three Ps” approach emphasises the use of models. However, this approach
does not take into account the social construction of academic discourse. The
“three Is” approach suggests that students should be exposed to large amounts
of authentic language data from the relevant disciplines. Academic language
corpora are being created worldwide in order to make resources of academic
language easily accessible for study purposes. The Corpus of Academic
Lithuanian (CorALit) is under compilation at the University of Vilnius. The pilot
version of the corpus is being tested and this paper will attempt to demonstrate
the possibilities of applying the “three Is” approach in corpus-assisted learning of
academic writing.
The purpose of this paper is to discuss the learning opportunities provided by the
Corpus of Academic Lithuanian (CorALit) which is under compilation at the
University of Vilnius. The project is carried out within the framework of the
national hi-tech development programme 2007-2013 launched by the
Government of Lithuania and supervised by the Lithuanian State Science and
Study Foundation. Such hi-tech developments are bound to have an impact on
language teaching and learning methods.
Until recently a purely formal view of academic writing tended to
dominate in English as well as Lithuanian academic discourse communities.
This view took for granted the perception of academic texts as objective, rational
and impersonal and tried to provide students with the generic skills, such as
describing, summarising, expressing causality, etc., needed to reproduce such
texts. Course books and materials emphasised the traditional 'three Ps'
approach, a methodology that organises the teaching of a model in three distinct
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stages: Presentation, Practice, Production. Contemporary research shows that
the acquisition of linguistic structures and functions “takes much longer than this
approach suggests and that far more experience of the item in communication is
needed for any lasting learning to take place” (Tomlison, 1998, p. xii).
The sociocultural theory based on the work of the Russian psychologist
Vygotsky, who worked in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 1930s, claims that
cognitive development and learning originate in a social context (Vygotsky
1978, 1986). Vygotsky believed that higher psychological functions, such as
learning, develop in interaction between individuals. An implication of this theory
is that a learner learns under the guidance of an expert, who provides
assistance and support by adjusting the difficulty of the task.
Social constructionism has undermined the objectivist model which
regarded academic writing as a means of communicating independently
existing truths. Since then scientists are seen as working within communities in
a particular time and place where the intellectual climate determines the
problems to be investigated, methods to be used, results to be acknowledged
as knowledge and ways of written communication. To enable students to master
genres of written communication in different disciplines the “three Is” approach
is introduced (McCarthy, 1998:67). Under this approach learning takes place in
the following stages:
- Illustration students look at large amounts of authentic language
Data from the relevant disciplines in the academic language corpus;
- Interaction students and teachers analyse the material together and
talk about what they notice; through observation students are asked to
comprehend and formulate the rules governing linguistic phenomena;
- Induction conclusions are drawn about the features of the language
analysed.
There is little doubt that the “three Is” approach requires more effort on the part
of the student than the “three P” approach, therefore, it is more likely to be
effective with a class of adult, highly motivated students. Analysing and
understanding “authentic” academic discourse is very likely to raise the
students' motivation, because they will feel proud of being able to discover and
eventually use the features of the language in their discipline.
The exposure of students to data from the corpus of written academic
language and the analysis of how words are used in academic discourse helps
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to raise the students' language awareness. In the Interaction stage students
become responsible for their own learning, as they are asked to “discover” the
mechanisms of the target language. In the Interaction and Induction stages
students' analytical skills are developed.
The Corpus of Academic Lithuanian (CorALit) provides
opportunities for using the “three Is” approach in teaching academic Lithuanian
to students in different disciplines because its pilot corpus launched in February
2008 already comprised 0.5 million words. CorALit is a synchronic, written
corpus of academic Lithuanian. It includes monographs and textbooks, journal
articles, abstracts and summaries, reviews, scientific reports, academic course
descriptions, MA theses and PhD dissertations in humanities, social,
biomedical, physical, engineering and technology sciences. TEI P5 format
allows users to access the first synchronic corpus of academic written Lithuanian
as a major resource of authentic language data via a simple internet search
A search of any word in the pilot corpus produces a concordance of 150
words, thus providing sufficient context for linguistic analysis. One of the
problems faced by anyone studying academic or professional language is the
problem of word partnerships or collocations. Let us take a look at collocations
with the adjectives „akademinis“(academic) and „mokslinis“(scientific)(see
sample concordances 1 & 2).
Sample concordance 1
olitikos analizės sąvokų. Anglosaksiškoje akademin ėje aplinkoje tebevyraujančioje realizmo p
nt tinkamumo naudoti tyrinėjimų gausos, akademin ėje bei profesinėje bendruomenėse nėra vie
ai Rusijos atžvilgiu, yra ilgokai lauktas šio akademin io centro darbo vaisius. Svorį studijai teikia
os bibliotekos: Nacionalinė biblioteka, 21 akademin ė, 5 kitos mokslinės (specialiosios) bibliote
Taryboje 2014-2015 metais. Tačiau tiek akademin ėje bendruomenėje, tiek platesnėse viešosio
riaus pastraipose konstatuojama, kad nei akademin ė, nei publicistinė mintis tarpukaryje dar ne
daugelio temų, pasikartojančių dabartinėse akademin ėse ir populiariose diskusijose apie Rusiją, s
nors kitas. Jis plačiai naudojamas ne vien akademin iame, bet ir politiniame, verslo ir kituose dis
omunikacijos tikslus ir formas profesinėje, akademin ėje ar kitoje aplinkoje, kuri vienaip ar kitaip
iškoje istorijos mokslo tradicijoje istorikų akademin ė autorefleksija vis dar yra retenybė. Į mūsų
icijos, nustumiamos, užmirštamos tikrosios akademin ės tradicijos ir bendruomenei tikrai reikšmi
s miestuose, bet ir kitose šalyse. Praktinė ir akademin ė veikla, tyrėjo ir publicisto talentas, gausi k
technologijos Taigi pastaruoju laikotarpiu akademin ėje ir praktinėje vadybos literatūroje, kurian
tos Thatcher vardais. Tuo metu ir paskui akademin iuose ir politiniuose sluoksniuose kilo susir
muzikantų, pramogų ar kino verslo, akademin io, kultūrinio sluoksnio atstovų žargonizmai.
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Sample concordance 2
klinikinę praktiką buvo atlikta eilė mokslin ių tiriamųjų studijų, skirtų nustatyti pagrindi
isuotinumas, įvairovė ir plėtra kaskart kelia mokslin į rūpestį, kaip teoriškai apibrėžti šį komplek
a ir sparčiai besiplėtojanti tarpdisciplininė mokslin ių tyrimų ir praktikos sritis, susiformavusi
vėžio yra etiška, kai jos rezultatai pagrįsti mokslin iais tyrimais ir kai ji organizuojama laikanti
dikliais. Lietuvos bibliotekos per Lietuvos mokslin ių bibliotekų asociaciją (toliau – LMBA) pr
mpiuterine tomografija (PET/KT). Atliktų mokslin ių tyrimų duomenimis, šio tyrimo metodo ti
. R EZULTATŲ APTARIMAS Daugelyje mokslin ių darbų buvo tiriamas ultragarso sklidimo g
mo kriterijus, yra originalus ir svarbus tiek mokslin iu, tiek praktiniu požiūriais. Moksliniu poži
ama, tai nereiškia, kad jos neįmanoma tirti mokslin ėmis priemonėmis, ieškoti ir rasti priežastin
olitika). Ž. Šatūnienės daktaro disertacijos mokslin is vadovas buvo VU TSPMI doc. dr. Algima
Lopata pažymėjo, jog, nepaisant daugybės mokslin ių darbų, lieka ne mažiau neatsakytų klausi
astai siejamas su duomenimis ar žiniomis, mokslin ėje vartosenoje (kaip terminas) informacija
ybės vertinimo problema reikalauja įvairių mokslin ių, metodinių ir techninių aspektų analizės.
būsimoms kartoms savo gyvenamojo meto mokslin į ir kultūrinį lygį. Tačiau kol kalba gyva, jos
eratūros šaltinių analize galima teigti, kad mokslin e patirtimi grįsto priešoperacinio kasos vėži
A quick analysis of concordances provided by the pilot corpus
demonstrates that the adjectives „akademinis“ and „mokslinis“ in the Lithuanian
corpus collocates with the following nouns:
- akademinis: centras, sluoksnis
- akademiniai: diskursai, leidiniai, sluoksniai
- akademinė: aplinka, autorefleksija, bendruomenė, biblioteka,
literatūra, mintis, veikla
- akademinės: diskusijos, tradicijos
- mokslinis: lygis, požiūris, rūpestis, vadovas
- moksliniai: aspektai, darbai, tyrimai
- mokslinė: patirtis, vartosena
- mokslinės: bibliotekos, priemonės, studijos
It is likely that the analysis into academic language will present some areas of
vocabulary (or grammar) not in terms of strict rules but rather in terms of
probabilities and possibilities. While discussing the collocations students will
learn that some words are exclusive or more typical of certain contexts. They will
also notice that some areas of vocabulary (or grammar) are probabilistically
appropriate rather than absolutely correct. Thus, by interacting with each other
as well as their language teacher, students will find out that sometimes it is
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B. RYVITYTĖ / E. JASIONYTĖ
perhaps more proper to talk of tendencies, variable rules and choices than of
fixed rules.
CorALit can provide left- or right-aligned concordances (see sample
concordances 3&4). This function allows seeing more of the linguistic context
either preceding or following the key word.
Sample concordance 3
neliberalų pavidalą. Pažymėtina filosofo S. Šalkauskio, argumentavusio
priemonių tinkamumo, empirinių duomenų atrankos bei kai kurių ginamų
upių analize remtasi vykdant korporacinį planavimą. ši teorija grindžiama
RS okupacijos žalos atlyginimo įstatymo autoriai nusprendė pagrįsti savo
uojamas darbo temos pasirinkimas, nurodomi darbo uždaviniai, ginamieji
lima sutikti. Vis dėlto pirmiau pateikti istoriografijoje funkcionuojantys
problemą ir apžvelgus jos šaltinius, reikėtų detaliai aptarti jos sąvokas ir
iai yra aprašęs Weinreichas (Weinreich 1974) – įžvalgiais šio mokslininko
vėjo greičiu nepastebėtas (3 pav., a). Vėlgi tai patvirtina jau ankstesnį
teiginį
teiginių
teiginiu
teiginį
teiginiai
teiginiai
teiginius
teiginiais
teiginį
Sample concordance 4
teiginį
teiginį
teiginys
teiginį
teiginiais
teiginiai
teiginį
, kad ŽIV plitimas Afrikoje yra saugumo problema, pasakytų „Greenpeac
patvirtino 1998 m. Kanadoje atliktas tyrimas, kuriuo mėginta išsiaiškinti
, kad „Teisę žmonės kuria žmonėms“ nebetenka prasmės – augant žmonių
sunku patvirtinti ar paneigti tiek dėl labai fragmentiškų duomenų, tiek dė
grindžiamas ne vienas teorinis svetimžodžiams skirtas darbas. Weinreic
apie bizantiškosios civilizacijos arealo šalių, ypač Pietryčių Europos,
būtų galima supaprastinti: kokie socialiniai ryšiai, tokie ir viešieji ryš
The pilot corpus of Academic Lithuanian provided the following
collocations for the noun „teiginys“(statement) in Lithuanian:
- Ankstenis, funkcionuojantis, ginamas(sis), įžvalgus, mokslininko
teiginys
- Teiginys apie...
- Teiginys, kad... nebetenka prasmės
- Aptarti, argumentuoti, pagrįsti, paneigti, patvirtinti, supaprastinti
teiginį
- Grindžiama teiginiais
The corpus allows tracing the development of terms in academic Lithuanian.
Let's take two terms in Lithuanian „apibrėžimas“ and „apibrėžtis“ both meaning
”definition” (see sample concordances 5&6).
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LCC / LIBERAL ARTS STUDIES / 2008
Sample concordance 5
agal įprastą neurologinėje praktikoje taikytą apibrėžim ą, galvos smegenų insultu buvo vadinam
apie svetimą tekstą, būtina prisiminti citatos apibrėžim ą. „Citata – tai kabutėmis įforminama m
ų yra santykio su kintančia socialine tikrove apibrėžim as. Turimi galvoje pirmiausia tie veiksni
beralioji demokratija, visiškai užtektų tokio apibrėžim o: laisvų žmonių bendruomenė. Žmonių,
ms laipsnis“ (LST EN ISO 9000:2000). šis apibrėžim as, pritaikytas interneto produktui, galėt
spublikos ir SSRS konvencija dėl agresijos apibrėžim o [33] (beje, nepelnytai Lietuvoje užmiršta
kumentuose vartojamų pagrindinių terminų apibrėžim ai: • apkrovos – mechaninio pobūdžio veik
Sample concordance 6
formuluota interneto svetainės kokybės
ta sąvoka, o tiksliau – duodama sąvokos
skirtingas šių teisinio reguliavimo sričių
žodžio formos, priskiriami asmeniniams
s teisės koncepcijose informacijos teisės
siūlyti tokią interneto svetainės kokybės
ampratos vartojimas informacijos teisės
apibrėžtis
apibrėžtis
apibrėžtis
apibrėžties
apibrėžčiai
apibrėžtį
apibrėžtyje
, pateiktas šio produkto kokybės suvok
Iš pastaruoju dvidešimtmečiu populiaria
, todėl galima tikėtis esant ne vieną, o k
sakiniams (Sirtautas, Grenda, 1988, 22;
vartojama kokybinės informacijos samp
: interneto svetainės kokybė – programi
parodytų, kad teisiniame visuomeninių i
The pilot corpus produced 20 concordances with the noun
„apibrėžimas” used in the following disciplines: medicine, literature, political
science, philosophy, IT, and mechanical engineering. The pilot corpus also
provided 8 concordances with the noun „apibrėžtis“ used in IT, linguistics, law.
The data, however small, prompts a conclusion that new terminology tends to be
more readily accepted in IT, linguistics and law.
The Corpus of Academic Lithuanian can also help to identify the
emergence of new genres in academic prose. CorALit comprises texts
published in 2006-2007. A search in the pilot corpus provides 8 instances of
acknowledgements in Academic Lithuanian. Some of them are sentences with
the word „dėkoti“ (thank), others are sentences under a sub-heading „PADĖKA“
which indicates that a new text genre is emerging in Academic Lithuanian.
Sample concordance 7
ir žmogiškojo kapitalo sąsajų schemą (3
dėko jame kolegei Vilniaus universiteto Komunik
pav.)
os katedros kolegos. Ypač už juos norėčiau
dėko ti prof. Vitui Labučiui, prof. Albertui Rosinu
pa
ja Talino technikos universiteto Geologijos
iagos išmaišymo laipsniu. PADĖKA Autoriai dėko
ins
ė Lietuvos mokslo ir studijų fondas. Autoriai dėko ja G. Motuzai ir D. Michelevičiui už kritines p
trukmei. PAD Ė KOS Šio straipsnio autoriai dėko ja kolegoms iš Pasaulio banko – energetikos
ės teršalai. PAD Ė KOS Autoriai nuoširdžiai dėko ja Fizikos instituto Atmosferos užterštumo ty
188
B. RYVITYTĖ / E. JASIONYTĖ
Another interesting issue is the presence of the author in academic
texts. The view of academic texts as objective, rational and impersonal is no
longer supported by evidence. Even though the pilot corpus of CorALit did not
produce any instances of the use of “I” or “we”, it provided 52 instances with
„mūsų“(our) and 17 instances with „mums“(to us).
Sample concordance 8
kitimų nerasta. Vertinant MR ir KT tyrimus, mūsų rasti pakitimai labiausiai panašūs į kavernin
cinių krūtinės ląstos ligų komplikacijų, todėl mūsų darbo tikslas buvo palyginti kompiuterinės t
iegė šią programą arba įdiegė tik iš dalies. Iš mūsų analizuojamų duomenų bazių COUNTER n
imtis nėra didelė, – tik 26 PSC sergantys
atūroje nurodomo (2:1) greičiausiai dėl to, kad mūsų
lig
dinaminiai stebėjimai (metais,
ologiškai dažnai primena chondrosarkomą, bet mūsų
dešimtmečiai
pačių sukurta metodika pirmiausiai buvo
s perfuzavimo medikamentais adekvatiškumas mūsų
atli
ia nepanaudoti. Iš esmės todėl, kad
mūsų straipsnio objektas yra informacija, o tais s
pagrindinis
Sample concordance 9
padėjo papildomas oro putimas ligoniui
gulin
ratinę savivoką. Toliau S. Šiliauskas išvardija mums jau žinomus demokratijos artikuliavimo mod
daiktas, antra – formą bei sąvoką, kuri
mums apibrėžti konkretų daiktą, ir trečia – tai, kas
leidžia
padeda išryškinti patį faktą, veiksmo tikslą
veikiantį veiksmą ar įvykį. Neveikiamoji rūšis mums
ar
mame?“ Pastarosios kolizijos suvokimas
šiame pranešime iškelti porą klausimų.
mums
leido
Pirm
bių sėkmę? Atsakymai į šiuos klausimus
mums geriau suprasti ne tik praeities, bet ir šiuola
leistų
nčiu savą žodį naudotas, dėvėtas [3] ; taip
mums aktualią svetimo žodžio vartoseną, kalbant
pat
zuojama. Tokiais atvejais patikslinti diagnozę mums
The examples given demonstrate that the pilot corpus of CorALit
already provides opportunities for a more interactive and inductive learning of
academic writing. The further development of the Corpus of Academic
Lithuanian will enable students to perform genre analysis of texts from different
disciplines, conduct contrastive analysis of disciplinary discourses, carry out
word frequency analysis and compile glossaries of professional terms.
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LCC / LIBERAL ARTS STUDIES / 2008
References
McCarthy, M. (1998). Spoken language and applied linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.
Tomlison, B. (ed.). (1998). Materials development in language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1986). Thought and language. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Summary
This paper sets out to discuss academic writing as a collective social practice the mastery of which
requires interactive teaching/learning methods. Until recently a purely formal view of academic
writing tended to dominate in English as well as Lithuanian academic discourse communities.
Course books emphasised the traditional “three Ps” approach: Presentation, Practice, Production.
Social constructionism has undermined the objectivist model which regarded academic writing as a
means of communicating independently existing truths. To enable students to master genres of
written communication in different disciplines the “three Is” approach is introduced: Illustration,
Interaction, Induction (McCarthy, 1998:67). This approach suggests that students should be
exposed to large amounts of authentic language data from the relevant disciplines and the most
effective way to achieve this is to provide easily accessible electronic resources of academic
language. The compilation of the Corpus of Academic Lithuanian (CorALit) is carried out at the
University of Vilnius (Faculty of Philology and Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics) within the
framework of the national high-tech development programme 20072013 launched by the
Government of Lithuania and supervised by the Lithuanian State Science and Study Foundation.
The pilot version of CorALit comprising 0.5 million words is already being tested. TEI P5 format
allows users to access the first synchronic corpus of academic written Lithuanian as a major
resource of authentic language data via a simple internet search. The pilot corpus provides
opportunities for applying the “three Is” approach in teaching/learning of academic writing. A search
of any word in the pilot corpus produces a concordance of 150 words, thus providing sufficient
context for linguistic analysis. Students can search for key words in context, analyse collocations,
and trace the emergence of new terms or even new academic genres. By interacting with each
other as well as their language teacher, students will find out that sometimes it is perhaps more
proper to talk of tendencies, variable rules and choices than of fixed rules.
About the Author
Birute Ryvityte is a lecturer (PhD) at English Philology Department in Vilnius University. She is
highly interested in applied linguistics, academic writing, pragmatics.
E-mail:[email protected]
Erika Jasionyte works at Lithuanian Language Department in Vilnius University.
E-mail:[email protected]
190
PRAGMATIC TRANSFER FROM L2 TO L1
IN REQUEST MAKING
Olena Poplavska
LCC International University,
Klaipėda, Lithuania
Abstract
The study presents the influence of the L2 on the L1. The research investigates
how high competence in English pragmatically impacts the way Russian
speakers make requests in their native language. The study asks the following
questions: Is L1 pragmatically influenced by L2 when speakers of L1 make
requests in their native language? Are there differences in the way native
Russian speakers make requests in English and Russian? What are the
differences and similarities of making requests in English and Russian
languages?
The study was conducted using both qualitative and quantitative tests.
The participants filled in a survey and Discourse Completion Test. They filled in
the DCT both in Russian and English. A setting of Russian speakers making
requests to the Russian speakers and English speakers was researched. The
relationship contexts of the participants' interaction were roommates,
classmates and group project participants. A group of Russian-speaking
students who were not exposed to an English language environment and native
English speakers participated as the control group. Results showed the
differences in the culture of making requests in English and Russian languages.
They also showed how exposure to a foreign language influences the pragmatic
competence of the learners of the foreign language. In addition, results showed
that request strategies are partly transferred from L2 to L1.
Introduction and research questions
Much research has been done on the influence of L1 on L2. However, there has
been a lack of studies on the opposite effect: L2 on L1: “what has hardly been
investigated, however, is the influence that foreign languages have on the
learners' first language” (Cook 2003, p19).
Since people come to a foreign country and want to learn its language,
the primary interest of the scholars has been the effect of the native language on
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LCC / LIBERAL ARTS STUDIES / 2008
the second one. For a long time researchers have not been interested in
advanced learners of the second language, and the influence of L2 on their L1
at the beginning or intermediate stage (Cook, 2003, p.19). Most of the research
done on SLA is based on acquiring English as a second language by the
immigrants. There is a vital need to research the way they acquire their second
language. Any influence of the L2 on the L1 is mentioned in the area of
language attrition, but not as a separate research dimension.
Hence, there is a need to research the influence of the L2 on L1. There
is also a need to research the interaction of specific languages, i.e. English and
Russian. Russian can be considered the international language of the postSoviet world, and is widely spoken in different post-Soviet countries. At the
same time English, as an international language, is more and more often
acquired by native Russian speakers. Therefore, the way these two languages
relate needs to be researched since both of them are widely used for
communication.
The specific pragmatic question of my interest, making requests,
needs further development as well. To my knowledge, there has been no
research on the same question for native speakers of Russian. Making
requests is an important study since it is part of cultural competence which
allows the speaker to behave appropriately in the different language
environment.
The study looks at the following research questions: 1) Is L1
pragmatically influenced by L2 when speakers of L1 make requests in their
native language? 2) Are there differences in the way native Russian speakers
make requests in English and Russian? and 3) What are the differences and
similarities of making requests in English and Russian languages?
Research has been done in the area of pragmatic transfer from L2 to L1
of different languages. One study compared the way Spanish speakers who
know and don't know English make requests in their native language (Cenoz &
Valencia 1996). Results showed that people who were proficient in English
transferred request strategies from English into Spanish. One pragmatic
study asserts the differences between making requests in Thai and English and
the language transfer that takes place in Thai from English by native speakers
of Thai, for whom English is L2 (Luksaneeyanawin 2005). Another study
compared English and Japanese speakers when “asking for permission” and
“requesting” (Nisea and Hiroko 1994).
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OLENA POPLAVSKA
Therefore, this present research will expand the topic of the influence of
L2 on L1 in general and make a contribution to the research of Russian-English
language interaction in the area of requests.
Definition and types of requests
The current study investigates the way requests are made in English by native
speakers of English and Russian and the way requests are made in Russian by
the native speakers of Russian. The study focuses on the ways native Russian
speakers who speak English as their second language make requests in
Russian and English.
Blum-Kulka and Olshtain (1989) divide requests in the following
categories: direct, conventionally indirect and non-conventionally indirect
strategies (Center for Advanced Research of Language Acquisition).
Table 1. Request categories from Blum-Kulka and Olshtain (1989)
Category of request
directness
Description
Direct strategies
“explicit requests, imperative
mood”
Conventionally indirect
strategies
“referring to contextual
preconditions necessary for
its performance as
conventionalized in the
language”
Non-conventionally indirect
strategies
“hints, partially referring to the
object depending on
contextual clues”.
Examples
Shut the door!
I am asking you to shut the door!
Закрой окно!
Прошу тебя, закрой окно!
How about vacuuming the floor?
Could you help me to vacuum the floor,
please?
Как насчет того, что бы помочь не
пропылесосить?
You have left the kitchen in a right mess.
The trash can is full.
Кухня после тебя осталась грязная
Муссорник полный.
Blum-Kulka, House and Kasper (1989) conducted a study of distribution of main
request strategy types in Australian English, Canadian French, Hebrew, and
Argentinean Spanish.They concluded that conventional indirectness can be
universal (Blum-Kulka et al (1989). The results of the research are taken from
the web cite of the Center for advanced Research of Language Acquisition and
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LCC / LIBERAL ARTS STUDIES / 2008
are shown in the Table 2.
Table 2.Request strategy distribution by languages (Blum-Kulka et al., 1989)
Request Strategy
Direct
Conventionally
Indirect
Nonconventionally
Indirect (hint)
Australian
English
10%
82%
8%
Canadian French
24%
69%
7%
Hebrew
33%
Argentinean
Spanish
49%
59%
58%
8%
2%
The results show that, generally, conventionally indirect request strategies in
Hebrew Argentinean Spanish and Australian English are used the most
frequently. Australian English is the most conventionally indirect, and Hebrew
is the least conventionally indirect. Argentinean Spanish is the most direct,
whereas Australian English is the least direct. Argentinean Spanish almost
does not have non-conventionally indirect strategies, while Hebrew and
Australian English share the same level of them in the language.
Request Perspectives
Blum-Kulka (1989) suggests that the speaker can influence the request by
choosing a request perspective. There are several request perspectives listed
by Blum-Kulka & Olshtain (1984, p. 203 as cited at the web site of the Center for
Advanced Research of Language Acquisition).
1. Hearer-oriented puts emphasis on the role of the hearer:
e.g. Could you clean up the kitchen, please?
2. Speaker-oriented puts emphasis on the speaker's role as the requester:
e.g. Do you think I could borrow your notes from yesterday's class?
Can I borrow your notes from yesterday?
3. Speaker- and hearer-oriented -inclusive strategy:
e.g. So, could we tidy up the kitchen soon?
4. Impersonal:
e.g. So it might not be a bad idea to get it cleaned up.
Request Structures
The general practice in literature is to divide request sequences into
three segments: attention getter/alerter, head act and supportive move(s). The
example below explains the segments of the utterance (web site of the Center
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OLENA POPLAVSKA
for Advanced Research of Language Acquisition).
E.g. "Danny, can you remind me later to bring the book for you on
Monday? Otherwise it may slip out of my mind":
1. Attention Getter/Alerter (address terms, etc.):
Danny,
2. Head Act (core of the request sequence, the request proper):
Can you remind me later to bring the book for you on Monday?
3. Supportive Move(s) (before or after Head Act):
Otherwise it may slip out of my mind
These segments are appropriate for English (Australian / American /
British), French (Canadian), Danish, German, Hebrew, Japanese, and Russian
languages (the Center for Advanced Research of Language Acquisition).
Participants of the Study
Main group
The main group consisted of 4 subgroups of international students at
LCC International University, who speak Russian as their first language (or
native-like in case of students from Ukraine, Belarus, and Moldova). Every
group represented each year of study at LCC. Every group contained 5
students, 17-20 years old. Therefore, the data was collected from 5 students
from each year at LCC. In total, 20 students from LCC took part in the research.
Control groups
The fist control group was a Russian speaking group. 10 students from a
Russian speaking high school in Klaipeda participated in the research. These
were 16-17 year old students who did not have exposure to an English speaking
environment and learned English in the classroom only.
The second control group was an English speaking group. 10 English
native speakers from LCC who did not know Russian participated in research.
This group consisted of Study Abroad students and staff, 19-24 years old.
Methodology of the study
The main focus of the current study was on qualitative research. The research
questions were investigated through the Discourse Completion Test (DCT).
Each group of participants was given a sheet of paper with instructions and
situations. The situations were described on the paper and the participants were
to fill in the blank lines the way they would respond to the particular situation. For
195
LCC / LIBERAL ARTS STUDIES / 2008
example, your phone has no credits on it, and you need to make a call; ask your
friend to call from his/her phone.
Request situations in the DCT addressed people with different social
distance peers, professors and parents. The situations with peers were looked
at in different contexts of relationships- in the dorm room, class room and group
project. Situations in the test also addressed different types of requests minor
and major. Minor requests require something insignificant from the recipient,
while major requests ask for significant actions from the recipient. In some of the
situations in the DCT the participant needed to ask for something small and
insignificant, whereas in others for something that requires time and effort from
the request recipient. For example, asking to borrow a pen from a friend is a
minor request, while asking to borrow a car for a weekend is a major request. So,
the social distance of the people from whom something was requested and the
type of request in the test varied.
The participants of the main group first received DCT test in English and
in a week they received the same test in Russian. The subjects of the English
control group filled in the tests in English only; the subjects of the Russian control
group filled in the test in Russian only. Each participant was given 10-15 minutes
to fill in the test. In total, the DCT test consisted of 22 situations, 4 of them were
distracters and they were not counted when coding. Therefore, 18 request
situations were coded and analyzed.
The categories suggested by Blum-Kulka & Olshtain (1989) were used
for data coding. These categories were described in details in the literature
review section. Situations were analyzed and coded from three angles:
structure, perspective and degree of directness.
Table 3. Request Categories for coding
Main types
Degree of
directness
Perspective
Structure
Sub types
Direct
Hearer –Oriented
Attention Getter +
Head Act
Conventionally
Indirect
Speaker- oriented
Non-conventionally
indirect
Inclusive
Head Act
Head Act +
Supportive Move
Impersonal
Attention Getter +
Head Act +
Supportive Move
Results of the study
Russian and English Control groups
Results of two control groups are compared in this section. I looked at
196
OLENA POPLAVSKA
the requests made by native speakers of Russian who were not exposed to
English and those by native speakers of English.
English and Russian Control Groups by perspective
The tables below show what request perspectives are used by native
speakers of Russian and English.
Table 4. Distribution of the request strategies by perspective by English control
group
am o un t
Request Perspective
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
TOTAL
%
Hearer-oriented
Impersonal
Inclusive
Speaker-oriented
type of perspective
Table 5. Distribution of degree of request perspectives by Russian control
group.
Request Perspectives
140
am ount
120
100
80
Amount
60
%
40
20
0
hearer oriented
speaker oriented
inclusive
impersonal
perspectives
Results show that there is some difference in request perspective used
by native speakers of English and Russian. If requests in English are equally
hearer (42%) and speaker-oriented (43%), requests in Russian are dominantly
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LCC / LIBERAL ARTS STUDIES / 2008
hearer-oriented (65%). There are more impersonal perspectives used in
Russian (10%) than in English (5%). The ratio is opposite regarding inclusive
perspectives 5% for Russian and 10% for English language.
English and Russian Control Groups by Structure
The tables below show request structures used by the native speakers
of English and Russian.
Table 6. Distribution of request structures by English control group.
amount
Request structures
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
Amount
%
AG + Head Act
Head Act
Head Act +
Supportive move
AG + Head Act +
Supportive move
structure
Table 7. Distribution of request structures by Russian control group.
am ount
Request Structure
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
80
74
44.44
amount
41.11
%
11
15
6.11
AG + Head Act
Head Act
Head Act +
Supportive move
8.33
AG + Head Act +
Supportive move
structure
As the tables show, both languages have generally similar request
structures. The most frequently used structures in both languages are Head Act
and Head Act + Supportive move. However, structures with supportive moves
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OLENA POPLAVSKA
are dominant in English (43%); Head Act structures account for 30% of usage.
Structures that consist of Head Act only dominate in the Russian language
(44.44%). Structures with Head Act+ Supportive move structure are used in
41% of cases. Besides, English speakers use more Attention Getters in
comparison with Russian speakers.
English and Russian control groups by degree of directness
Table 8. Distribution of the degree of directness of English control group.
Amount
Degree of Directness
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
TOTAL
%
Conventionally Indirect
Direct
Non-Conventionally
Indirect
Strategy
Table 9. Distribution of request degree of directness of Russian speaking control
group.
Degree of directness
92
100
amount
80
74
51.11
60
Amount
41.11
%
40
14
20
7.78
0
DS
CIS
dire ctne ss
199
N-CIS
LCC / LIBERAL ARTS STUDIES / 2008
The tables show that there are some significant differences in degree of
directness of between Russian and English languages. The English language
culture is very indirect. 90% of the control group used indirect strategies when
making requests. The Russian language culture of requests is much more
direct. The Russian speaking control group used 41% of direct strategies and
51% indirect. Both languages have a similar amount of non-conventionally
indirect strategies (10% for English and 7.78% for Russian).
Request Directness of LCC students in English speaking situations
Since the comparison of requests in English and Russian languages
showed the major differences in request culture are in the degree of directness,
the research focuses on degree of directness of the subjects of the main group,
i.e. LCC students. Request degree of directness of LCC students in English
speaking situations are presented in the table below.
Table 10. Distribution of request degree of directness by LCC students in
English speaking situations.
Request degree of directness LCC students ENG
350
295
300
amount
250
200
total
150
%
81.94
100
50
45
20
12.50
5.56
0
DS
CIS
NCIS
directness
The table clearly shows that conventionally indirect strategies are used
the most frequently by the LCC students. There is a big discrepancy between
the usage of conventionally indirect strategies (81.94%) and the usage of direct
(12.50%) and non-conventionally indirect strategies (5.56%).
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OLENA POPLAVSKA
Examples:
A. Can you close the window, please? It's cold.
B. Could we possibly reschedule the meeting?
The results have also been broken down by the year of study of LCC
students and are presented in the tables below.
Table 11. Distribution of request degree of directness by LCC first year students
in English speaking situations.
Request degree of directness 1st year ENG
80
70.00
70
63
amount
60
50
Amount
40
%
30
26.67
24
20
10
3.33
3
0
DS
CIS
NCIS
degree of directness
Table 12. Distribution of request degree of directness by LCC fourth year
students in English speaking situations.
Request degree of directness 4th year ENG
100
91.11
90
82
80
amount
70
60
amount
50
%
40
30
20
10
5
5.56
3
3.33
0
DS
CIS
The tables
show that direct strategies
are used theNCIS
most by the first year
directness
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LCC / LIBERAL ARTS STUDIES / 2008
students (26.67%). They have the highest ratio of direct strategies. Fourth year
students use only 5.56% of the direct strategies. First year students also tend to
use less non-conventionally indirect strategies (3.33%) compared with other
years. Fourth year students use indirect strategies the most (91.11%).
Request Directness of LCC Students in Russian speaking situations
The research also looks at the way L2 influences L1. The Table 11
shows request degree of directness Russian speaking students use when
making requests in Russian.
Table 13. Distribution of request degree of directness of LCC students in
Russian speaking situations.
Request degree of directness LCC students RU
250
215
amount
200
150
123
total
%
100
59.72
50
34.17
22
6.11
0
DS
CIS
NCIS
directness
LCC students mostly use conventionally indirect strategies when
making requests in Russian (59.72%). Amount of direct strategies is pretty
significant as well (34.17%).
Examples: A. Можешь закрыть окошко ? (indirect)
(Can you shut the window?)
B. Закрой пожалуйста окно (direct)
(Shut the window, please)
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OLENA POPLAVSKA
Conclusions
The current study showed that there are differences in the culture of making
requests in English and Russian languages. The results of the study also
showed that Russian is influenced by English pragmatically; people who know
English transfer requests strategies into Russian. Request strategies of the
Russian speakers who were not exposed to English were different from request
strategies of Russian speakers who were.
The amount of exposure to a foreign language influences pragmatic
competence in request making in the foreign language. With time, non-native
speakers embrace the culture of making requests in L2 and their request
strategies become very similar to the strategies of the native speakers.
Results showed that there are significant differences in English and
Russian pragmatics of making requests. Russian speakers are much more
direct in making requests than English speakers. However, there are also
general trends to request making. Social distance of the speakers equally
influences request patterns of both languages; both of them become more
formal and indirect when addressing the person with high social distance. Even
though some of the trends of the L2 are transferred to L1, Russian speakers
retain the main features of making requests in Russian when speaking their L1.
References
Blum-Kulka, S., House, J., & Kasper, G. (1989). Cross-cultural pragmatics: Requests and
apologies. Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
Cenoz, J. & Valencia, J.F. (1996) Cross-cultural communication and interlanguage pragmatics:
American vs. European requests. Pragmatics and Language Learning 7, 4145.Retrieved September 21 from http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs
/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/29/b6/c6.pdf
Cook, V. (2003). Effects of the Second Language on the First. Buffalo, N.Y.
Luksaneeyanawin, S (2005). Structure and Strategies of Requests in Thai English. Waseda
University Digital Consortium. Retrieved September 19 from
http://www.waseda.jp/ocw/AsianStudies/9A77WorldEnglishSpring2005/
Assignments/00_Thai_/ThaiE_4.pdf
Request Strategies across Languages. Center for Advanced Research of Language Acquisition.
University of Minnesota. Retrieved September 19 from
http://www.carla.umn.edu/speechacts/requests/strategies.html
About the Author
Olena Poplavska is a 2008 graduate of LCC International University. She majored in English.
E-mail: [email protected]
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LCC / LIBERAL ARTS STUDIES / 2008
204
SUSTAINING ADOLESCENTS IN TRANSITIONS:
A SYNTHESIS OF QUALITATIVE AND THEOLOGICAL
ANALYSES
Rebecca Anderson Powell
LCC International University,
Klaipėda, Lithuania
Abstract
Immigration and mobility are increasing European phenomena. This continent
is the leading destination for corporate relocations and short term assignments.
Immigrant churches exert a notable influence on the cultural landscape.
Responding to a need for research on mobility and intercultural life, this paper
discusses the relationships a congregation with significant mobility.
Engaging theology with the qualitative analysis of adolescents in an
international setting, the work uses Practical Theology, multidisciplinary
examinations of Third Culture Kids (TCKs), and Developmental Psychology.
Significant are previous quantitative studies of religiosity. The analysis is
informed by Vygotskian relationality.
While transience permeates European culture, adolescents can be
positively influenced by adults. Characteristics of influential adults are
highlighted as they sustain transitions and crises such as migration. These
relationships are shown to influence adolescents in engaging with and
integrating into a community. The findings are applicable to education and
youth amidst situations of migration and integration.
Europe is easily described as a continent of many cultures. The cultural
distinctions between the Baltic, Balkan, and Britain cannot be overstated.
However in research and in ministry many colleagues have described each
particular location of Europe as monocultural, lacking in significant population
change and mobility. They have said that small cities like Klaipeda lack
international mobility.
When European colleagues talk about a region characterized by
mobility, they typically point to the USA where “Go West Young Man” is
established in national history. Unlike descriptions of Europe, colleagues
studying cultural variety have made the error that moving from Boston to Baton
Rouge is not a move that transcends cultures to the level of the cultural shift in
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LCC / LIBERAL ARTS STUDIES / 2008
moving from Riga to Rome. Researchers have said that a move within the
national confines of America is not a move that transcends cultures that
America is a single culture.
Residents of Klaipeda, members of the LCC International University,
and attendees at this conference will agree that even the smallest European
communities see cultural change and experience visible mobility. Kebab and
pizza, realtors and moving companies are a few of the more obvious symptoms
of this persistent change. Visitors to the USA or even those who have played
host to Americans from such varied places as Carolina and California will agree
that America is multicultural as well as mobile. For the purposes of this
conference, we can agree that both Europe and North America are can be
described as multicultural and mobile.
Beyond our experience, there is existing research that supports these
premises. Before turning this conversation to adolescent transitions, the
literature review demonstrates the transient situation that exists among
adolescents. This previous work adds data to the personal experience of
transience and multiculturalism that we have already acknowledged.
Literature review
As far back as 1960, studies have been made regarding the impact of mobility
within both North America and Europe. In an examination of young people in
California, it was found in 1960 that half of all studied children had moved to a
new town since their birth. This transience included an expectation that children
persist in mobility up to as many as eight relocations before reaching adulthood.
Landes' subsequent study affirms the 1960 study. Both of these 40-year-old
works show transience as eroding the influence of the relationships that young
people have with schools, churches, and other supportive individuals. These
studies both reinforce the long held view of America's mobility. Landes' work
adds evidence that this mobility includes cultural shifting (Council, 1960, pp. 3,
5, 21-22; Landes, 1965, pp. 11-14, 20-21). Culture is caught up in shared
language and identity. Within cultural connections are the ability to build
relationships the low levels of interpersonal adhesion provide evidence that
apart from the differences in American regions, the transience itself reduces the
level of cultural commitment and connection.
Also in 1960 statisticians demonstrated that within the continent of
Europe 14 million people were living outside their home country (Eurostat,
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REBECCA ANDRESON POWELL
2007). The European Union reports that in the year 2000, there were 33 million
European residents living outside their home country. Adding to the sense of
mobility, a high number of immigrants arrive in Europe each year from other
continents. In 2003, 2,054,000 immigrants entered EU nations from beyond the
bounds of the Union (Eurostat, 2007).
Many of the immigrants in Europe arrive with the expectation of
establishing permanent residence. However a vast number arrive on temporary
assignment six months to four years. It is interesting to note that, for more than
a decade, Europe is the leading destination for corporate relocations (Windham,
1994-2004). The level of immigration that Europe faces annually adds to the
decreasing sense of cultural continuity. This situation of mobility can be
expected to influence family, church and school connections as was previously
demonstrated in America.
In 2007 the International Journal of Missionary Research published an
analysis of immigrant religiosity. Their findings concur with the American work of
the 1960's. However they also indicate that where immigrants bring a sense of
religiosity and identity, their commitments can be influential upon host country
nationals (Jenkins, 2007). Linking the findings of 2007 with the earlier
information indicates that there are factors beyond mobility that influence
religiosity and cultural identification.
Young people, mobility and culture
The situation of mobility and culture are significant issues facing adolescents
today. This is a situation that is common to all areas of both Europe and North
America. However, there has been little formal intervention to understand these
transient and cultural influences. This understanding is necessary to adequately
assist young people in facing the very present cultural mobility that we have
seen thus far in this paper.
We join together in this conference on Culture and Dialogue as
participants in a highly mobile Europe. Russian Developmental Psychologist,
Lev Vygotsky, and his follower, Reuven Feuerstein, have indicated that
relationships influence cognitive capacities. They point to relationships as
formative for cognitive development going so far as to demonstrate that
appropriately timed intervention can have significant influence on development
(Feuerstein, 1979; 1980; Feuerstein & Rand, 1988; Vygotsky, 1962; 1971;
1978; 1981; 1987; 1997).
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LCC / LIBERAL ARTS STUDIES / 2008
A pioneer in researching the needs of highly mobile young people,
Norma McCaig, describes mobility and crossing cultures as significant crises.
She calls for educators and parents to recognize the situation of mobility as it
intersects with particular developmental stages. Her resources for
strengthening resiliency are well received and used with good results by families
and educators amidst change and crisis. She joins others in describing the
psycho-social health needed for adequate identity development and cultural
balance as resilience (McCaig, 2008).
Language to describe young people who live amidst high levels of
mobility and cultural change fits with the notions of host country and home
country. These transient adolescents have received a variety of titles from
previous researchers. McCaig prefers the term Global Nomad, referring to the
persistence of mobility (ibid). I use the term Third Culture Kid, TCK, indicating
the blending of cultures that occurs in the lives of mobile young people (Pollock,
1988; 1996). Both Global Nomad and TCK are titles that indicate the
experiences that highly mobile young people feel as distinctions from cultures
where monoculture and long-term residence are the expectations.
Case study
In response to the previously discussed situation and needs of adolescents in
cross-cultural situations, a qualitative case study analysis of adult-adolescent
relationships in an immigrant setting within Europe was conducted.
This
research was conducted in two congregations that each has significant numbers
of TCKs. One congregation worships in a language other than the host country
language. The other is self-described as monocultural, but has a semi-formal
relationship with a neighboring international boarding school. The methods and
categories for analysis derive from those of Bogdan and Biklen who developed
qualitative research methods for educational settings (Bogdan & Biklen, 1982).
The qualitative research that I contribute to the field conjoins previous
developmental understandings with visible relationships. The case study
findings allow for the perspectives of participants to inform and develop existing
understandings of relationships within personal development.
Both
congregations are selected through purposive sampling whereby a variety of
congregations are evaluated for participation these being selected for their
cultural identity and TCK population.
The case study involves document analyses, observations of
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REBECCA ANDERSON POWELL
communities and congregations, and interviews with adolescents and adults in
the congregation. The adolescents are selected to represent as many home
country continents as possible and as many levels of mobility as possible.
Combining the work in both administration locations, there are a total of seven
weeks of field work. The data from both locations are analyzed in a filtering
process using Bogdan and Biklen's analysis categories. Table 1 provides a
demonstration of the method and results of this filtration process.
The results of analysis indicate that in the crises of transcultural mobility,
adults can positively influence adolescent religiosity and resilience.
Participating adolescents represented many nations and levels of transience.
They have faced relocation due to corporate transfer, missionary or clergy
parents, diplomatic careers, personal choice, or socio-political conflict
(refugees). Each adolescent names and demonstrates a desire to have
relationships with adults particularly relationships that can endure amidst
mobility. The adolescents who are able to name a significant number of adults
as influential in their lives and religiosity are also those adolescents who tend to
express the greatest contentment in worship attendance and the greatest
resiliency in crises.
Hourglass of analysis
The hourglass of analysis depicts both the data gathered in fieldwork
and the results of analysis. The five analytical categories given by Bogdan and
Biklen are Events, Ways of Thinking, Setting, Activity, and Situation. The
analysis findings leads to a title change of each category resulting in the
following category titles, listed in the order of the original categories:
- Significant Adults Enhance Worship Attendance
- Significant Adults Appear Trustworthy
- Trusted Adults Relate Intentionally
- Trusted Adults Continue Self-Development
- Multilayered Relationships Link Adolescents to Worship
Examination of the patterns within each category indicates that there
are particular attitudes and behaviors that mark adults as having a significant yet
under examined influence on adolescents. This significance relates to the
respect and reputation that they have in the eyes of the adolescents; often
significant adults are surprised to be so named. Further, these adults are not
born influential but have made particular decisions to offer relationships to
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LCC / LIBERAL ARTS STUDIES / 2008
Table 1. Hourglass of Analysis Final Structure
Document Analyses
Congregational Websites
(Accessible to the Public)
www.unitedmethodist.de
www.elcs.org/globalmission
www.lcms.org
www.AICEMEA.net
www.europe.anglican.org
www.ibc-Churches.org
www.afcubridge.org
www.internationalcongregations.
net
School Websites
(Accessible to the Public)
www.ibo.org
www.northcentralassociation.org
www.sacs.org
www.neasc.org
www.cois.org
www.ecis.org
www.cobisec.org
www.iss.edu
www.citaschools.org
Newsletters
Initial Administration 2 Months
Final Administration 6 Months
Worship Schedule 6 Months
Calendar 6 Months
Directories
Initial Administration 2 issues
Final Administration 2 issues
Congregational Self-Statements
Histories & Brochures
Congregational History
Constitution & Mission
Statement
World Map
City Map
Video
Category 1
– Significant
Adults
Enhance
Worship
Attendance
- Adolescents
Cite Adults as
an Influence.
- Relationships
are Significant
in Crises.
- Negative
Influences
Can Be
Overcome by
a Convergence
of Positive
Influences.
Observations
& Informal Conversations
Community
Regional Observations
www.eurostat.eu
School Program
Congregational
Board Meeting
Retreat
Planning Meeting
Social Service Event
Worship & Sunday Activities
Initial Administration 3 weeks
Final Administration 4 weeks
Informal Conversations found
in Observations
Amber, Ana, Carol, George,
Gretchen, Harry, Helen, Ira,
Irene, Lucy, Maxwell, Raquel,
Susan, Vince, Walker, Wendy,
Yolanda , Zane, Zelda, Zoe
Interviews
Adolescent Interviews
Amy
Andy
Brian
Carl
Deb
Eric
Fran
Hazel
Jorge
Nathaniel
Nick
Pam
Quinn
Rita
Sara
Steve
Trey
Tricia
Ursula
Xena
Adult Interviews
Ana
Beatrice
Betsy
Jean
Kyle
Lyle
Mark
Mary
Norma
Ola
Patty
Queen
Rhonda
Roland
Tara
Velma
Wilma
Category 2
– Significant
Category 3
– Trusted
Category 4
– Truste d
Category 5
–
Adults Appear
Trustworthy
Adults Relate
Intentionally
Adults
Continue Self Development
Multilayered
Relationships
Link
Adolescents to
Worship
- Significant
Adults are
Named by
Multiple
Adolescents.
- Trusted
adults Have
Trus ted
Adults from
Their Own
Adolescence.
- Adolescents
Desire
Relationships
with Adults.
- Trusted
Adults Protect
Adolescents.
- Adolescents
Use the Words
“Like Me.”
- Trusted
Adults are
Available.
- Significant
Adults are
Intentional.
- Intention is
in the
Congregationa
l Plans.
- Pastor and
Curriculum
Reflect the
Intention.
- Consistency
Connects with
Intention.
Intentionality
is in
Persistence.
- Expressions
of Care Show
Intent.
210
- Adults’
Religious
Practice Ritual
- Trusted
Adults’
Religious
Practice Devotional.
- Trusted
Adults Have
Relationships
that Support
Them.
- Trusted
Adults Learn
about
Adolescents.
- Trusted
Adults Learn
from and
Value
Adolescents.
- Trusted
Adults
Encourage
Adolescents to
Learn.
- Adolescent
Relationships
with Adults
Support a
Wider
Network of
Relationships.
- These
Relationships
Encourage
Worship
Attendance.
- Trusted
Adults Often
Have Multiple
Roles in the
Adolescent’s
Life.
REBECCA ANDERSON POWELL
adolescents. They are aware of their own failings as well as committed to
continued personal learning. Finally, trusted adults do not invite adolescents
into an isolated relationship, but draw the young people into larger networks of
reliable relationships.
The details of these categories are discussed in greater detail
elsewhere (Powell, 2008). The synthesis of theology with the qualitative work
allows a greater understanding of what Christian theology means by
relationship and community. The concept of the Body of Christ is enriched when
it is demonstrated as a group of individuals who selflessly offer relationship while
recognizing personal frailties and seeking to overcome barriers.
Previous to this examination, there have been no studies of particular
immigrant congregations in Europe. This is a population that lives amidst
constant cultural dialogue. The work of these international congregations has
assisted many adolescents develop resilience and connection amidst
transience. These are churches that continue to welcome host country natives,
short term sojourners, wanderers, tourists, and those caught in international
mobility by career callings. By the needs of their populations, these
congregations have a great need to protect the privacy of their members. Any
future research in these congregations will need to approach the population with
respect and confidentiality.
As transience and intercultural interactions are a persistent presence in
the fabric of the European situation today, there exists an imperative for
continued research into the experience of TCKs and other highly mobile young
people. The analysis that provides this understanding of mobility and cultural
exchange is the beginning of a larger exploration of issues shared in religiosity,
child development, TCKs and intercultural mobility.
In closing, I have been asked how organizations can quantify the
findings of this case study to maximize their influence on adolescents
immigrating into their communities. There are organizations that have been
created to meet the needs of children and adolescents such as scouting groups
and youth clubs. These organizations, like many congregations, provide
programming that invites young people to voluntarily participate in activities.
Some such organizations have created separate groups for immigrant
young people particularly those who are not expecting to remain long in the
community or those who do not share a language with the host culture. Others
have sought to integrate host country and immigrating young people. The
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barriers of language are real and have been faced in a variety of ways. The
larger issue is how to build relationships across cultural divides of interests and
dissimilarities.
Applying the findings of the case study to the question of how host
country youth organizations can welcome incoming adolescents, attention
begins with the needs of the particular situation. What are the abilities and
resources of the organization and its adult leaders? What are the characteristics
of the host country adolescents in the group? What are the characteristics of the
adolescents moving into the area? Are there adults from the home countries of
the arriving adolescents who can assist the program? Each of these questions
adds to an understanding of the organization and the individuals in question.
Knowing particularities of group and adolescents is the first step to applying the
insights of the case study to assist this sort of issue.
The third category of the analysis affirms that organizations need to
approach questions such as this with intentionality. However, implementing the
results of the case study as a program within an organization can have a
negative influence on adolescent participation, relationality, and resilience. It all
depends on the attitude of organizational leaders. It is relationality that is
important for resilience. If organizations take this information and implement it
as policy, then the relationships as described in the case study will become a
forced, almost pharisaical requirement. No person, and least of all adolescents
who are in the midst of mobility and other crises, wants to be the recipient of false
affections.
In my experience, adolescents value reliability above all other relational
qualities. When the behaviors of the case study findings are applied as strict
rules, then the very adolescents who need the care will relate in a negative way
to the program. Programming for young people in congregations and other
organizations is an opportunity for building relationships. When the patterns of
relationship that work to influence adolescents are instituted as a program, then
the reality and reliability of the relationships are eroded.
The opportunity to assist adolescents in cultural change, mobility and
crisis is a privilege. While it is a dreadful thing to value the organizational
programming so highly that one forgets the needs of people, it is also awful to get
caught up in trying to relate perfectly enough. I invite adults and organizations
who receive this research to respect the needs and abilities of adolescents.
Effective organizations and individuals will take this information and strengthen
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REBECCA ANDERSON POWELL
their relational resolve, adding information to their intention. I fear that others
will take this information and make it a regime risking ruining the desired
positive influence.
Even with these concerns, I recommend the use of these findings in
educating adults. These behaviors and attitudes are positive attributes to be
integrated into any life or relationship. The reliability described in the case study
is a goal that all people can strive to attain. The attention to adolescent needs
and crises is a priority that can be taught to those adults who want to help but
have not previously had a sense of direction.
Future analysis will continue to check these findings. The possibilities
for multilingual, multicultural efforts that can link newcomers into a host country
are the subject of ongoing examination.
Notes
1. To maintain continuity with existing research on the topic of adolescent mobility the term “home
country” refers to the nation of birth or nationality.
2. “Host country” is used in opposition to “home country” meaning the country of residence when that
is not also the country of birth or passport.
References
Bogdan, R. and Biklen, S. (1982) Qualitative Research for Education: An Introduction to
Theory and Methods, Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Council of National Organizations on Children and Youth (1960) Focus on Children and
Youth; A Report for the 1960 White House Conference on Children and Youth.
European Union. (2007). Retrieved January 2007 from www.epp.eurostatec.europe.eu.
Feuerstein, Reuven (1979). Assessment of Retarded Performers, Baltimore: University Park Press
Feuerstein, Reuven (1980). Instrumental Enrichment: An Intervention Program for Cognitive
Modifiability, University Park Press, Baltimore.
Jenkins, P. (2007). Godless Europe? International Bulleting of Missionary Research
31(3), 115-120.
Landes, R. (1965). Culture in American Education, John Wiley and Sons, New York.
McCaig, N. (2008). Encouraging Resiliency in Global Nomad Children, Families in
Global Transition Conference Papers.
Pollock, D. (1988). Third Culture Kid Definition, Interaction, Houghton, NY.
Pollock, D. & VanReken, R. (1996). The Third Culture Kid Experience,
Intercultural Press, Yarmouth, ME.
Powell, R. A. (2008). A Friend Who Teaches Me, Doctoral Dissertation,
University of Bristol, Bristol, England.
Vygotsky, L. (1962).Thought and Language, (trans.) E. Hanfmann, MIT Press, Cambridge, MA.
Vygotsky, L. (1971). The Psychology of Art, M.I.T. Press, Cambridge, MA.
Vygotsky, L. (1977). 'Play and Mental Development', in Soviet Developmental Psychology: An
Anthology, (ed.) M. Cole. M.E. Sharpe, White Plains, NY.
Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in Society: The Development of Higher Psychological Processes, (trans.)
M. Cole, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA.
Vygotsky, L. (1981). The Instrumental Method in Psychology. In The Concept of Activity in Soviet
Psychology, (ed.) J. Wertsch, M.E. Sharpe, Armonk, NY.
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Vygotsky, L. (1987). The Collected Works of L.S. Vygotsky: Vol. 1, Problems of General Psychology.
Including the Volume Thinking and Speech, (trans.) N. Minick, Plenum, New York.
Vygotsky, L. (1997). Educational Psychology, (trans.) R. Silverman, St. Lucie Press, Boca Raton,
FL.
Vygotsky, L., Van der Veer, R. & Valsiner, J. (1994). The Vygotsky Reader. Blackwell, Oxford.
Windham International (1994-2004), Global Relocation Trends, Windham International,
Baltimore.
About the Author
Rebecca Anderson Powell, Ph.D taught in the Theology and Business Administration Departments
at LCC International University for the academic year 2008-2009.
E-mail: [email protected]
214
INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDY OF LITERARY CRITICISM
AND THE CHRISTIAN PERCEPTION OF THE WORLD
Radvyda Vaišvilaitė
LCC International University,
Klaipėda, Lithuania
Abstract
This article studies the interdisciplinary approach of literary criticism and the
Christian perception of the world. Challenges and methodological principals of
such an interdisciplinary study center on the balance between the aesthetical
and the theological value of the text. A literary text in this context can be
understood as an expression of common experience that is representing the
situation as an expression of the values of the society. The definition of Christian
images in a literary text becomes essential in this study because it represents
not only images themselves, but the way in which those images are presented in
literature. This article concentrates on the importance of the image of the fallen
angel in the contemporary culture and presents the image of the angel in the
poetry of contemporary Lithuanian poets Sigitas Parulskis, Aidas Marčėnas and
Gintaras Grajauskas.
This work appears in the context of the study of the Christian perception
of the world in contemporary Lithuanian poetry. In this article some theoretical
problems that are very important for such a study are presented, discussed and
illustrated, because in its essence it is an interdisciplinary study of literary
criticism and the Christian perception of the world.
The fact that Christianity has made a huge influence and impact on the
culture and art, specifically literature, of European countries and the countries
that culturally are influenced by European heritage is not doubtable and
discussed. The Bible as a text has a big influence on the formation of literary
tradition, language, narrative and images. Images of the Bible have been
carried through the centuries in various works of literature. The liturgical
tradition of the church has influenced the formation of some of the genres;
homilies have shaped the rhetoric and the language of literature. In
contemporary literature, also, it is seen how theological and Biblical images are
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used, questioned or deliberately denied. Nevertheless their appearance, even
in negative way, is important and can be viewed as a field of research.
Lately in the tradition of literary criticism, specifically in Lithuanian
literary criticism, there are attempts not only to describe this interdisciplinary
field of study, not only to state the fact, but to question it and to look for deeper
and essential connections between literature and theology, between literary
criticism and the Christian perception of the world. The works of D. Jakaitė
(2001, 2002, 2004, 2005 a, b), D. Čiočytė (1999, 2001, 2003, 2005 a, b, 2006 a,
b) and G. Mikelaitis (2002 a, b, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 a, b, 2006), together with
broader works of other literary critics (Daujotytė, 1991, 1994; Šidlauskas, 2005)
have become significant in Lithuanian literary criticism as promoting an
interdisciplinary point of view.
It is interesting to notice that contemporary theology is open to such
interdisciplinary study. Such a field of studies is promoted in broader research of
the relationships between culture and Christianity (Niebuhr, 1975; Brown, 1995;
Tillich, 1964), specified in literary text (Kuschel, 2000; Vorgrimler, 2003; Aliulis,
2002) and literary language (Wilder, 2001). Catholic theology sees that a
person, by creating art, can work towards a better understanding of truth,
goodness and beauty, “and to the formation of considered opinions which have
universal value”(Gaudium et spes, 1965, p.57).
The challenge of defining Christian images in literary text
The primary question, (which maybe looks too simple, but doesn't have any
simple answer) would be: Do all Christian images or references to Christian
tradition, already represent the Christian perception of the world? Some of the
literary text with lots of Christian images still cannot represent the Christian
worldview and some of the creations without many Christian references can
indicate values that are represented by Christian faith and tradition.
For example, Sigitas Parulskis (1990, 1994, 1998, 2004) uses quite a
great number of Christian images in his poetry, but all of it appears in ordinary,
deliberately negative, sarcastic, ironic, anti-sentimental or unpleasant contexts.
But precisely such usage of Christian images questions the essence of the
Christian perception of the world in his poetry, where it is seen as culturally
traditional, but represents the sense of a contemporary subject one who is lost
in the tradition, looking for the alternative for this tradition, or questioning the
essence of it.
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On the other hand, Aidas Marčėnas (1988, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1998,
2001, 2005) uses numerous Christian images, but raises the question whether
those images are used as part of a cultural tradition, quotation of literary text and
contexts, recreation of previous images, playing with language, but would raise
the question: do those images automatically represent a Christian perception of
the world?
Gintaras Grajauskas (1993, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2004) doesn't use many
Christian images; his language is very non-decorative and non-poetic, but the
sense of questioning the existence of contemporary subject is very obvious. The
ordinary questions of life can be understood in a very wide existential way that
leads to moral and philosophical questions.
One of the important methodological questions is whether this kind of
literature, specifically poetry, that is deliberately non-Christian, can be read as
an object of such interdisciplinary study.
Challenges of interdisciplinary study
The interdisciplinary point of view allows the merging of literary criticism and
Christian studies. Interdisciplinary study of such perspective creates the field of
research itself and at the same time evokes methodological challenges. On one
hand, the task requires finding tools to recognize and to evaluate signs of the
Christian perspective of the world, while, on the other hand, preserving the
literary characteristics of the text, to keep the whole of literature.
This challenge provokes the main task of balancing appropriately
between theological and aesthetical values. D. Jakaitė (2005 b), Lithuanian
literary critic, states that:
The reconciliation of the aesthetical and theological criteria of
evaluating the literary text is a primary concern for many authors that
are interested in studying the theology of literature. It is important to
deal with competition and conscious intent not to diminish any side of
this dialogue. (Jakaitė, 2005 b, p. 389.)
D. Jakaitė especially emphasizes the dialogical connection and dialogical
reflection of both parts of this dialogue. Her notes echo the idea of T. S. Eliot
(1975) represented in his essay “Religion and Literature” where he states that:
Literary criticism should be completed by criticism from a definite
ethical and theological standpoint. In so far as in any age there is
common agreement on ethical and theological matters, so far can
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literary criticism be substantive. In ages like our own, in which there is
no such common agreement, it is the more necessary for Christian
readers to scrutinize their readings, especially of works of imagination,
with explicit ethical and theological standards. The “greatness” of
literature cannot be determined solely by literary standards; though we
must remember that whether it is literature or not can be determined
only by literary standards. (Eliot, 1975, p. 21)
The interdisciplinary study stands between two extremes theological (moral)
value and aesthetic (literary) value. The challenge is not to support either of
these extremes, but to find bridges, dialogical points of reference. An
interdisciplinary approach can be one of the possibilities to support this
dialogical relationship and to find common methodological principles.
Principles of methodology
The concept of literary criticism is closely based on interdisciplinary studies
such as psychoanalysis, historiography, semiotics, linguistics, gender studies,
and a phenomenological perspective. All this appears with the intent to create a
scientific, methodological and objective approach to literature. Literary
researcher Viktorija Daujotytė (2001) notices that in the contemporary world the
humanities have started to lose their way amidst historical discussions,
methodologically problematic, and manipulative procedures. In the twentieth
century, literature by theory of literature and aesthetics was isolated, made too
autonomic. The possibility of seeing literature as one of the phenomena of the
human being, opened but not separated, having relationship with religion,
philosophy, and language was lost or absolutely diminished (Daujotytė, 2001, p.
14-15). Literary criticism has been forced to be scientific, to be methodologically
based, and almost objectively proved.
V. Daujotytė in her work talks about the possibility of a philosophy of
literature, and clearly states that such thinking comes from literature itself, but
not from the thinking about literature. From literature means from the language
of literature (Daujotytė, 2001, p. 16-17). The same parallel is important in
interdisciplinary study (Jakaitė, 2005 b, p. 378). The interdisciplinary point of
view for the analysis of literature from the perspective of Christian worldview is
based on its interest in the metaphorical, symbolic and image-based language
of literature, which can express the deepest existential questions and the
transcendental dimension of human essence.
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These questions might be viewed as individual religious experiences
expressed in concrete texts and understood as representations of feelings and
views that might be understood and perceived as a common experience of one
or another generation. Research of the Christian perspective of the world
becomes possible when culture and literature specifically, is seen as the scene
of existential questions, appearing as an encounter of literary subject with a
value system, its preservations, shifts and changes.
The image of fallen angel
One of the interesting works in such a field is the book of José Jiménez “El ángel
caído. La imagen artística del ángel en el mundo contemporáneo” (Jiménez,
1982). In his book the Spanish anthropologist first of all questions the meaning
of image itself which appears to be a concrete body and something absolutely
untouchable (Jiménez, 1982, p. 11). He emphasizes, that searching for Heaven
is the image that represents a goal that can not be reached, but at the same time
such an image appears from the concept of original sin and represents the
fulfillment of the future. Contemporary modernity tries to cut the roots with its
origin, and the images reflect it as exile and condemnation, as the loss of
identity. Without past and future the image of heaven and the identity of the
image itself stay without standards and limits, standing in a desert without name,
where the symbolic image of the fallen angel with broken wings emerges
(Jiménez, 1982, p. 12).
J. Jimenez analyses the image of the angel not only in literary works,
but in the art itself. In his work not only is the image of fallen angel a symbolic
expression of lost identity important, but a tight link exists between the image
and the values that identify and form that image. Values represented as
searching for heaven, with two extremes the pain of the original sin and
optimistic promise of the future gave the foundation for the form of the image
itself.
The image of the angel becomes important and contradictory
represented in contemporary Lithuanian poetry. In the poetry of S. Parulskis the
image of fallen angel describes the poet:
Poet a sun, begotten by fallen
angel, who, chained by the sin,
was longing terribly for the heaven
all that out of longing …
(Traktatas apie ilgesį, Parulskis, 2004, p. 10-11)
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“All that out of longing” (Parulskis, 1990) is also the name of his first
poetry edition. Even if in his later poetry the image of the angel appears not as
frequently and if it appears, it appears with irony, it evokes and presents a
complicated relationship in which the Christian image in Parulskis' poetry
balance between longing of the tradition and sarcastic view to it as a painful
banality, which can become vulgar and earthly.
In the cited poem the image of a poet as a fallen angel refers directly to
original sin and to the image of the devil as fallen angel. In some other poems of
S. Parulskis the same image can be supported, in which angels appear with the
hooves of a horse and wings not grown, contrasting the essence of the angel
origin and its role on earth (Baladė apie ilgesio troškulį, Parulskis, 2004, p. 1820). This image of the angel in the poem is more sarcastic and ironic, because
from the context of the poem it is clear that with such an image the poet is
referring to the military service in the Soviet army.
In some other poems angels are described with sarcasm: kaip angelas
stena (Tariamas sugrįžimas, Parulskis, 2004, p. 133-134), bouncing angel, with
the face of an idiot is laughing (Aidas, Parulskis, 1994, p. 61); angelas mikas that
is drowned admires things of this world and can show how eternity can be
reached through his stomach (Gražiai prigėrusiam mikui, Parulskis, 1994,
p. 32); crows are getting ready to sing more beautifully than angels (Neturėjau
ko nusitverti šią akimirką netgi vaikystės, Parulskis, 1994, 136-137).
A. Marčėnas, one of whose poetry editions is called “Angelas”
(Marčėnas, 1991), uses the image of the angel very often and with a huge
variety of situations: as a requisite of something different, mysterious, belonging
to different, non-ordinary reality (Pasaka kitapus pupos, Marčėnas, 1988, p. 27;
Kalba, Marčėnas, 1991, p. 48); as something that appears like a shadow (Aš
myliu tave, 1991, p. 27; Vaiduoklis botanikos sode, Marčėnas, 1991, p. 84; Tyla,
Marčėnas, 1991, p. 107); as an angel that is showing the way in the wanderings
(Burlaivis, Marčėnas, 1991, p. 99; Karalaitės vadavimas, Marčėnas, 1993, p.
69; Saulė teka į šarmotą rytą, Marčėnas, 1993, 87); showing the destiny and
heritage (Mėnulio angelas virš bokštų, Marčėnas, 1991, p. 161); as a
representative of dreams (Tu kalbi tartum jūra, Marčėnas, 1991, p. 100;
Sapnuoju angelas skrieja, Marčėnas, 1993, p. 31); as someone that
participates in life with an almost invisible touch (Šalna, Marčėnas, 1991, p. 163;
Dulkės, Marčėnas, 1993, p. 123); as someone whose voice can be heard in the
wind (Klausaus ką šneka angelas, Marčėnas, 1991, p. 177); in birds singing and
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sounds of nature (Asketo mirtis, Marčėnas, 1993, p. 43); in visions of the nights
(Misionierius, Marčėnas, 1993, p. 71). The image of an angel appears in a poem
which describes the process of writing a poem and encourages one to catch and
not to let go of the angel as one of the components of poetry (Kaip parašyti
sonetą, Marčėnas, 1998, p. 154). In some of the poems the mano angele
appears as an invocation (Metų pabaiga, Marčėnas, 1994, p. 79; Rudens
branda, Marčėnas, 1994, p. 79; Žiedlapis kris į tenai, Marčėnas, 1998, p. 19; Už
gergždžiantį rudenio kėkštą, Marčėnas, 2001, p. 69-70).
But in all these contexts irony in describing or characterizing angel is
also very often used in the poetry of A. Marčėnas. Civilization is seen as the work
of an angel-joker (Ateizmas, Marčėnas, 1991, p. 47); the angel can be drunk
(Pažįstu naktį, Marčėnas, 1991, psl. 132), can be the one that leads people to
hell (Ateisto mirtis, Marčėnas, 1993, p. 40-41), can be a killer angel (Iš tylos kur
pažadins, Marčėnas, 1993, p. 82). More irony and sarcasm in the image of angel
especially appears in the selection “Metai be žiogo” (Marčėnas, 1994).
The image of angel in the poetry of A. Marčėnas represents the angel of
the apocalypse (Apokalipsės pradžia. Variantas, Marčėnas, 1988, p. 67), trying
to make the sound of a trumpet announcing it (Miestas draugams, Marčėnas,
1994, p. 66-69). The angel is also named as non-existent, with a negative
connotation, whose existence is impossible to prove (Angelo atšvaitai,
Marčėnas, 1993, p. 97), and the same angel knows that angels do not exist
(Grandinėlė, Marčėnas, 2001, p. 25-26), dialectically trying to understand its
existence (Kokioje šviesoje pažiūrėsi, Marčėnas, 2005, p. 45).
The angel is a whiff from which every word appears, as the touch of
something that is unknown, of love and life, of the unity of all things, the eternal
existence of the subject (Išpažintis, Marčėnas, 1991, p. 6), as the possibility to
know the truth (Tiesos priartėjimas, Marčėnas, 1991, p. 9). In his poetry
A. Marčėnas uses the image of the falling of the angel, in which the angel falling
from the sky opens the new day with silent loneliness and brings memories,
opening something that was not understandable (Ir angelas kur krenta iš
dangaus, Marčėnas, 1991, p. 108).
The image of the angel is contrasted with the image of devil, where devil
is indicated as looking to the subject and angel as passing in front of the subject
(Angelas ir šėtonas, Marčėnas, 1991, p. 150) and where the angel and the devil
are seen as fighting (Išvarymo legenda. Epilogas, Marčėnas, 1993, p. 122), but
at the same time indicating the unity of the angel and the devil (Diktantas,
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Marčėnas, 1998, p. 7). Further, in some of the poems this image grows into
angel-phobic thoughts, where it is easier to agree with the devil and to avoid or
ignore the angel (Angelofobija, Marčėnas, 1993, p. 63).
Gintaras Grajauskas uses a paradoxical image of the angel - the angel
is blessing people that are going to die (Visa tai, Grajauskas, 1993, p. 69).
Angels indicate sadness and abandonment; they are sad in the attic of God
(Potvynis, Grajauskas, 1993, p. 11); the angel is seen as quiet and crying, sitting
in the shadow of trees, not understandable as script that is impossible to read
(…M, Grajauskas, 1996, 59).
Angels are associated with colors: blue angels indicate sadness
(Potvynis, Grajauskas, 1993, p. 11; Briaunota stiklinė, Grajauskas, 1996, p. 11),
orange associated with anxiety, greenish with faith and to be colorless is
indicated as not angelic at all (Briaunota stiklinė, Grajauskas, 1996, p. 11).
The angel appears as a participant of the dialog in Kinematografinė
poema (Grajauskas, 2004, p. 112-116). In the form of a film script, the poet in the
poem talks with an angel who is easier to hear than to see. The image of the
angel is presented with irony and intent to play with typical images of popular
films. The poem is written in the form of dialog between writer and angel. The
angel appears to be very modern with water-resistant wings, a long coat, and
cell phone playing popular music.
The angel in Grajauskas's poetry can be associated with the angel of
the Apocalypse, but in one poem he is vulgar and ordinary (Nuobodulys,
Grajauskas, 1993, p. 43) and in another he just announces the end of the world
(Revoliucija, Grajauskas, 1999, p. 96-97).
Conclusions
Such interdisciplinary study becomes especially interesting in studying
contemporary literature, particularly poetry. The study of the Christian
perception of the world in contemporary Lithuanian poetry can indicate
processes that are taking place in the cultural identity and be recognized as
processes characteristic to contemporary Lithuanian society. In such
perspective the question of whether Christian images in the text represent
Christian perception of the world turns to another question: How do those
images represent the relationship of the contemporary subject with the Christian
perception of the world? What processes of our identity are indicated by such
usage and presentation of Christian images? Sarcasm, irony, abandonment,
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negative connotation and the paradoxical usage of Christian images can
represent the situation of the contemporary subject.
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About the Author
Radvyda Vaišvilaitė, MA joined LCC International University in 2000. She is Chair of the Lithuanian
Studies Department. Radvyda has MA degree from Vilnius University and is writing her dissertation
about Christian Perception of the World in Contemporary Lithuanian Poetry.
E-mail: [email protected]
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