Global Links
Sustaining Diaspora Identity through Traditional Music and Dance: The Scots of British Columbia, Canada
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Derek Bryce
This paper looks at how established diaspora communities in former colonies maintain their identities through participation in traditional arts organisations. These populations are linked with early imperial settler populations and which drew from ongoing immigration over generations from the former imperial centres with which they are associated. These groups displaced indigenous populations in the Americas and Australasia. Their languages, religions and cultures became dominant in their colonies and successor states. Bryce, Murdy & Alexander (2017), looking at motivations and consumption habits amongst ‘returning’ ancestral tourists to Scotland, have theorised that an ‘authentically imagined past’ is brought by such long-established diaspora groups to ‘homelands’ from which they are separated by generations. This paper takes that study forward by examining the practises through which that imagined ancestral past and the identities that flow from it are produced and reproduced through participation in the traditional arts of ‘home’. A series of interviews was undertaken amongst Canadians of Scottish descent in British Columbia, Canada, a location of concentrated historical Scots settlement in Canada. The paper explores anxieties about ‘dying’ cultural forms, as Scots and other British and French settler populations in Canada become less numerous and immigrants from other parts of the world establish themselves, as well as hope for renewal through outreach to younger generations and the appeal of Scottish culture to non-Scottish descended participants through a capacious view of ‘affinity Scots’.
Asian Craze in Jordan: Exploring Scales of Identity Making – From Personal to Global Influence View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Bassmah AlTaher
The phenomenon of the Asian Craze has garnered significant attention in recent years, as it pervades various aspects of life in Jordan. This research seeks to delve into the complexities of identity-making and its relation to the Asian Craze, exploring its impact across different scales – from personal to global influence. By examining the role of social media and Asian influencers, this study aims to shed light on the underlying factors driving this trend and its implications for cultural appropriation and adaptation. Drawing on examples from social media and the rise of Asian influencers in my country, we investigate how this cultural wave has become deeply entrenched in the collective consciousness, influencing the ways citizens shape their identities. Particular emphasis is placed on how Generation Z has swiftly embraced and adapted to the Asian fusion, distinguishing themselves from the older generation's more conservative attitudes. The research employs a mixed-methods approach, combining qualitative analysis of social media content and surveys to capture a comprehensive picture of the Asian Craze's impact on identity formation in Jordan. By closely examining the consumption of Asian cultural elements, such as Chinese food, K-pop music, and Japanese anime. This study identifies the ways in which individuals adopt, adapt, and reinterpret these influences to construct their unique identities.
Cinematic Exploration of Nomadic Women
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Unursaikhan Tugj, Anujin Bayarsaikhan, Tugj Unurtuya, Tserenjav Tsevegjav
Social and political changes at the end of the 20th century affected all parts of Mongolian society. The era of anti-liberal propaganda gave way to a new cinematic landscape dominated by anarchy, with themes such as poverty, beggars, and crime taking center stage in post-socialist Mongolian society. Simultaneously, historical themes emerged as expressions of social change. By the late 2000s, cinema themes have shifted away from social and political subjects to focus more on individual experiences, family issues, and interpersonal relationships. Women were portrayed in films before the 1990s as heroic, diligent, and socialist women who embodied socialist ideals in service to the nation. Still, during the 1990s, they were shown as lonely, impoverished nomads, enslaved, or promiscuous. In the cinematic landscape of the late 2000s, the image of nomadic women has emerged intricately linked with their land, settlements, and nomadic culture, showing them as carriers of Mongolian cultural heritage. As part of our study, we conducted a qualitative and quantitative analysis of how nomadic women have been portrayed in Mongolian cinema since the 1990s. We determined whether Mongolian women are portrayed positively, negatively, or neutrally based on the findings. The research demonstrates how Mongolian women are portrayed, how gender equality has evolved, and how traditional patriarchal nomadic Mongol practices have transformed. We analyzed feature films made since the 1990s and held focus group meetings with filmmakers. In addition, two types of studies on the film and the character were undertaken among moviegoers using the questionnaire approach.
Inventing the "Taiwanese Body" and Cold War Aesthetics: Jerzy Grotowski in Taiwan
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Ko Lun Chen
Throughout the Cold War, the modernisation and development of Inter-Asia theatre were conditioned by the intellectual logistics imposed by specific geopolitical entities, highlighting inherent intellectual inequalities. Christopher Balme contends that throughout Cold War globalisation, cultural propaganda facilitated the dissemination of theatrical expertise through "Institutional Imbrications", thus moulding "Epistemic Communities" of the prevailing "understandings" and "methods." Accordingly, this study investigates Jerzy Grotowski's influence in Taiwan during the late 1980s and a resulting theatrical phenomenon termed the "local turn" alongside the pursuit of the "Taiwanese body." The article examines Grotowski's trajectory from his early politically engaged works, developing "ideoplastic realisation," to his later depoliticising efforts on the "techniques of sources" during his "exile" in the US and contextualises how his methods and concepts dismiss contentious agendas while embracing depoliticised aesthetics and spirituality. Correspondingly, Grotowski's role as a self-searching maestro positively influenced Taiwanese activists and artists who had experienced martial law periods and lacked subjectivity. His Taiwanese disciples returned to guided theatre companies, fostering self-discovery and refining cultural identity. This paper, however, scrutinizes how this depoliticised aesthetics serves as a prescription for erasing the imprints that embodied coloniality, the Cold War, and martial law. By engaging in traditional performances and rituals to recount "our" national narratives, embracing "self-care" with joy in one's individuality, reclaiming the "raison d'être," and inventing the "Taiwanese body" as an embodiment of cultural subjectivity as the "raison d'État", the aesthetics bolster the determination for another phase of nation-building in post-martial law Taiwan.
