Cultural Reflections
(Asynchronous Session - Online)
Cultural Competence in Chinese as a Foreign Language Teaching in Spanish Higher Education: An Empirical Profile View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Isabel María Balsas Ureña
Culture has been considered a key component of foreign language teaching since the decade of the 60’s. The way culture has been conceptualized, nonetheless, has experimented a great change since that time, from encyclopaedic knowledge to habits and behaviours, to finally be considered as a group of key strategies and abilities (intercultural communicative competence), which allows students to deal with any new situation they might face in their intercultural encounters. The way Chinese culture is promoted to be taught from the theoretical research, mainly generated in China, is still strongly focused in the limited “culture as habits and behaviours” definition of the concept; however, at the very end, the way students conceive what culture is, highly depends on the vision that the teacher brings to his/her classroom. Understanding how culture teaching is managed is especially important in higher education, since the kind of competences developed by the students will affect their professional future; however, there is a considerable scarce of empirical studies on this area. This research considers approaches to culture concepts and culture teaching management taking place in Spanish universities with Chinese language studies during 2020. Chinese language teachers from different universities have participated in a survey about these two subjects, followed up by personal interviews to clarify some of the results. The conclusions of this pioneering research enables better understanding of how Chinese culture and Chinese culture teaching is actually approached in Spanish universities.
The Violence of Languages in India: Is an Indian Minor in Literature Possible in English? View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Graziela Ares
This research is concerned about language as perpetrator, victim, or means of violence to minorities in multilingual countries. The analysis focuses on three aspects of mother tongues and official language conflicts in India under the perspectives of i) the special rights of vernacular languages to the detriment of other mother tongues, ii) illiteracy, and iii) the choice of Hindi as the language of unification. The objective is to answer how languages can assume these different roles and identify the types of language violence observed in modern India. The inquire if it is possible to talk about Indian minor literature and if English can be its language. The analysis seeks different forms of resistance, re-subjectification of the language, and immigrants' conditions on the selected work of the poet Adil Jussawalla (1976) and the novelist Salman Rushdie (1991). The work of Deleuze & Guattari (2003), Bhabha (1994), Agamben (2008), Santos (2007 and 2009), and Lecercle (1990) provided the theoretical ground for the analysis of the contributions of language to conflicts, regulation, appropriation, and violence, distancing linguistic groups, despite the resistance.
Mai ka Piko a Ke Mole: Returning to a Traditional Hawaiian Chant to Trace the Learning Journey of Participants in Indigenous, ʻĀina (Land) Education View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Maya Saffery
This paper examines my theoretical and pedagogical framework for ʻāina (land) education. Born out of a three-year case study of an Indigenous graduate exchange program, this framework describes the learning journey of participants in programs focused on nurturing kanaka-ʻāina (people-land) relationships. Through a method of ancestral lensing, I draw on images and lessons embedded in the mele (traditional Hawaiian chant) “A Maunakea ʻo Kalani,” in order to imagine how our ancestors might have given meaning to educational practices observed during my case study. Ancestral concepts woven within the lines of this mele for Queen Emma’s 1881 trip to Maunakea reveal particular aspects of praxis that are currently reenacted within the context of an Indigenous, ʻāina program. I weave these components into an educational theory and pedagogy that not only challenges dominant Place-Based Educational narratives but simultaneously creates new life around the field of ʻāina education. Specifically, through the lens of “A Maunakea ʻo Kalani,” I trace the learning journey of participants, mai ka piko a ke mole, from sites of intersection and inspiration (piko) along paths that lead back to the people, places, and practices that together deeply root us to our foundations (mole). I argue that it is not enough for participants in an ʻāina education program to gain knowledge and be transformed themselves; the program needs to instill in them a commitment to return to their own communities so that they can apply what they have learned for the benefit of those for whom they are responsible.
Stanley B. Prusiner's Revolutionary Impact of Neurodegenerative Diseases: The Discovery of Prions View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jessica Jutras
In this research essay, I discuss Dr. Prusiner's discovery of prions. By going through his history, background, and past and present innovations and research, I present Dr. Prusiner in a favourable light to enlighten the public on his positive scientific impacts. I discuss his research and discoveries, the push-back he received after announcing the name and definition of prions, his supporters and the evolution of the acceptance of the prion concept.
