Transculturality

In the past, dramatic failures of communication between
cultures, nations and ethnic groups led to much individual
suffering and collective frustration. These days, the European
political agenda and social climate are determined by urgent
issues relating to culture. The future resilience of our society
depends on the ability to communicate in spite of cultural
differences. Challenges of Transcultural Communication is
a concise study of the foundations on which open interaction
within culturally heterogeneous societies can work.

Attention in this article is focused on the use of non-Western musical instruments in 20 th-century and contemporary art music composition, particularly New Music and contemporary composition that still perceives itself as a non-exclusive descendant of New Music. The term "World New Music" is proposed as the acknowledgment that New Music and composition are no longer exclusively European phenomena but global ones. The article explores the idea that the use of non-Western musical instruments in World New Music is also part of the same phenomenon, by which there is a transcultural expansion of the musical instrumentarium, and of the figure of the composer. The composer, in the 21 st-century, becomes a "world composer", and expands to creative methods beyond that of traditional European musical writing, often becoming a composer/performer. Restraining cultural qualities and attitudes are discussed through a short critical review of how non-Western percussion instruments have been handled along the 20 th-century. This is followed by a discussion about the context of a few specific works by Iannis Xenakis, Lou Harrison, Hans-Joachim Koellreutter, Toshio Hosokawa and others with the main interest in understanding what caused the composers to employ non-Western instruments. Next, the article proposes that the composer/performer, because of their personal involvement with performance practices, is in a position to develop a culturally responsible musical practice with non-Western instruments by learning their original music and by creating a new music that is a truly neocultural phenomenon.

The article deals with the Jungian training of future analysts in Hong Kong and the diffusion of the analytical thought in East Asia. It outlines some of the topics that have been a specific object of the Hong Kong Institute of Analytical Psychology (HKIAP).􏰆􏰠􏰜􏰆􏰠􏰜 􏰒􏰏􏰎􏰙 􏰓􏰏􏰎􏰙 􏰔􏰎􏰌􏰄􏰇􏰄􏰍􏰄􏰜 􏰏􏰡 􏰕􏰎􏰂􏰉􏰽􏰄􏰇􏰟􏰂􏰉 􏰖􏰌􏰽􏰟􏰠􏰏􏰉􏰏􏰙􏰽 􏰑􏰒􏰓􏰔􏰕􏰖􏰗 􏰇􏰌 􏰂 􏰱􏰜􏰛􏰜􏰉􏰏􏰚􏰇􏰎􏰙 􏰾􏰃􏰏􏰍􏰚 􏰏􏰡 􏰄􏰠􏰜 􏰔􏰎􏰄􏰜􏰃􏰎􏰂􏰄􏰇􏰏􏰎􏰂􏰉 􏰕􏰌􏰌􏰏􏰟􏰇􏰂􏰄􏰇􏰏􏰎 􏰡􏰏􏰃 􏰕􏰎􏰂􏰉􏰽􏰄􏰇􏰟􏰂􏰉 􏰖􏰌􏰽􏰟􏰠􏰏􏰉􏰏􏰙􏰽 􏰑􏰔􏰕􏰕􏰖􏰗􏰨 􏰔􏰄 􏰊􏰜􏰂􏰉􏰌 􏰶􏰇􏰄􏰠 􏰄􏰠􏰜 􏰄􏰃􏰂􏰇􏰎􏰇􏰎􏰙 􏰏􏰡 􏰡􏰍􏰄􏰍􏰃􏰜 􏱀􏰍􏰎􏰙􏰇􏰂􏰎 􏰂􏰎􏰂􏰉􏰽􏰌􏰄􏰌 􏰇􏰎 􏰒􏰏􏰎􏰙 􏰓􏰏􏰎􏰙 􏰂􏰎􏰊 􏰄􏰠􏰜 􏰊􏰇􏰡􏰡􏰍􏰌􏰇􏰏􏰎 􏰏􏰡 􏰄􏰠􏰜 􏰂􏰎􏰂􏰉􏰽􏰄􏰇􏰟􏰂􏰉 􏰄􏰠􏰏􏰍􏰙􏰠 􏰇􏰎 􏰦􏰂􏰌􏰄 􏰕􏰌􏰇􏰂􏰨 􏰁􏰂􏰃􏰄􏰂 􏰆􏰇􏰈􏰂􏰉􏰊􏰇 􏰇􏰌 􏰄􏰠􏰜 􏰐􏰇􏰂􏰇􏰌􏰏􏰎 􏰖􏰜􏰃􏰌􏰏􏰎 􏰈􏰜􏰄􏰶􏰜􏰜􏰎 􏰄􏰠􏰜 􏰔􏰕􏰕􏰖 􏰂􏰎􏰊 􏰄􏰠􏰜 􏰒􏰓􏰔􏰕􏰖 􏰂􏰎􏰊 􏰇􏰌 􏰃􏰜􏰌􏰚􏰏􏰎􏰌􏰇􏰈􏰉􏰜 􏰏􏰡 􏰄􏰠􏰜􏰏􏰃􏰜􏰄􏰇􏰟􏰂􏰉 􏰂􏰎􏰊 􏰟􏰉􏰇􏰎􏰇􏰟􏰂􏰉 􏰂􏰟􏰄􏰇􏰛􏰇􏰄􏰇􏰜􏰌 􏰏􏰡 􏰄􏰠􏰜 􏰙􏰃􏰏􏰍􏰚􏰨 􏰆􏰠􏰜 􏰂􏰃􏰄􏰇􏰟􏰉􏰜 􏰏􏰍􏰄􏰉􏰇􏰎􏰜􏰌 􏰌􏰏􏰢􏰜 􏰏􏰡 􏰄􏰠􏰜 􏰄􏰏􏰚􏰇􏰟􏰌 􏰄􏰠􏰂􏰄􏰞 􏰂􏰢􏰏􏰎􏰙 􏰏􏰄􏰠􏰜􏰃􏰌􏰞 􏰠􏰂􏰛􏰜 􏰈􏰜􏰜􏰎 􏰂 􏰌􏰚􏰜􏰥 􏰟􏰇􏰡􏰇􏰟 􏰏􏰈􏰤􏰜􏰟􏰄 􏰏􏰡 􏰒􏰓􏰔􏰕􏰖􏰪 􏰂 􏰃􏰜􏰡􏰉􏰜􏰟􏰄􏰇􏰏􏰎 􏰏􏰎 􏰄􏰠􏰜 􏱀􏰍􏰎􏰙􏰇􏰂􏰎 􏰂􏰎􏰊 􏰚􏰏􏰌􏰄􏰥􏱀􏰍􏰎􏰙􏰇􏰂􏰎 􏰇􏰊􏰜􏰎􏰄􏰇􏰄􏰽 􏰂􏰎􏰊 􏰇􏰄􏰌 􏰃􏰜􏰉􏰂􏰄􏰇􏰏􏰎􏰌􏰠􏰇􏰚 􏰶􏰇􏰄􏰠 􏰄􏰠􏰜 􏰇􏰎􏰊􏰇􏰛􏰇􏰊􏰍􏰂􏰄􏰇􏰏􏰎 􏰚􏰃􏰏􏰟􏰜􏰌􏰌 􏰇􏰎 􏰂 􏰢􏰍􏰉􏰄􏰇􏰟􏰍􏰉􏰄􏰍􏰃􏰂􏰉 􏰟􏰏􏰎􏰄􏰜􏱁􏰄 􏰌􏰍􏰟􏰠 􏰂􏰌 􏰒􏰏􏰎􏰙 􏰓􏰏􏰎􏰙􏰫 􏰄􏰠􏰜 􏰜􏱁􏰚􏰜􏰃􏰇􏰜􏰎􏰟􏰜 􏰏􏰡 􏰂􏰎 􏰏􏰎􏰥􏰙􏰏􏰇􏰎􏰙 􏰕􏰟􏰄􏰇􏰛􏰜 􏰔􏰢􏰂􏰙􏰇􏰎􏰂􏰄􏰇􏰏􏰎 􏰦􏱁􏰚􏰜􏰃􏰇􏰜􏰎􏰄􏰇􏰂􏰉 􏰾􏰃􏰏􏰍􏰚 􏰂􏰎􏰊 􏰄􏰠􏰜 􏰍􏰌􏰜 􏰏􏰡 􏰄􏰠􏰜 􏰄􏰜􏰟􏰠􏰎􏰇􏱂􏰍􏰜 􏰏􏰡 􏱃􏰕􏰟􏰄􏰇􏰛􏰜 􏰱􏰜􏰜􏰚 􏱄􏰃􏰇􏰄􏰇􏰎􏰙􏱅 􏰄􏰏 􏰊􏰜􏰛􏰜􏰉􏰏􏰚 􏰂􏰎 􏰇􏰢􏰂􏰙􏰇􏰎􏰂􏰉 􏰂􏰚􏰚􏰃􏰏􏰂􏰟􏰠 􏰄􏰏 􏰚􏰌􏰽􏰟􏰠􏰇􏰟 􏰊􏰽􏰎􏰂􏰢􏰇􏰟􏰌􏰫 􏰄􏰠􏰜 􏰌􏰄􏰍􏰊􏰽 􏰏􏰡 􏰄􏰠􏰜 􏰵􏰠􏰇􏰎􏰜􏰌􏰜 􏰙􏰜􏰎􏰊􏰜􏰃 􏰟􏰏􏰢􏰚􏰉􏰜􏱁 􏰂􏰎􏰊 􏰇􏰄􏰌 􏰇􏰢􏰚􏰉􏰇􏰟􏰂􏰄􏰇􏰏􏰎􏰌 􏰏􏰎 􏰄􏰠􏰜 􏰇􏰎􏰄􏰜􏰃􏰎􏰂􏰉 􏰂􏰎􏰊 􏰃􏰜􏰉􏰂􏰄􏰇􏰏􏰎􏰂􏰉 􏰃􏰜􏰂􏰉􏰇􏰄􏰽 􏰏􏰡 􏰦􏰂􏰌􏰄􏰜􏰃􏰎 􏰕􏰌􏰇􏰂􏰎 􏰶􏰏􏰢􏰜􏰎 􏰂􏰎􏰊 􏰢􏰜􏰎􏰨􏰏􏰎􏰙 􏰓􏰏􏰎􏰙 􏰔􏰎􏰌􏰄􏰇􏰄􏰍􏰄􏰜 􏰏􏰡 􏰕􏰎􏰂􏰉􏰽􏰄􏰇􏰟􏰂􏰉 􏰖􏰌􏰽􏰟􏰠􏰏􏰉􏰏􏰙􏰽 􏰑􏰒􏰓􏰔􏰕􏰖􏰗 􏰇􏰌 􏰂 􏰱􏰜􏰛􏰜􏰉􏰏􏰚􏰇􏰎􏰙 􏰾􏰃􏰏􏰍􏰚 􏰏􏰡 􏰄􏰠􏰜 􏰔􏰎􏰄􏰜􏰃􏰎􏰂􏰄􏰇􏰏􏰎􏰂􏰉 􏰕􏰌􏰌􏰏􏰟􏰇􏰂􏰄􏰇􏰏􏰎 􏰡􏰏􏰃 􏰕􏰎􏰂􏰉􏰽􏰄􏰇􏰟􏰂􏰉 􏰖􏰌􏰽􏰟􏰠􏰏􏰉􏰏􏰙􏰽 􏰑􏰔􏰕􏰕􏰖􏰗􏰨 􏰔􏰄 􏰊􏰜􏰂􏰉􏰌 􏰶􏰇􏰄􏰠 􏰄􏰠􏰜 􏰄􏰃􏰂􏰇􏰎􏰇􏰎􏰙 􏰏􏰡 􏰡􏰍􏰄􏰍􏰃􏰜 􏱀􏰍􏰎􏰙􏰇􏰂􏰎 􏰂􏰎􏰂􏰉􏰽􏰌􏰄􏰌 􏰇􏰎 􏰒􏰏􏰎􏰙 􏰓􏰏􏰎􏰙 􏰂􏰎􏰊 􏰄􏰠􏰜 􏰊􏰇􏰡􏰡􏰍􏰌􏰇􏰏􏰎 􏰏􏰡 􏰄􏰠􏰜 􏰂􏰎􏰂􏰉􏰽􏰄􏰇􏰟􏰂􏰉 􏰄􏰠􏰏􏰍􏰙􏰠 􏰇􏰎 􏰦􏰂􏰌􏰄 􏰕􏰌􏰇􏰂􏰨 􏰁􏰂􏰃􏰄􏰂 􏰆􏰇􏰈􏰂􏰉􏰊􏰇 􏰇􏰌 􏰄􏰠􏰜 􏰐􏰇􏰂􏰇􏰌􏰏􏰎 􏰖􏰜􏰃􏰌􏰏􏰎 􏰈􏰜􏰄􏰶􏰜􏰜􏰎 􏰄􏰠􏰜 􏰔􏰕􏰕􏰖 􏰂􏰎􏰊 􏰄􏰠􏰜 􏰒􏰓􏰔􏰕􏰖 􏰂􏰎􏰊 􏰇􏰌 􏰃􏰜􏰌􏰚􏰏􏰎􏰌􏰇􏰈􏰉􏰜 􏰏􏰡 􏰄􏰠􏰜􏰏􏰃􏰜􏰄􏰇􏰟􏰂􏰉 􏰂􏰎􏰊 􏰟􏰉􏰇􏰎􏰇􏰟􏰂􏰉 􏰂􏰟􏰄􏰇􏰛􏰇􏰄􏰇􏰜􏰌 􏰏􏰡 􏰄􏰠􏰜 􏰙􏰃􏰏􏰍􏰚􏰨 􏰆􏰠􏰜 􏰂􏰃􏰄􏰇􏰟􏰉􏰜 􏰏􏰍􏰄􏰉􏰇􏰎􏰜􏰌 􏰌􏰏􏰢􏰜 􏰏􏰡 􏰄􏰠􏰜 􏰄􏰏􏰚􏰇􏰟􏰌 􏰄􏰠􏰂􏰄􏰞 􏰂􏰢􏰏􏰎􏰙 􏰏􏰄􏰠􏰜􏰃􏰌􏰞 􏰠􏰂􏰛􏰜 􏰈􏰜􏰜􏰎 􏰂 􏰌􏰚􏰜􏰥 􏰟􏰇􏰡􏰇􏰟 􏰏􏰈􏰤􏰜􏰟􏰄 􏰏􏰡 􏰒􏰓􏰔􏰕􏰖􏰪 􏰂 􏰃􏰜􏰡􏰉􏰜􏰟􏰄􏰇􏰏􏰎 􏰏􏰎 􏰄􏰠􏰜 􏱀􏰍􏰎􏰙􏰇􏰂􏰎 􏰂􏰎􏰊 􏰚􏰏􏰌􏰄􏰥􏱀􏰍􏰎􏰙􏰇􏰂􏰎 􏰇􏰊􏰜􏰎􏰄􏰇􏰄􏰽 􏰂􏰎􏰊 􏰇􏰄􏰌 􏰃􏰜􏰉􏰂􏰄􏰇􏰏􏰎􏰌􏰠􏰇􏰚 􏰶􏰇􏰄􏰠 􏰄􏰠􏰜 􏰇􏰎􏰊􏰇􏰛􏰇􏰊􏰍􏰂􏰄􏰇􏰏􏰎 􏰚􏰃􏰏􏰟􏰜􏰌􏰌 􏰇􏰎 􏰂 􏰢􏰍􏰉􏰄􏰇􏰟􏰍􏰉􏰄􏰍􏰃􏰂􏰉 􏰟􏰏􏰎􏰄􏰜􏱁􏰄 􏰌􏰍􏰟􏰠 􏰂􏰌 􏰒􏰏􏰎􏰙 􏰓􏰏􏰎􏰙􏰫 􏰄􏰠􏰜 􏰜􏱁􏰚􏰜􏰃􏰇􏰜􏰎􏰟􏰜 􏰏􏰡 􏰂􏰎 􏰏􏰎􏰥􏰙􏰏􏰇􏰎􏰙 􏰕􏰟􏰄􏰇􏰛􏰜 􏰔􏰢􏰂􏰙􏰇􏰎􏰂􏰄􏰇􏰏􏰎 􏰦􏱁􏰚􏰜􏰃􏰇􏰜􏰎􏰄􏰇􏰂􏰉 􏰾􏰃􏰏􏰍􏰚 􏰂􏰎􏰊 􏰄􏰠􏰜 􏰍􏰌􏰜 􏰏􏰡 􏰄􏰠􏰜 􏰄􏰜􏰟􏰠􏰎􏰇􏱂􏰍􏰜 􏰏􏰡 􏱃􏰕􏰟􏰄􏰇􏰛􏰜 􏰱􏰜􏰜􏰚 􏱄􏰃􏰇􏰄􏰇􏰎􏰙􏱅 􏰄􏰏 􏰊􏰜􏰛􏰜􏰉􏰏􏰚 􏰂􏰎 􏰇􏰢􏰂􏰙􏰇􏰎􏰂􏰉 􏰂􏰚􏰚􏰃􏰏􏰂􏰟􏰠 􏰄􏰏 􏰚􏰌􏰽􏰟􏰠􏰇􏰟 􏰊􏰽􏰎􏰂􏰢􏰇􏰟􏰌􏰫 􏰄􏰠􏰜 􏰌􏰄􏰍􏰊􏰽 􏰏􏰡 􏰄􏰠􏰜 􏰵􏰠􏰇􏰎􏰜􏰌􏰜 􏰙􏰜􏰎􏰊􏰜􏰃 􏰟􏰏􏰢􏰚􏰉􏰜􏱁 􏰂􏰎􏰊 􏰇􏰄􏰌 􏰇􏰢􏰚􏰉􏰇􏰟􏰂􏰄􏰇􏰏􏰎􏰌 􏰏􏰎 􏰄􏰠􏰜 􏰇􏰎􏰄􏰜􏰃􏰎􏰂􏰉 􏰂􏰎􏰊 􏰃􏰜􏰉􏰂􏰄􏰇􏰏􏰎􏰂􏰉 􏰃􏰜􏰂􏰉􏰇􏰄􏰽 􏰏􏰡 􏰦􏰂􏰌􏰄􏰜􏰃􏰎 􏰕􏰌􏰇􏰂􏰎 􏰶􏰏􏰢􏰜􏰎 􏰂􏰎􏰊 􏰢􏰜􏰎􏰨

In an increasingly globalised and globalising world, „culture‟ appears as „an important determinant of subjectivity‟ and, consequently, of creative expression (Beautell 2000). With this in mind, Tötösy de Zepetnek (1999) prompted researchers to merge the comparative study of literature with that of cultural studies, embracing what he designated the new „comparative cultural studies‟ approach. If we are to accept Tötösy de Zepetnek‟s challenge, however, as I argue in this paper, it would be better to adopt a transcultural theoretical paradigm more apt to deal with the cultural complexities of the twenty-first century mobile age. Not only does „transculture/ality‟ – the combined notion of „transculture‟ (Epstein 1995, 2009) and „transculturality‟ (Welsch 1999, 2009) – appear to be endowed with the kind of dynamic non-linear nature and flexibility most needed in dealing with the fast- changing patterns and transformations in cultures and literatures, but it also seems to promote a new „borderless‟ comparative methodology. In doing so it marks an attempt to move away from nationalist stances and the insistence on the periphery–centre, colony– empire, ethnic–mainstream, pure–hybrid dichotomies with which comparative studies (especially within a postcolonial perspective) have been so far associated. It also offers the possibility of overcoming the nihilistic, self-defeating nature of anything „post-‟ to embrace instead the „visionary power‟ (Braidotti 2006), vitalist possibilities and new beginnings inherent in an approach that accepts the prefix proto- (starting from „protoglobal‟: Epstein 2004) when dealing with our contemporaneity.

“Transcultural Identity and Migration: Zachary Karabashliev’s 18 % Gray.” (Pop) Cultures on the Move: Transnational Identifications and Cultural Exchange between East and West. (eds.) Astrid M. Fellner, Tetiana Ostapchuk, Bärbel Schlimbach. Saarbrücken:  Universitätsverlag | universaar, 2018. 67-87. ISBN 978-3-86223-229-1.

Japanese visual culture offers countless examples of mutable corporeity and metamorphosis processes, which often imply internal as well as external changes in characters, with which the Japanese notion of “body” (shintai) certainly acquires distinct connotations when compared to the fixed sense of  the European one (soma). This essay deals with the physiological and symbolic transformations of the body as represented in the teen cinema stemming from the so-called taiyōzoku (literary tribe of the Sun) phenomenon of summer 1956.  It tries to describe processes of body westernization, the new gender role and the function of physical and pseudo-phantasmagorical bodies on the screen. The text focuses on the two earliest films of the genre, Season of the Sun (Taiyō no kisetsu, Takumi Furukawa, 1956) and Crazed Fruit (Kurutta kajitsu, Ko Nakahira, 1956) but also provides a context with references to the following youth cinema of the late fifties. The analysis deals recent discussions and also updates those which took place in Japan at that time.

I´ve tried to make a genealogy of Appadurai´s transcultural landscapes including a Latin American perspective from Silviano Santiago´s inbetween space, Canclini´s interculturality among others so that I could read Wong Kar Wai´s Happy under a comparative perspective and outside a national perspective

Seit geraumer Zeit zirkuliert das Schlagwort der Europäischen Identität in nahezu allen
Debatten zur Zukunft der Europäischen Union. Dabei sind es oft der Nationalstaat und
die nationale Identität, die als Hindernis gelten, wenn von der Etablierung einer Europäischen
Identität die Rede ist. Hier soll dargestellt werden, welche Komponenten in
einem europäischen Kontext auf individuelle und kollektive Identitäten wirken, wo
Europa, Nation und Region in diesem Zusammenhang verortet sind und welchen Einfluss
das Konzept der Transkulturalität darauf hat.

As transnational social networks expand, people increasingly form intimate relationships with partners from a different sociocultural background. While intercultural intimate relationships are not a new phenomenon, they have attracted research only recently due to their global proliferation. Scholars are particularly interested in how such mixed relationships communicate and how their interculturality impacts on partners' (and their offspring's) identities. Some studies have been criticized for overemphasizing cultural differences and identification problems of intercultural partners. This depiction of intercultural coupledom as problematic in early research echoed initial societal perceptions of it. Contrastingly, recent works explore how intercultural partners can effectively communicate and negotiate their complex sociocultural repertoires. The hybrid cultural forms and meanings that intercultural couples create are shown as empowering rather than debilitating. This new approach is also reflected in society and the media, which increasingly represent intercultural families in a positive light, gradually normatizing or even endorsing them.

Este artículo analiza el papel que ha jugado la teoría de la transculturación en los campos de las ciencias sociales y de los estudios humanísticos referidos a América Latina. El texto realiza un resumido recuento de las distintas etapas de elaboración del concepto y su funcionalidad en debates actuales marcados por los conceptos y las experiencias de la migración, la fragmentación social, etc. Además, se pregunta sobre la utilidad de la elaboración sobre la transculturación en los escenarios de la postmodernidad.

In our time, composers are presented with an abundance of styles and tools with which to compose, as well as many compositional challenges.  Intercultural composition is one such challenge.  Intercultural music is music that combines, involves, or exists between two or more musical traditions.  In the present study of intercultural composition, I have composed Axis Mundi for winds, zithers, strings, and percussion for members of the Atlas Ensemble to be submitted for a reading session during 2016 Atlas Academy.  The Atlas Ensemble is an Amsterdam based ensemble whose musicians combine both Western and non-Western musical traditions.  Learning about new instruments, their tunings, modes, histories, and cultural history is a difficult undertaking, but is rewarding as it brings about the satisfaction of connecting with fellow global citizens to create something new.  My experiences with members of both the Vancouver Intercultural Orchestra and the Atlas Ensemble will inform much of this study. 
Consequently, this research discusses the processes involved in intercultural music composition, an analysis of Axis Mundi, the issues that emerge when composers incorporate instruments of cultures other than their own.  The translation of the title of this composition, Axis Mundi, is “axis of the world.” For many cultures, an Axis Mundi can take the shape of many things, including a large tree, a mountain, a totem pole, or a temple.  These axi serve as portals connecting earth, heaven, and hell.  I musically represent these planes of existence as movements.  The instrumentation of the work consists of the following instruments: shakuhachi in D, duduk in C, clarinet in A, santur, zheng, harp, bass drum, tam-tam, wood blocks, suspended cymbal, kamancha, kemençe, and cello.

Four Minoan glyptic images from the Neopalatial period portray sacred trees in conjunction with boats and seascape. The Mochlos Ring depicts an elite female figure seated upon a stepped ashlar altar that includes a tree, inside a self-propelled hippocamp-headed boat. The Makrygialos Seal depicts a female figure performing a cultic salute toward a tree situated inside a boat. In the Amnissos Ring elite figures communicate with a hovering epiphanic tree deity in the vicinity of a boat. A female figure in a hippocamp-headed boat upon the sea is surrounded by three cult structures in the Ring of Minos. These images have traditionally been interpreted in three main ways: as a representation of Minoan cosmological concepts; as depicting a vague “Goddess from the sea” who is either a metaphor for a Minoan “thalassocracy” or else symbolic of a sequence of seasonal festivals; and as a ritual scene involving the literal transport of a tree in a ship from one cult site to another. While each of these interpretations incorporates degrees of validity, they are only partial explanations of these images. This paper proposes that the religious aspects of the images can be understood through the examination of their iconography in light of both Minoan religion and contemporary Canaanite seafaring religion. In his early analysis of Minoan culture, Arthur Evans attributed Minoan religious concepts to cultural diffusion from the Levant and Egypt. Acculturation is often discernible within art and material culture connected to cult and such evidence can provide information on the imitation or adoption of foreign religious concepts. It is argued here that the four Minoan glyptic images that combine trees, human figures, boats and the sea represent a combination of native Minoan with Canaanite religious ideas concerning a tree goddess who also had power over the sea. Each image is thus a glyph of the protective power of the Minoan tree deity over maritime voyaging, whether to a nearby Cycladic trading partner, a colony, or to a distant eastern Mediterranean destination. The empowerment of the expedition through supernatural patronage emphasises Minoan land-based power over the sea and extends the Cretan landscape outward to incorporate the seascape. It is further proposed that the images functioned in a protective talismanic capacity and that the containment of the iconographic motifs within the confines of gold rings and a stone seal linked the Minoan elites who owned these objects with the exotic aura of transculturality and power associated with overseas trade.                                             

[Kindly read at the conference by Louise A. Hitchcock 

Now available here: https://12iccs.proceedings.gr/el/proceedings/category/38/32/381

In the main works dedicated to the study of the historical links between Cuba and Eastern Europe, the predominant perspective has been the political context.  Little has been said about the personal contacts between intellectuals and artists. In terms of cultural life prior to Castro’s regime, the most relevant relationship for my research was established between the Polish anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski (1884-1942) and the Cuban ethnologist Fernando Ortiz (1881-1969).  I focus my analysis on the letters of these two scholars in order to trace the ‘pre-history’ of transculturation

This edition of On-Curating.org deals with aspects of the public sphere, public space, and public art in seven different metropolises around the world. The point of departure was a competition that was held for a master plan for public art in the new Europaallee district in the centre of Zurich, the first such plan in Switzerland. The urbanist Richard Wolff presents the urban development project Europaallee, which is currently being built, and traces the around 50-year-long historical development of the project and its changing politico-economic conditions. With Europaallee, the neoliberal city of Zurich is bolstering its position as a global city that is competing with other global cities economically. What functions does public art claim to fulfil in the given economic and social context? What understanding of the public sphere underlies public art? And how does it create room for public activities? We are interested, taking the globally networked space of Europaallee as a starting point, in broadening our perspective and putting up for discussion how artists, curators, urbanists, and cultural studies experts in other cities think and act. This edition of On-Curating.org is a mosaic consisting of different perspectives of different authors from different disciplines from different big cities across the globe. It creates a picture of what the public sphere, public space, and public art can mean today against the background of regional conditions.

This text is the result of an ethnochoreological and anthropological investigation of folk dance practices at Balkan Fest in San Diego, California (2013 et seq.), in which the Bulgarian community plays a central role. Although Balkan Fest has already been approached in one of my earlier works, and the California Bulgarian community has been addressed in a paper discussing the ‘re-discovery’ of Bulgarian folk dance, there was no focus on transnational and transcultural approaches (and experiences) in these works, which are addressed in the present text; these approaches are adopted here for setting the context and supporting my analysis. Balkan Fest reveals “ways of belonging”, in which Bulgarian music and dance play an important role. This article proposes that, to many of the festival’s attendees, the festival’s campground became a space (a ‘village,’ a ‘home’) where one is physically absent, but spiritually and emotionally present in one’s country of origin. Besides being a playground – both metaphorically and literally – the festival offers various activities for children to retain their Bulgarian ethnic identity (although raised as Bulgarian-Americans). Simultaneously, this is a California ‘Balkan Fest,’ in which people of different backgrounds meet, and where the dance floor becomes a venue for the convergence of various dance traditions.
Key words:  music, dance, festival, Bulgarian community, U.S.A.

Globalization brought changes in mental health ailments and their treatments. The therapeutic tools and treatments
have diversified and converged in transdisciplinary encounters such as the work with Ayahuasca and its subsequent
incorporation in clinical trials.
However, those devices do not often consider views from the pair “plant-person” and, moreover, mistranslated pieces of
information lack an adequate decolonization perspective. A clinical example was taken to describe an experience that
occurred between the afore mentioned plant and a patient. In addition, changes in perception of reality entrenched in the
dominant culture are shown by using a bond perspective.



La incidencia de la globalización produjo modificaciones en las dolencias contemporáneas como también en las propuestas
de tratamiento. Algunas herramientas terapéuticas se han diversificado provocando encuentros transdisciplinares, como
el caso del trabajo con Ayahuasca y de su posterior integración clínica terapéutica. Sin embargo, tales dispositivos no han
contemplado miradas desde el armado mutuo vegetal - persona humana y a su vez las traducciones de información han
eximido la perspectiva decolonial. Se ha tomado aquí un recorte clínico como descriptor de una experiencia producida
entre la planta en mención y un paciente. Se buscó visibilizar la dislocación de encuadres insertos en la cultura dominante,
en tanto creencias, y se ha utilizado una perspectiva vincular.

The present article suggests that if, within the discourse of modern human mobility, the twentieth century has been mainly written, read, and studied through a migrant/multicultural and/or postcolonial perspective, the early twenty-first century of neo-nomadic and transnational patterns appears to be marked by a transcultural sensibility. Furthermore, its related literary expressions, namely those works that, together with their authors, are intrinsically border crossers, have been able to go beyond the limits of any one culture or national landscape. In order to develop its thesis, this article proposes a Table––which represents the various Literatures of Mobility according to different modes of modernity––and its related commentary.

Throughout the nineteenth century several Western officers joined the Ottoman Army. Not a few adopted Ottoman citizenship, commanded troops, fought in major wars, and rose to the highest echelons of the military. For these men the Ottoman Empire represented a formidable military power, notwithstanding contemporary discourses about its supposed decline. Asking what prompted these military men to emigrate, this article elucidates how they reconciled, for themselves, some of the putative contradictions of their positions as (former) Christian men in the military body of an Empire that drew on Islam as its main source of legitimacy. How did they try to make sense of what they were doing and how did they later remember and represent their Ottoman travails to those they left behind? This article answers these questions through a close reading of the career and memoirs of the Belgian baron Charles de Schwartzenberg a.k.a. Emin Pasha (d. 1878), who was employed in the Ottoman Army for nearly two decades, fighting in the Crimean War before serving in Syria. Typical for the mercenary-like European officers who chose to venture abroad, his biography illuminates the kind of mobility that was possible in, and integral to, the late Ottoman military structure.

Part of the Special Issue “Foreign Fighters and Multinational Armies from Civil Conflicts to Coalition War, 1848-1999,” edited by Steven O'Connor and Guillaume Piketty.

English version, for German version see below:

In 1882, Christopher Dresser (1834–1904 published a book with the title “Japan: its Architecture, Art, and Art Manufactures”. It is not the first one on Japanese culture, of course. There had been important publications before, such as James Jackson Jarves' (1818-1888), "A Glimps at the Art of Japan", printed in 1876 and Rutherford Alcock's                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                (1809–1887) “Art and Art Industries in Japan”, published two years later. While the works by Jarves and Alcock belong to what was named the “Period of Discovery” which ran from 1867 to 1870, Christopher Dresser’s account of Japanese art belongs to the “Period of Research”, which started in 1880. Whereas in his book Alcock discussed Japanese artd 
production in a theoretical way, Dresser approached the subject from an artist’s point of 
view, and went into great detail regarding its production.

Deutsche Version:

Im Jahr 1882 veröffentlichte Christopher Dresser (1834–1904) ein Buch mit dem Titel „Japan: seine Architektur, Kunst und Kunstmanufakturen“. Es ist natürlich nicht das erste Buch über japanische Kultur. Es gab bereits wichtige Veröffentlichungen, wie James Jackson Jarves ' (1818–1888) „Ein Blick auf die Kunst Japans“, ein Buch, das 1876 veröffentlicht wurde, und Rutherford Alcocks (1809–1887) „Kunst und Kunstindustrie in Japan“, das zwei Jahre später veröffentlicht wurde. Während die Werke von Jarves und Alcock zur sogenannten "Periode der Entdeckung" von 1867 bis 1870 gehören, ist Christopher Dressers Bericht über japanische Kunst der "Periode der Forschung", die 1880 begann, zuzurechnen. Alcock diskutiert die japanische Kunst und Produktion auf theoretische Weise, im Gegensatz dazu behandelt Dresser das Thema aus der Sicht des Künstlers und ging detailliert auf Produktionsprozesse ein.

The What Does Theology Do, Actually? project aims not to do theology, but to observe what theologies do, around the world today, in and for the communi- ties in which they circulate and hold meaning. How is theology understood and practiced as a semantics of global society? What kinds of problems do theologies solve and how? These questions are pursued, moreover, with specif- ic attention given to the “transcultural”. Much might be learned both about the role of Christian religion in public life and about evolving trends in theological understanding or praxis by examining comparatively the ways Christian communities encode transcultural experiences of irritation coming from the social environment (for example, climate change, protest movements, digitali- zation, mass migration, or global pandemics) into their self-understanding (for example, in engagement with received tradition) and self-formation (for ex- ample, in liturgy and community ethics).

This requires theoretical open mindedness and methodological agility. The project therefore follows a two-step logic. First, the project seeks to observe theological work as itself a set of social discourses or objects contingently particular to certain contexts. A focus on answering the question “What is theology?” privileges those who already possess the resources and power to shape what counts as being “really” theology or not. By contrast, the descrip- tive approach preferred by the question “What does theology do?” objectifies “theologies” as a kind of social artifact and recognizes a variety of reflected religious communications as communicating theology. Second, in this way, the project aims to disrupt dominant paradigms in academic theological re- search, to expand the category of theological work(s) beyond textual formats and classroom or conference situations to include a variety of spaces, symbols, practices, and artifacts that function as transmitters of reflected religious communications, and to contribute to work diversifying theological methodologies to include empirical, qualitative, and quantitative research methods.

The What Does Theology Do, Actually? project consists of symposia and a limited book series. An international community of theologians, sociologists, anthropologists, philosophers, scholars of religion, and practitioners, from widely differing contexts, and at all career stages are invited to disruptive dialogue with one another in the context of symposia devoted to comparative study of theological production and communication systems. The inaugural symposium called into question such basic issues as what a context is, what counts as a theological work, and what publics theologies inevitably address and how. It addressed these questions with Protestant, Pentecostal, and Ro- man Catholic theological interventions from Ethiopia, Nigeria, the Philippines, Argentina, Hong Kong, the USA, and Germany. Subsequent symposia and volumes in the series will continue to apply this same approach, each with a focus on a theological sub-discipline or external humanities perspective.

Eric Wittkower founded McGill University’s transcultural psychiatry unit in 1955. One year later, he started the first international newsletter in this academic field, which became (and remains) the main journal today: Transcultural Psychiatry. However, at the beginning of his career Wittkower gave no signs that he would be interested in social sciences and psychiatry; he originally trained as a specialist in internal medicine in Berlin. This paper describes the historical context of the post-war period, when Wittkower founded a research unit at McGill University with an American anthropologist, Jacob Fried. Using archival material from McGill, I focus on the history of scientific networks and the circulation of knowledge, particularly on the exchanges between the French- and English-speaking academic cultures in North America and Europe. Because the history of transcultural psychiatry is a transnational history par excellence, but also a literature of exile, this leads necessarily to the important question of the reception of this academic field abroad.

V minulosti docházelo k dramatickým selháním v komunikaci mezi kulturami, národy a etnickými skupinami, a výsledkem těchto střetů bylo mnohonásobné individuální utrpení a kolektivní frustrace. Také v současnosti je politika a společenské klima v Evropě určováno naléhavými otázkami souvisejícími s kulturou. Budoucí odolnost společnosti závisí na naší schopnosti komunikovat navzdory kulturním odlišnostem. Kniha Výzvy pro transkulturní komunikaci je stručnou analýzou základů, na kterých lze postavit funkční vztahy uvnitř kulturně rozmanitého společenství. Jednotlivé kapitoly se věnují tématům nihilismu, svobody, rovnosti a pokoře vůči přírodě ve středoevropském prostoru, principům transkulturního dialogu odvozeným z tragických etap evropských dějin 20. století (vyvraždění litevských židů, násilný odsun československých Němců, pogromy na turecké Kypřany), a akademickému formátu oboru Transkulturní Komunikace.

Abstract: The article takes up the issue of imagining and representing the periphery of Europe in the context of colonial and post-colonial reflection. The analyzed examples are art works that can be treated as transcultural representations. The main concept that has been scrutinized is transculturality as proposed by Wolfgang Welsch, who criticizes the existing concepts of individual cultures, as well as the ideas of multiculturalism and interculturalism. The starting point is the belief of Nicholas Mirzoeff that all cultures are transcultures. Within the field of Visual Culture Studies, the concept of transculturality has been replaced by transculturation and transculture, which are involved in the process of constructing networked cultural identities with a hybrid structure. The notions of transculturation and transculture can also be referred to the works of José Bedia. The evolution of Mirzoeff’s thinking about transculturality proceeds from the affirmation of the position of the Cuban anthropologist Alfonso Ortiz to the transformation of Welsch’s concept. The photographs of Herbert Lang are juxtaposed with the concept of "imperial transculture", which refers to the scopic regimes of Martin Jay. These connotations also direct us toward the understanding of "imperialism” of Edward W. Said, who treats the Orient as an artificial construct. In this sense, an example of the operation of the visual regime of  colonialization can be the nkisi figures that appear in the works Fetish No . 2 (1988) by Renée Stout and Ta Tele (1988) by Trigo Piula, which can be interpreted in relation to Marcel Mauss’s  fetishism magic and Karl Marx's commodity fetishism. Another example of the operation of the visual regime of colonialization is necropolitics during the civil war in Rwanda between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes and two more works, Scramble for Africa (2003) by Yinka Shonibare and The Chief: he who sold Africa to the colonists (1997) by Samuel Fosso. The concept of constructing an image of the Kongo peoples presented here is based on the assumption that it is the result of the operation of the discourse created by the European colonizers. This point of view can be also found in the book The Right to Look, where Mirzoeff constructs the definitions of visuality and countervisuality.

L’instrumentarium des études de transfert comprend différentes théories énoncées depuis la seconde moitié des années 1980, dont celles des transferts culturels (Michel Espagne/Michael Werner), de l’histoire croisée (Michael Werner/Bénédicte Zimmermann) ou de la médiation artistique (Alexandre Kostka/Françoise Lucbert). S’il est souvent question de « transferts culturels » ou « musicaux », les approches musicologiques dans ce domaine font rarement l’objet d’une approche théorique. L’objectif de la présente journée est de réunir des spécialistes d’études de transferts en musique, afin de réaliser un état des lieux et de réfléchir sur les perspectives de ce champ de recherche, en partant des spécialités de chaque chercheur.

This paper deals with constellations in which, as consequences of linguistic interculturality, elements of two or more languages encounter each other and result in something partially or completely new, an – occasionally temporary – “third quality”, namely hybridity. The paper contributes to the meta-discourse and theory formation by questioning the concept, term and content of “linguistic hybridity”. It also submits a proposal for a typology of linguistic-communicative hybridity that consists of the following prototypical main groups, each with several subtypes: (1) language-cultural, (2) semiotic, (3) medial, (4) communicative, (5) systematic, (6) paraverbal and (7) nonverbal hybridity. At last, the paper examines hybridity as an explanatory variable for language change. In conclusion, hybridity is generally a place of cultural production, with special regard to communication and language it is potentially considered as an incubator of linguistic innovation. Hybridity can be seen as the engine and as the result of language change, or language development. It represents an essential factor by which language functions and develops as a complex adaptive system. Hybridity operates as a continuous cycle. By generating innovation, it triggers language change, which in turn, leads to further and new hybridizations. The processuality of hybridity creates diversity, while at the same time it can cause the vanishing of diversity.

The book identifies the universal characteristics of the specific human way of inhabiting the world. Attention is focused primarily on the symbolic semantic and orientational resources associated with the structuring of living space. The text illustrates the seemingly obvious assumptions of our everyday domestic life, with references to specific examples of the interrelated phenomena of identity, life style, urbanization and architecture. It shows how meetings or clashes of different cultural perspectives may arise, and attempts to identify a transcultural perspective, which would lead to the understanding that people of all cultures actually deal with the same basic tasks in life.

Abstract: The concept of transculturality has marked its presence in the latest German-Turkish films as they construct a new sense of belonging of the Turkish diaspora in Germany, putting a great emphasis on the hyphenated hybrid German-Turkish identities. The discursive analysis of the selected case study – a film Almanya - Welcome to Germany (2011), is suggested as an example of departing from the divisive notions of cultural homogeneity with the aim of exploring and elaborating transcultural research, its cultural and political implications in the context of increasing cultural diversity in Europe. In this way, the paper contributes to the discussion on the necessity of cultural paradigm shift that is essential for influencing the discourses on immigration and multiculturalism in political and public domains of contemporary culturally dynamic European societies.

Keywords: transculturality, diasporic cinema, self-representation, multiculturalism discourse.

Los artículos reunidos en este dossier son fruto de una de las secciones del taller/simposio “La producción, traducción y apropiación transregional de saberes: actores, instituciones y discursos”, organizado por el Instituto Ibero-Americano de Berlín (IAI, por sus siglas en alemán), y llevado a cabo los días 10 y 11 de octubre de 2014. El taller/simposio formó parte de las actividades desarrolladas por el IAI en el marco de su foco temático de investigación “Producción de saberes y transferencias culturales: América Latina en contexto transregional”. Uno de los objetivos principales de dicho evento ha sido iniciar un diálogo interdisciplinario sobre algunos conceptos de la crítica cultural en y sobre América Latina, lo que se refleja en el hecho de que los textos que publicamos en el presente dossier provengan de la Historia, la Antropología Social, la Literatura y los Estudios Culturales. Ha sido nuestro objetivo el mantener el ámbito de debate abierto de la sección; por eso decidimos publicar no solamente las ponencias que la componen, sino también los comentarios a cada una de ellas que realizó Vittoria Borsò.

On 18 June 1912, Charles Bell, Political Officer of Sikkim, paid his final visit to the thirteenth Dalai Lama at Bhutan House in Kalimpong. The significant gifts presented that day were the culmination of a series of object exchanges between the two men during the lama’s exile in British India. These gifting moments were not only characterized by the mobility of the objects in question, but by the connoisseurial and empirical knowledge regularly offered with them. Using the concept of “object lessons,” this paper traces out how Bell was taught things with Tibetan objects. Furthermore, these exchanges are not only placed within the context of the Dalai Lama’s exile in Darjeeling and Kalimpong between 1910 and 1912, but they highlight the potential to make alternate readings of histories and encounters if one closely follows things.

On June 11th, 2008, the then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued an apology on
behalf of the Canadian government. Harper apologized for the so-called Indian Residential School
System through which Indigenous peoples were forcibly relocated and segregated, and their children were
supposed to be ‘culturally re-educated’. Canadian Reconciliation and First World War remembrance
(2014 and 2018) mark instances of collective remembering which prompted critical reflections on
contemporary Canadian national identity. The Canadian reconciliation process simultaneously contests
and designs contemporary understandings of Canadian histories and culture(s). Against this identitypolitical
backdrop, author Joseph Boyden published a novel in which Canadian collective memories of
cultural re-education and WWI participation as Canada’s ‘origin story’ intersect. Three Day Road
(2005) sends two Indigenous protagonists as soldiers into the European theatres of war, where they
excel as trackers and snipers. Boyden’s novel thus opens up Canada’s ‘birth of the nation’ to Canada’s
Indigenous peoples, and retrospectively indigenizes this national(ist) narrative. Though poignant in its
imagination of Indigenous war participation, Three Day Road eventually kills its transcultural
trickster-figure Elijah who embodies the playful oscillation between the cultural poles. Boyden’s novel
effectively deems transcultural identities unviable, if not impossible. Moreover, the text romanticizes an
authentic Indigeneity, and proposes a seclusion from modernity as a possible Indigenous future. In this
sense – as this essay argues – Boyden’s novel is highly ambiguous in its identity-political agenda: It
provides an important space where monolithic Canadian identities are problematized, where ethnically
coded memories become entangled. Yet, whilst this novel re-presents formerly divisive national narratives
as venues of imagining transcultural Canadian citizenship, transcultural citizens are rendered incapable
of survival.

Keywords: Canadian Reconciliation, Indigenous Literatures/Identities,
Transculturality, Memory Citizenship, World War I

La frontera entre México y los Estados Unidos es el tema programático del arte performativo de Guillermo Gómez-Peña, un artista chicano quien emigró a los Estados Unidos a los 22 años. Autodenominándose “borderólogo” el artista se dedica a poner la frontera en escena de manera lúdica, subversiva y multicéntrica. Su estilo se caracteriza por una estética experimental en que se mezclan expresiones de la cultura pop con declaraciones políticas y una actitud didáctica. Como “borderólogo” Gómez-Peña desafía las fronteras mentales que predeterminan el contacto entre las culturas: En muchos de sus performances se auto-estiliza de manera exageradamente grotesca como delincuente, cuestionando así la imagen estereotípica que existe del mexicano en los Estados Unidos.
En mi contribución analizaré la dinámica entre las fronteras puestas y su transgresión que se manifiesta en la perspectiva fronteriza de Gómez-Peña a nivel cultural y nacional, simbólico y lingüístico. Con los ejemplos de “El Psycho-Linguist” y “Border Interrogation” (del álbum Ethno Techno, 2004) examinaré la transculturalidad en su dimensión de concepto fronterizo. En el contexto de la identidad híbrida y la experiencia migratoria chicanas quiero operar con los términos de exclusión, demarcación y transculturación para mostrar cómo la borderología de Gómez-Peña se mueve entre fronteras puestas, marcadas y superadas.

Крушение Цинской и Российской империй в начале XX в. привело к экономическому и политическому хаосу на значительной части евразийского континента. В Байкальском регионе фактическое отсутствие государства спровоцировало многочисленные попытки региональных и внешних акторов воссоздать этот институт в той или иной форме. За шесть лет был разработан и частично воплощен в жизнь целый ряд проектов по созданию новых политических общностей и соответствующих административных и государственных границ. Авторы проектов апеллировали к этнической, религиозной и цивилизационной идентичности разнородного населения, обращались к идеям самоопределения и социальной справедливости, соперничали и сотрудничали друг с другом. Активная фаза борьбы за власть завершилась созданием Бурят-Монгольской автономной республики в 1923 году и независимой Монгольской республики годом позже. Для анализа конкурирующих проектов и тех пространств, которые они разграничивали, нами была создана географическая информационная система. По результатам исследования можно утверждать, что хотя номинальным критерием для окончательного размежевания стала национальность, другие идентичности также были учтены. Кроме того, уделяя значительное внимание трансграничным взаимосвязям, авторы победившего проекта фактически представили модель управления для будущего послереволюционного мира «без границ».

This paper compares the position of the speaking subject in the work of two transcultural poets, Tawada Yōko and Arthur Binard. German-Japanese bilingual poet Tawada Yōko establishes a poetics of exophony, which focuses not on a person’s entering a new language community, but on the departure from the mother tongue. Through this, the writer becomes free to explore the possibilities of new language(s) and thoughts. To this end, Tawada’s poems often construct a lyrical subject removed from the action, belonging to neither of the cultural spheres presented. Using the concept of liminality as developed by Victor Turner, I consider the implications of the liminal subject positions in the poems 観光客 (kankōkyaku, Tourists, 1987) and チガレッテ (煙草か) (chigarette (tabako ka), Cigarette?, 2017). In contrast to Tawada, American-born Japanese poet Arthur Binard can more readily be classified as a migrant author, choosing to write exclusively in his acquired language. He engages with topics typical for migrant writing, such as his experiences with Japanese language and culture and his feelings of exclusion. 線 (sen, Lines, 2000) and タッグ (taggu, The Tag, 2000) also inquire into the confining attribution of (national) identity. This is where I will point out similarities in both writers’ transcultural poetry, referencing the model of layered lyrical subjectivity developed by Henrieke Stahl.