Suid-Afrikaanse "alternatiewe" rolprente en die Suid-Afrikaanse sosio-politieke werklikheid. 'n Historiese,teoretiese en analitiese verkenning (Deel 1)

SUMMARY

The "alternative" film originated in South Africa because people or groups outside the apartheid establishment were unable to communicate through existing mass media structures, and their own communication channel had to be established.

The key question addressed in this article is whether the "alternative" South African film actually succeeds in making a contribution, on an intercultural level of communication, to the socio-political reality of South African society, and to what extent the film as communication medium succeeds in establishing positive intercultural communication? A study of four films is undertaken, according to Pieter J. Fourie's theoretical model (1983), whereby the content and shaping aspects of film images are examined from a contextual as well as an analytical point of view.

The value of the "alternative" film lies in the fact that the South African reality is seen from the perspective of the "black" or "coloured" person. For many years "whites", on account of their ethnocentric attitude and the absolutization of their values and norms, were never really aware of other race groups' values and norms, and were not interested in how these people experienced reality. In this regard the "alternative" film has a dual function significant to intercultural communication: on the one hand it offers self-expression – an important principle and starting point for intercultural communication – to people outside the apartheid establishment, and on the other hand, it gives whites within this establishment the opportunity to become acquainted with the worlds of other cultural and ideological groups.

If the South African film wants to present a model for reality, it will have to take into account the complexity of multicultural diversity without absolutizing certain people's cultural values and ideological perspectives. Communication should rather take the form of "dialogue".     

A model of international and intercultural communication

International and intercultural communication and their respective cognate constructs, political international and cultural international communication, are redefined and interrelated in order to create a clearer definitional base for theory building in communication among nations and peoples. International communication is any symbolic interaction between people of different nation states. Political international communication is politically significant symbolic internation between nation states. Intercultural communication is communication between people of different cultures in which cultural values are an obvious factor in the nature of the interaction and/or determining the outcome of the interaction. Cultural international communication is intercultural communication between people of different nation states. There are four advantages of this model over existing constructs. The model: (1) unifies yet distinguishes among each different type of communication (2) focuses attention on political significance (3) separates cultural international from intercultural communication (4) argues that international communication is inherently persuasive and that intercultural communication is an interpersonal transaction.     

刍议颜色文化

颜色既有美感功能也有信息功能。各种颜色在不同的民族文化背景下具有不同的社会文化附加意义。在跨文化交际中，了解一个民族的颜色文化，有利于民族间的理解和交流。本文探讨汉民族颜色文化的主要内容，并与英语民族的颜色文化相比较，同时简要介绍东盟10国的颜色文化。     

ESP as a means of communication

SUMMARY

Although the obstacles to communication and cooperation between the widely divergent groups in South Africa is formidable, there is a genuine desire to live together peacefully in our common fatherland.

Intercultural contact in the South African labour situation is a very complex phenomenon but is important because this is virtually the only area of South African society in which Black and White in particular, come into close contact with one another.

Typical intercultural problem areas in the organisation are: cultural differences, differing circumstances of life, system defects and grievances, high potential for conflict, and other communication stumbling blocks.

The essential conditions for intercultural communication are availability, willingness and purpose, to which the following aspects can be added: continuing communication; creation of common ground; adoption of the right attitude and creation of trust; visualisation of a common purpose; knowledge of the other, knowledge of the other's language; training; use of the right communication channels; knowing how to deal with trade unions, work committees, etc.; good supervision; consideration of unique needs and expectations; and other hints, most of which have basically to do with sensitivity and just good manners.

South Africans have to cope with unique challenges and therefore will have to envisage and develop an indigenous South African organisational style in which the best both cultures have to offer, are accommodated.     

The South African telecommunications environment: a brief assessment of regulatory change

Abstract

Communications play a critical role in transforming society. Governments as the custodians of communications therefore have a serious obligation to ensure that all the people of their country have access to basic telecommunications services. Access to basic communication services is a right because communications is an enabler of social interaction across time and geographic space, a creator of economic development and prosperity for even the most dispersed populations. In South Africa, under apartheid, vast populations of people were excluded from this basic right of having access to communications, resulting in a serious backlog of basic communication services. One of the major objectives of the Afican National Congress (ANC) government when it came to power in 1994 was to ensure that communications were made available to all people even those in the most remote areas of South Africa. These objectives were constrained by a number of factors such as: telecommunications policy that favoured a monopolistic telecommunications environment. To re-engineer the South African telecommunications landscape, telecommunications policy has since 1994 evolved in a revolutionary way.     

跨文化交际中的空缺现象——从俄语和汉语对比的视角

我们在研究语言文化学和在跨文化交际的过程中,总会遇到反映在词汇上的空缺,即在一种语言中有,在另一种语言中没有。这种空缺现象不仅反映在民族语言意识和联想中,形成了空缺的隐性因素,而且也反映在言语与文化的交际上。     

The digital divide and development communication theory

Abstract

Recent theories about a global information society and the digital divide are rooted in older theories about mass media and development. A comparison between these theories shows that the main premises are still there: development is equated with economic growth, there is an enormous belief in the capacities of communication technologies to change a society, the Western model is promoted as being universally applicable and the only unavoidable way forward. Thus the idea that closing the communication gap will also close the development divide is still alive. On the contrary, history shows that the communication gap and the digital divide are consequences of a more general development divide.     

Introduction: Communication and Civic Engagement in Comparative Perspective

The present era is defined by sweeping changes in economies, social institutions, political party systems, and communication processes in many nations. These changes go by various names from globalization to poststructuralism. The impact of these tectonic shifts in the political foundations of nations is greatly debated. In particular, considerable uncertainty surrounds the effects of various changes on the importance of politics for individual citizens and for the kinds of civic activities that people engage in and even regard as political. This is an important time for communication scholars to develop comparative frameworks that bring conceptions of social change together with how people located in various cultural, demographic, and audience groups define their relations to government and, more broadly, to civil society. At stake is our understanding of the role of communication in shaping these political relations, and in shaping the attitudes of citizens about politics, government, and society itself.     

The Australian journalism vs cultural studies debate: implications for South African media studies

ABSTRACT

This article describes an investigation into factors required for a development programme in intercultural business communication amongst the personnel of a South African company operating in the Japanese market. Drawing from items that were identified in the literature, and amongst individuals who operate in the Japanese market, a set of criteria was identified that could be included in a South African-Japanese intercultural business communication course. These criteria were used in a structured questionnaire, which was pre-tested in interviews and a focus group, and then administered to a group of company managers who had travelled to Japan on business. The results of the research are a set of items ranked in terms of salience within three categories. The first comprises degree of knowledge of important aspects of Japanese life, the second consists of factors that lead to culture shock, and the third includes aspects that are deemed to be important in a course on South African–Japanese intercultural business communication.     

Web-based communication: the need for more valuable on-line information

Abstract

Numerous studies about the Internet have already been conducted or are in the process of being conducted. However, after several years there still is no clear understanding of what form Web-based or on-line communication should take to make it really valuable to the consumer.

The contribution of this article is its attempt to address the current contents of Web-based communication and to provide some ideas with regard to the shortcomings in this regard. It addresses the impact of the Internet on the South African society, the Internet as a new communication medium as well as its effect on organisational communication. It also argues that an on-line presence is no longer enough and that online customers want more value in terms of their online experience.

Although Web-based communication has become an integral part of many organisational practices, traditional communication channels or media will not necessarily become obsolete. The Internet is a new communication medium with much potential and can eliminate problems associated with traditional media and channels.

Web-based communication has become a powerful new means of communication in South Africa. Information has become more accessible, more affordable as well as more manageable to both individuals and organisations and has in the process also empowered South African society with more knowledge. However, new technologies are not only concerned with the availability of new communication channels, but also with the development of new credible communication messages for successful communication.

Web-based communication is a more complex task and requires a much more skillful approach to be successful than is the general belief among communication practitioners. After the initial rush to obtain an on-line organisational presence, organisations are currently concerned with the effective integration of the Internet into their traditional marketing communication mix. Marketers, public relations practitioners and advertisers today benefit from the advantages of Web-based communication in conjunction with traditional media. However, even though it is clear that the Internet has an impact on organisational communication (integration), it is less obvious what form on-line information should take to make it really valuable to the consumer.     

影像：跨文化传播的最佳载体——兼对广西电视台国际频道的思考

2010年1月1日，广西电视台国际频道（Guangxi TV Intemational）正式开播，这是广西第一个面向海外播出的电视频道，频道设有《连线东盟》、《寻找金花》、《时尚中国》等十几档栏目和电视剧场。如何利用这一优势平台做好跨文化传播，以推动广西经济的发展成了一个值得探讨的问题。本文通过对传播理论的研究，并结合广西电视台国际频道目前的传播实践，从理论和实践两方面得出了破解跨文化传播坚冰的关键词——影像。     

英国足球的历史传承与产业化

英国是世界公认的体育强国,更是现代足球的摇篮。足球在英国有着悠久的历史,所以英国文化中渗透着浓厚的足球元素。潜移默化的足球文化与大众深厚的足球情结,使足球成为一项炙手可热的产业。因此,英国足球也从俱乐部的业余性娱乐活动逐渐走向了由俱乐部经营的职业化运动。毋庸置疑,正是源于其悠久的历史传承和坚实的群众基础以及规范化的市场运营才使之成功地实现了高端产业化,英格兰文化也因足球而声名远播。     

壮泰稻作文化比较研究

中国壮族和泰国泰族是"同根异枝"的两个民族,他们在传统的农业社会中拥有着历史悠久的稻作文化。在稻作文化的基础上构建了社会生产结构、饮食结构、民俗文化、宗教信仰、人生礼仪、语言方式、民族性格和深层心理等方面内容。随着民族的迁徙与分化,壮泰两个民族在稻作文化方面既具有共性,也具有个性。文章主要从稻作文化的视角来比较壮族与泰族的稻作文化差异,分析稻作文化异同的原因。     

中日奢侈消费的心理文化差异

中国即将超越日本成为全球第一大奢侈品消费国。通过对中日两国奢侈品消费的心理文化特征差异性研究,解读影响中日两国奢侈品消费行为的心理文化因素,为中国奢侈消费文化的发展提供可借鉴价值的内容,那就是必须扭转对奢侈品的过度追求及畸形消费。只有将中国人的消费文化引导为可持续发展的消费方式时,才会在意识上真正关注消费行为的积极性。这也是一个关系到中国社会可持续发展的消费伦理问题。     

The Emotional Deficit in Political Communication

As a consequence of social changes which have weakened the boundaries between different spheres of life, politics is now interwoven with popular culture. This means that we now seek certain kinds of emotionalized experience from politics. The relationship of people to politics has changed, and has come more fully to resemble a mode of consumption. While this consumerization of politics has been much described (and criticized), its implications for the place of emotion in political communications have not been explored. From a base in the sociology of emotion, this article undertakes such an exploration. It notes how some analysts of political communication have already registered the influence of emotional states, and stresses how contemporary emotionality differs from traditional conceptions of the emotional as a domain separable from rationality and as an optional button for message strategists to press. The complexity and omnipresence of emotional states is emphasised. Political advertising is taken as one area where a sophistication of messages to match the complexity and power of audience emotions might have been expected to develop, but does not appear to have done so yet to a great extent. Making good this "emotional deficit" in political communications is not primarily a way for particular parties or candidates to gain electoral advantage (though it could be that), but is essential for the regeneration of the democratic process and the creation of a more viable settlement between reason and emotion in contemporary society.     

马来西亚的族群边界与少数族群的认同——以印度人穆斯林为例

本文从历史的角度探讨了马来西亚族群边界的成因及其划分标准。这种以种族和宗教为依据的族群划分标准,让身兼双重身份的马来西亚印度人穆斯林饱受身份重叠之苦。马来西亚印度人穆斯林的认同遭到了同样信仰伊斯兰教的马来族群和以印度教教徒居多的印度人族群的拒绝。为获取政治、经济等社会资源,印度人穆斯林不得不在马来族群和印度人族群之间寻找皈依。印度人穆斯林社会的案例表明,马来西亚多元社会的融合之路依然任重道远。     

Youth,culture, negotiation and politics

The following paper was motivated by a series of seminars held in 2004 at University of Bayreuth on the Harvard Negotiation Concept of Roger Fisher, William Ury and Bruce Patton (R. Fisher, W. Ury, Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement without giving in, 2nd edn, Penguin Books, New York 1991). When comparing the advices of the Harvard Negotiation Concept with my own negotiation experiences in youth politics, I realized that the Harvard Concept is rather useless in many forms of intercultural negotiations. It does not sufficiently address how much culture influences our perceptions of negotiations. Politics is not the only, but surely the most prominent field of intercultural negotiation. Therefore my focus of research was: does culture influence politics? In the first chapter, I describe the reason for the science of negotiation, the validity of universal negotiation concepts, the definition of culture and the existing research on intercultural negotiations. In the second chapter, I discuss concrete examples of how culture allegedly influences politics, such as in International Youth Politics and in the ASEM process. I also give some results from a survey that I carried out in 2004 (The extended version of the paper can be found at my webpage at http://www.karsten-wenzlaff.de). All examples cast a doubt on whether culture really influences politics.     

How gendered is Gender and Development? Culture,masculinity, and gender difference

Gender studies in general, and Gender and Development (GAD) in particular, through their belief in a cultural conditioning of gender behaviour, use the idea of ‘culture’ in a restrictive sense which perpetuates a conceptual difference between men and women, and also between First World and Third World women. There is a tendency among gender experts to magnify the difference between men and women, and categorise them into two radically different realms. This article argues for a gender project based on the idea of culture as lived experience. It approaches gender not as a category of exclusion but as a problematic construct that is constantly restructuring itself.     

浅析越南独特的诗歌体裁--六八体和双七六八体

早在13世纪之前,越南人民就以汉字为基础逐渐创造出自己的民族文字--喃字.到了13世纪,喃字开始用于撰写诗文,从此结束了越南语言与文字脱离的局面并由此产生了喃字文学.     

Simbole in interkulturele kommunikasie

SUMMARY

The first part of this article: “Symbols as message-bearers” discusses the nature and occurrence of symbols, symbol systems and classifications, and the way these manifest a society's specific world view. Symbolic systems are paradigms in which certain concrete cultural constructions (eg. houses, meals, clothes etc.) occur as syntagms. The analysis of symbolic mechanisms grants access to a culture's unique constitution of meaning. Verbal and non-verbal communication symbols are briefly discussed.

The second part depicts the manifestation of symbols in certain cultural arrangements in which symbolization plays a great part, like myths, religion, art and rituals.

The final part maintains the use of symbol analysis as utilization of the cultural totality for intercultural communication. By involving the symbol system as well as the unique communication patterns, successful communication transcending intercultural boundaries, becomes more likely.