Creative Cities,Graffiti and Culture-Led Development in South Africa: Dlala Indima (‘Play Your Part’)

Creative cities and culture-led development discourses have come under increasing scrutiny as elite-centric economic development agendas tend to trump ‘civic creativity’ ideals as imagined by Charles Landry. In South Africa, culture-led development and cultural policy tends to primarily mimic that of the global North, largely focusing on culture as a catalyst for economic and property development. Public art commissioning processes tend to focus on decorative projects as part of urban upgrading, which are often associated with ensuing gentrification and displacement of the urban poor. In contrast to focusing on these kinds of regeneration strategies, this article investigates Dlala Indima, a hip-hop-led graffiti project in a rural township in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. This article situates graffiti as a critical social and spatial practice to argue that this case challenges normative cultural planning paradigms. Dlala Indima's work is an alternative approach to cultural development by and for young people who are usually marginalized by the mainstream practice of culture-led economic development. The project challenges dominant creative cities and culture-led development discourses in three ways: first, it challenges the normative processes of regeneration; secondly, it grounds participatory practice; and finally, it shifts participation from ‘tyranny to transformation’ through the ubuntu of hip-hop, the notion of ubuntu being based on the communitarian notion of ‘ubuntu, ngubuntu ngabantu’—‘I am because you are’.     

俄罗斯“博物馆保护区”的发展、特征及其启示

俄罗斯博物馆保护区兼顾有形与无形文化遗产保护的综合管理，关注人文环境与自然环境的整体保护问题。通过对俄罗斯文化遗产保护体系的梳理，基于博物馆保护区在俄罗斯文化遗产保护体系中的地位，对俄罗斯博物馆保护区的基本概念、分布特征、保护区划和基本分类等内容进行研究。最后，从整合机制和管理机构设置两方面分析中国历史文化街区保护存在的问题，提出作为文化机构的博物馆保护区制度，将为完善中国历史文化街区的保护制度提供必要的借鉴和启示。     

Identity Building Through Mediation by African Tailors

In contemporary African cities, dressing well and wearing exclusive garments has become crucial for people in search of identity, distinction and individuality. The research presented in this article, situated at disciplinary intersections of cultural studies, fashion practices and sustainability, provides a case study of African tailors conducted in Maputo and Lisbon, with a special focus on identity building of African immigrants in Portugal. However, the role of tailors in this acculturation process has been ignored in the consumption approach to creative cities. This study is therefore also a reaction to the mainly Western world of regular couture, and to ‘creative city materials’ that focus on consumption. Instead, we emphasize the importance of African tailors who de facto shape urban experiences—visually incrementing practices—that are fundamental to the comprehension of sartorial culture, while we also allude to the complex intersections between local and global markets. In the first part of this article we describe a semi-ethnographic study among tailors in Maputo and Lisbon. The second part presents a participatory action approach that entailed developing an educational programme for African tailors where culture and creativity meet. This programme empowered tailors to tap into their cultural knowledge on tailoring and their awareness of community identity. In our study we argue that the idea of creative cities and their creative economy should be approached from a cultural perspective, by building awareness of the importance of local creative classes instead of focusing on importing those classes.     

Towards a hybrid model? A systematic review of human resource management research on Chinese state-owned enterprises (1993–2017)

Abstract

Over the past two decades, there has been a proliferation of research on human resource management (HRM) in Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs) as a result of the wide-reaching state-sector reform of the late 1980s. This article aims to provide a systematic review of literature on this topic and capture the nature of HRM in Chinese SOEs, both in research and practice. The article draws on 178 studies from 43 English academic journals over a period of 25?years (1993–2017). In analysing this literature and by taking stock of theoretical frameworks, research methods, themes and analysis of academic articles in this area, we have gained a number of insights. The study has found that the research methods used have shifted from qualitative and interpretive methodology toward quantitative and sophisticated modelling. A further insight is that there has been a relatively heavy reliance on institutional theory in the earlier studies reviewed, and since then a switch towards organizational behaviour perspectives. The level of analysis has moved from macro to micro level and thematic foci have become more diverse and complex. We highlight a number of avenues, theoretical and empirical, for future studies in this field.     

Influence of Ecuadorian Homosexual Subculture in Consumption Culture: Study about Information Consumption on Twitter

Abstract

This qualitative research examines the Ecuadorian homosexual subculture and determines how gender, images, texts, and objects are referred to consumption culture. The netnography method was used to collect data from Twitter conversations. Categorization and classification of the conversations showed how the information was created, the purpose of the message, and the target audience. Results reveal common subjects in relation to news, human rights, and gender equality. Subjects were conceptualized based on the consumption of information in social, cultural, and political environments. It was concluded that images, texts, and objects included in the conversations provide significant information about the homosexual subculture consumption behavior.     

The Competitive Advantage of Collaboration – Throwing New Light on The Nordic Model

ABSTRACT

In one of the most influential contributions to modern political economy, Hall and Soskice have launched a distinction between ‘liberal’ and ‘coordinated’ market economies, placing the Nordic countries firmly in the latter category. We argue that, while the H&S distinction may serve classificatory purposes, seeing the Nordic model in terms of ‘coordinated capitalism’ blurs the distinctive features of the Nordic countries’ success as productive and fair economies. We contend that the central formula behind this success lies in what we call the Nordic model’s ambidexterity – the capacity to combine collaborative and competitive elements and skilfully navigate between them. Using an interdisciplinary perspective (inspired by organisation theory, cultural semiotics and evolutionary analysis), we provide a conceptual basis for reinterpreting the Nordic Model as an ambidextrous combination of culturally rooted, collaborative strategies that are subsequently competitively exposed. The article illustrates the workings of this ambidexterity in three societal domains: work life (including female participation), resource management – illustrated by the Norwegian petro-economy – and international business management and regulation with a focus on CSR. In each case we will show how collaboration is intertwined with pragmatic competitive exposure, yielding high productivity, high welfare, as well as fair income and wealth distribution.     

博物馆数字化建设与金融文化传播——以东北亚金融博物馆为例

博物馆作为公共文化机构,承担着向公众提供文化服务的职责。随着科学技术(特别是信息技术)的发展,博物馆开启了数字化建设的进程。博物馆数字化建设的目的并不是要取代传统博物馆,而是对实体博物馆在某些方面进行有益的拓展和补充。伴随着数字化建设,博物馆能够更好地满足公众多样化的文化需求,提供更好的文化体验。突发事件对博物馆数字化发展形成了一种倒逼机制,凸显了博物馆数字化的重要性。为了更好地传播金融文化,实现文化育人的目标,东北亚金融博物馆将通过“顶层设计、逐步推进、研究标准、规范建设、共建共享、未雨绸缪、创新技术、增加手段”等做法,探索数字化建设之路。     

心理健康教育视域下的校园文化景观教学——以福建商业高等专科学校为例

在校园文化建设中,景观建设是其基本内容。商专校园文化景观贯穿继承与弘扬"闽商精神"的根本理念,将几大文化板块相融通,构造出丰富多彩的内容。探讨校园文化景观与心理健康教育的关系,结合相关的基础理论,分析校园文化景观对心理健康教育的多重积极作用,使心理健康教育的情境化教学方式落到实处,有益于心理健康教育的良性发展,对深化高校心理健康教育的多样化途径的认识与理解也有借鉴作用。     

Using a network data envelopment analysis model to assess the efficiency and effectiveness of cultural tourism promotion in Taiwan

The importance of tourism promotion has been discussed throughout past studies, and the consequences of ineffective promotion have also been investigated. While tourism promotion is a topic of interest to many researchers, performance measurement used to assess the effectiveness of tourism promotion is a topic seldom discussed. The purpose of this study is to develop an approach based on the data envelopment analysis (DEA) model to evaluate performance for tourism promotion. The main difference compared with previous DEA models is the evaluation of multiple efficiencies in a single DEA implementation, and the assessment of overall efficiency in a ratio index. In the assumption of variables, we use cultural tourism promotion as a foundation in formulating the empirical evaluation, and we test the proposed model by using data across 20 regions in Taiwan.