This study explores the intricate situation of the coexistence of different identities in Amin Maalouf' s Ports of Call (1996). It contends that identity is complex, flux, and not limited to what is inherited; it i...This study explores the intricate situation of the coexistence of different identities in Amin Maalouf' s Ports of Call (1996). It contends that identity is complex, flux, and not limited to what is inherited; it is rather a psychological, political, and social amalgamation. Thus, each individual has a unique and particular identity, which is completely different from the others'. This study is a theoretical and analytical survey of Maalouf's Ports of Call. It aims at proving that this novel is an example that Maalouf provides to show the challenges that characters of different identities face, and the obstacles that hinder them from assimilation. The argument is mainly based on Edward Said's theories that have opened up discussions about Otherness and multiculturalism, alongside with other postcolonial critics, such as Homi Bhabha. Maalouf's book In the Name of Identity: Violence and the Need to Belong (1996) is also integral to this study. The study concludes that it might be possible for people, in parallel with the characters of the novel, to challenge the identity predicament that the world is witnessing nowadays, and accept diversities as a way of life, rather than a reason for waging wars.展开更多
We live in a multicultural world. As a result, we often have to deal with people from a different culture. This is not easy since we may have very different ways of thinking and doing things from the people we meet. W...We live in a multicultural world. As a result, we often have to deal with people from a different culture. This is not easy since we may have very different ways of thinking and doing things from the people we meet. What is considered good in our culture may mean opposite somewhere else. The understanding of cultural distinctions is very crucial in the business world. The businessmen/women who have sufficient cultural knowledge are more likely to be successful in building relationship with their business counterparts than those who do not. This is because the ones who possess such precious knowledge tend to be more adept at avoiding misunderstanding and confusion. Considering the significant contribution of understanding cultural differences to successful business endeavor, the teachers of Business English need to equip their students with knowledge and strategies that they can use to cope with cultural diversity. In this paper, the writer discusses some activities that can be used to develop students' intercultural awareness.展开更多
This paper looks for deepening the connections among peace, intercultural dialogue, and communalism in the light of Ubuntu, an ethical concept that emphasizes the alliances constructed between people and the relations...This paper looks for deepening the connections among peace, intercultural dialogue, and communalism in the light of Ubuntu, an ethical concept that emphasizes the alliances constructed between people and the relations established by them, and is seen as fundamental to the African thought of the groups that adopt Bantu languages. It develops an original exercise in diatopical hermeneutics--a methodology proposed by Raimon Panikkar, taking as the main goal to approach the Western ethical and political thought to the epistemic and ontological category of Uhuntu, recognized in the Zulu maxim umuntu n#umuntu npabantu (a person is a person through other persons). It chooses as the basis of such study some contemporary thinkers as L^vinas, Bauman, Ramose, Chuwa, Kunene, and Nussbaum, who show a common concern with reverting a context of war and disregard of the integrity of human beings, connected to an ethics of alterity, zealous of the values of conviviality and respect for the cultural differences. It reveals the political dimension of Ubuntu and the impacts of this conception on the process of facing the problems of human rights in post Apartheid South Africa. Grounded on such transdisciplinary reflexion, it tries to point through a path to the implementation of policies for peace based on interculturality and communalism within different cultures.展开更多
文摘This study explores the intricate situation of the coexistence of different identities in Amin Maalouf' s Ports of Call (1996). It contends that identity is complex, flux, and not limited to what is inherited; it is rather a psychological, political, and social amalgamation. Thus, each individual has a unique and particular identity, which is completely different from the others'. This study is a theoretical and analytical survey of Maalouf's Ports of Call. It aims at proving that this novel is an example that Maalouf provides to show the challenges that characters of different identities face, and the obstacles that hinder them from assimilation. The argument is mainly based on Edward Said's theories that have opened up discussions about Otherness and multiculturalism, alongside with other postcolonial critics, such as Homi Bhabha. Maalouf's book In the Name of Identity: Violence and the Need to Belong (1996) is also integral to this study. The study concludes that it might be possible for people, in parallel with the characters of the novel, to challenge the identity predicament that the world is witnessing nowadays, and accept diversities as a way of life, rather than a reason for waging wars.
文摘We live in a multicultural world. As a result, we often have to deal with people from a different culture. This is not easy since we may have very different ways of thinking and doing things from the people we meet. What is considered good in our culture may mean opposite somewhere else. The understanding of cultural distinctions is very crucial in the business world. The businessmen/women who have sufficient cultural knowledge are more likely to be successful in building relationship with their business counterparts than those who do not. This is because the ones who possess such precious knowledge tend to be more adept at avoiding misunderstanding and confusion. Considering the significant contribution of understanding cultural differences to successful business endeavor, the teachers of Business English need to equip their students with knowledge and strategies that they can use to cope with cultural diversity. In this paper, the writer discusses some activities that can be used to develop students' intercultural awareness.
文摘This paper looks for deepening the connections among peace, intercultural dialogue, and communalism in the light of Ubuntu, an ethical concept that emphasizes the alliances constructed between people and the relations established by them, and is seen as fundamental to the African thought of the groups that adopt Bantu languages. It develops an original exercise in diatopical hermeneutics--a methodology proposed by Raimon Panikkar, taking as the main goal to approach the Western ethical and political thought to the epistemic and ontological category of Uhuntu, recognized in the Zulu maxim umuntu n#umuntu npabantu (a person is a person through other persons). It chooses as the basis of such study some contemporary thinkers as L^vinas, Bauman, Ramose, Chuwa, Kunene, and Nussbaum, who show a common concern with reverting a context of war and disregard of the integrity of human beings, connected to an ethics of alterity, zealous of the values of conviviality and respect for the cultural differences. It reveals the political dimension of Ubuntu and the impacts of this conception on the process of facing the problems of human rights in post Apartheid South Africa. Grounded on such transdisciplinary reflexion, it tries to point through a path to the implementation of policies for peace based on interculturality and communalism within different cultures.