Socio-cultural

My doctoral dissertation examines the experiences of the Italian volunteers in the Waffen-SS troops using in-depth interviews with former volunteers as the main primary source. This phenomenon, even if significant in size (depending on the source, some 15 000-20 000 Italian men volunteered in the Waffen-SS), has been hitherto largely unknown to historical research. The available literature on the Italian volunteers, mainly written by military history enthusiast journalists and methodologically weak, concentrates mainly on the combat operations and military organization, and offers a rather stereotypical profile of the volunteers.

My dissertation does not aim to reconstruct the military history of the different divisions of the Waffen-SS in which Italian volunteers operated but instead to examine the subjective, private and intimate experience of the volunteers in order to understand the motivations, attitudes, beliefs and cultural and family background, as well as their political ideas. The main objective of my doctoral dissertation is to discover the ideological precepts of the volunteers’ political credo. As the last phase of fascism and its ideology, often defined as the “Germanisation” or “Nazification” of fascism, is still the object of wide academic debate, a better understanding of the volunteers’ ideology also contributes to deepening overall knowledge of the nature of this last phase.

The theoretical frame of my dissertation lies in oral history, in particular in the postmodernist approach to oral history, through which I reconstruct the volunteers’ ideology. In-depth interviews with former volunteers are the main primary source, but multiple data collection methods have been adopted. Phone interviews and correspondence with the volunteers have also been considered as primary sources. In addition to interviews and correspondence, family archives consisting of diaries, correspondence with the volunteers’ relatives and photographic material have also been collected and examined. An ethnographic observation of the volunteers’ domestic spaces has been conducted during the in-depth interviews, and photo self-elicitation techniques have been used in cases where the volunteers were willing to share their photographs.

An exhaustive portrait of the ideological structure of the volunteers has been obtained, as well as of the cultural and social origins of the values that contributed to the rise and adoption of this ideology. Further, the volunteers’ motivations to enlist have been clearly reconstructed, together with their cultural, political, social and military backgrounds. The results of the research are particularly relevant both for comprehension of the Italian phenomenon of volunteering in the Waffen-SS and for the reconstruction of the ideological dynamics of the last phase of fascism. The volunteers’ political and ideological system, which can be defined as the Italian SS-fascist ideology, disagrees strongly with the vaguely described ideological profile offered by previous studies that describe volunteers as generically “super-fascist”. The research also offers the opportunity for a deeper understanding of the final fascist ideological trajectory, currently defined, not without a certain level of approximation, as the “Germanisation” or “Nazification” of fascist ideology.

For around fifteen years now, anthropology has been engaged in the study of neoliberalism. What contribution does the discipline have to make to a debate largely monopolized by economics and political science? To answer this question, the present article returns to the major texts and highlights the three perspectives from which anthropology has approached neoliberal expansion: culturalist, systemic and the approach based on governmentality. Each has its own epistemological presuppositions and a specific conception of anthropology, globalization and neoliberalism. The article highlights the relevance and limitations of these approaches.

Wayne Vucinic Book Prize 2007, "for the most important contribution to Russian, Eurasian, and East European studies in any discipline of the humanities or social sciences." 

Endorsement by Slavoj Zizek:

"Alexei Yurchak's Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More immediately seduced me by its very title with a profound philosophical implication that eternity is a historical category--things can be eternal for some time. The same spirit of paradox runs through the entire book--it renders in wonderful details the gradual disintegration of the Soviet system from within its ideological and cultural space, making visible all the hypocrisy and misery of this process. I consider Yurchak's book by far the best work about the late epoch of the Soviet Union--it is not just history, but a pleasure to read, a true work of art." (Slavoj Zizek, author of In Defense of Lost Causes)

Abstract:

Soviet socialism was based on paradoxes that were revealed by the peculiar experience of its collapse. To the people who lived in that system the collapse seemed both completely unexpected and completely unsurprising. At the moment of collapse it suddenly became obvious that Soviet life had always seemed simultaneously eternal and stagnating, vigorous and ailing, bleak and full of promise. Although these characteristics may appear mutually exclusive, in fact they were mutually constitutive. This book explores the paradoxes of Soviet life during the period of "late socialism" (1960s-1980s) through the eyes of the last Soviet generation.

Jill Schostak and I wrote this book as part of our evolving interest in doing research radically.  By radically we mean engaging with people's voices to learn how to create the conditions for social justice and for democratising all the organisations of everyday life.  We draw on our own research but also on the ways in which the media is used to shaw people's voices and behaviours.  We explore all the ways in which the desires and demands of elites are inscribed upon minds and bodies as well as how writing may create the conditions for counter inscriptions.  Writing research is to engage politically.  Whether it is the Arab Spring re-inscribing hopes for freedom, the Occupy Movement or young people challenging orthodoxies at home or in classrooms through use of the media, it is the power of writing in its broadest sense that makes the difference.

"Radical Research explores the view that research is not a neutral tool to be employed without bias in the search for truth. Rather the radical roots of research are to be seen in the focus on freedom and emancipation from blind allegiance to tradition, ‘common sense’, religion, or powerful individuals and organisations.

Radical Research introduces and draws upon leading contemporary debates and data gathered from a diversity of funded projects in; health, education, police training, youth and community, schools, business, and the use of information technology.

This book presents a radical view of research in a way that enables both beginner and the experienced professional researcher to explore its approaches in the formation of their own views and practices. It progressively leads the reader from discussions of case studies to critical explorations of the philosophical and methodological concepts, theories and arguments that are central to contemporary debates. In essence, this book shows how to design, develop and write radical research under conditions where ‘normal’ research rules apply and it offers a ground-breaking and proven alternative to traditional research techniques."

‘What I miss the most’, I hear my friend saying from across our table, ‘is the ability we once had to imagine. I feel this has been taken away from us, you know?’ It is an unusually cold Athenian morning in the early winter of 2011, two-and-a-half years from the moment when the IMF, the EU and the ECB came to the rescue of the rapidly faltering Greek economy. Ever since, the landscape surrounding us has kept changing beyond recognition. Excruciating austerity measures, a seething political scene and anger mingled with despair on the everyday level now constitute a reality mostly alien to what any of us would have been used to only a few years ago. This fluidity, one could be forgiven for expecting, should have allowed people’s imagination to run wild. And yet more and more people seem to find themselves in my friend’s position, with the militant optimism during and after the December 2008 revolt seemingly giving way to the cold realisation of an unprecedented series of consecutive dead-ends. Why is this happening?

The aim of this qualitative case study is to investigate how learning in “democratic participation” is constituted by the social interaction and conversation pattern in school democratic meetings in a Swedish primary school. According to the findings, a pupil control discourse and the Initiation-Response-Evaluation pattern dominates the conversations. The teacher initiates by asking a question, the pupils respond by answering the question, and then the teacher evaluates that response. The findings show no discursive shift from traditional classroom talk to democratic deliberative talk. Instead there is an emphasis on the “right answers” and subordinating authorities rather than deliberative dialogue and democratic participation, which influences pupils to adopt a naïve or a cynical attitude to democracy.

The study aimed at establishing the factors that affect sustainability of fish farming projects in public secondary schools in Kiambu County. The study was guided by the following specific objectives: to establish costs of inputs effect on sustainability of fish farming in public secondary schools in Kiambu County; technology effect on sustainability of fish farming projects in public secondary schools in Kiambu County; skills and training effect on sustainability fish farming projects in public secondary schools in Kiambu County and social-cultural factors effect on sustainability of fish farming projects in secondary schools in Kiambu County. The research used the descriptive survey approach. The target population of the study was 65fish farming secondary schools project managers in Kiambu County and 10 fisheries officers in each of the constituency. This corresponded to a target population of 75.By the time of data collection some projects had closed down and therefore data was collected from 44 secondary schools. The study adopted the census sampling technique which involved sampling all project managers in the fish farming projects and a fishery officer in each of the constituencies. The sample size of the study was therefore 54 respondents. The study used questionnaires to gather data from project managers and informant interviews from fisheries officers. Descriptive (mean, standard deviations, frequencies and percentages) were adopted together with inferential statistics (correlation and regression) so as to come to a measure of relationship and meanings. The study established that fish farming sustainability in public secondary schools is greatly affected by social-cultural effects where attitudes play a key role. Cost of inputs was another factor where high costs would mean less production. Technology proved to have an effect on sustainability since adoption of technology would result to higher production and thus more sustainability. Skills and training did also have an effect as better skills and training would result to better management. The study recommended more involvement by the government to lower costs of inputs, avail technology together with extension services and enhance the campaign of " eat more fish " together with involving more women in the projects.

Globally 214 million women of reproductive age who want to avoid pregnancy are not using modern contraceptive methods.
The government of Tanzania in collaboration with other stakeholders put in places various strategies and policies to increase
uptake of family planning services. These are aimed at increasing contraceptive prevalence rate (CPR), reduction in both total
fertility rate (TFR) and unmet need for family planning services. Despite the various strategies and policies, total fertility rate
still remains high at 4.6 percent; Kahe Ward has a low CPR of 26.5%. The purpose of the study was to examining the socioeconomic and social cultural factors influencing contraceptive uptake among women of reproductive age at Kahe Ward in
Moshi District-Tanzania. Sample sizes of 421 women were interviewed through systematic sampling of the households. Data
was collected from the women using a structured questionnaire and Key informant Interview. The data was analyzed using
SPSS Version 23. Both descriptive and inferential statistics for different variables was computed. Chi- square was used to
show the associations between variables. The study concluded that the contraceptive uptake was 56.3% which is higher than
national level of 38.4%. Middle-aged women (in the age range 20 to 29) were found to use modern contraception than the
older women Married women were found to practice contraceptive uptake than the others

Within collaborative learning environments, learners from different socio-cultural background may interact together. These learners evolve within various cultures and social contexts and acquire different socio-cultural values and behaviors. They develop different needs, points of view and learning styles. Thus, they should be supported while communicating and collaborating together. In fact, the communication and collaboration tools provided to each learner should be appropriate according to her/his personal context and socio-cultural profile allowing her/him to learn actively and effectively in a group. Besides, the presentation of information, information structure and the interaction should be possible in different forms and with various media (text, image, audio, visual, audiovisual, symbols for facial expression transmission, pictures and videos). In the last few years and over the last decades, there was a growing interest in the development of Computer Supported Collaborative learning (CSCL) environments. However, the existing systems ignore the variety of learners and their socio-cultural differences especially in the case of distant learning. In fact, the socio-cultural impacts were demonstrated both on learner characteristics (behaviors, cognition, emotion, personality and learning), and on collaborative learning environment variables (communication, collaboration style, on learning style and behavior, motivation and participation). The main goal of this thesis work is to propose an approach to integrate and operationalize social and cultural differences between learners when developing CSCL environments. Therefore, our problem statement is as follows: First, identify, define and model the socio-cultural user background, then propose a socio-cultural adaptation approach of computer supported collaborative learning environments (from the early conceptualization phase to the operationalization phase and the final use of the system).To address this problem statement, the main contributions of this thesis are: the proposition of an ontological framework to model the socio-cultural knowledge and their influences on CSCL environments and the definition of an adaptation approach based on and guided by this framework. The latter is formed by two complementary ontologies: 1) SOCUDO : a generic ontology (domain independent) which models the socio-cultural user characteristics as well as knowledge about the influences of culture on personality, preferences and cognition 2) SCACLO: a generic domain ontology that models the CSCL domain variables that are socio-culturally sensitive. Literature reviews and studies were done within humanities and social sciences and within educational sciences to extract the socio cultural specificities of CSCL learners. Based on the finding of these studies, adaptation rules were built. In order to validate these rules, a trilingual online survey (Arabic, French and English) was widely circulated online targeting three cultures (Tunisian, French and American). The results of this survey were used to refine these rules. The proposed adaptation process based on these rules is a dynamic process that supports both adaptability (by generating automatically adapted recommendations to the user) and adaptivity (by involving the user in the adaptation process and allowing him/her whether to accept recommendations proposed by the system or to decline them and choose others. Long term adaptation rule Refinement and extraction of new knowledge about the user is ensured by the observation and machine learning of the user interaction behavior with the system and with others. To operationalize the ontological framework and the socio-cultural adaptation approach, we implement a collaborative editing CSCL environment that offers adapted functionalities according to the socio-cultural learner profile. The proposed system is able to solve the intercultural communication problems by notifications and intelligent intermediation in order to promote group awareness.

Nature-based learning is an increasingly popular type of early childhood education. Despite this, children’s experiences—in particular, their form and function within different settings and how they are viewed by practitioners—are relatively unknown. Accordingly, the use of nature as a setting and a resource for learning was researched. A description and an emerging understanding of nature-based learning were obtained through the use of a group discussion and case studies. Practitioners’ views demonstrated their eagerness to share experience that ranged from positive examples to challenges encountered within practice. Case studies recorded in a Scottish nature kindergarten and two Nordic counterparts take a situated view of nature-based learning. Findings indicate that nature is utilised as setting, as resource and as educator within children’s learning and this holds true within different countries. Local, social and cultural contexts exert influence on pedagogical practice and implications for practice based upon these are given.

Advancement in the arts and sciences is a primary driver of economic production and social policy in post-industrial societies. Imagination steps back and asks what advances the arts and sciences? This book explores the collective, social and global dimension of human imagining and the ambivalent relationship of social institutions, including universities, schools, economies, media and culture industries, to the collective imagination. Basic discovery requires high levels of creative thinking: Imagination looks at the social conditions that make path-breaking thought possible on a large scale. It examines the role of aesthetic, pictorial, digital, paradoxical and other imaginative styles of thinking, and the times and places in which such styles become socially prominent and a significant force in economic and cultural production. It looks at successful societies as they are approaching their peak, when new ideas are driving them forward.

In this paper, we expand our prior work on mathematics education in contexts of language diversity by elaborating on the three perspectives on language described by Ruiz (NABE J 8(2):15–34, 1984): language-as-right, language-as-resource, and language-as-problem. We illustrate our arguments with data taken from research contexts in Catalonia-Spain and South Africa. In these two parts of the world, the language policy in education has long been an issue, with a monolingual orientation that values one language (i.e., Catalan in Catalonia and English in South Africa) over others. Throughout the introduction of specific examples of policy documents, classroom practices, and participants’ reports, our main point is that the right of using the students’ languages makes sense because it is itself more than an intrinsic human right; it is an option that potentially benefits the creation of mathematics learning opportunities. Especially for the instances of classroom practices, our examples can be considered as representative in that they point to a common situation in our data: despite the fact of the language of learning and teaching being fixed, there is room for the learners and the teacher to take or react to a decision on what language to use, with whom, and how in concrete moments of the interaction. However, on the basis of our studies and drawing on the literature in mathematics education and language diversity, we argue that language rights are not sufficiently connected to language as a pedagogical resource. The enactment of these rights is still contributing in many ways to the social and political construction of problems concerning the role of certain languages in classroom interaction. We conclude the paper by discussing some possibilities for framing language as a resource that provide effective support to all students’ learning of mathematics.

"The Collective Imagination" explores the social foundations of the human imagination. The book looks at the collective expression of the imagination in our economies, universities, cities, and political systems, providing an account of the power of the imagination to unite opposites and find similarities among things that we ordinarily think of as different. It is not only individuals who possess the power to imagine; societies do as well. Looking at various peak moments of creation, the book examines the cities and nations, institutions and individuals who ply the paraphernalia of paradoxes and dialogues, wry dramaturgy and witty expression that set the act of creation in motion. Whilst exploring the manner in which, through the media of pattern, figure, and shape, and the miracles of metaphor, things come into being, the book recognises that creative periods never last: creative forms invariably tire; inventive centres inevitably fade. "The Collective Imagination" explores the contemporary dilemmas and historic pathos caused by this-as cities and societies, periods and generations slip behind in the race for economic and social discovery. Left bewildered and bothered, and struggling to catch up, they substitute empty bombast, faded glory, chronic dullness or stolid glumness for initiative, irony, and inventiveness. The work provides an audit of the creativity claims of the post-modern age. It finds these claims wanting-and looks to the future.

Procurement reforms are seen as essential for achieving a long term improvement in financial management within Africa. To gain insight into this situation an analysis of success stories and cases where challenges and difficulties have arisen were investigated. This material was content analysed using Mayring four-step process model. The findings demonstrate some initial improvement within African public sector financial management; however the complete and successful implementation of these reforms is fraught with problems. These issues that limit improved financial management through procurement reform included; inadequate education and training, legislative constraints, especially those associated with procurement technology, and a lack of political support for the reform process. In political terms the study identified that the current political position coupled with socio-cultural sensitivities of participating countries, has created a neglect of ethical and environmental considerations which in turn has slowed the pace and acceptance of reforms.

The first Culture/Justice protocol was co-signed on the 25 th of July 1986 by Jack Lang and Robert Badinter.
Following the first international symposium about culture in prison (May-June 1985), this text formalised the
interdepartmental cultural policy in prison which had been in place since the beginning of the 1980's.
However, cultural activities have existed in French penal institutions since the Liberation. From choirs to
theatre groups including concerts, these were often categorised as educational, socio-cultural, recreational and
cultural activities. Initially organised by social assistants, they were then mostly led by prison educators. The
latter had been created as part of the Amor reform in 1946. Only a few penal institutions were affected by
these activites which were supposed to educate, observe and reform the prisoners. In the 1970's, because of
the prison crisis, a new reform was implemented which turned the cultural activities into a means of
rehabilitation and reintegration. In the early 1980's, this approach was transformed because of the intervention
of Minister Lang. New initiatives appeared ; for example, audio-visual technology. From then on, these were led
by artists, associations, and institutions from the world of creativity. The perspective of these new operators
was then to guarantee the right to culture for the detained individuals. Prison educators then had to convert
into coordinators. Consequently, activities depended on the local cultural fabric. Therefore, the penitentiary
administration had to reorganise in order to take on board these new operations.

This study explores the tourists' perception of risks attached to safety and security affecting their decision-making process. The study further discusses the risk perception of tourists in relation to social and cultural factors, media influence and demographic factors that motivate tourists to choose a safe destination and how tourists perceive the safety and security measures in the hospitality and tourism industry and at their travel destination. Quantitative research methodology was implemented and samples were collected from both the domestic as well as international tourists. A Stratified Random Probability Sampling method was applied to select the sample at five tourist spots of India i.e., Dehradun, Mussoorie, Haridwar, Rishikesh, and Nainital. 287 questionnaires were returned back and the data was analysed by using Statistical Package for Social Sciences. The findings reveal that tourists' decision-making process is influenced by their risk perception level; therefore, this study validates that tourists' decision-making is influenced by their risk perception level in relation with socio-cultural factors and media influence and provides useful information for destination marketers, hospitality operators and its stakeholders in proper planning and implementation of the policies and to utilize this information while undertaking the marketing campaign or develop tourist products.

Abstract. Fishermen are mostly classified into low income or low socioeconomic. The poverty of the fisherman
community is sourced from the weakness of human potential and the lack of environmental support in empowering the
natural and available potential resources. Moreover, the specific cultural characteristics of fishing community, it does not
always support the potential development of its citizens, instead they may hamper the progress of society itself. In fact
fishermen are less concerned about their environmentas indicated by most of them live in slum settlement environment.
Therefore, the arrangement of fishermen's settlement, especially the existence of open space area, is required. The
objective of the research is to identify and analyze the cultural characteristics of the community in the fishing village, as
the basis for the open space settlement. With open space compliance, this can improve the quality of the environment and
the living standards of fishermen families on the coast. The research method used is a combination of qualitative and
quantitative research with phenomenology approach, research area in coastal South Coast of East Java, and it involved
fishermen of Prigi beach in Trenggalek. The research was conducted by identifying and studying the cultural aspects of
the fisherman community in the coastal areas. It is expected that the results of this study can provide a discourse on
government policy on the implementation of open space procurement, taking into account the culture of fishing
communities, so as to produce the concept of open spatial arrangement that can significantly spur the economic and
social growth of fishing communities on the coast.

Article for Joint Force Quarterly, examining efforts by various DoD and Intelligence Community agencies to integrate socio-cultural knowledge in the  wake of the disbanding of the Human Terrain System in 2014. Examines the risks associated with bringing such research "in-house" instead of engaging with academia. See also my talk at Texas Tech University's Modern Warfare Symposium, 6 Oct. 2017 for more background, and the 2015 talk at the Global Warfare Conference at Hawaii Pacific University, where my paper focused on the earlier Project Camelot imbroglio.

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The image current today of the troublesome is, perhaps more than generally realized, a legacy of the values, beliefs and structures established during the nineteenth century. Changes in the definition of the other have led to changes in the political instruments with which to deal with them. The teachers or care workers dealing with those who are said to be in trouble need to reflect upon the kinds of professional discourse in which they engage, disentangling the underlying or hidden discourses upon which these in turn are based. The central feature of such discourses is the singling out of 'kinds' or'groups' or 'classes'of people to become the objects of concern and of professional action, whether for care, reform, deterrence or punishment. Perceptions of trouble are professionally reinforced through theories which profess to identify the 'real' from the 'unreal'. Uncovering the ways in which professional discourse is constructed is an historical or archeological dig to uncover long buried concepts, values, motives, attitudes and interests. Neither this book nor this chapter intends to provide an exhaustive historical account.

Working at a local level in a global context - what does this mean? What methods appear to be appropriate to ways of life where global communications mean that the most distant is as reachable and hence manipulable as the closest?  In such a context decisions can be taken in one locale that have consequences in another.  Global capitalists can switch funds from one locale to another without ever thinking in terms of the lives of the individuals affected.  Indeed, transactions are managed by ‘intelligent software’ responding in preprogrammed ways to particular market circumstances.  As a researcher I want to know what methods best serve my purposes in this kind of globalised context to local action.  First, therefore, I want to make clear as much to myself as to others some key aspects of my intentions in doing research.
    It seems to me that this is an age when control seems both so ubiquitous and so absent from the lives of individuals. Thus, most if not all my research has a focus on action and the extent to which individuals are able to enhance the quality of their lives in ways that contribute to the quality of the lives of others.  It seems important to me that research is conceived as not disinterested, but as always suffused by interests that have to be explored, critiqued and argued.  This means that research is always a political action.  Thus, what kind of politics seems to offer the most conducive framework for research that aims at enhancing freedom and quality of life for all? Without foreclosing too much on possible political frameworks it seems to me that Chantel Mouffe (1993) is right when she argues that democracy is an incomplete revolution and that its development is still the best approach available.  The radical possibilities of democracy to enhance the quality of life have yet to be worked out fully for the contemporary age.

In this report we explore language practices when learning and teaching mathematics in a classroom with bilingual learners and a bilingual teacher. We focus on data from the analysis of the whole class discussions in seven lessons. Up to eight episodes distributed in five of the lessons reveal the fragility of switching languages as a reiterated finding, particularly experienced by those learners whose dominant home language is not the language of instruction. Each time a student "dares" to switch languages there are more or less subtle reactions which affect the course and contents of the discussion. We conclude that individual positions and language practices are resources for research in that their study informs of interpretative and action frames that can be mobilised to explain shifts in the direction of mathematical interactions.

How smart grids are understood and defined will influence the kinds of smart grids users will encounter in the future and their potential impacts. Practitioners and policymakers largely perceive smart grids as technological interventions. However, a number of social, financial and governmental interventions can also make grids smart, i.e., more efficient, more responsive, more inclusive and more robust. Drawing on qualitative research done using elite interviews, site visits and document analysis of eight micro-grids in India, this paper provides concrete examples of what could be understood as social, financial and governmental smartness, and in doing so, broadens the knowledge on smart grids beyond the technical understanding. This paper argues that social, financial and governmental interventions are central to 'smartness', and that multifaceted and relational sociotechnical approaches will build cheaper, just, more democratic and sustainable smart grids. The paper observes that smart grids are not conceived as smart grids but rather develop incrementally. An incremental approach, rather than pushing a premeditated set of ideas and technologies, reduces adoption of non-contextual interventions as well as unnecessary investments in new technologies. The paper recommends that policymakers and practitioners should understand and develop smart grids as sociotechnical and incremental grids.

An analysis of internal perspective on women in Lamkaang  Naga tribe in Manipur, India.
Interviews of Church leaders, community elders, elderly widow and some spinsters, were conducted and their perspectives shared in this paper. Increased education among the Lamkaang have led to greater liberation for women,and women's stereotypical roles within the society.

Drawing on the field of cultural historical psychology and the sociologies of skill and labour process, Contested Learning in Welfare Work offers a detailed account of the learning lives of state welfare workers in Canada as they cope, accommodate, resist, and flounder in times of heightened austerity. Documented through in-depth qualitative and quantitative analysis, Peter H. Sawchuk’s analysis shows how the labour process changes workers, and how workers change the labour process, under the pressures of intensified economic conditions, new technologies, changing relations of space and time, and a high-tech version of Taylorism.  Sawchuk traces these experiences over a seven-year period (2002–2009) that includes major work reorganization and the recent global economic downturn. His analysis examines the dynamics among notions of de-skilling, re-skilling, and up-skilling, as workers negotiate occupational learning and changing identities.

Peter H. Sawchuk is a professor of adult education, sociology, and
industrial relations at the University of Toronto. He studies, writes,
and teaches in the areas of adult learning theory, the sociology and
psychology of work, and Marxist political economy.

"This paper investigates factors influencing the shaping of future learning environments. It focuses on the impact of social and cultural requirements on the sustainability of future learning environment. It argues that while today's learning
environments are shaped by yesterday's visions, future learning environments are shaped by toady's' visions that might not be acceptable nor valid for future generations. The case of New Kuwait University City in Shedadiyah is used to illustrate how current social and cultural requirements impact the design of a future university campus and inhibit the production of a sustainable environment. Among several socio-cultural factors, the paper focuses on two significant aspects that have dramatically affected the development of the master plan for the New University City; namely separation of students' sexes and car parking requirements. The first requirement was mandated by a parliament decree to build two separate campuses; one for male students and the other for female students. The implementation of this requirement resulted in the duplication of many educational facilities and immensely increased space and budget requirements. The second requirement reflected dependency on automobiles as primary means of transportation in Kuwait. It resulted in a necessity to allocate large areas of land for vehicular traffic and car parking. These two requirements, as well as other socio-cultural requirements, created a great challenge towards achieving the required level of sustainability. The paper concludes that while recognizing that accommodating clients' social and cultural requirements is necessary for the application of a comprehensive sustainability strategy, these requirements might work against achieving required levels of other aspects of sustainability."

Discusses the use of local histories to order socio-cultural variables in the study of village clusters through two case studies from Eastern Afghanistan, 2011-12. Proposes similar approaches might be useful for special operations and other forces in low conflict or phase zero operations.  (Submitted, March 2016; In editorial, Army Press, May. 2016)

The article reports on an investigation into constraining and enabling conditions for professional academic development with regard to the teaching role at eight South African universities. The data comprised transcripts of interviews with 10 -16 academics across a range of levels of seniority, demographic categories and disciplines at each institution. The findings suggest that organisational climate and access to infrastructure and resources are more significant than the literature on professional development to date has implied, especially for institutions in resource-constrained environments. The analysis supports the view that critical realism helps to bridge the psychological/individual and socio-cultural approaches and points to the need for further research on individual properties such as sense of agency. From a methodological point of view the study affirms the need for multi-site investigations, which analyse phenomena occurring across a range of socio-political contexts.

The city of Aachen is a university city with 250,377 inhabitants, surrounded by some green areas, including a recreational area close to the center: the Westpark with 7,985 inhabitants within its surroundings. While the park is close to the university campus, some of the students’ population lives near to the park and they use it during leisure time.
According to the city of Aachen, 36% of the inhabitants living in this area are aged between 20 and 29 years and 16% are non-German. This study aims to verify socio-cultural dierences in sound perception of users of a public park and residents who live in its neighborhood. In this study, soundwalks are carried out with users of the park and interviews on
sound perception are conducted with local residents. During the soundwalks and interviews, synchronized sound and meteorological measurements are also performed. The subjective data collected from both, the park user and resident samples, are analyzed using a two-step cluster analysis model. Results of the cluster analysis from these two samples are compared to indicate how sound is perceived in Westpark in the spatial and social-cultural contexts.

Vernacular Architecture has been a source of inspiration and learning all over the world. India has a rich repository of vernacular evolved over centuries of living corresponding to its existing diverse vibrant and myriad environments providing a good evidence for unearthing these lessons. In the contemporary context where most architectural practices are deficient in their connection to tradition and socio-cultural bearings, looking back to vernacular architecture is prudent and relevant. Within this premise, the Narhai settlement at Lucknow: a culturally and architecturally prolific city in Northern India has been taken as a suitable case for an in depth analysis. The objective of this study is to identify architectural spaces facilitating its interaction within the existing socio-cultural environment. It also aspires to take lessons from the selected spaces in influencing socio-cultural interactions giving rise to recommendations useful for similar socio-cultural domains.

The following article examines the sociocultural needs of higher education students on an international degree programme delivered jointly by a post-1992 university in England and a polytechnic institution in the Netherlands. A brief discussion of relevant literature is followed by a methodological overview, detailing the qualitative research design, sample, and method. Results from the focus-group interviews indicate that the majority of students attach great significance to their sociocultural needs in all years of the programme. A number of specific social support mechanisms were identified by the students, as was a greater need for staff assistance in helping the learners create and maintain their social networks. Student views are subsequently compared to those of teaching staff, who articulate a more general awareness of growing student needs and dependency on staff. The article examines these disparities in understandings and discusses staff perceptions of the ways in which institutions might resolve such tensions.

Satu visi, satu identitas, dan satu komunitas merupakan jargon terkenal dari Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). ASEAN merupakan kumpulan negaranegara Asia Tenggara yang terdiri dari Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Filipina, Myanmar, Thailand, Kamboja, Vietnam, Laos, dan Singapura. ASEAN berdiri pada tanggal 8 Agustus 1967 di Bangkok, Thailand. Menurut Departemen Perdagangan RI dalam buku Menuju ASEAN Economic Community 2015 1 , pembentukan ASEAN dilatarbelakangi oleh lokasi Asia Tenggara yang strategis secara geopolitik dan geo-ekonomi. ASEAN dibentuk untuk juga mengatasi konflik kepentingan antar negara-negara Asia Tenggara. Beberapa konflik yang telah terjadi antara lain konfrontasi Indonesia dan Malaysia, klain teritorial antara Malaysia dan Filipina, serta berpisahnya Singapura dari Malaysia. Atas hal-hal tersebut, kemudian muncul kesadaran pembentukan kerjasama untuk meredakan rasa saling curiga dan membangun rasa saling percaya diantara negara-negara Asia Tenggara. ASEAN juga dibentuk untuk mendorong kerjasama pembangunan kawasan Asia Tenggara, atau yang disebut dengan confidence building. Saat deklarasi ASEAN di Bangkok, Thailand, atau yang dikenal dengan Deklarasi Bangkok, dicetuskan tujuan dibentuknya ASEAN. Poin-poin tujuan pembentukan tersebut dilansir dalam situs resmi ASEAN 2 . Pertama adalah mempercepat pertumbuhan ekonomi, kemajuan sosial, serta pengembangan kebudayaan di kawasan ini, melalui usaha bersama dalam semangat kesamaan dan persahabatan untuk memperkokoh landasan sebuah masyarakat bangsa-bangsa Asia Tenggara yang sejahtera dan damai. Kedua adalah meningkatkan perdamaian dan stabilitas regional dengan jalan menghormati keadilan dan tertib hukum di dalam hubungan antara negara-negara di kawasan ini, serta mematuhi prinsip-prinsip Piagam Perserikatan Bangsa-Bangsa. Ketiga adalah meningkatkan kerjasama 1 Departemen Perdagangan RI. Menuju ASEAN Economic Community 2015. 2 http://www.asean.org/asean/about-asean/overview, diakses pada 20 Desember 2015. 2 yang aktif dan saling membantu dalam masalah-masalah yang menjadi kepentingan bersama di bidang-bidang ekonomi, sosial, teknik, ilmu pengetahuan dan administrasi. Ke empat adalah saling memberikan bantuan dalam bentuk sarana-sarana pelatihan dan penelitian dalam bidang-bidang pendidikan, profesi, teknik dan administrasi. Ke lima, yaitu bekerjasama secar lebih efektif guna meningkatkan pemanfaatan pertanian dan industri mereka, memperluas perdagangan dan pengkajian masalah-masalah komoditi internasional, memperbaiki sarana-sarana pengangkutan dan komunikasi, serta meningkatkan taraf hidup rakyat mereka. Ke enam adalah mamajukan pengkajian mengenai Asia Tenggara. Terakhir, memelihara kerjasama yang erat dan berguna dengan berbagai organisasi internasional dan regional yang mempunyai tujuan serupa, dan untuk saling bekerjasama secara erat di antara negara-negara ASEAN sendiri. Selain tujuan, terdapat enam prinsip kerjasama yang diterapkan ASEAN. Prinsip kerjasama ini tertera dalam Treaty of Amity and Coorperation in Southeast Asia (TAC) tahun 1967, yang terdiri dari rasa saling menghormati, kedaulatan dan kebebasan domestik tanpa campur tangan dari luar, non-interference, penyelesaian perbedaan atau sengketa secara damai, menghindari ancaman dan penggunaan kekuatan atau senjata, serta kerjasama efektif antar anggota. ASEAN mengadakan ASEAN Summit sebanyak dua kali per tahun. Dalam melakukan pengambilan kebijakan tertinggi, hal tersebut dipersiapkan oleh ASEAN Coordinating Council (ACC). Dalam pengelolaan politik luar negeri yang bebas aktif, pemerintah Repubik Indonesia (RI) menempatkan cetak biru ASEAN sebagai pilar utamanya. Implementasi cetak biru ASEAN ditujukan untuk mengembangkan suatu kawasan yang terintegrasi dengan membentuk suatu komunitas negara-negara Asia Tenggara yang terbuka, damai, stabil, sejahtera, saling peduli, dan diikat bersama dalam kemitraan yang dinamis di tahun 2020 nanti. Realisasi harapan terpenuhinya rencana dalam cetak biru ASEAN, kemudian dituangkan dalam Visi ASEAN 2020 yang dirumuskan di Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia pada tahun 1997. Dikutip dalam buku terbitan Departemen Perdagangan RI yang berjudul Menuju ASEAN Economic Community 2015, Visi ASEAN 2020 menegaskan tiga poin. Pertama adalah menciptakan Kawasan Ekononi ASEAN yang stabil, makmur dan memiliki daya saing tinggi yang ditandari dengan arus lalu lintas barang, jasa-jasa dan investasi yang bebas, arus lalu lintas modal yang lebih bebas, pembangunan ekonomi yang merata serta 3 mengurangi kemiskinan dan kesenjangan sosial-ekonomi. Kedua adalah mempercepat liberalisasi perdagangan di bidang jasa. Ketiga adalah meningkatkan pergerakan tenaga profesional dan jasa lainnya secara bebas di kawasan ASEAN. Kemudian di tahun 2003, hal ini diperkuat dengan mengesahkan Bali Concord II pada Konferensi Tingkay Tinggi (KTT) ke-9 ASEAN. Akhirnya disetujui rencana pembentukan Komunitas ASEAN atau ASEAN Community, yang terdiri dari tiga pilar utama, yaitu Komunitas Keamanan ASEAN, Komunitas Ekonomi ASEAN, dan Komunitas Sosial Budaya ASEAN. Makalah ini secara khusus akan berfokus pada pembahasan mengenai pilar ketiga, yakni Komunitas Sosial Budaya ASEAN atau ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC). Cetak biru ASCC dirancang untuk memperkuat integrasi yang berpusat pada masyarakat. Dengan kata lain, rancangan konten cetak biru ASCC bersifat people centered. Cetak biru ASCC juga dirancang untuk memperkokoh kesadaran, solidaritas, kemitraan, kebersamaan atau we feeling, yang dituangkan dalam enam elemen inti dan sebanyak 348 rencana aksi strategis. Dilansir dari dokumen kerjasama fungsional situs resmi Kementerian Luar Negeri RI 3 , kerjasama di bidang sosial dan budaya menjadi fokus utama untuk meningkatkan integrasi ASEAN. Integrasi ini akan berjalan melalui apa yang disebut dalam cetak biru ASCC sebagai a caring and sharing community, yaitu sebuah masyarakat ASEAN yang saling peduli dan berbagi. Kerjasama sosial dan budaya dalam cetak biru ASCC mencakup kerjasama di bidang kepemudaan, perempuan, kepegawaian, penerangan, kebudayaan, pendidikan, ilmu pengetahuan dan teknologi, lingkungan hidup, penanggulangan bencana alam, kesehatan, pembangunan sosial, pengentasan kemiskinan, ketenagakerjaan, serta berdirinya ASEAN Foundation. Dalam cetak biru ASCC 4 , terdapat enam elemen inti dan karakteristik yang menyokong program pilar sosial dan budaya. Elemen-elemen tersebut terdiri dari 1. Pembangunan Manusia (Human Development), terdiri dari 60 rencana aksi strategis. mengirimkan, dan menggunakan informasi untuk mengkoordinasi lingkungannya dan orang lain. Sedangkan menurut Carey dalam Martin dan Nakayama (2004) 6 , komunikasi dapat dimengerti sebagai sebuah proses simbolik, di mana realita diproduksi, dilanggengkan, diperbaiki, dan ditransformasi. Terdapat beberapa komponen dalam proses komunikasi, yaitua source dan receiver, proses pemaknaan (encoding dan decoding), adanya pesan (verbal dan non verbal), adanya noise atau gangguan, dan terdapatnya channels atau medium. Melihat definisi budaya, menurut Macionis (1997) 7 budaya merupakan kumpulan nilai, kepercayaan, perilaku, dan objek materil yang memperlihatkan cara hidup seseorang atau way of life. Martin dan Nakayama (2004) menjelaskan bahwa budaya adalah pola-pola perilaku yang dipelajari dan disebarkan oleh kelompok tertentu. Budaya berbeda dengan kebudayaan yang merupakan keseluruhan sistem gagasan, tindakan, dan hasil karya manusia dalam kehidupan masyarakat yang dijadikan milik diri manusia dengan belajar. Budaya mengacu pada cipta, karsa, dan rasa. Sedangkan kebudayaan adalah hasil dari cipta, karsa, dan rasa itu (Koentjaraningrat, 2009) 8 . Masing-masing negara yang tergabung dalam ASEAN memiliki budaya dan kebiasaannya masing-masing. Indonesia yang memiliki berbagai macam suku, khususnya, dalam mengimplementasikan kebijakan ASEAN diharapkan dapat berubah menjadi sebuah melting pot. Indonesia sebagai melting pot berarti harapan bahwa heterogenitas masyarakat berubah menjadi semakin homogen. Dimana elemen-elemen yang berbeda dalam masyarakat melebur menjadi satu, hingga menciptakan satu kesamaan budaya atau shared identity yang harmonis. Dilansir dari Okezone.com 9 , tanggal 22 November 2015 lalu sepuluh negara anggota ASEAN menandatangani terbentuknya Komunitas ASEAN di Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, dalam The 2015 Kuala Lumpur Declaration on the Establishment of ASEAN Community dan The Kuala Lumpur Declaration on ASEAN 2025: Forging Ahead Together. Peresmian ini menjadi aksi simbolik bahwa telah menguatnya persatuan diantara negara-negara Asia Tenggara. Pada peresmian tersebut diharapkan bahwa Komunitas ASEAN akan