A Journey Through Cultures

Acculturation is the process of group and individual changes in culture and behaviour that result from intercultural contact. These changes have been taking place forever, and continue at an increasing pace as more and more peoples of different cultures move, meet and interact. Variations in the meanings of the concept, and some systematic conceptualisations of it are presented. This is followed by a survey of empirical work with indigenous, immigrant and ethnocultural peoples around the globe that employed both ethnographic (qualitative) and psychological (quantitative) methods. This wide-ranging research has been undertaken in a quest for possible general principles (or universals) of acculturation. This Element concludes with a short evaluation of the field of acculturation; its past, present and future.

What exactly happens when you get stoned? Why does your mouth dry up and why do you become so interested in food and sex? Why can some people work when they're stoned and others can't? What are the tobacco companies' plans for exploiting the potential legal market? How come there's so much cannabis found in prisons and how does it get there? Who brings it across national borders? CANNABISCULTURE answers all these questions and more. Thirty years after THE TIMES ran an advertisement calling the law against cannabis 'immoral in principle and unworkable in practice', the drug's legalisation has become a live political and social issue. But there is surprisingly little information available on the drug: from its medicinal properties to its function as a commodity which is traded on a global scale, its role in various religions to the many ways in which it can be cultivated and its effect on the body and mind.

A Journey Through Cultures addresses one of the hottest topics in contemporary HCI: cultural diversity amongst users. For a number of years the HCI community has been investigating alternatives to enhance the design of cross-cultural systems. Most contributions to date have followed either a ‘design for each’ or a ‘design for all’ strategy. A Journey Through Cultures takes a very different approach. Proponents of CVM – the Cultural Viewpoint Metaphors perspective – the authors invite HCI practitioners to think of how to expose and communicate the idea of cultural diversity. A detailed case study is included which assesses the metaphors’ potential in cross-cultural design and evaluation. The results show that cultural viewpoint metaphors have strong epistemic power, leveraged by a combination of theoretic foundations coming from Anthropology, Semiotics and the authors’ own work in HCI and Semiotic Engineering. Luciana Salgado, Carla Leitão and Clarisse de Souza are members of SERG, the Semiotic Engineering Research Group at the Departamento de Informática of Rio de Janeiro's Pontifical Catholic University (PUC-Rio).

The Arctic—with its twenty-four-hour daylight, surprisingly curious animals and inexplicable humming noises—is a world of constant danger and limitless possibility. This unforgiving landscape is home to the Inuit (the name they prefer to “Eskimos”), whose complex and little-studied society is fascinating in its divergence from as well as its assimilation into Western culture. Jonathan Waterman’s 2,200-mile journey across the roof of North America took him through Inuit communities in Alaska to Nunavut, Canada’s new, 770,000-square-mile, self-governed territory. His story, at once illuminating and alarming, offers firsthand observations of their life, language and beliefs; records their reactions to global modernization; documents their centuries of unjust treatment at the hands of Kabloona (bushy-eyebrowed whites); and witnesses unemployment, teen suicide and such persistent plagues as spousal violence and substance abuse. From the perspective of his 1997–1999 voyage—as the Inuit stand on the brink of a more hopeful, independent future—he also looks into a past marked by famous (or infamous) Arctic explorers, government cover-ups and environmental destruction. This beautifully written work of intrepid reporting and even scholarship also reveals the physical risks and psychological perils of crossing the legendary Northwest Passage. Utterly alone for weeks at a time, Waterman struggles against freezing conditions, the tricks played on him by his own mind and dangers more complex than aggressive bears, stormy seas and mosquito blizzards. Following the advice of an Inuit shaman, who said that “those things hidden from others” are discovered only “far from the dwellings of men, through privation and suffering,” Waterman kayaks, skis, dogsleds and sails across the Great Solitudes in a thrilling and ultimately successful quest for this “true wisdom,” arriving at a profound understanding of environment and culture.

**First Place Grand Prize Winner for Non-Fiction books at the 2010 Next Generation Indie Book Awards!! Congratulations Mary!!**

A child’s introduction to art history through the centuries and across the globe A Journey Through Art is a global history of art with a time- travel twist, taking young readers on a expedition from the Paleolithic period to the present day, voyaging to thirty locations around the world. As readers travel from one incredible destination to the next, they discover the amazing network of caves carved into the rock in AD 500 at Ajanta, India; Cambodia’s Angkor Wat as it stood in AD 1200; the glories of Renaissance Florence in AD 1500; and the remarkable energy of New York in the 1950s. At every location readers encounter stories of artworks and the cultures that surrounded them. The journey is chronological with three sections: prehistoric and ancient; medieval and early modern; and modern and contemporary. Two beautifully illustrated spreads showcase each destination, allowing children to engage with the art, artifacts, and culture of a unique place in time as Aaron Rosen tells the story of how art developed across the world.

The coming of age happened fast for a young Dr. Shah when he was sent away to a tough British military-style boarding school in the Nilgiris Mountains of India. Dr. Shah narrates a cultural and inspirational memoir of a child maturing into a man, then father, determined to succeed despite his obstacles. With a love for history and nature, he paints his story through a lens of the landscapes he journeys. He takes you from India, to Wales and Scotland, and finally to America, where he achieves his psychiatry degree and settles with his family in beautiful West Virginia. Dr. Shah's passion for service and medicine is witnessed as he shares unique experiences of treating patients with tropical illnesses in India to psychiatric cases with children, coal miners, veterans and prisoners in the US. While sharing glimpses into patient lives, he does not shy away from his own struggles with anxiety, personal failures, cultural adjustments, and parental concerns of raising two daughters in the values of a western world. His memoir beautifully balances the challenges and joys of his life by weaving in stories of family, friendships, adventures and his now retired life in Florida. Along with a sprinkle of poetry and pictures, Dr. Shah passes on a written legacy of humanity and life lessons that portrays both heart and strength...a book not to be missed!

This book explores the life and experiences of one of the world's most renowned and well-respected experts in bilingualism. François Grosjean takes us through his life, from his monolingual childhood in a small village outside Paris to the long periods of time he spent in Switzerland, England, France, and the United States, becoming bilingual and bicultural in the process. During his life, his dominant language has changed many times between English and French, and he has also acquired, and subsequently lost, other languages, including American Sign Language. Throughout the book, he combines his personal accounts and anecdotes with insights from and reflections on his extensive scholarly research in bilingualism and biculturalism, which has, in turn, been heavily influenced by his own experiences. Written in an engaging and accessible style, the book will appeal to general readers interested in bilingualism and language contact, educators and parents of bilingual children, researchers working on bilingualism, and to bilinguals themselves.