This book explores chronologically, for the first time, the representation and redefinition of Indonesia__s regional cultures through recording media, from the introduction of the gramophone record... Show moreThis book explores chronologically, for the first time, the representation and redefinition of Indonesia__s regional cultures through recording media, from the introduction of the gramophone record through the current video compact disc (VCD) era, taking as case study the Minangkabau ethnic group. Based on extensive fieldwork and historical research, the author follows the Dutch East Indies colonial society__s initial encounter with recording media and the later adoption and social uses of various types of recording media among the Minangkabau of West Sumatra and its diaspora. The transformation of Minangkabau culture and identity that came with the extensive reproduction of Minangkabau cultural sounds on commercial recordings is examined. This transformation was facilitated by the West Sumatran recording industry, founded in the early 1970s along with the spread of the audio-cassette in Indonesia. The author describes the workings of the West Sumatran recording industry and how its products become the preferred medium of cultural expressions of the Minangkabau ethnic group to hold on to its identity and existence in the face of a changing world. The representations of Minangkabau culture in regional commercial recordings explored in this study demonstrate the use of recording media technology by a local society to contextualize and maintain the viability and existence of their culture and identity, whose features are changing, adaptive, and fluid Show less
Three Christian films have become popular in the Commune of Cobly of today's Republic of Benin, notably the American "Jesus Film" (1979), the American-Ivorian film "La Solution" (1994) and the... Show moreThree Christian films have become popular in the Commune of Cobly of today's Republic of Benin, notably the American "Jesus Film" (1979), the American-Ivorian film "La Solution" (1994) and the Beninese video film "Yatin: Lieu de souffrance" (2002). The discussion centres on how people receive and understand these films together with the digital video technology that facilitate their recent success. Christian films are so important in this part of Benin that the question needs to be raised whether Christianity is shifting from a religion of the book towards a religion of film. The theoretical starting point is semiotics, a theory that has been foundational not only for film, media and media reception studies, but more recently also for the study of materiality. This thesis' main theoretical contribution is a critique of semiotics, arguing that this theory, which has been foundational to Western science, is in fact too limiting. Semiotics, even in its Peircean orientation, cannot sufficiently explain how people in the Commune of Cobly understand shrines, film and media more generally, both through their material manifestations and interactively in terms of communication. Instead, a process called "presencing", which goes beyond semiotics, can explain better people's understanding of shrines and media. Show less
My research is based on transculturalism in the works of Iranian authors living in France since the 1980’s. Referring to the cultural interbreeding, transculturalism constitutes a field of research... Show moreMy research is based on transculturalism in the works of Iranian authors living in France since the 1980’s. Referring to the cultural interbreeding, transculturalism constitutes a field of research, which is becoming increasingly important in numerous countries. In literature this concept concerns hybrid works, i.e. works emanating from two or more different cultures. In French-Persian creations it shows the mixture between a Western tradition of novel and the dominating place of lyricism and poetry in the Eastern writing. It may open also to an interesting course of reflection in the cultural and social domain of multiculturalism and transculturalism more in general. It aims at current issues seen from a double perspective: the interdependency of the different cultures and a new type of literature from the perspective of writing. Those creations are intermediary between the artist in exile and the receiving society. They transmit values of interculturalism, permitting interaction between cultures. But also represent transculturalism, which transcends the simple ‘dialogue’ between two cultures to reach an original synthesis. My goal was to search hybrid factors in these works and to see how they are carried out concretely in the texts. Then we see who these works might be qualified as transcultural. Show less
