Search Results (184)

This essay discusses feminist ideas in connection to the occulture—Christopher Partridge’s term for the re-enchantment of art, popular culture, and everyday life through esoteric and spiritual currents—present in opera, musical theater, and film, focusing on femmes fatales, tricksters and ‘wicked women’ in a transcultural approach to religion, (Western) esotericism, and the performing arts. The spiritual–scientific embodiment of Afro-Brazilian traditions is explored through the figure of Pombagira—a Brazilian occultural creation of a female enchantress with mystical powers connected to healing and sex, often placed in patriarchal opposition to her male counterpart, Exu. Drawing on Partridge’s notions of occulture and Walter Mignolo’s understanding of decoloniality, the Western gendering imposed on Pombagira as a purveyor of evil is discussed as both mythology and potential epistemicide. The thesis statement presented here is that the Pombagira episteme is an underlying emblem throughout art and scholarship invested in queering essential binary categories of womanhood, as seen in staged adaptations of Verdi’s La forza del destino (1862), Bizet’s Carmen (1875), and numerous cinematic Lola incarnations—Marlene Dietrich’s in Der blaue Engel (1930), Gwen Verdon’s in Damn Yankees (1958), and Almodóvar’s in Todo sobre mi madre (1999). This indisciplinary reading connects Gloria Anzaldúa’s queer feminist practice of spiritual mestizaje with the Pombagira as an occultural anti-patriarchal force. Full article

Background/Objectives: The employment of migrant nurses requires structured support from local nursing staff. However, multiple challenges persist in facilitating effective collaboration. We aimed to clarify the efforts made by Japanese nurses and identify their support needs when working alongside migrant nurses in Japan. Methods: We adopted a qualitative descriptive design. Eighteen Japanese nurses with experience working alongside migrant nurses were recruited through hospitals employing migrant nurses. Semistructured interviews were conducted, and data were analyzed using qualitative descriptive analysis. We classified the codes derived from the participants’ narratives and inductively generated categories. Results: Japanese nurses’ efforts in working alongside migrant nurses were classified into five categories: “Overcoming language barriers,” “Respecting the nursing practices and cultural backgrounds of migrant nurses,” “Encouraging migrant nurses to gain self-confidence,” “Engaging Japanese staff in establishing support systems for migrant nurses,” and “Addressing the personal challenges faced by migrant nurses working abroad.” Three categories of support needs were identified: “Learning about nursing practices and cultural backgrounds of migrant nurses,” “Information exchange on how to support migrant nurses,” and “Support systems for enhancing migrant nurses’ competencies in Japan.” Conclusions: Japanese nurses demonstrated active efforts to address differences in language, culture, and nursing practices, while collaboratively establishing support systems involving other staff members. They also extended support to aspects of migrant nurses’ personal lives. However, additional institutional and external support is required. Structured opportunities should be developed to enhance their understanding of migrant nurses’ backgrounds, alongside continuing education initiatives to support migrant nurses’ integration into the Japanese healthcare system. Full article

The article begins by examining Ricoeur’s critique of the Cartesian understanding of the will, which ultimately leads Ricoeur to explore Aristotle’s distinction between voluntary and involuntary acts. Later, Aquinas integrates Aristotle’s insights into a creator/creatures framework by linking voluntary acts to the pursuit of beatitude and by integrating the affective and rational elements of human action in the reflective process that precedes action. In a different metaphysical context, Confucian accounts of moral agency, particularly in the Analects and the Mencius, highlight the role of bodily dispositions, affective responses, and ritualized learning in moral cultivation. Without sharply distinguishing between voluntary and involuntary acts, Confucianism views moral development as harmonizing inner movements through learning and ritual practices. But in Confucianism, too, shaping dispositions and evaluations of possible behaviors helps consider the agent as a whole. These examinations are possible because traditional resources provide a framework. From this perspective, François Noël (1651–1729), who like Descartes trained within a Jesuit scholastic context, provides a unique synthesis. In the Third Treatise on Chinese Ethics of his Philosophia Sinica, Noël interprets Confucian texts through the lens of Aristotelian and Scholastic frameworks, using Chinese examples to illustrate distinctions among voluntary actions: free, natural, spontaneous, and strictly voluntary. Noël seeks to show the value of ancient Chinese texts, their Neo-Confucian commentaries, and their compatibility with his tradition. By doing so, he also integrates Confucian moral psychology with the scholastic framework, proposing an anthropology that preserves the embodied, affective dimensions of agency while trusting the accountability of rationality, the ability of the agent to integrate different aspects of human life in a practical unity: the one able to take action. Full article

Religious psychopathology as a field lies at the intersection of psychiatry, theology, and culture. It addresses scientific discoveries and questions relating to the manifestation of mental health disorders that are expressed through religious content, ideation, and/or behavior. Religious psychopathology, being a multifaceted phenomenon, challenges clinicians, researchers, and religious leaders because it is non-trivial to distinguish between culturally normative religious experiences and pathological symptoms. The present integrative narrative review examines historical perspectives, diagnostic challenges, clinical manifestations, cultural considerations, therapeutic interventions, neurobiological models, ethical issues, and future directions in the field of religious psychopathology. It focuses primarily on literature from 2013 to 2025, while also incorporating selected foundational historical, theoretical, and clinical sources necessary for conceptual clarification. A special emphasis is placed on culturally informed and interdisciplinary approaches. Particular focus is given to approaches that respect spiritual frameworks while concurrently promoting evidence-based mental health care. Full article

Background/Objectives: Tuberculosis (TB) treatment adherence remains suboptimal globally, contributing to relapse, transmission, and drug-resistant TB. Adherence is a culturally embedded behavioral process shaped by psychological readiness, social relationships, and structural conditions. This study aimed to validate a culturally grounded counseling model integrating the Sunrise Model of transcultural nursing and the Information–Motivation–Behavioral Skills (IMB) framework for TB treatment adherence in Kupang City, Indonesia. Methods: A cross-sectional study enrolled 172 pulmonary TB patients across all 11 primary healthcare centers in Kupang City (June–September 2025). A validated questionnaire measuring eight transcultural determinants, culturally grounded counseling (mediator), and adherence (outcome) was developed through expert validation, cognitive interviewing, and pilot testing. Structural Equation Modeling–Partial Least Squares (SEM-PLS) tested structural and mediation relationships via bootstrapped indirect effects (p < 0.05). Results: Reliability (CR: 0.842–0.959; ρA: 0.791–0.957), convergent validity (AVE: 0.577–0.921), and discriminant validity (all HTMT < 0.85) were confirmed. The model showed strong explanatory power (R² = 0.649 for adherence; SRMR = 0.074). Culturally grounded counseling was positively associated with adherence (β = 0.245, p = 0.003) and statistically mediated five antecedent–adherence relationships, including full mediation for economic conditions. Cultural values and lifestyle showed the strongest counseling association (β = 0.345, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Cross-sectional evidence supports a culturally grounded counseling model for TB adherence in diverse settings. Causal conclusions require longitudinal and interventional validation. The model offers a foundation for nurse-led intervention development and multi-site validation. Full article

Emperor Qianlong’s poem San-qing Cha, translated into French in the 18th century by the Jesuit missionary Jean Joseph Marie Amiot, represents a key case study in early Sino-Western literary exchanges. Existing scholarship has mapped the poem’s transmission trajectory, yet critical gaps remain concerning the religious foundations of Amiot’s translation strategies, the socio-political context of its British reception, and the specific mechanisms driving its literary metamorphosis. Adopting the systemic descriptive translation studies framework proposed by José Lambert and Hendrik van Gorp, this article follows the poem’s journey from France to Britain and delineates three successive phases of cross-cultural reshaping: religious reframing, symbolic appropriation in British garden-design debates, and reconfiguration as a vehicle for political satire. The study argues that transcultural meaning is always constructed by the receiving context, and that Jesuit translation practices and European literary appropriations together shaped the complex, reciprocal landscape of early Sino-Western civilizational dialog. Full article

Background and Objectives: Oral health is an important component of overall health, including in children, since dental caries is the most frequent oral health condition in this demographic. It affects children’s daily performance and can lead to complications ranging from moderate discomfort to highly disabling problems, which are reflected in their quality of life. Validating instruments that provide reliable information to measure how oral health impacts children’s quality of life will help prioritize the management of these problems through personalized treatments. The aim of this study was to perform transcultural adaptation and Spanish validation of a POQL instrument in children aged 6 to 12 years who attended the Pediatric Dentistry Clinic at the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez (UACJ), and to establish an association between the presence of carious lesions and the quality of life of children. Materials and Methods: We conducted a validation study involving a sample of 379 children aged 6 to 12 years who were attending the Pediatric Dentistry Clinic at the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez. The instrument, adapted into Spanish, was applied to measure oral health-related quality of life, and the clinical diagnosis of caries was established using the ICDAS II system. Results: The mean age of the children was 8.51 years ± 1.64; 50.4% were boys and 49.6% girls. A total of 45.9% of the children presented caries with ICDAS II codes 5 and 6, corresponding to a severe stage with advanced tooth destruction, and 52% of the children reported their perception of their oral health-related quality of life as good. In the bivariate statistical analysis, the chi-square test showed no relationship between moderate and severe ICDAS II stages and the children’s perception of their quality of life, resulting in a very low Spearman correlation. Conclusions: The findings suggest that this instrument may represent a reliable and valid tool for use in children aged 6 to 12 years. The observed association between different degrees of carious lesions and children’s quality of life may reflect the close relationship between oral health and important psychosocial domains, including physical, emotional, and social development, which constitute the core dimensions evaluated by the POQL instrument. Full article

This article examines the transcultural and transmedial transformation of the kalavinka motif along the Silk Road, situating its development within the interpretive framework of the Indian kinnara/kinnarītradition. It asks how a figure associated with wondrous sound and devotional praise in Buddhist cosmology came to function as a wearable ornament without losing its religious identity. Through close formal analysis of Dunhuang murals from the Tang period (618–907 CE), the study identifies three interrelated visual processes that prepared the motif for mobility across media: the fusion of gendered pairs into an androgynous form, the progressive elongation and ornamental stylization of the tail, and the reorientation of bodily pose into compact, suspension-friendly configurations. These mechanisms are then examined in relation to eleventh-century painted and excavated materials, including donor adornment in Western Thousand Buddha Cave 16, a Khara Khoto scroll, a Liao (916–1125 CE) gold kalavinka earring, and a Western Xia linked-pearl headdress. Comparative visual and material analysis shows that kalavinka imagery circulated in parallel across mural, painted, and metal media, where scale, material, and bodily placement re-coded rather than erased its sacred associations. The study argues that this process is best understood as material translation, and it proposes a model for linking formal change, sensory affordance, and religious function in the arts of the Silk Road. Full article

Religion, culture, and ethnic heritage play a significant role in shaping migrant identities. This paper examines the interplay of these factors in the identity formation of African Christian migrants in Europe, with a particular focus on second-generation (2G) migrants. It analyzes how 2G individuals negotiate Western secular values alongside Pentecostal orientations in ways that facilitate upward social mobility. The study is based on a critical review of the existing literature, compared with lived realities of migrants in the Netherlands. Drawing on empirical research from various European contexts, the paper aims to provide a rigorous and multidimensional account of intergenerational identity reconstruction among 2G African Christians. By centring the Pentecostal family as a primary site of socialization, the paper explores how 2G African Christians simultaneously distance themselves from, and selectively adapt, elements of indigenous African spirit cosmologies in pursuit of secular, achievement-oriented goals. This dialectical engagement reflects a broader generational shift: while first-generation migrants tend to rely heavily on religion and religious institutions as mechanisms of integration, 2G migrants increasingly prioritize secular aspirations while navigating socioeconomic structures, negotiating belonging, and constructing hybrid forms of transnational identity. In doing so, the paper contributes to scholarship on how 2G African migrants in Europe mobilize Pentecostal spirituality as a resource for achieving secular objectives. Full article

Contemporary educator preparation programs face sociopolitical constraints that limit critical discussions surrounding how systemic, structural, and institutional inequities influence teaching and learning, leaving future educators underprepared to meaningfully nurture diverse ways of knowing in K-12 schools. To address this challenge, in this study we explored how video-mediated transcultural dialogues between 60 pre-service educators from Taiwan and the U.S. influenced the development of essential critical cultural competencies. Using a nested theoretical perspective, we analyzed participants’ discussions related to internalized notions of teaching and learning across diverse ecologies. Analysis revealed that through these conversations, incremental development of interconnected global awareness, self-determination, reflexive relationality, and social justice orientations occurred. Modest individual perspective shifts transpired as participants cultivated emerging critical cultural competencies. Despite limitations including a small sample size and a term duration, this pedagogical innovation demonstrated a possible pathway for further exploration to develop future educators’ critical cultural competencies while bridging global relations even within restrictive sociopolitical contexts. Full article

This article examines the early formation of Confucian–Islamic synthesis during the Yuan dynasty, arguing that institutional and intellectual adaptations in this period laid the groundwork for the later systematic synthesis known as “Yi-Ru Huitong” (伊儒會通). Moving beyond narratives of assimilation or resistance, it analyzes how Muslim communities navigated China’s pluralistic sociopolitical landscape through a process of creative adaptation. Employing a multidisciplinary approach that integrates textual analysis, historical comparison, and transcultural theory, the study investigates three key dimensions: the development of hybrid religious institutions, legal-political negotiations, and mechanisms of social integration. Drawing on multilingual sources—including Persian Islamic manuals, Yuan administrative archives, and epigraphic evidence—it demonstrates how Yuan-era Muslims established patterns of selective adaptation that preserved Islamic identity while enabling meaningful engagement with Chinese cultural norms. These developments not only ensured the survival of Islam in China but also generated a range of transcultural achievements in astronomy, medicine, architecture, and the literary arts, thereby creating the necessary conditions for the profound philosophical syntheses of the Ming-Qing era. By positioning the Yuan period as a crucial incubator of Sino-Islamic civilization, this study offers insights for comparative philosophy and the global history of civilizational dialog, inviting reflection on the early Chinese Islamic experience as a significant case of sustainable cross-civilizational engagement. Full article

Greater Ethiopia in the late medieval period, a somewhat delicate federation in the Horn constituted by the Christian highland kingdom and bordering Muslim princedoms, was integrated by interregional links of great significance, in a balance of roles within a wide trade network. Yet the interlacing web of connections saw as many disconnections. Sources from the Christian side as well as the Muslim side with its associated parties continue to provide light on various regional dynamics involved and allow analysis of how interactions were influenced by external actors such as Mamluk Egypt, the Ottoman Empire, and Christian Mediterranean states drawn by the belief that Abyssinia was ruled by Prester John. The purpose of this study is to expound the factors that shaped dealings between the two religio-political parties in order to help build a comprehensive perspective of the entangled milieu. The authors argue that a variety of conditions prevented domination by a single group and forged acceptance of a practical reality as a modus operandi. While several sources and references in Western languages on the wide regional interactions are known, this study aims to present a transcultural view on the topic through untapped Arabic studies examining related primary Arabic sources. Recent archeological work is also taken into account. Some emphases and clarifications are offered to promote an understanding of the region’s circumstances, the timing and aims of key episodes, and foreign interventions. Full article

This study advances the Confucian Visual Transformation Model (CVTM) to analyse how Confucian values are visually reformulated in contemporary Malaysian Chinese art. Integrating artist interviews (n = 5), symbolic visual coding, and audience surveys (n = 227), the research addresses the lack of empirical frameworks for transcultural aesthetics. While an initial exploratory factor analysis (EFA) confirmed four dimensions—Ren (benevolence), He (harmony), WenZhi (technique-ideology), and MeiShan (aesthetic-moral)—it also revealed structural overlaps. Consequently, the study proposes CVTM 2.0, which replaces additive metrics with a tension-driven fusion mechanism. Key innovations include a Symbolic Tension Index (STI) for dynamic weighting and a fuzzy integration layer to handle overlap between WenZhi and MeiShan. Results indicate that Confucian dimensions are not static but are activated through compositional and material tensions. Theoretically, this reframes Confucian aesthetics as a context-responsive system; practically, it offers a replicable blueprint for analysing postcolonial identity negotiation in Southeast Asian art. Full article

This phenomenologically informed qualitative study gives voice to the experience of a teacher, a special educator, and co-art therapists in art therapy workshops given to first-generation immigrant adolescents in a welcome classroom in Quebec, Canada. This study uses a constructivist–interpretive paradigm, allowing the exploration of individual and interactional dynamics in artmaking. The objective was to explore the experiences and perceptions of a teacher, a special educator, and two art therapists who participated in art-based workshops in a welcome classroom for adolescents, and to understand the meaning these workshops hold for them as well as their perception of the meaning it holds for the young people. Grounded in the Expressive Therapies Continuum (ETC), 17 first-generation immigrant adolescents, their teacher, the special educator, and two art therapists participated in nine art therapy workshops and an art exhibition to foster creativity, openness, and reciprocity. The adolescents had experienced trauma, including wars, violence, and separation, as well as uprooting, and acculturation in the host country. Given the limited research on school-based art therapy workshops in high schools, this study seeks to address that gap by examining how students in a welcome class emerge, unfold, and express themselves through the perspectives of the supporting adults. Reflexive thematic analyses revealed that the art workshops were an emancipatory experience, an existential path to crossing barriers, and a lived space for self-expression. These findings highlight the ETC’s potential in helping immigrant adolescents and their classroom community share their stories and they emphasize art therapy’s transcultural value. Full article

The complex fabric of global cultures, shaped by multireligious, multicultural, and multilingual exchanges, encourages cross-cultural involvement and interchange among many groups. This diversity encourages shared appreciation and the pursuit of universal human goals, thereby promoting harmonious interactions. The Indian Christian women religious, specifically, embody such a dynamic, as their vocational duties frequently involve movement and subsequent integration into multiple contexts of culture, fostering cross-border interactions and exchanges. This qualitative research examines the transcultural encounters of Christian women religious from Karnataka, India, who frequently move within the country as well as overseas, in fulfillment of their pastoral responsibilities. Utilizing the transcultural framework, the study employs dialogical narrative analysis approach to identify the voices of Christian women religious situated in the in-depth interviews with six Roman Catholic nuns and Protestant women priests. The findings demonstrate how the Christian women religious actively negotiate their cultural identities, adopt coping mechanisms, and integrate into the society at large. The study reveals the transformational effects of cross-cultural contacts in multicultural, multilingual, and multireligious settings, allowing for a deeper understanding of the intricate intersection between culture, mobility, and identity. It divulges how mobility further contributes to the negotiation of cultural identities and fosters transculturality, highlighting how adaptable and dynamic cultural identities are when relocation occurs. Full article