This volume revisits the notions of Orientalism, Occidentalism and, to a certain extent, Reverse Orientalism/Occidentalism in the 21st century, adopting post-modern, constructionist and potentially non-essentialising approaches. The representations of the ‘cultural Other’ in education, literature and the arts are examined by scholars working in Australia, France, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and the USA. Vinyl compilations, TV series, novels, institutional discourses and surveys, amongst others, are examined so as to better understand how people construct their identity in relation to an imagined and idealised Other. This book will appeal to all researchers and students interested in cultural identity and stereotypes of the ‘East’ and the ‘West’, in particular in the fields of academic mobility, cultural studies, intercultural education, postcolonial literature and media studies.

This book explores the new Greek exoticism by examining political and cultural mechanisms that contribute to Greece’s image and self-image construction. The contributions shed light on the subject from different perspectives, including political science, history of ideas, sociology, cultural studies, and art criticism. In the first part, the book provides a historical review with a focus on philhellenism, perceptions of antiquity and modernity, and the evolution of Greece as an idea. The second part looks at the current Greek crisis and analyses ideological, political and cultural aspects and stereotypes that contributed to the formation of contemporary Greek culture. The third and final part discusses notions such as aestheticism, idealism and pragmaticism, and deconstructs narrations of Greece through artistic media, such as films and exhibitions, which present a new oriental Utopia.

This book, stemming from an international conference, mainly explores the “private sphere” of minority cultures. To date, insufficient attention has been paid to ethnic minorities’ sense of subjecthood, e.g. their construction and articulation of self-understanding formed through lived experiences, sensibilities, emotions, sentiments, empathy, and even tempers and moods. Social misunderstanding, not to mention stereotyping, mystification and discrimination, often stems from neglecting the surprising and enlivening texture of minorities’ emotional world. Taking the important cue of the “affective turn” in cultural theory in recent years, the contributors address questions such as: what are the representations of affective/emotional energies and intensities surrounding the ethnic figures/strangers in visual culture (e.g. passivity, shame, anger, joy, empathy, charm, belonging, etc.)?; how do ethnic minorities respond to these visual narratives, and how can their self-representation through visual discourse reveal and transform their lived experiences?

As the number of international students in Chinese higher education increases steadily, this volume is one of the first to focus on their many and varied experiences. With contributions focusing on such topics as intercultural adaptation, soft power and interculturality, language learning strategies and the intercultural, and transformations in perspective, this volume provides the reader with a broad overview of the latest advances in the field of interculturality and study abroad. While the book will appeal to a global audience of researchers, practitioners and students with an interest in Chinese higher education, it will also be of interest to all those who remain intrigued by conceptual and methodological issues of interculturality.

Global Perspectives on International Student Experiences in Higher Education examines a wide range of international student experiences empirically from multiple perspectives that includes socio-cultural identities, contextual influences on their learning experiences, their wellbeing experiences, and their post-study experiences. This collection sheds light on the over five million students who cross geographical, cultural, and educational borders for higher education outside of their home countries. This book consists of nineteen chapters spread across four sections. Throughout the book, contributors question the existing assumptions and values of international student programs and services, reexamine and explore new perspectives to present the emerging challenges and critical evaluations of student experiences and their identities. Offering a rich understanding of these students and their global college experiences in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe and Americas, this book offers research-based strategies to effectively recruit, engage, support, and retain international students as they participate in higher educational settings around the world. This book provides resource material to benefit educators, policymakers, and staff who work closely with international students in higher education.

An examination of multiculturalism in East Asia using a transnational approach. The collection focuses in on Japan, Korea and Taiwan to examine key issues including policy, racial discourse, subjectivity and the implications for established ethic minority communities.

In Europe, Indian hobbyism, or Indianism, has developed out of a strong fascination with Native American life in the 18th and 19th centuries. "Indian hobbyists" dress in homemade replicas of clothing, craft museum-quality replicas of artifacts, meet in fields dotted with tepees and reenact aspects of North American Indian lifeworlds, using ethnographies, travel diaries, and museum collections as resources. Grounded in fieldwork set among networks of Indian hobbyists in Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and the Czech Republic, this ethnography analyzes this contemporary practice of serious leisure with respect to the general human desire for play, metaphor, and allusion. It provides insights into the increasing popularity of reenactment practices as they relate to a deeper understanding of human perception, imagination, and creativity.