Posted: 09 Apr 2010 07:46 PM PDT

A senior leader of the Communist Party of China (CPC) stressed Friday the role of high technology in cultural development, as the country seeks to reform and innovate to ensure the prosperity of socialist culture.

"High technology should be the 'new engine' for promoting cultural construction and boosting the country's cultural innovation abilities and influence," Li Changchun, member of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee, said at a meeting of publicity officials.

"We should adhere to advanced socialist culture and stick to the principles of being close to reality, life and the people," he said, urging to keep the balance between social influence and economic returns.

He also urged the country's cultural sector to correctly handle the relationship between cultural development and the use of science and technology while fostering new talent with knowledge from multiple fields.

Source: Xinhua

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Cultural Identity of Indigenous Society of Patagonia ... - Science Daily

Posted: 09 Apr 2010 08:36 PM PDT

ScienceDaily (Apr. 9, 2010) — Argentinean and Spanish researchers have shown that indigenous societies in Patagonia, the southernmost region of the Earth inhabited by humans over the past 13,000 years, were not static and marginal as had always been thought, but in fact had high levels of social organisation. The latest study by this team, published in the journal Arctic Anthropology, breaks down false myths and gives these societies the historic recognition they deserve.

"Was Patagonia a desert?" Using this question as its starting point, the Argentinean-Spanish research team has studied the development of ethnicity in Patagonia, one of the last regions of the world to be occupied by human beings, around 13,000 years ago according to radio carbon dating of archaeological remains in the region. The study, published in the journal Arctic Anthropology, overturns the traditional view of these societies.

"We started our study looking at the situation of the indigenous society today, which is suffering from a loss of cultural identity and a high degree of mixture between populations due to numerous migratory movements and the pressures of urban life," Juan A. Barceló, lead author of the study and an archaeologist and researcher at the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), said.

Documentary evidence to date has held that the region was occupied by primitive hunter-gatherers who started to "die out" and disappeared leaving behind a "desert." However, even though the indigenous population subsists in marginal populations today, this study shows that it has a history of its own.

Using ethnographic documents containing the life stories of old people who lived as nomadic hunter-gatherers as children, as well as information sources from travellers and naturalists in the 19th Century, the social scientists used specially-created computer programmes to study the dynamics of indigenous populations.

"Going beyond the common areas of information, we incorporated archaeological, anthropological and ethno-historic data to highlight the profound social complexity and economic, social and reproductive strategies of these apparently extremely simple human communities," the researcher says.

One hundred years of resistance to colonisation

Prior to European colonisation, the indigenous population had highly ingrained levels of social hierarchy. "They had relatively well evolved leadership systems, social predominance was transmitted via parentage, and wealth was concentrated, particularly in the form of thousands of heads of cattle or horses," says Barceló.

The team of experts explains that the indigenous societies had complex social and political organisation, being able to mobilise thousands of warriors.

"When they were fighting against the pressure of industrial societies they were able to call up military bands of more than 1,000 warriors, bringing together forces from distant regions and with different languages and identities," the expert explains.

Barceló says this enormous mobilisation capacity held the ever-increasing pressures of industrial society at bay for almost 100 years "until the colonists started to use canons, rifles and sabres, totally wiping out certain ethnic groups."

Recognising the past

The view of these indigenous populations as marginal people who all spoke the same language is erroneous. Some historical studies on southern languages differentiate between 30 separate languages and dialects, which were inter-related to various degrees.

"Linguistic complexity was probably much greater before European contact, since a significant feature of colonisation was the trend towards linguistic homogeneity," according to the study.

The researchers also found these to be "extraordinarily dynamic" societies that adjusted their internal characteristics to cope with change. "These were not societies that had a passively adaptation to the land and its resources. Instead, they built their own path through history by taking constant social decisions," says Barceló.

"Aside from the academic community and the general public, this study is aimed at the indigenous societies who have traditionally been denied their own history," the expert concludes.

Story Source:

Adapted from materials provided by Plataforma SINC.

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

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Morelos Cultural Heritage Undergoes Maintenance Work - Art Daily

Posted: 09 Apr 2010 05:23 PM PDT

MEXICO CITY.- The National Institute of Anthropology and History (INAH) will restore 14 historical places in Morelos, with resources from 2010 Temporary Employment Program (PET).

Four sites part of Zapata Route; 5 convent conjuncts part of the UNESCO Cultural Heritage List, and 3 archaeological zones, among them, Xochicalco, will be attended from April to August 2010.

Anthropologist Eduardo Lopez Calzada, director of Morelos INAH Center, informed that protection, conservation and restoration tasks will include El Olindo, country house of Maximilian of Habsburg, Emperor of Mexico, and urban image improvement of Tetecala locality.

Cleaning, maintenance and conservation tasks will be performed by inhabitants of nearby areas under supervision of INAH specialists, to begin in April 12th 2010, added the director. The program implemented by the Institute and the Secretariat of Social Development (SEDESOL) will generate 258,240 temporary posts.

First spaces intervened will be those part of the Zapata Route: Ex Hacienda de Chinameca, Ex Cuartel Emiliano Zapata, in Tlaltizapan, as well as 2 museums, Casa de Morelos in Cuautla, and Anenecuilco.

"Morelos State is a key place during the Revolution because it was here where Zapata fought and was born; this year, we propose a reflection about the revolutionary process by improving this emblematic sites", remarked Lopez.

Ex Hacienda de Chinameca is the last point of Zapata Route, where the general was killed. The commemorative sculpture will be intervened too. "Morelos State Government has recently recovered this precinct; in coordination with it, walls and façade will be restored".

Maintenance work started in 2009 will continue in Ruta del Volcan ex convents, declared World Heritage in 1994 by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Among these monuments are Cuernavaca cathedral, and the former convents San Juan Bautista, in Tetela del Volcan; Santo Domingo de Guzman, in Hueyapan; San Juan Bautista, in Tlayacapan, and Natividad de Maria, in Tepoztlan.

Finally, other sites to be intervened will be archaeological zones of Xochicalco, Chalcatzingo and Chimalacatan.

The Cultural Test - Salon

Posted: 09 Apr 2010 02:31 PM PDT

It's not ageism that made me want to know how young a person was who was joining the office team, it was wanting to know what radio station would likely be blaring from the radio at their desk, and how many cultural references we would share.

I devised a simple test, one I utilized for the comedic value shortly before I realized it's usefulness in determining whether said person was in my general age bracket. Very carefully I laid out masking tape on the floor of the office, where it would have been appropriate to have an office door. On it I wrote "Les Nessman Door". It amused the heck out of me (I admit to being easily amused) and some people got it. It's one of those things you either get or don't. No level of explanation will help. Only a decent amount of time spent with Johnny Fever, Venus Flytrap and Herb Tarlek (oh, and Les Nessman) could possibly explain it. "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly," still sends me into fits of laughter.

If you're still scratching your head, don't feel bad. You apparently missed the four seasons of WKRP in Cincinnati. The show was kind of goofy and fun, with two DJs who consistently bucked the radio system to play what they wanted, a not-so-ditzy receptionist who spent more time filing her nails than papers, a completely incompetent but earnest newsman, and other wacky characters. It was a show more about the characters than about wild plot twists. Even what is probably the most famous episode, "Turkeys Away", the plot was driven by characters. What characters they were.

As I write this I wonder if somewhere in the world there is a young man or a young woman who is telling stories about the crazy character they ran into on a temp assignment long ago, who put up masking tape walls and would call out, "As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly!"

http://www.hulu.com/watch/322/wkrp-in-cincinnati-turkeys-away#s-p4-so-i0

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Cultural

Friday, April 9, 2010

“Senior CPC leader stresses hi-tech for cultural ... - People's Daily Online” plus 3 more

“Senior CPC leader stresses hi-tech for cultural ... - People's Daily Online” plus 3 more

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