161,539 research outputs found

    National Representation of Malaysian Myths in Tourism Promotional Brochures a Longitudinal Perspective

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    It is claimed that myths and legends have been incorporated in tourism promotions as they have the power to enhance the appeal of tourist destinations. The inclusion of mythological aspects can contribute to the imagination of places as Oriental or Otherness destinations, a reputable approach to attracting tourists. Despite the importance of the role played by myths and legends in destination marketing, thus far there have been very few studies which have delved into this area, especially from longitudinal and self-representation perspectives. Therefore, the aim of this thesis was to explore the national representation of manifest myths in tourism marketing, focusing on a longitudinal lens. In the analysis of this representation, myths included in tourism brochures published by the Malaysian national promotional bodies from 1962 to 2007 were assessed. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were used to analyse the brochures in order to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the representation of myths. Past brochures from the Tourism Malaysia Resource Centre in Kuala Lumpur were examined. Contemporary brochures were collected from three locations and two international airports in Malaysia: the Tourism Malaysia offices in Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Langkawi Island, and Kuala Lumpur and Penang International Airports. The quantitative analysis shows that myths have been well represented in the Malaysian tourism promotional brochures, with almost one third including myths. However, the extent of the representation of the majority of myths is quite brief, most brochures allocating only a small number and percentage of words to the myths and their description. The assessment of the trend of the portrayal of myths reveals that the incorporation of myths declined steadily over the period of five decades. Qualitative analysis identified that stories depicting religious and spiritual beliefs are fundamental in Malaysian myths. The myths include a variety of themes projecting Orientalism, Otherness, modernisation, Westernisation and globalisation. Over time, changes in portraying modernisation and Westernisation have been identifiable in selected myths. The longitudinal assessment revealed that nine myths exhibit some alteration in their components. Among traditional core values ingrained in Malay myths are the significance of conveying crucial messages in a delicate way, indirect communication is a symbol of politeness; and, along with human relationships, maintaining harmony with the natural environment and supernatural worlds and beings. In the context of tourism, this research demonstrates that a significant number of myths have been utilised in the promotion of natural resources and to complement the descriptions of tangible attractions, particularly places of worship and cultural heritage sites. It is also shown that some unusual and peculiar myths have been exploited to lure tourists and used in destination marketing to highlight the uniqueness of a particular ethnicity and a place’s identity. The findings of this research shed light on the knowledge of tourism representation from longitudinal and national perspectives, by revealing over a period of five decades the trends and alterations in the projection of mythological stories and how they have been employed in the promotional brochures published by an Oriental country. They also contribute to the understanding on how myths have been utilised in promotional material and exploited to attract tourists

    National Representation of Malaysian Myths in Tourism Promotional Brochures a Longitudinal Perspective

    Get PDF
    It is claimed that myths and legends have been incorporated in tourism promotions as they have the power to enhance the appeal of tourist destinations. The inclusion of mythological aspects can contribute to the imagination of places as Oriental or Otherness destinations, a reputable approach to attracting tourists. Despite the importance of the role played by myths and legends in destination marketing, thus far there have been very few studies which have delved into this area, especially from longitudinal and self-representation perspectives. Therefore, the aim of this thesis was to explore the national representation of manifest myths in tourism marketing, focusing on a longitudinal lens. In the analysis of this representation, myths included in tourism brochures published by the Malaysian national promotional bodies from 1962 to 2007 were assessed. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were used to analyse the brochures in order to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the representation of myths. Past brochures from the Tourism Malaysia Resource Centre in Kuala Lumpur were examined. Contemporary brochures were collected from three locations and two international airports in Malaysia: the Tourism Malaysia offices in Kuala Lumpur, Penang and Langkawi Island, and Kuala Lumpur and Penang International Airports. The quantitative analysis shows that myths have been well represented in the Malaysian tourism promotional brochures, with almost one third including myths. However, the extent of the representation of the majority of myths is quite brief, most brochures allocating only a small number and percentage of words to the myths and their description. The assessment of the trend of the portrayal of myths reveals that the incorporation of myths declined steadily over the period of five decades. Qualitative analysis identified that stories depicting religious and spiritual beliefs are fundamental in Malaysian myths. The myths include a variety of themes projecting Orientalism, Otherness, modernisation, Westernisation and globalisation. Over time, changes in portraying modernisation and Westernisation have been identifiable in selected myths. The longitudinal assessment revealed that nine myths exhibit some alteration in their components. Among traditional core values ingrained in Malay myths are the significance of conveying crucial messages in a delicate way, indirect communication is a symbol of politeness; and, along with human relationships, maintaining harmony with the natural environment and supernatural worlds and beings. In the context of tourism, this research demonstrates that a significant number of myths have been utilised in the promotion of natural resources and to complement the descriptions of tangible attractions, particularly places of worship and cultural heritage sites. It is also shown that some unusual and peculiar myths have been exploited to lure tourists and used in destination marketing to highlight the uniqueness of a particular ethnicity and a place’s identity. The findings of this research shed light on the knowledge of tourism representation from longitudinal and national perspectives, by revealing over a period of five decades the trends and alterations in the projection of mythological stories and how they have been employed in the promotional brochures published by an Oriental country. They also contribute to the understanding on how myths have been utilised in promotional material and exploited to attract tourists

    Picturing Argentina: Myths, Movies, and the Peronist Vision

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    No individual has had greater impact on Argentine history than Juan Domingo Perón. The years 1943–1945, when he was an influential member in his nation’s governing junta, and 1946–1955, when he was its president, were tumultuous ones that transformed Argentina. Perón was a highly controversial figure, and his memory continues to provoke intense and often acrimonious debate. Moreover, the nature of his legacy resists neat classification. Many of his achievements were positive. He oversaw the passage of progressive social legislation, including women’s suffrage and prison reform, and he implemented programs that aided the nation’s poor and working classes. On the other hand, he tolerated no opposition and, as president, incarcerated even former supporters who questioned his actions, and he ordered the closure of newspapers that he judged inappropriately critical. His regime’s impact on the nation’s cinema is similarly difficult to classify. When Perón came to prominence, Argentina had developed one of the two major film industries in Latin America. His government intervened in this sphere to an unprecedented degree and in contradictory ways. It encouraged production by providing financial credits for filmmakers, and in 1948 Perón and his wife, Evita, a former actress, presided over the inauguration of the nation’s international film festival in Mar del Plata. Conversely, his administration blacklisted a remarkable number of directors and performers, censored and prohibited movies, and required all films made in Argentina to portray his regime’s accomplishments in a favorable manner. Although Perón’s central role in Argentine history and the need for an unbiased assessment of his impact on his nation’s cinema are beyond dispute, the existing scholarship on the subject is limited. In recent decades Argentina has witnessed a revival of serious film study, some of which has focused on the nation’s classical movies and, in one case, on Peronism. None of this work has been translated into English, however. The only recent book in English to study this topic divides its attention between Argentine cinema and radio and dedicates only one chapter to film during the Perón years. Picturing Argentina: Myths, Movies, and the Peronist Vision is the first English-language book that offers an extensive assessment of Argentine cinema during first Peronism. It is also the first study in any language that concentrates systematically on the evolution of social attitudes reflected in Argentine movies throughout those years and that assesses the period’s impact on subsequent filmmaking activity. By analyzing popular Argentine movies from this time through the prism of myth—second-order communication systems that present historically developed customs and attitudes as natural—the book traces the filmic construction of gender, criminality, race, the family, sports, and the military. It identifies in movies the development and evolution of mindsets and attitudes that may be construed as “Peronist.” By framing its consideration of films from the Perón years in the context of earlier and later ones, it demonstrates that this period accelerates—and sometimes registers backward-looking responses to—earlier progressive mythic shifts, and it traces the development in the 1950s of a critical mindset that comes to fruition in the “new cinema” of the 1960s. [From the Publisher]https://cupola.gettysburg.edu/books/1053/thumbnail.jp

    Disaster Mythology and Availability Cascades

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    Sociological research conducted in the aftermath of natural disasters has uncovered a number of “disaster myths” – widely shared misconceptions about typical post-disaster human behavior. This paper discusses the possibility that perpetuation of disaster mythology reflects an “availability cascade,” defined in prior scholarship as a “self-reinforcing process of collective belief formation by which an expressed perception triggers a chain reaction that gives the perception increasing plausibility through its rising availability in public discourse.” (Kuran and Sunstein 1999). Framing the spread of disaster mythology as an availability cascade suggests that certain tools may be useful in halting the myths’ continued perpetuation. These tools include changing the legal and social incentives of so-called “availability entrepreneurs” – those principally responsible for beginning and perpetuating the cascade, as well as insulating decision-makers from political pressures generated by the availability cascade. This paper evaluates the potential effectiveness of these and other solutions for countering disaster mythology. Las investigaciones sociológicas realizadas tras los desastres naturales han hecho evidentes una serie de “mitos del desastre”, conceptos erróneos ampliamente compartidos sobre el comportamiento humano típico tras un desastre. Este artículo analiza la posibilidad de que la perpetuación de los mitos del desastre refleje una “cascada de disponibilidad”, definida en estudios anteriores como un “proceso de auto-refuerzo de la formación de una creencia colectiva, a través del que una percepción expresada produce una reacción en cadena que hace que la percepción sea cada vez más verosímil, a través de una mayor presencia en el discurso público” (Kuran y Sunstein 1999). Enmarcar la propagación de los mitos del desastre como una cascada de disponibilidad sugiere que ciertas herramientas pueden ser útiles para parar la continua perpetuación de los mitos. Estas herramientas incluyen el cambio de los incentivos legales y sociales de los llamados “emprendedores de la disponibilidad”, los principales responsables del inicio y la perpetuación de la cascada, además del aislamiento de quienes toman las decisiones de las presiones políticas generadas por la cascada de disponibilidad. Este artículo evalúa la efectividad potencial de estas y otras soluciones para contrarrestar los mitos del desastre

    The implementation of storytelling in the native Language to promote L2 vocabulary in older adults

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    Este proyecto de aula presenta la implementación de la técnica de narración de cuentos utilizando mitos y leyendas colombianos para enseñar vocabulario en inglés a adultos mayores. Para este proyecto, establecimos algunos objetivos de enseñanza que se dividieron en dos; objetivos generales en los que los adultos mayores reconocen el vocabulario establecidos a través de la producción verbal y no verbal. También los objetivos específicos, por ejemplo, la implementación de la narración de cuentos como un medio para promover el vocabulario en inglés. La metodología utilizada en este proyecto de aula se centró en la andragogía, que es la ciencia de la educación de adultos, en base a esto enseñamos vocabulario en inglés utilizando mitos y leyendas colombianas. Los participantes involucrados fueron siete adultos mayores de una casa de retiro en Pereira, y los tres facilitadores los cuales usaron como instrumentos diarios, observaciones y artefactos de los participantes recolectar evidencia y su posterior análisis. Los resultados indicaron que los participantes pudieron recordar y utilizar el vocabulario presentado durante la sesión de narración de mitos y leyendas. Como conclusión, este proyecto de aula reveló que el uso de mitos y leyendas para enseñar vocabulario en inglés es una técnica favorable la cual permitió a los participantes sentirse cómodos y usar sus conocimientos previos en su idioma nativo con el propósito de aprender vocabulario en inglés

    Dispelling the myths of online education: learning via the information superhighway

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    There continues to be a perception that online education is inferior to traditional education. In the U.S. online learning is more developed than in the U.K. This paper provides insights into a U.S. provision and takes a close look at what are perceived as weaknesses of on line learning and argues that these are not necessarily inherent weaknesses of this form of educational delivery. Then, results of two major studies, undertaken in the U.S. are provided comparing the effectiveness of online education to traditional education as perceived by current MBA students and past graduates. Results of these studies suggest that students of MBA modules and MBA graduates perceive the quality and effectiveness of online education to be similar to, if not higher than, the quality and effectiveness of traditional modules and programmes

    MYTH AND REALITY:ORGANIC VS NON-ORGANIC

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    This report examines some of the key issues around organic food and its production. It takes up the challenge of answering the critics - critics who range from companies defending agri-business, through to the heads of national food authorities and some academics. It exposes the misleading and erroneous statements made against organic food, and provides the facts that proves them wrong

    Unraveling the Myths of Accountability: A Case Study of the California High School Exit Exam

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    Believing that accountability could be a vehicle for change, the California Department of Education (CDE) requires all high school students to pass the California High School Exit Exam (CAHSEE) in order to graduate. In doing so, California joins many others states in mandating a high school exit exam as a current or future requirement for graduation. In this essay, the authors will argue that this testing approach to school change is based on myths about the role of assessment, the information testing can provide and the impact high stakes testing has on urban schools. Although California is the focus of this analysis, these issues are salient across the county. Testing as a solution to poor student achievement is based on faulty assumptions. It is these assumptions this piece seeks to address
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