Preface

Globalization and the openness of markets for goods and services have contributed to the ever-increasing mobility of human talent across the globe. The historical background and evolution of societies have also created the coexistence of multiple cultures and modes of life. Even within a given country's borders, there are multiple cultures as well as cultural differences among the inhabitants. Culture slowly develops its own norms, values, and beliefs regardless of the number of its followers. Economic transactions and social cohesion cannot be conceived today without the consideration of cultural varieties and challenges. This is where we need to develop an in-depth understanding of culture and how we can function effectively within a multicultural society and economy. This book explores the cross-cultural, multicultural, and intercultural phenomena in our societies and how we can manage them effectively and develop acculturation of different cultures. It is organized into two sections: "Culture and Society" and "Managing Cultural Diversity for Multiculturalism."

Section 1 includes eight chapters. In Chapter 1, Shireen Shehzad Bhamani, Ambreen Merchant, Zohra Asif Jetha and Tazeen Saeed Ali explore the history of dowry and its practices, its positive and negative impacts, and policy implications in Pakistan. Dowry is the root cause of much violence against women in South Asian countries regardless of religious belief.

In Chapter 2, Pakize Kayadibi intends to transfer to future generations the material cultural product "pouches" with new designs reflecting cultural identity in the warehouse and display of the Bursa Turkish and Islamic Arts Museum. She shows how cultural artifacts contribute to the transmission of cultural identity from past generations to future ones.

In Chapter 3, Sepideh Asadi examines natural and humanmade hazards such as the case of urban development, nature, and public policies that contribute to demolishing cultural treasures and historical sites. This chapter shows how cultural heritage is at risk of extinction, what the causes are, and how to face those challenges.

In Chapter 4, William Franke discusses the philosophy of knowledge that moves from what cannot be said, the ineffable, as the basis for thinking both in the East, with its mystical philosophies focused on what escapes formulation in language, and the West, beginning from the Socratic wisdom of knowing nothing. This negative moment of encountering the other and the unknown, which entails a moment of relinquishing language, is shown to be crucial to knowledge in the humanities and to resisting the pressures toward specialization at the universities.

In Chapter 5, Lori Simons, Sara Schoneman, Madeline Hoffman, and Nancy Blank identify what students learn through participation in a multicultural psychology course. They found that students increased their cultural, leadership, and problem-solving skills, social justice attitudes, multicultural knowledge, multicultural experiences, and empathy from the beginning to the end of the semester. Qualitative findings indicate that students increase their intercultural contact and perspective-taking skills and develop multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skills over the course of the semester.

In Chapter 6, Irina-Ana Drobot presents, from the perspective of intercultural communication, how foreign languages, especially English, could be taught effectively to engineering students by including not only different skills-related topics but also cross-cultural issues along with organizational culture to provide these students with effective communication skills in their respective technical areas.

In Chapter 7, Wouter Van den Berghe shows how the differences in national culture are associated with differences in the level of public support for a range of policy measures. National culture can be operationalized into several dimensions, and can also be a good predictor for public support for several policy formulations.

In Chapter 8, Jong Youl Hong examines the interculturalism adopted as a philosophy as well as the understanding of the intercultural learning policy proposed by the European Union as a policy alternative to cultural diversity.

Section 2 includes four chapters. In Chapter 9, Ciarán Dunne explores the potential of cultural diversity to foster creativity in lieu of viewing it as a deficit model which is a dominant case. This chapter examines the concept of creativity, highlighting its value for individual and collective well-being, before drawing upon cognitive psychology to architect a compelling rationale for the potential value of cultural diversity as a facilitator of creativity.

In Chapter 10, Jens Allwood provides a general model of intercultural communication with a focus on the actual observable features of communication, including written, spoken, and gestural features, and discusses what influences the occurrence of these features. The model is thus different from most other general accounts such as those of Hofstede or Inglehart and Welzel, which mostly focus on values and attitudes and are based on questionnaires rather than observation.

In Chapter 11, Jacky Chun-Leung Li and Mohd Roslan Mohd Nor analyze the role of Masjid Kowloon in maintaining religious function and promoting social harmony. The chapter uses historical and textual analysis to show that coexistence culture is possible in the real world, together with the analysis of prerequisites to achieving a harmonic coexistence culture in society.

In Chapter 12, Evanthia Tsaliki develops multicultural educational models aiming at the promotion of coexistence, tolerance of diversity, and interaction of different cultural groups of either minority groups or the majority are also discussed and criticized along with recent educational dimensions of managing diversity such as the critical multicultural and the critical intercultural model.

**V**

This book provides an understanding of the different cultural façades across societies with a view of the diversity of cultures. This diversity is not necessarily a challenge but can be understood from multicultural perspectives and contribute to peaceful

> **Muhammad Mohiuddin** Department of Management,

> > Laval University, Quebec, Canada

**Md. Tareque Aziz**

Dhaka, Bangladesh

**Mast. Afrin Sultana** Green Business School,

Dhaka, Bangladesh

**Sreenivasan Jayashree**

Multimedia University, Cyberjaya, Selangor, Malaysia

Green Business School,

Green University of Bangladesh,

Green University of Bangladesh,

Faculty of Management (FOM),

Dean,

coexistence across societies.

This book provides an understanding of the different cultural façades across societies with a view of the diversity of cultures. This diversity is not necessarily a challenge but can be understood from multicultural perspectives and contribute to peaceful coexistence across societies.

### **Muhammad Mohiuddin**

Department of Management, Laval University, Quebec, Canada

## **Md. Tareque Aziz**

Dean, Green Business School, Green University of Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh

## **Mast. Afrin Sultana**

Green Business School, Green University of Bangladesh, Dhaka, Bangladesh

## **Sreenivasan Jayashree**

Faculty of Management (FOM), Multimedia University, Cyberjaya, Selangor, Malaysia

**1**

Section 1

Culture and Society

Section 1
