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Culture Connect: Bridging Cultures, Building Connections

2025-01-16

(Provided by the College of Liberal Arts) The College of Liberal Arts hosted two lively talks by two faculty members of the College of Liberal Arts: Assistant Professor Severina Angelova Balabanova (謝薇娜, Bulgaria) and Assistant Professor Héctor Castaño (高長空, Spain). These talks formed part of the College's "Culture Connect" series which is held twice a semester with a view to encouraging faculty members or students to share with other faculty members and students their insights into different cultures.

The first of this semester's Culture Connect talk was given by Balabanova, who offered a brief history of Bulgaria's educational institutions spanning from the 9th to the 21st century. As was invariably the case in medieval Europe, the first schools in Bulgaria were run by the church and limited to the provision of basic literacy and numeracy skills. A far broader education was inaugurated in the early 19th century, but it was not until 1878, when Bulgaria ousted its Ottoman rulers, that the foundations of the country's current educational system were laid.

The second talk was given by Castaño. But in a departure from the usual Culture Connect format, Castaño focused on culture as a sociological and pedagogical concept. He began by reminding the two original meanings of the word culture. The first, from the Latin cultura, means the growing of plants or the cultivation of crops – hence the word agriculture. The second, cultura anima, means the cultivation of the soul – a concept first introduced by the Roman statesman and philosopher Cicero. Castaño then asked the participants to consider whether today's secondary and tertiary education, by means of which the minds of students are progressively "cultivated", is weighted too heavily towards specialization and homogenization at the cost of the cultivation of the soul.

Shu-ing Shyu, Associate Dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Chairman of the Department of Foreign Languages and Literature, said that the Culture Connect gatherings are immensely stimulating both intellectually and culturally. The College of Liberal Arts cordially invites all faculty and students throughout NSYSU to join in the discussions.
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