Contemporary Turkish writer Menekşe Toprak is primarily known for her short stories; her first collection, Letter in the Suitcase (Valizdeki Mektup), was published in 2007. Following her second collection, Which Language is Love (Hangi Dildedir Aşk), she shifted to novel writing with The Children of July (Temmuz Çocukları, 2011), followed by The End of Lament (Ağıtın Sonu), The Whisper of Bees (Arı Fısıltıları), and Déjàvu. From her early stories onward, Toprak has created introspective characters and focused on themes such as gender, identity, and the experiences of migrant women. This article analyzes the female protagonists in Menekşe Toprak’s fiction through the lens of intersectionality. Intersectionality provides a framework for exploring how intersecting structures of power—such as gender, migration status, and cultural affiliation—simultaneously influence her characters’ inner lives and social positions. By employing thematic close reading, the analysis explores how these overlapping axes of identity are narratively constructed, emotionally expressed, and structurally encoded in Toprak’s work. As a migrant woman writer herself, Toprak not only reflects transnational experiences in her protagonists but also offers nuanced literary insights into the interplay between personal and collective forms of displacement, belonging, and agency. This interdisciplinary approach thus illuminates the emotional, political, and psychological dimensions of migration in Toprak’s fiction, thereby positioning her as a significant voice in contemporary migration literature.
With widespread leveraging of artificial intelligence tools in English as a foreign language (EFL) classes, there is a need to examine their potential influence on the academic writing of EFL learners. While AI use in language learning has been examined extensively in the past few years, EFL students’ perceptions, frequency of use, and the ethical orientations concerning AI use in academic writing remain insufficiently investigated. To fill this lacuna, our mixed-methods study looked at the perceptions of EFL learners toward the potential and frequency of AI use for academic writing. Additionally, it explored their ethical orientations toward AI adoption in academic writing. Employing a convenience sampling strategy, we collected quantitative data from 351 first-year university students using an online survey. We also gathered qualitative data from seven participants through semi-structured interviews. The findings revealed that the surveyed learners perceived AI as a useful resource for academic writing and had positive attitudes toward the potential benefits of AI tools (e.g., ChatGPT, Gemini, Grammarly, Wordtune, and Quillbot) for developing essential writing skills and fostering confidence in writing. Approximately half of the respondents were aware of some of the most common ethical concerns regarding AI use for academic writing. The study presents valuable implications for EFL teachers and policymakers on how to ethically and responsibly use AI for academic writing.
Political expression is an important component of democratic politics, and social media has become the main way for young adults to access political information. Nevertheless, it still remains unknown that how social media news use (SMNU) affects political expression among young adults. This study relies on data from “2018 Internet User Social Attitude Survey” to examine the effect of the SMNU on political expression among Chinese young adults and explore its inner mechanism from a socio-psychological perspective. Results indicate that after controlling for demographic variables and internal political efficacy, the SMNU has not only direct effects on online and offline political expression positively, but also indirect effects on them mediated via social media trust. Moreover, political interest positively moderates the mediation effect of the SMNU on online political expression, further enlarging the gap between those with higher political interest and those with lower political interest in online political expression. It has no significant impact, however, on the mediation effect of the SMNU on offline political expression. These findings attempt to advance our understanding of the multiple mechanisms affecting political expression from socio-psychological attitudes.
As the only Chinese city inscribed on all three major UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) lists, Quanzhou boasts 7 world-class and 36 national-level ICH projects. This rich heritage provides a robust foundation for advancing the city’s cultural soft power. However, field investigations reveal prominent challenges in integrating ICH preservation with the development of urban cultural soft power. These bottlenecks include stagnant living transmission, insufficient synergy with urban development, limited dissemination impact, and a severe imbalance between conservation and commercial exploitation. Grounded in systems engineering principles, this study employs a mixed-methods approach encompassing field surveys (yielding 17 in-depth interviews conducted in March 2026), official dataset analysis(2015–2024), ArcGIS kernel density estimation, and comparative horizontal benchmarking against Suzhou and Chengdu—two national-level historical and cultural cities. We propose a five-dimensional enhancement framework—encompassing structural design, element optimization, conflict resolution, multi-stakeholder collaboration, and quality upgrading—to leverage ICH for soft power augmentation. Furthermore, the study delineates phased implementation mechanisms, quantifiable evaluation metrics, and monitoring tools, offering a theoretical reference and practical paradigm for historical cities aiming to elevate their cultural soft power through heritage resources.
Democracy is a core feature of modern governance, yet the mechanisms through which organizational democracy drives school development within school settings remain under-explored. This study aims to examine the relationship between school organizational democracy and school development, with organizational citizenship behavior as a mediator and job satisfaction as a moderator. A cross-sectional study was conducted, and SPSS 27.0 was used to analyze survey data from 583 teachers in Beijing, China. The results showed that school organizational democracy is positively related to school development, organizational citizenship behavior plays a mediating role in this relationship, and job satisfaction acts as a moderating role. These findings provide a theoretical basis for understanding how school organizational democracy shapes school development through teachers’ behavioral and attitudinal factors. Practically, the study offers targeted implications for school managers and teachers. School managers should foster a supportive democratic climate and promote teachers’ active participation. Teachers are encouraged to actively participate in school governance, collaborate with colleagues, and contribute to cultivating a more democratic school environment.
