Ethnicities recent issues

Ethnic boundaries and conflict in Darfur: An event structure hypothesis

Solevad Nielsen, E. — 2008-11-05

This article proposes an event structure hypothesis to study the ethnic dimensions of conflict in Darfur, Sudan. I construct a narrative that describes a sequence of four `event structures' to explore how ethnic boundaries transformed in Darfur during the period from the formation of the modern Sudanese state in 1956 through the regional wars fought in Darfur in the 1980s. I use anthropologist Fredrik Barth's influential `ethnic boundary theory' as a conceptual model to describe the historical interaction between ethnic groups. Barth's ethnic boundary theory is useful not just on its own merits, but because it was informed, in part, by examples provided by ethnographic work carried out in Darfur in the late 1960s. I propose the hypothesis that Darfur was subjected to four major historical changes that occurred between independence and the end of the 1980s, which further solidified and eventually militarized ethnic boundaries between groups and clans, who then began identifying themselves as `Arab' or `non-Arab'. I also look at the sexual violence in Darfur, by using `ethnosexual boundaries', Nagel's extension of Barth's original concept. Finally, I briefly address whether or not the conflict constitutes genocide. My analysis is meant to be a preliminary investigation that will hopefully inspire future empirical and comparative analyses.

`Is yellow black or white?': Inter-minority relations and the prospects for cross-racial coalitions between Laotians and African Americans in the San Francisco Bay Area

Shah, B. — 2008-11-05

Given recent demographic shifts and changes in the racial landscape of many urban areas, what kind of inter-group relations have emerged and what are the prospects for cross-racial coalitions to contest racial hierarchies and structures of racial inequality in the USA? Drawing on qualitative data, I examine the efforts of an environmental justice organization, defined as a `border space', to build solidarity and forge alliances between second-generation Laotians and other communities of color in the San Francisco Bay Area. I argue that the possibilities and limits to engendering cross-racial solidarity are also shaped by Laotians' status as new immigrants and as Asian Pacific Americans, as well as by everyday encounters and interactions between racial groups. Racializing processes in the US engender complex inter-minority relations that are marked by cooperation or conflict. In such a context, cross-racial alliances are based on political commitments and shared interests that are contingent and situationally specific.

Class formations: Competing forms of black middle-class identity

Moore, K. S. — 2008-11-05

Although some scholars continue to debate the relative significance of race versus class, others have argued for an analysis that underscores the interlocking nature of these stratification systems. This research builds upon the intersectionality perspective to investigate the importance of culture in understanding racial and class stratification and identity. By describing a racialized class structure, this research challenges race scholars to rethink the meanings of socioeconomic class. It also identifies ways in which class shapes the articulation of a black racial identity. The article presents two competing forms of black middle-class identity (multi-class and middle-class minded) in the USA that highlight the intersections of race, class and culture. The data is based on a three-year community ethnography, including interviews with 35 residents. Results show the centrality of morality and a racial ideology of resistance as prominent resistance strategies of action with a black middle-class habitus. This article describes two competing forms of black middle-class identity and the tensions that emerge between them. It concludes with a discussion of the necessity for a more emic understanding of class stratification.

Muslim encounters in the global economy: Identity developments of labor migrants from Bangladesh to the Middle East

Kibria, N. — 2008-11-05

The contemporary international migrations of Muslims are associated with a rise in religiosity, specifically with a rise in engagements with orthodox and revivalist practices and movements of Islam. In this article, I examine the narratives of `life while abroad' of 47 returned Bangladeshi Muslim labor migrants to the Middle East. For these largely unskilled, male migrants, the experience of living in Muslim states had produced a sharp and multifaceted awareness of the complexities of religion and nationality in the modern world. Based on their experiences while abroad, the returned migrants expressed support for the project of Islamization in Bangladesh, seeing it as a means to foster prosperity and social order in the country.

Everyday nationhood

Fox, J. E., Miller-Idriss, C. — 2008-11-05

The limits of everyday nationhood

Smith, A. — 2008-11-05

The `here and now' of everyday nationhood

Fox, J. E., Miller-Idriss, C. — 2008-11-05

Guest editorial: The rights of women and the crisis of multiculturalism

Phillips, A., Saharso, S. — 2008-08-11

Gendering the diversification of diversity: The Belgian hijab (in) question

Coene, G., Longman, C. — 2008-08-11

This article presents an analysis of the recent headscarf debate in Belgium, and explores in particular to what extent issues of gender equality and feminist arguments were central to the discussion. It is argued that compared to France, concerns about secularity and state-neutrality, national identity and equality, all find resonance in the Belgian context, but are articulated in a more ambiguous and less `principled' way. This partly explains the paradoxical situation in which, despite a widespread resistance to a general law banning the wearing of religious symbols in public schools, in practice, headscarf prohibitions are on the rise throughout various regions of the country. Although issues of gender equality and cultural diversity often cut and flow across debates and policies in European nation states, the Belgian hijab question provides a unique case, because of various lines of fracture and processes of increasing diversification that characterize Belgian society.

Tracks, intersections and dead ends: Multicultural challenges to state feminism in Denmark and Norway

Siim, B., Skjeie, H. — 2008-08-11

This article discusses multicultural challenges to state feminism in Denmark and Norway, focusing both on similarities and differences in the two countries policy responses. In spite of important differences, we point towards similar problems and dilemmas in the public responses to multiculturalism and diversity among women connected to a state feminist agenda that in both countries has been rather one-sided in its conception of what women-friendliness may imply. The first part of the paper expands on institutional `tracks': (Variations in) state feminist traditions, in religious traditions, and in the inclusion of organizations of civil society in political power. The second part explores the framing of the hijab as a political issue of `intersections' of gender equality versus religious belongings. The third part investigates what we see as a `dead end' in policy making to prevent violations of women's rights; that is the general, age based, restrictions on family unification as a means to combat forced marriages. Finally, we emphasise the importance of participatory women-friendly politics that include all who are affected by political decisions.

The ambivalent role of gender in redefining the German nation

Rostock, P., Berghahn, S. — 2008-08-11

Since the maxim of Germany as a non-immigration country was finally relinquished at the end of the 20^th century, the country has struggled with redefining itself as an immigration society and inventing a modified national identity. Our article argues that gender has come to play a pivotal role in this process of redefining a `German' identity because it helps secure the `self' by creating the Muslim/migrant `other' as culturally different. Under the pretext of preventing women's rights violations, a renewed debate on integration and the duties of migrants is taking place. While we criticize the deployment of gender against the civic recognition of Muslims, violations of women's rights within minority groups do exist and must be combated. Our article offers some preliminary considerations as to how public agencies can intervene effectively against practices that are harmful to women, without in the process demonizing minority groups.

In the spotlight: A blessing and a curse for immigrant women in the Netherlands

Prins, B., Saharso, S. — 2008-08-11

Within a short period of time, the Netherlands transformed itself from a relatively tolerant country to a nation that called for cultural assimilation, tough measures and neo-patriotism. The discursive genre of `new realism' played a crucial role in this retreat from multiculturalism, and that had a dual effect for immigrant women. Whereas formerly they were virtually ignored by both the integration and the emancipation policy, since the triumph of new realism they are in the centre of both policy lines and there is now more policy attention for their needs and interests. Yet in the public debate the culture card is drawn frequently and immigrant women are portrayed as either victims or accomplices of their oppressive cultures. Policy makers and practitioners in the field, however, succeeded in avoiding cultural stereotyping by developing cultural-sensitive measures, while naming them in culture-blind terms.

Cultural dialogues in the good society: The case of honour killings in Sweden

Hellgren, Z., Hobson, B. — 2008-08-11

Value conflicts involving gender equality are interwoven into current multicultural tensions in many European societies. They are at the core of these tensions in Sweden, in which gender equality and principles of individual human rights constitute the state profile and political identity. In this article, we focus on three cases of honor killings that became flash points for public debates on `culture and cultures' among political parties, immigrant groups and feminists in Sweden. The media fervor surrounding honour-related violence has provided xenophobic groups with political opportunities, but at the same time, the public debate has given visibility and opened up public space for immigrant women's groups. We conclude that the notion of the `good society' has kept at bay the recognition of overtly xenophobic parties, but it has also inhibited open dialogue across and within majority and minority cultures, which would allow for reflections upon the diversity within cultures, marked by religion, gender, class differences and generational conflicts.

Whose agenda Is It?: Abuses of women and abuses of `culture' in Britain1

Dustin, M., Phillips, A. — 2008-08-11

Developments in Britain reflect a shift from a shallow but widely endorsed multiculturalism to a growing preoccupation with abuses of women in minority cultural groups. Four main issues have been debated in the media and have become the basis of either public policy or legal judgment: forced marriage, honour killing, female genital cutting and women's Islamic dress. The treatment of these issues has often been problematic, with discourses over culture tending to misrepresent minority cultural groups as monolithic entities, and initiatives to protect women becoming entangled with anti-immigration agendas. It has therefore proved hard to address abuses of women without simultaneously promoting stereotypes of culture. The most encouraging signs of resolving these tensions appear where there has been a prior history of women's activism, and a greater willingness on the part of government to draw groups into consultation. We argue that this offers a greater prospect of devising effective initiatives that do not set up multiculturalism in opposition to women's rights.

On the affective ambivalence of living with cultural diversity

Van Leeuwen, B. — 2008-04-30

Living with cultural diversity is characterized by a fundamental affective ambivalence. On the one hand, there is existential unease in the face of cultural strangeness, which is linked to our human dependence on `common sense' — the shared background of understanding from which we derive ontological security about the world and our place in it. Through cultural contact, common sense loses something of its self-evident character, and certainties about what is normal are put to the test. On the other hand, contact with unfamiliar practices and forms of expression can equally give rise to positive feelings of wonder and fascination, as in the urban context. This affective ambivalence stems from an existential paradox: the experience of both meaning and lack of meaning are dependent on contact with transcendent realities — in other words, realities that cannot be fully encompassed within our cognitive and manipulative horizons. This leads us to the question as to what the conditions are in which cultural diversity is experienced as a positive social given. The hypothesis is that cultural strangeness cannot in any event fascinate those who perceive the presence of this strangeness, rightly or wrongly, as an acute threat to their own psychological integrity, their vital integrity and/or to the national integrity.

Multiculturalism's double bind: Creating inclusivity, difference and cross-community alliances with the London-Irish

Nagle, J. — 2008-04-30

Critical literature has questioned British state-sponsored multiculturalism's capacity to confront racism and facilitate cross-community alliances; instead, multiculturalism is perceived to constitute groups in ethnically defined communities and essentialist cultures. Exploring two ethnographic examples — an Irish arts centre and St Patrick's Day — this article considers attempts by the London-Irish to make Irishness inclusive and to create cross-community alliances under government-sponsored `multicultural' initiatives. Invoking Bateson's `doublebind', I argue multiculturalism is characterized by a paradoxical injunction that curbs the possibility for `ethnic minorities' to withdraw from their circumscribed status. On the one hand, groups such as the Irish are often encouraged, within multiculturalism, to make their cultures inclusive in order to contribute towards a celebration of `cosmopolitan' diversity; on the other, it is explicitly forbidden to threaten their particularism; to do so would threaten their claim to resources as a distinctive group.

Contested motherhood in the ethnic state: Voices from an Israeli postpartum ward

Remennick, L. — 2008-04-30

The impending future loss of the Jewish majority due to higher Palestinian birth rates and shrinking immigration exacerbate existential insecurities among Jewish Israelis. The ongoing competition for limited public resources, electoral power and political influence hinge on the size and natural increase of different ethnic sectors. In this ethnocentric milieu, motherhood for both Israeli and Arab citizens is construed as a national mission and an epitome of devotion to one's people. The set of this study — hospital maternity unit — serves as a meeting place for diverse and often contentious ethnocultural identities and mothering practices of the birthing women. I explore the distinct voices of Israeli mothers belonging to four ethnocultural groups: Jewish natives, Arab natives, and Russian and Ethiopian immigrants of the last 15 years. The article highlights the dissents and mutual stereotypes pertaining to maternal practices, parental responsibilities and `quantity vs. quality' in family planning. It shows how political and ethnic conflicts shaping Israeli macro-level public agenda play out in the everyday interactions between birthing women, shaping mutual constructions of the Other in the context of motherhood.

Positive discrimination of the Roma minority: The case of Roma local councillors in Slovenia

Baclija, I., Brezovsek, M., Hacek, M. — 2008-04-30

In its Constitutional Charter, Europe, as a multicultural society, advocates and guarantees the protection of minorities and emphasizes the establishment of the conditions for preserving cultural diversity. The protection of minorities is especially important, given the large number of different nationalities that have often not only settled within the boundaries of their motherlands but also coexist on common European territory. One of the most problematic concerns here is the displaced Roma community. The rights of the Roma minority are regulated by each individual country within its legislative borders but always in compliance with the related EU guidelines. The purpose of the article is to provide an in-depth evaluation of the current state of the Roma's participation at the local level in Europe, and specifically in Slovenia. The authors thereby seek to identify how the Roma question is being resolved, based on an empirical analysis of opinions of decision-makers at the local level.

Review symposium: Multicultural Odysseys: Navigating the New International Politics of Diversity by Will Kymlicka (published 2007). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-928040-7: The global odysseys of liberal multiculturalism

Baubock, R. — 2008-04-30

Review symposium: The left-Herderian ontology of multiculturalism

Wimmer, A. — 2008-04-30

Review symposium: The theory and practice of multicultural theorizing

Chwaszcza, C. — 2008-04-30

Review symposium: Kymlicka's odyssey -- lured by norms into the rocks of politics

Sasse, G. — 2008-04-30

Review symposium: What went wrong with liberal multiculturalism?

Baubock, R. — 2008-04-30

Review symposium: Reply

Kymlicka, W. — 2008-04-30

Books received

2008-04-30

Post-genocide identity politics in Rwanda

Hintjens, H. — 2008-02-13

When the journal Ethnicities was launched in 2001, the first issue included an article by this author, which examined the politics of `race' and identity as central ingredients in the Rwanda genocide of 1994. This current article considers how political identities have been reconstructed since the genocide, especially from above. History, law and politics are examined, as central instruments in government efforts to construct a new Rwandan society and ensure that genocide will `never again' be possible. Evidence suggests that inequalities in income and land distribution have grown rapidly since 1994. At the same time, the poor and marginalized often find it difficult to openly express their views, including their political identities outside of officially circumscribed spaces and categories. Debates continue around numbers of victims and perpetrators, and new inter-elite conflicts have emerged along language lines. The article shows how race categories have been replaced with new terms, which arise from a particular reading of the genocide. A new foundation myth for Rwanda, a form of diasporic victim nationalism, is also briefly explored. Re-labelling Rwandans from above, the state continues to exercise tight control over the public expression of political identities. Open political debate is very difficult; the government frequently feels it is being attacked, and accuses critics of divisionism or harbouring a genocide mentality. If more inclusive forms of Rwandan-ness are to emerge in future, state controls will need to be relaxed, so that more complex forms of political identities can finally emerge.

Normalizing Cuban refugees: Representations of whiteness and anti-communism in the USA during the Cold War

Current, C. B. — 2008-02-13

This article examines the representation of Cuban refugees during the 1960s and 1970s in the USA. Positioning the Cuban refugees as `ideologically' valuable, the US government undertook a substantial public relations campaign that sought to secure public mandate for incoming refugees. In order to avoid a national anti-Cuban backlash, the US government and the popular media alike constructed `positive' portrayals of incoming Cuban refugees. These representations played up the refugees' purportedly universal anti-communist stance and the socially and racially desirable qualities of these `good immigrants', who were perceived as `white' and middle to upper class. In order to contextualize these representations, a history of US—Cuban relations and mid-20th-century refugee policies are discussed. Thus anti-communism, whiteness, and middle-class attributes were strategically linked and broadcasted by the US government and public media sources alike.

Advice to speak English in Australia

Martin, M. D. — 2008-02-13

This article addresses the issue of advice given to immigrant parents to speak English only with their children in Australia, as reflected in the Spanish-speaking community. The article shows that something that appears to be down to chance, i.e. whether this advice is given or not, has a social explanation. This social explanation is based on understanding several social variables such as the ethnic identity of the adviser and the year in which the advice was given, as well as social variables that define the individual who received the advice, notably, his/her physical appearance in the sense of how `Caucasian' the migrant looks. Such analysis sheds light on the changing perception of migrants in Australia. It was found that, throughout the 1980s and 1990s, when there was an Australian government-sponsored policy of multiculturalism, there was an increase in the number of people being advised to speak English only. It is hypothesized that such increase is linked to the conflict and contest that any recognition of linguistic and social rights for minorities precipitates.

Indigenous epistemology in a national curriculum framework?

Macfarlane, A. H., Glynn, T., Grace, W., Penetito, W., Bateman, S. — 2008-02-13

In this article, a group of four indigenous Maori educators and one non-Maori educator comment on a proposed amendment to the New Zealand National Curriculum Framework to replace the current separate sets of skills, values and attitudes with five generic performance-based key competencies. The paper discusses important parallels between western/European sociocultural theorizing on human development and learning (on which the key competencies seemed to be based), and the values, beliefs and preferred practices that are embodied within an indigenous Maori cultural worldview (Te Ao Maori). A Maori worldview is characterized by an abiding concern for the quality of human relationships that need to be established and maintained if learning contexts are to be effective for Maori students, and for these relationships to balance individual learning and achievement against responsibilities for the well-being and achievement of the group. Within such a worldview, education is understood as holistic, collective, experiential and dependent upon a free exchanging of teaching and learning roles. The article describes five specific cultural constructs within this worldview that highlight Maori traditional understandings of human development and learning and teaching, and aligns and compares these constructs with the five key competencies proposed. The article argues that the worldviews of Maori people in New Zealand provide an extensive and coherent framework for theorizing about human development and education, and are able to contribute strongly and positively to the development of a national school curriculum for the benefit all students. Implications for other contexts can also be drawn.

Review symposium: Contested Citizenship: Immigration and Cultural Diversity in Europe by Ruud Koopmans, Paul Statham, Marco Guigni and Florence Passy (published 2005, pbk/hbk): Through a looking glass, darkly

Engelen, E. — 2008-02-13

Review symposium: Contested Citizenship

Kastoryano, R. — 2008-02-13

Review symposium: Contested Citizenship: False Claims and `Double Dutch': A reply

Statham, P. — 2008-02-13