Giving gifts (and then taking them back): identity,reciprocity and symbolic power in the context of Athens 2004

The paper identifies discursive tropes that informed the official Greek rhetoric of the Athens Olympiad. It is argued that in order to understand these tropes, which place emphasis on the Olympics as an aspect of Neohellenic heritage, we must re‐consider the impact the Orientalist movement had on the formation of a distinctively modern Greek identity. The version of Orientalism that informed the Greek rhetoric was based on the Eurocentric belief that Hellas is the cradle of civilisation. The Western conviction that the modern Greeks (or Neohellenes) are not worthy of “their Hellenic heritage” because they are more Oriental than European is coupled with Greece’s economic and political dependency on Western resources. However, in the context of 2004 Greeks contested this power relationship with “the West”, both European and American. The Greek argument was grounded on the equation of Greek‐Hellenic cultural, with Western economic‐political, capital. Tensions characterised the Greek argument: on the one hand, the Olympics were regarded as a relational (universal) value that ought to circulate in an international reciprocal system; hence, their return to their “cradle” was deemed a form of recognition of the Hellenic (and by right of heritage, modern Greek) contribution to human civilisation. On the other hand, Greeks demanded exclusivity in their organisation. This paper follows this debate, maintaining that we can trace its foundational principles in the Greek moral, cosmological, order.     

EU economic governance and austerity: Exploring recent perspectives

This paper presents some of the main theoretical approaches which examine changes in the EU economic governance system during the current crisis. We review standard approaches of EU studies (neo‐functionalism, liberal inter‐governmentalism, and historical institutionalism), Marxist–regulationist political economists, and Bourdieusian sociologists. The paper illustrates how scholars utilize given intellectual tools to understand ongoing trends of political and institutional change. We suggest that Bourdieusian sociologists may be in a relatively better position to interpret governance reforms and this is briefly illustrated by looking at some empirical observations from researching the effect of EU economic governance reform on the management of public assets in Greece.     

Peer cultural socialisation: a resource for minority students’ cultural identity,life satisfaction,and school values

ABSTRACT

This study investigated how peers can contribute to cultural minority students’ cultural identity, life satisfaction, and school values (school importance, utility, and intrinsic values) by talking about cultural values, beliefs, and behaviours associated with heritage and mainstream culture (peer cultural socialisation). We further distinguished between heritage and mainstream identity as two separate dimensions of cultural identity. Analyses were based on self-reports of 662 students of the first, second, and third migrant generation in Germany (Mean age = 14.75 years, 51% female). Path analyses revealed that talking about heritage culture with friends was positively related to heritage identity. Talking about mainstream culture with friends was negatively associated with heritage identity, but positively with mainstream identity as well as school values. Both dimensions of cultural identity related to higher life satisfaction and more positive school values. As expected, heritage and mainstream identity mediated the link between peer cultural socialisation and adjustment outcomes. Findings highlight the potential of peers as socialisation agents to help promote cultural belonging as well as positive adjustment of cultural minority youth in the school context.     

RECLAIMING HERITAGE: COLOURIZATION,CULTURE WARS AND THE POLITICS OF NOSTALGIA

This article considers the discursive continuities between a specifically liberal defence of cultural patrimony, evident in the debate over film colourization, and the culture war critique associated with neo-conservatism. It examines how a rhetoric of nostalgia, linked to particular ideas of authenticity, canonicity and tradition, has been mobilized by the right and the left in attempts to stabilize the configuration and perceived transmission of American cultural identity. While different in scale, colourization and multiculturalism were seen to create respective (postmodern) barbarisms against which defenders of culture, heritage and good taste could unite. I argue that in its defence of the ‘classic’ work of art, together with principles of aesthetic distinction and the value of cultural inheritance, the anti-colourization lobby helped enrich and legitimize a discourse of tradition that, at the end of the 1980s, was beginning to reverberate powerfully in the conservative challenge to a ‘crisis’ within higher education and the humanities. This article attempts to complicate the contemporary politics of nostalgia, showing how a defence of cultural patrimony has distinguished major and minor culture wars, engaging left and right quite differently but with similar presuppositions.     

Recovering Heritage and Homeland: Ethnic Revival Among Fourth‐Generation Japanese Americans

In recent years, fourth‐generation Japanese American youth have been attempting to recover their ethnic heritage and reconnect with their ancestral homeland. This ethnic revival is a response to their continued racialization as “Japanese,” which has caused them to become concerned about their overassimilation to American society in an era of multiculturalism where cultural heritage and homeland have come to be positively valued. As a result, they are studying Japanese, majoring in Asian studies, living in Japan as college exchange students, and participating in Japanese taiko drum ensembles in local ethnic communities. Although this return to ethnic roots is a more serious commitment than the symbolic ethnicity observed among white ethnics in the past, it indicates that ethnicity remains involuntary for racial minorities, even after four generations. The case of later‐generation Japanese Americans demonstrates that cultural assimilation does not preclude the continuation and active production of ethnic difference.     

Transnational practices of Albanian families during the Greek crisis: unemployment,de-regularization and return

The outbreak of economic crisis in Greece in 2010 and the austerity measures adopted have dramatically altered the economic and social conditions throughout the country and consequently deeply impacted the migrant families. With Albanian regular migrants losing the legal status and lapsing back into irregularity due to the high unemployment rates, the reverse process of de-regularization and social disintegration has emerged. As a result, many migrants drew on family and social networks to pursue work opportunities either back home or elsewhere, while maintaining their formal ties/residence in Greece. This article explores the impact of the Greek crisis and de-regularization phenomenon on the transnational practices among Albanian families. Our aim is to go beyond the general theories on transnationalism and look at what exactly is the impact of the crisis on the families, as well as individuals' dilemmas of return and negotiations between transnational mobility and staying put, between different levels of belonging and their orientation to the present and future. The empirical analysis is based on in-depth interviews with 70 Albanians of first and second generation living in Greece.     

‘Heritage’ and ‘cultural practice’ in a globalized disaster: a preliminary thematic analysis of documents produced during the Ebola epidemic of 2013–2015

The Ebola crisis of 2013–2015 highlighted the relationship between cultural heritage, neoliberal globalization and public health. It also raised the problem of cultural compatibility between organizations within the global ‘epidemic space’, which intruded on the pre-existing ‘heritage space’. In this paper, we discuss the differences and disjunctures between ‘heritage’ as it was explicitly and implicitly defined by two organizations positioned very differently in the global epidemic space – UNESCO, and the University of Makeni, Sierra Leone’s first private university. A thematic analysis of documents produced by these institutions reveals that they both placed the themes of human dignity and cultural heritage at the forefront of their responses. It also reveals that they dealt with those themes in sharply disjunctive ways, indicating the limits of cultural compatibility within the global ‘epidemic space’.     

Second‐Generation “Return” to Greece: New Dynamics of Transnationalism and Integration

Based on in‐depth narrative interviews with 64 second‐generation Greek‐Germans and Greek‐Americans who have “returned” to Greece, this article explores intersections between return, transnationalism and integration. Having grown up with a strong Greek identity in the diaspora, second‐generation “returnees” move to Greece mainly for idealistic, lifestyle and life‐stage reasons. However, most find living in Greece long‐term a challenging experience: they remark on the corruption and chaos of Greek life, and are surprised at the high level of xenophobia in Greek society, not only towards foreign immigrants but also towards themselves as “hyphenated Greeks”. The “return” to Greece provokes new “reverse” transnational links back to their birth country, where they still need to keep in touch with relatives and friends, including caring obligations towards parents who remain abroad. Some contemplate another “return”, back to the US or Germany.

Policy Implications

• Policymakers responsible for integration should not assume that the second generation has no connections with its parents' country of origin.
• In the diasporic home country (in this case Greece), more effort should be made to facilitate the reintegration of the second generation returning ‘home’ and to break down discrimination towards hyphenated Greeks.
• Greek policymakers should pay heed to homecoming second‐generation Greeks in order to benefit from their bicultural insights into how Greek society can be improved, especially as regards efficient public services, transparent employment opportunities, better environment management, gender equality, and the elimination of racism and discrimination.

     

Schooling a European Identity: ethno‐cultural exclusion and nationalist resonance within the EU policy of “The European dimension of education”

This article aims to explore how the role of education as an aide in the process of “European” identity formation is being articulated in the European Union's (EU) policy of “The European dimension of education”. After having located the EU's views on education in the context of the neo‐liberal discourse on economic globalization, the article goes on to trace EU discussions of the European dimension of education historically. Subsequently, it deliberates on the understanding of European culture and identity which the European dimension of education endeavours to advance. Here a critique is developed of the policy's ethno‐culturalism, thereby excluding delineation of a collective identity in the EU. Basing itself on a notion of cultural identity which, implicitly, includes only those who fit certain versions of European historical “roots” and cultural “heritage”, the policy, it is argued, impedes a discussion of how a trans‐ethnic identity formation could be created in today's EU. Towards the end of the article, a scrutiny of the European dimension's perception of the so‐called “language diversity” in the EU seeks to illustrate this issue further.     

The backstage work negotiators do when communicating with persons in crisis

When a person in crisis threatens suicide, police negotiators engage them in a conversation to prevent death. Working in small teams, the primary negotiator's role is to talk directly to the person in crisis. A secondary negotiator, working “behind the scenes,” supports the ongoing negotiation. Using 31 hours of audio‐recorded British negotiations, we uncover the backstage work of secondary negotiators. We use conversation analysis to identify the sequential position, linguistic form, and action of the secondary negotiator's interventions on (1) the delivery (e.g. “sound angry”) and (2) next actions (e.g. “say please,” “try asking them to move”) of the primary negotiator, and how the primary incorporates them into the negotiation. Our analysis shows that, while some suggestions were effective, others disrupted the flow of the negotiation as well as the alignment between primary negotiator and person in crisis. The paper augments current sociolinguistic understandings of the high‐stakes language activity of crisis negotiation and highlights the importance of attending to linguistic features of interaction when training negotiators to work better as a team.     

One-dimensional times: a dialectical response to the Irish Times’ coverage of the global financial crisis

A growing literature claims that critique of neoliberal capitalism after the global financial crisis (GFC) has been ‘captured’ within the logic of capital. Such research argues that ‘capture’ is achieved through a process whereby critique of neoliberalism is transformed into arguments for more neoliberalism. This creates a one-dimensional ‘recovery’ discourse. Drawing on Marcuse’s theory outlining ‘one-dimensional society’ and critical discourse analysis, this study assesses the relevancy of such claims for an Irish medium, the Irish Times, through an examination of GFC-related discourse during 2009–2010. This study finds that economic discourse in the Irish Times is captured when organisational bias allows pro-neoliberal actors from business and government privileged access to discourse production. We engage a call from organisation studies for a dialectical reading of captured discourse. We end with a discussion of the limits of this reflexive approach to capitalism’s contradictions for disrupting its ongoing hegemony.     

Art work or money: Conflicts in the construction of a creative identity

The identity projects of novice creative practitioners must take account of the economy of art work. It has been suggested ( McRobbie, 2002a ) that in the contemporary cultural industries in the UK, a new understanding of the connection between creative work and money has replaced past ‘anti‐commercial’ notions. This claim is investigated through a narrative‐discursive analysis of interviews from a longitudinal study with current and recent Art and Design postgraduates. Their ongoing identity projects are shaped by established understandings of creative work and the prospects it offers for earning and employment, and also by more local discursive resources given by personal life contexts. An analysis of two interviews with a single speaker shows how these resources are taken up within her ongoing and distinctive identity project. Both old and new repertoires of art and money are in play in her talk. She must negotiate dilemmas and potentially troubled positionings in order to reconcile a creative identity with relationships and responsibilities towards others. Coherence is only achieved momentarily and is disrupted by new life circumstances. By investigating an identity project at the level of talk, the analysis shows the complexity of the speaker's work to construct and claim a creative identity.     

Viewing Texas Germans through the lens of transnationalism: A new form of transmigrant?

This paper discusses whether Texas Germans can be viewed through the lens of transnationalism. As a group, Texas Germans exhibit a rich linguistic and cultural heritage, both of which have significantly contributed to the formation of a strong sense of “Texas-Germanness.” My goal is to investigate this particular instance of “Germanness beyond Germany” (Maxwell and Davis, German Studies Review, 39, 1–15, 2016) and to determine if Texas Germans represent a previously unidentified form of linguistic transmigrant. The study utilizes a mixed-methods approach, consulting both quantitative (surveys) and qualitative data (open-ended interviews; semi-structured phone interviews). The results indicate the presence of various transnational elements and confirm that both linguistic and cultural heritage are defining elements in the construction and maintenance of Texas German identity. Language, moreover, appears as an important connector and mediator between these concepts.     

‘No one to trust’: the cultural embedding of atomism in financial markets

The paper ethnographically explores the cultural embedding of atomistic indifference in online, global financial markets: arenas that have been digitally designed according to economic ideals and that demand an extreme form of relational and social dissociation from the partners to exchange and from those affected by the transactions. Its case‐study is lay financial‐trading in Israel, a country undergoing extensive neoliberalization. The study shows that dissociation is embedded in an economic culture marked by constant, multi‐sited declarations that economic‐Others are cold, uncaring and manipulative. It takes shape as traders convert the distrust towards Others into distrust towards portions of the Self that represent links to these Others, namely their own social‐psychology and social concern. Acting atomistically and selfishly in the market thus entails considerable reflexive work. The paper contributes to an ongoing debate on the moral and cultural embeddedness of markets in general and of the expanding financial markets in particular.     

Desiring nature: Identity and becoming in narratives of travel

Abstract

This paper explores the cultural value of desiring nature through reading the travel narratives of Val Plumwood and Alphonso Lingis with the writings of Deleuze and Guattari (1987). As Game (1991) suggests this textual practice produces different ways of writing the social that undoes the nature/culture opposition informing popular discourses and much cultural theory. Rethinking the value of nature/culture relations has tended to be the domain of environmental philosophy. Yet a cultural analysis also has much to contribute to current debates around value and identity, embodiment and representations of desire. Such a shift requires rethinking the sensory relation between self and nature through the mediation of language. Two quite distinctive experiences of awe provide texts for this analysis. In the desire to know non‐human nature as other, Lingis and Plumwood are moved by a wish to become nearer, to move beyond the bounds of an identity premised on a cultural relation of mastery over nature. These are compelling narratives, for they do not simply indulge the reader in a romantic appreciation of nature's wildness, as if nature was simply an object of aesthetic contemplation and background to the unfolding drama of human identity. These journeys involve disturbing transformations of self; Plumwood travels into the dangerous waters of the crocodile's territory in Kakadu National Park, Australia, while Lingis encounters the uninhabitable terrain of the Antarctic. The reverberating effects of awe produce a movement of becoming ‐ becoming‐animal, becoming‐nature, which contests the Hegelian desire for mastery of nature and the teleological structure of desire itself aimed at unity. Awe as a profoundly disturbing relation, threatens to undo the dominant fantasy of human identity as pure culture, separate from the realm of nature, body and materiality.     

Time to go home? The conflictual politics of diaspora return in the Burmese women’s movement

ABSTRACT

The initiation of political reforms and a peace process in Myanmar has fundamentally altered the conditions for Burmese diasporic politics, and diaspora groups that have mobilized in Myanmar’s neighbouring countries are beginning to return. This article explores how return to Myanmar is debated within the Burmese women’s movement, a significant and internationally renowned segment of the Burmese diaspora. Does return represent the fulfilment of diasporic dreams; a pragmatic choice in response to less than ideal circumstances; or a threat to the very identity and the feminist politics of the women’s movement? Contrasting these competing perspectives, the analysis offers insights into the ongoing negotiations and difficult choices involved in return, and reveals the process of return as highly conflictual and contentious. In particular, the analysis sheds light on the gendered dimensions of diaspora activism and return, demonstrating how opportunities for women's activism are challenged, debated and reshaped in relation to return.     

Factoring Turbulence Out: Diaspora Regulatory Mechanism and Migration Development Bank

The ongoing economic crisis has shifted much of the policy debate to problems of financial sector regulation, productive capacity collapse, among others. However, this leaves unattended the real situation with labour migration, which directly impacts social and economic inner components of being of millions of individual families across the world. The somewhat ad hoc nature of the process poses several policy issues for the home and host economies alike. Immediate concerns relate to streamlining migrants and remittances flows. This involves sensitive aspects of inequality in migrant workers’ labour efforts vis‐à‐vis domestic workers; migrants’ social and legal status; and less obvious, but still profound, unproductive misallocation of labour resources. Derived from this premise and recognizing the need for an institutional approach, this paper offers alternative policy solutions to temporary labour migration regulation. This research’s original propositions include a Diaspora Regulatory Mechanism and a Migration Development Bank, both operating within a state‐managed temporary labour migration regime. Fiscal action, including multilateral agreements, is crucial. The functionality of these mechanisms will directly impact infrastructure, human capital and entrepreneurial projects development in both home and host economies. Discussion is inspired by the analysis of actual circumstances in the economies of the Commonwealth of Independent States, where migration is a social, economic, and increasingly political issue. In the interlinked world, diasporas become dominant actors across all society strata. The development plateau of the post‐socialist states offers a rich economic and social soil to conduct responsible policy with future outlook. Moreover, conditions of ongoing economic crisis offer a unique opportunity for daring research to propose and for a motivated decisionmaker to implement original, proactive, and beneficial policy solutions aimed at streamlining the (temporary) labour migration process. This paper contributes to the emerging literature on topics of diaspora, labour migration, and remittance flows.     

THE PROTESTANT FISCAL ETHIC: RELIGIOUS CONFESSION AND EURO SKEPTICISM IN GERMANY

During the European sovereign debt crisis, most countries that ran into fiscal trouble had Catholic majorities, whereas countries with Protestant majorities were able to avoid fiscal problems. We find that Christian‐conservative members of the German parliament from constituencies with higher shares of Protestants were more likely to vote against a third bailout for Greece. Survey data show that views on the euro differ between German Protestants and non‐Protestants at the individual level, too. Among Protestants, concerns about the euro have, compared to non‐Protestants, increased during the crisis. We show that this increase in concern is linked to a reduction of Protestants' subjective well‐being. We use the timing of survey interviews and news events in 2011 to account for the endogeneity of euro concerns. Emphasis on moral hazard concerns in Protestant theology may, thus, still shape economic preferences. (JEL D72, E00, I31, Z12)     

Challenging National Borders from Within: The Political‐Class Formation of Indigenous Peasants in Latin America*

We explore the recent Indian‐peasant mobilization in Latin America. We argue that this mobilization seeks recognition of cultural differences and thus challenges hegemonic definitions of nationhood and neoliberal globalism. Indian struggles include self‐government and collective use of land for the reproduction of indigenous identity, and directly undermine the neoliberal drive towards privatization and individualization. We question both the Marxist views and the new‐social‐movement theories on identity politics. Instead, a theoretical synthesis is proposed where both class and identity serve as constituent parts of political‐class formation.     

A long way from home: On black identity in Britain

This article sets out to challenge much of the current literature on the self‐identity of blacks in British society. By looking at the long‐term historical background, the colonial heritage of cultural, political and economic oppression, a series of more subtle analyses emerges. Among the stereotypes challenged is that of the generational gap; evidence is cited to indicate a far greater common awareness and identity of aims and attitudes than previous writers have suggested. Hie conclusion examines some strategies for fighting racism within British society.