Leveraging the common and outsourcing the distinct: institutional difference and multinational company identity in emerging economies

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the challenges of outsidership faced by multinational companies (MNCs) accessing emerging economies. The paper departs from popular conceptualisations of culture drawing instead on social identity theory as part of an institutions-based view, to explain how employing a singularities approach can allow the identification of commonalities of Indianness and Australianness that can be leveraged to ameliorate negative socially embedded business norms that pose a challenge to MNC success in emerging economies. This study shows that despite recognised formal (regulatory) and informal (cultural) differences, managers of Australian MNCs operating in India were able to innovatively identify and exploit cultural commonalties/singularities to ease cultural adjustment and mitigate intergroup conflict, allowing them to achieve an innovative institutional fit. The paper discusses how, using this approach, sole-venture MNCs can access many of the benefits provided by collaborative entry modes while preserving MNC identity. We further propose that the singularities approach can provide a valuable starting point to develop culturally appropriate competence training initiatives.     

Indigenous identity construction: enacted upon us,or within us

ABSTRACT

This commentary essay questions, theorizes, explores and grapples with the phenomenon of the creation of racial, social and cultural identity: in childhood as Native American identity is negotiated from others; and in adulthood as Native identity is constructed from within. ‘Indigenous Identity Construction: Enacted upon Us, or Within Us?’ is a commentary piece focused around Native American identity and how it is formed both through childhood and into adulthood. I analyze and interpret my experiences and understanding of my identity formation as an indigenous person- which usually is left out of the socio-political notions of modernity. Conceptualizations from ‘othering’ racial identities are discussed along with indigenous ontologies constructed within land and water. Through metaphorically revisiting past racializing incidents this piece continues working through the idea of othering and induction into whiteness in childhood, but also focuses on how indigenous identities might be constructed and sustained in adulthood. Efforts to model the indigenous assertion of self-determination and decolonizing the mind was used to re-present thoughts on the construction of Native American identity     

美国华人新移民第二代及其身份认同

美国华人新移民的子女,即美国华人新移民第二代的身份认同复杂而多样,不同群体之间有所差异。家庭环境、学校教育、生活环境以及社会中的偏见均是导致其身份认同不同的因素。外界不可强求他们认同某种身份,美国社会应尊重和理解差异认同,而作为祖籍国的中国应提高综合国力以吸引他们培养情感倾向性的认同。     

Constructing a social space for Alevi political identity: religion,antagonism and collective passion

ABSTRACT

This paper analyses the construction of an Alevi political identity in terms of cultural, social and religious values at a time when the role of religion is increasing in the political life of Turkey. It indicates the emergence of a new form of conflict and hegemonic articulation between Sunnism and Alevism that offers an alternative means of conflict resolution by the Alevi political agents within a radical pluralism and agonistic democracy. It also argues that the social construction of Alevi political identity is both a political project and an ontological question as this identity focuses on religious discourses in establishing a counter-hegemonic culture through mobilizing political ‘collective passion’.     

Identity construction through English language learning in intra-national migration: a study on Uyghur students in China

ABSTRACT

This study explores how a group of Uyghur minority students construct their identities in and through English language learning experiences as they move from Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region to study in a prestigious East coastal university in China. The research findings show that the processes of English language learning enable the ethnic minority students to develop multiple yet powerful identities, that is, a situated elite identity constructed as opposed to other Uyghur members and a positive heritage identity negotiated within the academic community, and allow them to imagine multilingual and multicultural memberships for themselves. The favourable identities thus forged are found to facilitate their adaptation to the host community. However, these minority elites are confronted with a series of problems in learning English compared to their Han counterparts, which hinder their socialisation into the society and upward social mobility. Finally, implications for policy-makers, the host institution, and ethnic students are discussed.     

Japan.com

Contemporary Japan is in the midst of an identity crisis grounded in conditions of economic, political and social confusion and a lost sense of national direction and purpose. This paper explores the bases of Japan's evolving national political identity. It notes the construction of a sense of Japanese homogeneity and the role of official discourses in the formation of Japan's national identity. The paper argues that internationalisation, cybernetic contacts and community insecurities are undermining the received idea of what it means to be Japanese and posing fundamental challenges to the legitimacy of the contemporary Japanese state.     

Bifurcated homeland and diaspora politics in China and Taiwan towards the Overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia

ABSTRACT

The conventional literature on diaspora politics tends to focus on one ‘homeland’ state and its relations with ‘sojourning’ diaspora around the world. This paper examines an instance of ‘bifurcated homeland:’ the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan) since 1949. The paper investigates the changing dynamics of China's and Taiwan's diaspora policies towards Overseas Chinese communities in Southeast Asia throughout the Cold War and post-Cold War periods. They were affected by their ideological competition, the rise of Chinese nationalism, and the ‘indigenisation’ of Taiwanese identity. Illustrating such changes through the case of the KMT Yunnanese communities in Northern Thailand, this paper makes two interrelated arguments. First, we should understand relations through the lens of interactive dynamics between international system-level changes and domestic political transformations. Depending on different normative underpinnings of the international system, the foundations of regime legitimacy have changed. Subsequently, the nature of relations between the diaspora and the homeland(s) transformed from one that emphasises ideological differences during the Cold War, to one infused with nationalist authenticity in the post-Cold War period. Second, the bifurcated nature of the two homelands also created mutual influences on their diaspora policies during periods of intense competition.     

Television and the making of a transnational Alevi identity

ABSTRACT

Satellite broadcasting technologies contribute a great deal to interaction across national boundaries, and in this regard satellite television is significant in the construction of a transnational public sphere for the Alevi community in Turkey and abroad. This paper addresses the role of television in the making of that transnational Alevi identity. In particular, it focuses on the flow and the programme contents of Cem TV and Yol TV, two leading Alevi channels, to demonstrate how the transnational imagination of Alevi identity corresponds to different political understandings of Aleviness.     

Perception of identity in Modern China

Abstract

China had developed relatively independently and had been almost immune to Western influences until the 19th century. Its basic way of life, cultural identity and state organization had continued almost uninterrupted from the very beginning of the archaic period. How China has adapted to the modern world since it was forced to be integrated into the modern world and, in the process, how it has changed its perception of self‐identity provide an interesting topic for study.

This paper offers a tentative discussion of the perception of cultural identity in modern China. It first explores the ideas of culture and cultural identity in traditional China, and then examines how these ideas were transformed in the context of the changing social, political and cultural environment of the early 20th century. The final part of the paper is devoted to the recent search in China for new ideas of culture and cultural identity in the context of a series of unprecedented events marked by the opening of China, economic reform, and rapid industrialisation.     

共生理论视阈下中华民族共同体建构的五维向度

中华民族共同体建构的基本逻辑是一个从"求同存异"到"聚同化异"的过程,旨在构建一个多民族休戚与共、血脉相连的共生关系与共生状态。中华民族共同体的有效建构必须赋予"共生"的理念,以责任、族际、文化、利益、命运为共生单元的建构逻辑,进而推动中华民族政治共同体、文化共同体、价值共同体、利益共同体、命运共同体的全面建构。     

Fluidity amidst structure: multi-racial identity constructions across the life course of Malaysians and Singaporeans

ABSTRACT

Multi-racial identity construction is understood to be fluid, contextual and dynamic. Yet the dynamics of multi-racial identity construction when racial identities are ascribed and formulated as static by governments is less explored in psychological studies of race. This paper examines the dynamics of racial identity construction among multi-racial Malaysians and Singaporeans in a qualitative study of 31 semi-structured interviews. Thematic analysis was used to identify the different private racial identity constructions of participants who were officially ascribed with single racial identities at birth. Participants reflected on the overwhelming influence of the state and significant Others in limiting their ability to express their multiple racial identities when they were in school, and highlighted their capacity to be agentic in their private racial identity constructions when they were older. This paper shows that across the life course multi-racial individuals possess (1) the ability to adopt different racial identity positions at different times, (2) the ability to hold multiple racial identity constructions at the same time when encounters with Others are dialogical, (3) the reflexivity of past identity positions in the present construction of identities.     

中国式现代化与中华民族共同体建设的逻辑关联 ——学习贯彻党的二十大精神体会

中国式现代化和中华民族共同体建设是习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想的重要内容。在现代国家建构视角下,中华民族共同体建设和中国式现代化表现为互相促成的逻辑关联和功能关系,分别发挥支撑与指向的功能作用,统一于全面推进中华民族伟大复兴的进程。中华民族共同体建设是推进中国式现代化的基础条件。多元一体的结构格局建设为推进中国式现代化提供了政治和文明两方面的显著优势;团结统一的内部秩序建设为推进中国式现代化提供安全保障,有助于避免认同危机、防范化解风险隐患;命运与共的共同愿景建设促进各民族共同团结奋斗、共同繁荣发展,为推进中国式现代化提供实践动力。中国式现代化是加强中华民族共同体建设的发展指向,在性质指向上要求坚持中国共产党的领导和坚持中国特色社会主义道路,在内容指向上要求开展与“人口规模巨大”“全体人民共同富裕”“物质文明和精神文明相协调”“人与自然和谐共生”“走和平发展道路”相适应的内容建设;在价值指向上要求以“自由人的联合体”为远大理想和价值追求,努力促进各族人民的全面发展。维系并深化中国式现代化与中华民族共同体建设的逻辑关联,要重视铸牢中华民族共同体意识的联系纽带作用。     

Of Mongrels and Jews: The Deconstruction of Racialised Identities in White Supremacist Discourse

ABSTRACT

This research explores the construction of race and mixed race identities in a wide variety of white supremacist newsletters and periodicals published between 1969 and 1993. While traditional accounts of the white supremacist movement treat it as a movement concerned with race relations, I read this discourse as a site of the construction of race. In white supremacist discourse, interracial sexuality is defined as the ultimate abomination, and mixed race people pose a particularly strong threat. This paper explores the ways in which mixed race people, and Jews in particular, threaten the construction of a supposedly pure white racial identity. Drawing upon the insights of poststructuralism, this analysis will explore the role of boundary maintenance and the threat of border crossings in the process of constructing racial identities.     

铸牢中华民族共同体意识：理论逻辑、现实基础和实践路径

科学研判我国民族关系发展的客观现状,将铸牢中华民族共同体意识作为民族工作的主线,是以习近平同志为核心的党中央为我国民族关系长远发展所制定的战略规划。铸牢中华民族共同体意识具有凝心聚力之效,意蕴是丰富而多维的:其理论逻辑在于,对历史的继承和发展是历史意蕴,"五个认同"是核心内容,服务"两个大局"以实现中华民族的伟大复兴是价值导向;其现实基础在于,中华民族从"站起来""富起来"到"强起来"提供了物质基础,从"自在""自觉"到"自强"是其精神基础,中国特色社会主义民主政治提供了政治保障,多元一体的中华民族结构是其社会基础;最后,坚持和完善民族区域自治制度、建立共享繁荣发展的经济体、构筑各民族共有精神家园,加强各民族交往交流交融,是其实践路径。     

Rhetorics of the State: The Public Negotiation of Political Character in Germany,Russia, and Quebec

National identity construction is a fundamentally rhetorical phenomenon maintained and transformed through public discourse. Through the analysis of dramatically rejected state speeches related to national identity and public responses to them, critics can compare competing articulations of national identity against the chronological historical record to identify various instances of strategic memory. By isolating dominant strategies of remembrance, the political character of emergent national identities can be outlined. In this essay, I explicate a critical rhetorical approach to controversial speech called limit work, providing examples of the public negotiation of national identity in 1988 West Germany, 1993 Russia, and 1995 Quebec that illustrate its utility.     

涉藏州县宗教神圣场域的共同体意识的表达

以川、青区域涉藏州县的藏传佛教场所为重点关注对象,探讨涉藏州县宗教神圣场域中共同体意识的建构渊源、演进历程、现时表达及未来期望。在具有藏传佛教传统的涉藏州县区域,以寺院为核心的神圣场域建构,是藏传佛教历史传承和发展的主要路径。在川青涉藏州县的多民族复合文化语境下,藏传佛教的神圣场域建构不断发展完善。在这一漫长历程中,藏传佛教一方面不断调适以适应本土化的历史现实语境,另一方面则通过教派之间竞争博弈与交往交流,形成与社会主义社会相适应的藏传佛教文化形态。在这个历史过程中,中华民族共同体意识有其在场的内在基础,并与藏传佛教话语体系形成相互促进、相互成就的正反馈路径,不仅形成了具有中华民族认同心理的地缘文化与宗教神圣场域叙事,而且还以人物交流、宗教传播及文化扩散的方式对周边乃至更远区域的中华民族文化构建产生了积极的辐射影响。同时,文化的交往、交流和交融构成了中华民族共同体意识在川青涉藏州县多元文化语境的终极表达。     

印度尼西亚邦加岛华人文化认同的历史与现状探析

本文通过追溯邦加岛华侨华人的历史,分析其文化认同的变化,并在实地调查基础上评估邦加华侨华人文化认同的现状。本文认为,历史以来,邦加岛华侨华人始终保持较为强烈的华人文化认同。虽然经历过苏哈托时期的文化强制,但是邦加华人的文化认同并未受到太大影响,特别是在偏远地区。而2000年以后,印尼华人社会通过华人社团和华文教育所掀起的华人文化复兴浪潮并没有在邦加华人社会有明显的表现。与爪哇岛或其他华人人口较为密集的地区相比,当前邦加岛的华人文化认同更多的是靠身份和文化自觉。     

Fuzzy frontiers of identity: The British case

Abstract

The author examines the formation of British identity, looking at the interaction of ‘the British’ with the Celtic fringe, the Dominions, the Commonwealth, Anglophone America, Europe and peoples described in immigration law as ‘aliens’. He argues that the core identity is constructed in the course of interactions (sometimes hostile) with these externalized identities. The frontiers between identities are often ‘fuzzy’, allowing a degree of penetration by outsiders. The concept of ‘fuzziness’ is elaborated. The shape and edges of British identity are shown to be historically changing, often vague and to a degree, malleable. It is suggested that the move away from the Dominions and Commonwealth to Europe has contributed to a crisis of national identity.     

Social construction of national identity: Taiwanese versus Chinese consciousness

The struggle to break away from the parent state and claim independence often results in political unrest, terrorist activities and even ethnic cleansing. Understanding the nature of the secessionist movement does not only preserve national unity, but can also avoid conflict and violence, and maintain peace. Irredentist and secessionist advocators generally defend themselves in terms of common blood, race or culture. None of them regards the issue from the human agency theory, namely Weber-Thomas-Berger's social construction theory. This paper uses phenomenological analysis to explain the origin of national identity and hence the emergence of a nation. It argues that social construction of national reality originates from everyday life experience taken for granted during socialization. Individuals make sense of the external world. Experiences taken for granted become the actor's stock of knowledge. A common scheme of knowledge shared by the community serves to differentiate in-group (nationals) and out-group (foreigners). Collective consciousness thus defines national identity and hence a nation. Unless people (both in-group and out-group) interact with and learn from each other, different stocks of knowledge taken for granted will create political conflict. This theory is applied to the Taiwan Strait conflict. People in Taiwan are searching for national identity, manifested in the processes of Sinicization and Taiwanization. The struggle between Chinese and Taiwanese consciousness is the underlying cause of conflict within Taiwan and across the Taiwan Strait. The growing tendency of Taiwanization and diminution of Sinicization in Taiwan render the Cross-Strait relation vulnerable. The paper concludes that Cross-Strait exchanges and communication provide opportunities for people to understand each other and re-define their national identity, hence resulting in a peaceful political resolution between Taiwan and mainland China.     

Mad Max: The Car and Australian Governance

This article argues that the car is an intimate aspect of the governance of Australia. The term 'governance' is defined as the techniques used to know, order and manage individuals. The film Mad Max II: The Road Warrior is used as a prism to separate out the roles that the car performs in governance. Three roles are identified: the car as identity, the car as myth and the car as power. Applying this framework to Australia reveals the car's complex involvement in Australian governance, from the knowing and ordering of others, to collective myths of possession and future prosperity, to the knowing of place from space, to the removal of indigenous children. The significance of the car means Australia can be characterised as the petrochemical, chrome-plated cyborg republic of Oz.