Concepts of national identity and the readiness for conflict behaviour

This article examines the process of national identity formation among ethnic minorities in the Crimea – specifically, the moderation effects of concepts of national identity on interrelations between conflict indicators and readiness for conflict or compromise for two ethnic minorities in Crimea. Based on a survey in the Crimea, results show that concepts of national identity moderate the effects of ethnic identity, ethnocentrism and economic deprivation on individual conflict behaviour. Research show that civic concept of national identity significantly reduces readiness for conflict among ethnic minorities. The position of a minority within the nation regulates impact of ethnic and multicultural concepts on readiness to fight with other groups.     

文化融合与民族大学生国家认同教育

文化融合是一种客观的历史现象,也是现今的一种社会存在状态;是民族关系的重要内容,也是文化得以发展的重要途径。国家的概念则是近现代才从西方国家传入的新鲜产物,是生活在其地域范围内的人们对其所在国家的认识、评价与情感,主要表现于国家政治共同体和结构层面以及共同的中华民族的精神层面的认同。国家认同于国家本身、于个人都具有非常重要的意义,其中少数民族的国家认同问题显得尤为迫切。而国家认同教育是国家认同构建中的重要内容和方式。学校教育是建立国家认同的有效途径。我国的各民族的文化融合是少数民族国家认同教育的前提与基础、有力保障、表现形式,也是少数民族大学生国家认同教育的高级目标,具有重要的意义与深远的影响。我国也从中国的实际情况出发,并吸收了中国历来坚持＂和而不同＂处理民族关系的宝贵经验与优秀传统,制定出了相应的民族政策,坚定地保障民族文化融合,加强少数民族的国家认同教育,促进国家的稳定与团结。     

Multicultural nationalism? National identities among minority groups in Scotland’s census

This paper uses data from a new question in the 2011 UK censuses of population to investigate national identities among ethnic and religious minorities. It focuses primarily on Scotland, while presenting comparative data for England and Wales. A robust comparison of national identities between different minorities in Scotland and with similar groups in other nations of Britain has previously not been possible because ethnic and religious minority groups represent a small proportion of Scotland’s population and are weakly represented in sample surveys. The new census question on national identity therefore offers an unprecedented opportunity for this kind of analysis. The analysis is used to critically evaluate previous claims of the existence of multicultural nationalism in Scotland and previous research that has suggested that Scottish identity is relatively inclusive of people in minority groups. The findings suggest that while Scottish national identity is relatively inclusive of minorities in some respects, the conclusions of previous research should be treated with some caution.     

The importance of Australian national identity to a sense of belonging of Anglo-Celtic and Chinese cultural groups in regional Australia

This study explored the primacy of importance of Australian national identity as underpinning belongingness of Anglo-Celtic and Chinese cultural groups. A mixed-method approach comprised focus groups and interviews was used. Australian national identity did not hold primacy of importance to a sense of belonging in either group, however family identities were of primary importance to both, together with cultural identity of the Chinese. Anglo-Celtic's felt culturally disassociated, whereas Chinese sought majority acceptance through cultural promotion, and bicultural identification. Findings call for further research of Australian national identity of the majority and other minority cultural groups.     

Shas and the resignification of the intersection between ethnicity and religion

Current analyses of ethnicity and religion emphasise the subordination of the one to the other in the construction of collective identities. One line of research perceives religion as a resource of political mobilisation, while another conceptualises religion as the essence of ethnicity. As opposed to these analyses, this article explores how these two markers intersect and constitute each other in the process of identity formation. I centre on the ways Shas, an ethno-religious movement in Israel, mobilises hegemonic ethnic and religious markers of Middle East and North African (MENA) Jews in order to construct its collective identity. The analysis of Shas’s newspapers shows how, by suffusing religious traditions with ethnic meaning and marking an ethno-class collective as religious, Shas interweaves ethnicity and religion and resignifies their relation. This identity project is intended to redefine the symbolic boundaries of the Jewish nation and to redeem MENA Jews from their marginality. Intersectional analysis as applied in this article explains why different ethno-class and religious collectives imagine themselves as sharing a common identity, illumines why particular identity markers are chosen out of the numerous existing categories, and provides an explanation for the flexibility of social movements.     

美国少数族群的双重认同轨迹及其影响

族群认同问题是民族问题中的核心问题。对于国际社会中处于多数的多民族国家而言,如何有效构建统一的国家认同和社会认同将是关乎国家团结统一的关键性问题。我们是谁?我们属于谁?随着族群生存环境和社会环境的变化,族群的认同总是会发生某种程度上的波动性变化,进行自我身份的再认知和认同的自我调整,这种情况在移民国家更为明显。在美国身份认同政治氛围高涨的情况下,本文通过对美国少数族群双重认同的形成、互动轨迹、影响因素及配合因素等进行综合分析,解析双重认同存在的根源,以为多民族国家加强对少数族群认同的认识和国家认同的建构提供借鉴。     

政治多元化与港澳台族群的和平跨居--全球化背景下的华南经济圈研究之三

文化的多样性是一种历史性的力量,族群的政治认同因此具有层次性。香港、澳门回归前后,当地族群的国家认同出现了新的变化。这种变化主要表现在他们国籍选择上,国籍选定成为港澳居民国家认同和政治认同的重要标志。尽管国家认同、政治认同和族属认同的边界有所相同,但在国家整体利益高于族群个人利益的情况下,三者的关系又比较紧密。在香港、澳门《基本法》及“一国两制”、“高度自治”和“港人治港”、“澳人治澳”的原则下,香港人和澳门人的“国家认同”和“政治认同”趋于合一。海峡两岸目前虽然尚未统一,但大陆和台湾同属一个“中国”。在国家的整体利益高于局部利益的前提下,两岸的政治对话应该有利于祖国统一的“国家认同”。在“一国两制”和“高度自治”的框架内,台湾族群可以与港澳地区在相似的社会制度下“和平跨居”,也可以与大陆人民在不同的社会制度下“和平跨居”。港澳台三地之间的族群“和平跨居”,“跨越”的是“国家认同”(中国)下的不同行政地域边界;港澳台与大陆之间的“和平跨居”,“跨越”的是不同的行政地域边界和社会制度边界;而港澳台地区国内族群与国外族群的“和平跨居”,“跨越”的则是不同的国家疆界。港澳台地区的族群的“和平跨居”,将在全球经济交往和族群关系互动中得以实现。     

民族区域自治制度与民族关系和谐的实证研究——基于云南藏区的问卷调查

本文以问卷调查采集的数据为依据,运用实证分析的方法对云南藏区民族区域自治政策落实情况与民族关系作了相关考察。认为民族区域自治制度的实现程度与民族关系的和谐呈显著正相关;民族认同与国家认同并不相悖,国家认同高于民族认同,民族认同寓于国家认同中;民族区域自治制度巩固了平等、团结、互助、和谐的民族关系;当代中国各民族的国家认同植根于中国特色社会主义伟大实践中,并将得到进一步巩固和升华。     

从族群认同走向民族认同——20世纪中后期广西的民族识别研究之三

本文认为,族群是偏重于文化特征的概念,民族是偏重于政治的概念。广西历史上就已经形成了12个各自具有共同历史来源、文化上各具特点并内部认同的族群,经过民族识别,这些族群被确定为民族,使他们从族群认同走向民族认同。但是,这种民族认同是建立在族群认同的基础之上的。     

Diversity,difference and nation: Indigenous peoples on Mexican screen

This article draws on constructivist theories of identity that regard the self as coming into existence through interaction with the other. It investigates the discursive formation of Indigenous people in the forging of Mexican national identity. The aim of this article is to show how difference has been managed and deployed in the establishment of national Mexican identities from independence until the present. This is done with reference to visual culture and film and illustrated with examples from the ‘Golden Age’ as well as ‘the New Mexican Cinema’.     

England? Whose England? (Re)constructing English identities in Julian Barnes and W. G. Sebald

This article is an interdisciplinary look at notions of identity construction. Focusing on ‘Englishness’, it examines theories of identity formation, memory creation and nation-building alongside travel writing and notions of the picturesque. The focus of the debate throughout is on two novels of the 1990s: Julian Barnes’ dystopian England, England of 1998 and W. G. Sebald's The Rings of Saturn of 1995 (English translation, 1998). Both novels play with traditional ideas of national identities and stereotypes by presenting their readers with the literal ‘construction’ of alternative versions of England and the English.     

The Black,continental African presence and the nation-immigration dialectic in Canada

How is the Canadian national identity constructed? What are the relationships between the national identity and the immigration policy of Canada? And how has the Black presence in Canada influenced Canada's national identity formation and immigration policy? This paper examines the extent to which Black, continental Africans are implicated in the nation-immigration dialectic of Canada. It sets various conceptions Black African identities in Canada against notions of Canadian national identity, using the dialectical principles of negation and sublation. As the number of Black Africans continues to grow, it is important to understand the interplay between the social construction of ‘blackness’ and the national identity formation of Canada.     

Constructing nation: national narratives of history teachers in Ukraine

This paper scrutinizes history narratives as a practice of a specific kind of nation-building and analyzes the role of history teachers in this process. Based on 60 semi-structural interviews with history teachers in Ukraine, this paper analyzes three major national narratives used by history teachers to produce specific meaning of social identity among school pupils. This paper shows how history teachers reproduce national identity in their classrooms by altering the teaching program and textbook narratives and by promoting their vision of a nation, rights of specific groups to participate in nation-building process and defining enemies and allies.     

Between Darius and Khomeini: exploring Iran's national identity problematique

Iran, since the advent of its nation-state building process, has struggled to define its national identity in a relevant and resonant way. This article, while acknowledging the multi-dimensional nature of Iran's national identity, focuses on its two most profound components: Nationalism and Islamism. It explores how the tensions between these two are at the heart of not only the problem of Iranian identity but also of Persian identity. Examining how these two bases of identity also rely on similarity as well as difference the article argues, through the use of the tool of a problematique, that a coherent Iranian national identity, inclusive of all including ethnic minorities, is not possible until the tensions between Nationalism and Islamism at the heart of Persian identity are resolved.     

Identity construction of second-generation Iranians in Australia: influences and perspectives

Understanding the complexity of identity in the children of immigrants has become important with the growing rates of global migration. A new theoretical construct refers to an individual’s subjective representation of the interrelationships among his or her multiple group identities and how their subjective identity could be explained.

The aim of this study was to examine the impact of their Iranian background and the social characteristics of their host society, Australia, on the second generation’s understanding of their national and ethnic identity.

This cross-sectional study is based on a quantitative method. Participants in the study were second-generation Iranians aged 18–40, living in Australia. Data were collected on how these second-generation Iranians identified themselves with Iranian society and/or with the wider society, and how their chosen identity was influenced by their background, their national beliefs, their perspectives towards the host country and the host country’s perspective towards specific ethnic groups.

Overall, 137 people participated in this study, and the results show patterns of biculturalism; the majority claimed hyphenated identity wherein the second identity was shown to be the weaker identity. The main contextual factors influencing their identity formation were birth place, acculturation and attitudes towards the host.     

In the Name of God and Nation: The Overlapping Influence of Separatism and Religion on Ethnic Conflict

Processes of migration, diaspora and exile offer diverse and complex environments for the renegotiation of social identities. Immigrants and refugees must not only adapt to the material circumstances of uprooting but must also confront, maintain or recreate a sense of self, often in contexts which are vastly different and fraught with constraints, in which they are removed from their familiar social networks and in which their previous identities may be of little meaning or relevance to the new society. In confronting an altered social status and radically different circumstances, individuals may be required to come to terms with a new or reconstructed sense of ethnic or national identity. This process is not only a personal one but involves affiliations with others who engage in similar interpretations and adaptive strategies and enmity toward those who do not' Field, 1994: 432 . Such a process can be seen as part of the phenomenon of transnationalism, the process by which immigrants forge and sustain multi-stranded social relations that link together their societies of origin and settlement' Basch et al., 1994: 7 . One important aspect of transnationalism is the role that immigrants and refugees play in political activities in both their countries of origin and residence, and their political commitment often has important implications for their sense of self, particularly when those political activities are directed towards the creation of a new homeland for oppressed minorities. This paper examines the role played by diaspora intellectuals in promoting a nationalist discourse which calls for the creation of an independent state for the Oromo, who constitute one of the largest ethnic populations in Africa and the manner in which their participation in such discursive activities allow them to engage in a reconstruction of their own identities and in the shaping of national and personal senses of the self.     

社会人类学的都市族群研究

从社会人类学的视角对都市族群研究进行文献综述和理论回顾,并对我国都市族群研究的可能性方向和研究方法进行探索,指出我国都市族群研究至少包括三个领域:(一)海(境)外华人在中国都市的族群认同、文化认同、国家认同表述研究;(二)少数民族融入大都市之后的族群、文化与社会认同表述研究;(三)新移民进入都市之后的族群性地域认同研究。都市族群研究内容包括认同建构研究、文化表述研究、大都市人意识与身份的形成过程研究。在研究中应注意族群内心情感问题、族群形成过程问题、认同的理性选择问题和历史记忆在认同建构中的作用问题。     

浅析中华民族多元一体格局中的民族认同

本文通过对民族和族群在概念及使用上的辨析,对中华民族多元一体格局中不同层次的认同进行了梳理,以明晰认同从个体到族群再到中华民族的汇聚过程,进而推导出不同层次的认同对巩固和发展中华民族多元一体格局的重要性。