The crises of multiculturalism: racism in a neoliberal age

The paper offers an interpretation of the African National Congress's conception of democracy. The interpretation is framed by three questions. Who are the people? How should the people govern? How should capital, capitalists and civil society be governed? Attention is given to the party's views on participatory democracy, its vanguardist claims and its views on aspects of state-capital and state-civil society relations. It is proposed that the party's tendency to discount diversity of interests, to persist with claims to superior understanding of complex issues and to preach hegemony as a virtue might signify government over the people rather than government by the people.     

Approaching Cultural Change in the Era of Globalisation: An Interview with T.K. Oommen

An exercise in academic signature, 'Is Jew/Greek Greek/Jew : or does 'Hebrew' mean Cross'over?' tries to account for the differential claims on identity when one finds oneself, at the same time, a religious Jew and a university professor specializing in secular texts. What does such a one, in fact, profess? How to negotiate the (mostly figurative) translation of Greek into H ebrew, and H ebrew into Greek, in a m ore than m erely academ ic sense- indeed when 'the academic' offers but one of several competing possibilities for personal and social identities? Preferring a 'Mauriacois' style of narrating the self by reference to the books in one's library, to something more Rousseauistic and chez soi, the author appeals throughout to the w ork of Emmanuel Levinas in a programmatic move that shows how the task of mediation begins of necessity in the sphere of the already-mediated. The 'tightrope, window and text' of the article's subtitle, then represent three tropes around which the problematic of mediated identity is posed. The titular questions, finally, remain less answered than- in Kenneth Burke's signature form ulation- 'danced'.     

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.     

White Australian identities and Indigenous land rights

Land has been central to debates about the relationship between Indigenous (First Nations) and non-Indigenous Australian identities since colonial violence founded the nation. How do white Australians understand Indigenous land rights? This paper draws on an empirical ethnographic study with rural people who self-identify as ‘white Australian’ to analyze the key discourses of land, identity and nation and the complexities of how whiteness and race is socially produced and lived in rural Australia. The study found that white Australian discourses of nation and identity limit most of the respondents' ability to construct their identity in relation to Indigenous sovereignty.     

Exile,gender and identity: the short stories of Afghanistani author Maryam Mahboob

The last two decades of the twentieth century witnessed the largest migration of the Afghanistani population in modern history. More than six million people migrated to neighbouring countries, and to North America, Europe and Australia. Among them were almost all of Afghanistan's female authors; some eventually returned, but others chose to remain in diaspora. Some stopped writing, while others have continued. Maryam Mahboob was the first Afghanistani female author to leave Afghanistan (in 1981). Her major works since then have dealt chiefly with the issues of women living in ‘Outlandia’. Having been treated as second-class citizens in Afghanistan, how do Afghanistani migrant women perceive their social status in a new environment? How has migration affected the lives of Afghanistani women of different generations? Have they assimilated with the new culture and adopted new identities, or have they retained their cultural identities and stayed in closed communities? How do these women perceive their ‘new home’ vis-à-vis the ‘old home-land’. What does it mean to be a female author from a Third World Islamic society living and writing in the First World? Why does Mahboob still write overwhelmingly about themes from her place of origin and in her native language, after so much time abroad?     

Multilingualism and identity: articulating ‘African-ness’ in an American high school

This paper draws on qualitative research that examines the language practices and learning experiences of ten adolescent multilingual immigrant and refugee English Learners (ELs) from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Specific questions addressed include: How do these students capitalize on home languages as they engage in linguistic practices in English? How do these students take up their identities within the context of a US high school? The project emphasizes a shift away from learning discrete language skills in one language toward a focus on supporting complex language and content learning fluidly across languages and content areas in ways that affirm students’ identities and new learning. Implications for theory and practice will be discussed.     

Racial inequality and the recognition of racial discrimination in Jamaica

A growing body of literature posits that a population’s denial of the salience of racial discrimination acts as a mechanism of its perpetuation. Moreover, scholars locate a population’s propensity to deny racial discrimination in contemporary ideologies of racial mixing or ethnic fusion. Most quantitative studies of public opinion on these issues are limited to Latin America and the Spanish-speaking Caribbean. This study examines the case of Jamaica. We first (1) examine the extent of Jamaica’s contemporary racial inequality using national census data. We then (2) use nationally representative data from the AmericasBarometer social survey to determine the extent to which a recognition of racial discrimination characterizes Jamaican public opinion. Finally, we (3) explore the salience of an ideology of racial mixing in Jamaica and (4) test whether that ideology affects the likelihood that Jamaicans acknowledge contemporary racial discrimination. Our findings document dramatic social inequality by skin colour in Jamaica and suggest that a majority embrace an ideology that racial mixing is negatively associated with Jamaicans’ recognition of racial discrimination. We discuss our findings and their implications for understanding ideologies of racial mixing and racial inequality in the Americas.     

Spaces of Muslim Identity in Inverness,Scotland

Each generation of immigrants has its own challenges; for example, how to maintain already constructed identities among first generation immigrants and how to construct identities of the second generation of immigrants. Numerous literature suggests that the previous studies on these topics have been conducted within larger cities such as London, Glasgow or Edinburgh. This article examines how Muslim immigrants in a small city maintain and modify some aspects of their religious and cultural identities. The data consist of 30 interviews conducted with first and second generation of Muslim immigrants in Scotland, analysis of which suggests the size of the city does not appear to affect daily Muslim practices nor their ability to maintain Muslim identity. Rather, access to shared spaces, such as Inverness Masjid and the local halal meat shop, become critical to how Muslim's maintain and modify their identity in a new place.     

Making a difference in Mogadishu? Experiences of multi-sited embeddedness among diaspora youth

ABSTRACT

Civic participation today is increasingly multi-sited, operating in, between and across specific locations. Growing numbers of people experience multi-sited embeddedness, which I understand both in the sense of belonging to and engaging in multiple communities. In this article, I focus on those who left Somalia as young children or were born to Somali parents in exile, and ask what motivates these young people to return or turn to the Somali region. What experiences shape their civic engagement and where do they engage? How does their hybrid, multi-sited or embedded sense of identity impact their engagement in several locations? And how does that engagement affect their sense of identity? The article is based on 80 in-depth interviews and four focus group discussions in Garowe, Hargeisa, Mogadishu, Oslo and the Twin Cities. Informants stayed for shorter or longer durations in the Somali region but lived for the larger part of their lives in Norway or the United States. I illustrate how young people’s civic engagement impact feelings of belonging as much as their sense of belonging influences their civic actions. In this article, I argue for non-binary ways of studying multi-sited embeddedness that do justice to diaspora youth’s everyday negotiations.     

Gendered projects of national identity formation: The case of Turkey

The consolidation of the Turkish Republic in 1923 took place in opposition to multiple ‘others’ – that is, multiple ideologies with alternative models of modernity and state formation. An important aspect of the resulting negotiations was their gendered nature. This article explores the multiplicity of subject-positions made available to women using the nationalist literary production of the first half of the twentieth century. By linking literary production with the official discourse, it argues that blurring the distinction between public and private discourses can better capture the gendered character of the nationalist discourse. The analysis details the common denominators between articulations about women's bodies and familial ties, and the building of a nationalist discourse. In these works, typologies of mothers, fathers, daughters, step and adopted ones, and those female figures seen as threats to these families tallied with the ongoing attempts to popularise a particular imagining of the nation. The desired unity of the republic, figuring in these roles, seemed to depend on controlling, taming and erasing a variety of designated identities and ideologies.     

Beyond Islamophobia? The role of Englishness and English national identity within English Defence League discourse and politics

ABSTRACT

Unsurprisingly, most scholarship on the English Defence League (EDL) focuses on the Islamophobic nature of the group's politics. This has found that, whilst the group presents a more moderate, public-facing image, the EDL's backstage discourse is a far less nuanced brand of Islamophobia and cultural racism (Allen, C. (2011). Opposing Islamification or promoting Islamophobia? Understanding the English Defence League. Patterns of Prejudice, 45(4), 279–294; Kassimeris, G., & Jackson, L. (2015). The ideology and discourse of the English Defence League: ‘Not racist, not violent, just no longer silent’. British Journal of Politics and International Relations, 17, 171–188). A more fundamental area of EDL ideology has been left unexamined, however: what notion of ‘England’ is the EDL trying to ‘defend’? Using content analysis of EDL online discourse, this article examines how the EDL articulates, represents, and uses English national identity within its discourse and politics.     

‘They were constantly on the losing side of things’: the pedagogical power of an African-American teacher candidate bearing witness in teacher education

The stories of students and teacher candidates of Color (Just as singular racial/ethnic identities are capitalized (i.e. African-American, Asian, Latina, Native American etc.), I capitalize Color to honor the various identities that many ‘non-white’ people hold near and dear. I recognize the nuances in doing so- such as the reality that the term ‘people of Color’ actually erases identity while the term also highlights a shared experience (though also nuanced) of being ‘non-white’ in a white supremacist society.) hold powerful lessons and insights for teacher education programs and educational reform efforts. Yet, rarely do educators and policy-makers solicit or critically engage the educational narratives of these stakeholders. In particular, research confirms that we know little about how students’ of Color educational experiences are impacted by race(ism) and culture and how those experiences subsequently inform their ideas about teaching. This study, framed by critical race theory (CRT), examines an African-American (African-American is used intentionally here as this is how Ariel identifies racially.) teacher candidate’s racialized K-12 and postsecondary school experiences to more fully understand the connection between lived experience and developing teacher identity. Ariel’s story reflects her own school experiences; her focus on her peers’ school experiences when asked about her own; and how those experiences, informed by race and culture, contribute to her development of pedagogy. Analytical considerations illustrate that memory and remembrance, witnessing and bearing witness, and testimony are deliberate and powerful acts in the development of pedagogy and should be central to teacher education curriculum.     

Deconstructing Racial Democracy: A Personal Quest to Understand Social Conditioning about Race Relations in Brazil

Although considerable work has been done about racial democracy in Brazil, scant information is available regarding the mechanisms by which social conditioning related to the myth of racial democracy is reproduced among those in power. In order to better understand race relations in Brazil, we must include perceptions of those who are in power. I was born and raised by a white, privileged family in a traditional Brazilian state. My family comes from a long line of coffee growers who have always interacted with many oppressed African Brazilian employees. As a privileged white Brazilian woman I have wide access to white privileged Brazilians and I can provide a unique perspective on race relations in Brazil. This auto-ethnographic research project used ethnomethodology and visual ethnography to answer the following research questions: 1) What are the assumptions about race relations in Brazil held by me, my family, and those African Brazilians who interact directly or indirectly with my family and me? 2) How do these assumptions influence my subjective understanding of and responses related to race relations in Brazil? 3) How do these assumptions influence the interactions between myself, my family, and those African Brazilians who interact directly or indirectly with my family and me? Data included journal entries, an in-depth interview of my life history, and photographs collected over 40 days in a traditional state in Brazil. Data analysis identified five main themes: 1) blackness versus whiteness; 2) gender, power and sexuality; 3) mechanisms maintaining practices that reproduce oppression; 4) power of social conditioning; and 5) normative expressions of agency against racial democracy ideology.     

Arab-American male identity negotiations: caught in the crossroads of ethnicity,religion, nationality and current contexts

We examine how the identities of male adolescents of Arab descent (ArD) relate to their current physical and phenomenological contexts and to the negative fallout from recent ethnicity-related political events. Seventy-seven ArD adolescents in seven United States middle schools with varying proportions of ArD students participated in focus-group interviews. Qualitative analysis provides evidence that adolescents' social identities depended on complex combinations of personal, situational, and contextual factors. Findings extend Spencer's PVEST theory, demonstrating that the salience of adolescents' national, pan-Arab, hyphenated Arab-American, or assimilated American identity stems from phenomenological experiences within their current context and from the cognitive processes and associated affects of their prior experiences in other proximal and distal contexts.     

Forever in Kente: Ghanian Barbie and the Fashioning of Identity

This article analyses the costuming of Mattel's Ghanian Barbie, and other ‘Dolls of the World’ for what they reveal about issues of nostalgia, imperialism and identity in a post Cold War American world. While many scholars have commented on the ideologies that Barbie exemplifies and promotes, few give attention to the ‘Dolls of the World’. Those that do focus on how these dolls promote American-like consumption in other parts of the world. Yet the largest market for these dolls is here in the US. My article addresses this gap through an examination of their American consumption as well as commenting on the complex issues of ethnicity and nationhood that these dolls raise.     

赋权/解放还是控制/伤害?——有关生育技术的女性主义讨论

随着科学的发展,生育技术日益为人们所熟悉,从避孕、流产到各种生育辅助、治疗手段,琳琅满目、数量众多。这些技术的发达到底给女性带来了怎样的影响呢?本文回顾了国外女性主义学者的有关讨论,在此基础上,结合自己的研究,得出如下结论:简单地将生育技术定性为解放或者伤害女性是没有意义的,关键是要分析它被应用的社会。只有消除了父权制意识形态和社会结构,生育技术才能真正被用于女性解放。     

‘Always up for the craic’: young Irish professional migrants narrating ambiguous positioning in contemporary Britain

This paper explores the experiences of recent Irish highly qualified migrants who, having left post-Celtic Tiger Ireland, arrive in post-‘Peace Agreement’ Britain. Our paper contributes to understanding the enduring salience of place and how expressions of identities are framed by specific place-based factors as well as by temporality. We explore how these migrants’ narratives, as ‘successful’ professionals, are framed by complex intersections of historical legacies and changing socio-economic and intra-EU migration patterns. We consider the extent to which residual anti-Irish stereotypes remain, or indeed have re-emerged since the economic recession, and how these negative perceptions may impact on expressions of Irishness. Focusing on accents and other markers of identity, we discuss how Irishness may be constructed through a spectrum of visibilities at different times and in different places. This spatial-temporal perspective may help to go beyond a simplistic, one dimensional ethnic lens by highlighting the contextualities of identities.     

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