‘Second-order’ ethnic minorities in Asian secessionist conflicts: problems and prospects

This article provides some conceptual foundations for a special issue of Asian Ethnicity concerned with what we call ‘second-order minorities’. If secessionist conflicts involve minorities resisting abusive, assimilationist states, leading rebel groups to embark on their own nation-building efforts, how does this affect the minorities of aspiring secessionist nations? How do the minorities of secessionist groups respond to secessionism? Despite many insightful studies of secessionism and rebel ethno-nationalism, scholars have yet to explore the ways that local minorities navigate secessionist conflicts. We suggest that the relationship between secessionists and second-order minorities depends on three key factors: whether minorities are territorially concentrated or dispersed, indigenous or migrant, and nation majorities or small national minorities. These characteristics provide us some idea of the types of violence and counter-mobilization we might see among second-order minorities faced with secessionist violence. This article then previews the subsequent studies of Xinjiang, Aceh, Mindanao, and Sri Lanka, cases which capture some of the core challenges faced by second-order minorities against twin violent nation-building efforts from state and rebel forces.     

Muslim religious accommodations in Western Europe: Do multicultural policies impact religiosity levels among Muslims,Catholics and Protestants?

How do religious accommodations for Muslim minorities shape religiosity levels among Muslims minorities? Answering this question is critical in the contemporary period, as Western European countries have experienced greater diversity in religious affiliations due to immigration. In this article, we address this question by analysing individual data across multiple waves of the European Social Survey (ESS). Our analysis improves on existing studies in that it (1) incorporates a greater number of countries than prior studies, (2) covers a historically novel period of religious accommodations for Muslim minorities and (3) more effectively controls for unmeasured country and time‐invariant processes than previous research. We find that in countries that have instituted greater religious accommodations, Muslim respondents generally report higher levels of religiosity. Interestingly, we also find that the greater institutionalization of religious accommodations for Muslims also impacts the subjective religiosity levels of Protestant majorities. We find no effect for Catholic respondents.     

British Muslim Minorities Today: Challenges and Opportunities to Europeanism, Multiculturalism and Islamism

This essay explores the issues of multiculturalism, Islamism and the experiences of Muslim minorities in Western Europe and in Britain in the light of the events of 9/11 and 7 July London bombings. First, the experience of immigrants and minorities and the key historical and cultural debates in which the idea of Europe has emerged is contextualised. Second, the debate in relation to how multiculturalism in Western Europe is conceived and problematised is focused upon. Third, a detailed discussion of the British experience of multiculturalism is elaborated upon, exploring the various shifts in discourse and policy-maker thinking. Finally, suggestions for moving ahead are discussed, and how it might provide impetus to academic, governmental, civil society and practitioner action. In conclusion, it is argued that the challenges that Muslim minority youth face in Western Europe are many but not insurmountable if one takes into consideration the needs and aspirations of a society that is inclusive and forward looking but also aware of the historical and contemporaneous factors involved in the alienation and the marginalisation of variously incorporated Muslim minorities.     

‘Women from the catacombs of the city’: gender notions in Dutch culturist discourse

The current discourse on minorities in the Netherlands has two striking features: (1) it has been narrowed down to Muslim immigrants with Moroccan or Turkish backgrounds; (2) it focuses largely on gender-related issues. In this article, we suggest that there has been a historical switch in the focus of discourse on immigrants from structural factors such as employment and crime rates to cultural factors related mainly to the Islamic background of the immigrants concerned. We argue that currently the focus on gender-issues and integration in practice has the dual effects of excluding the minorities in question and of discursively counteracting the emancipation of Muslim women. Both points become apparent when reviewing the practical effects of the institutionalization of the gendered discourse on integration in policy efforts currently being undertaken. These effects are a negation of the autonomy of Muslim women and a form of ‘new racism’ that bears all the characteristics of Orientalism.     

The Ayodhya aftermath: Hindu versus Muslim violence in Britain

This destruction of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, India, led to a week of unprecedented Hindu versus Muslim violence in the UK. Some Muslims, viewing Ayodhya as the latest manifestation of worldwide anti‐Islamic sentiment, today seek separation from mainstream British society as the best way to defend their interests. Many UK Hindus also desire to unite and strengthen their community by embracing the ‘fundamentalist’ politics of overseas organizations. Yet other British South Asians ‐ Hindu, Muslim and Sikh ‐ argue that only when all the country's ethnic minorities unite will their common enemies of racism and discrimination be defeated, and integration achieved.     

Indigenous vs. native: negotiating the place of Lumads in the Bangsamoro homeland

Two categories of ethnic minority – Moro and Lumad – are indigenous to the Philippine island of Mindanao, with Muslim Moros outnumbering largely animist Lumads. Both have been profoundly displaced by the post-World War II influx of Christian Filipino settlers from other islands, leading to armed conflict with the national government over land and political control. Due to their political and demographic inferiority to Moros, Lumads have regularly resorted to the accommodation and assimilation of Moro priorities, including throwing their support behind the latters’ decades-long struggle for territorial autonomy. Thanks to wide public support among the Lumad and other Mindanao sectors, the latest peace talks between the government and Moro leaders has led to the signing of a major peace deal involving the creation of a new autonomous Bangsamoro homeland. Despite this, the legitimate needs of Lumad stakeholders have been ignored, and in some cases deliberately undermined, by Moros and the national government. This article analyses the post-conflict status of the Lumad who, as second-order minorities in the future Bangsamoro homeland, have been doubly marginalized in daily life and in the peace process. It concludes that denying Lumad concerns now will render Bangsamoro more vulnerable to legal and constitutional challenges, as well as jeopardize the unique ‘tri-people’ ethos that has made this the most firmly grounded peace process to date.     

Is there a moral economy of state formation? Religious minorities and repertoires of regime integration in the Middle East and Western Europe, 600–1614

This article asks how state formation processes informed the normative frameworks of late-Medieval and early-Modern Latin European and Muslim Middle Eastern regimes. The question at hand is not why pre-Modern regimes discriminated against religious minorities (as well as other groups) during the pre-Modern period, but why Western European states consistently engaged in mass expulsions of their non-Christian subjects from the late thirteenth century onward and the neighboring states of the Middle East did not. Rather than addressing these peculiar policies as a function of religion, culture, or law the article adopts a comparative, contextual method. With the aid of Charles Tilly’s theoretical perspectives it isolates critical variables in pre-Modern Middle Eastern state formation. These variables are then used to shed light on the circumstances and relationships that led to Latin Europe’s mass expulsions of Jews and Muslims between 1290 and 1614.     

Factors influencing nonprofit career choice in faith‐based and secular NGOs in three developing countries

Much of the research on the factors that draw individuals to nonprofit careers is based in Australia, Western Europe, and the United States, and research on the role of faith in career choice focuses largely on Christian organizations. This article examines the factors that draw individuals to work in the nongovernmental organization (NGO) sector in the developing countries of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lebanon, and Sri Lanka. It also looks at whether faith offers similar motivations for NGO workers in Buddhist, Druze, Sunni Muslim, and Shiite Muslim NGOs as it does for workers in Christian NGOs. Much like nonprofit workers in other studies, the individuals interviewed chose their jobs based on their personal commitment to an organization's work.     

Muslim women between secular state and religion

The main thesis of this paper assumes that, while we are not arguing for a full-fledged personal law system in Italy (which provides Muslims with different legal systems), we assume that diversity-conscious respect for difference and its legal recognition is a better strategy for achieving justice than a blindfolded Eurocentric vision, based on uniformising secular methods. This paper suggests the adoption of a model of legal intervention for integrating Muslims into Italian liberal democracy. I will call this model a ‘pluralistic institutional approach to integration’, based on a ‘a joint governance approach’. It requires a conceptual break with absolute, unlimited and undivided sovereignty and jurisdiction. Such a pluralistic institutional approach to integration encourages the accommodation of some of the most pressing minority demands in some limited areas. In family law – as we will see – there can be different possible solutions available to conduct their private relationship compatible with their understanding of Islam. However, any policy of accommodation needs to pay special attention to the fact that traditional religious Muslim norms contain practices that may cause harm to vulnerable subjects. Therefore the advocacy and introduction of a plural legal order must be based on respect for key liberal values. In this paper I will not use the generic term sharia (Islamic law) but the term Muslim norms, because I would like to underline the fact that some Muslims are calling for accommodation of norms that derive from their understanding of their religion, including not only standards based on or derived from sharia or fiqh (jurisprudence) but also general ethical principles derived from Islamic religious culture (see Nasir 2002). The focus on religious norms or values makes it clear that the main motivation for the accommodation of Muslim norms would be to maximise individual autonomy and minority protection. In this sense, the accommodation of Muslim norms is subject to the ultimate regulation of the Italian constitutional and legal system. The paper is structured in the following way. Section I of the paper deals with the ‘myth of legal centralism’ and presents a general overview of the empirical situation created by the troublesome Muslim integration in Italy. We will provide some quantitative data on Muslim immigration in Italy. Since ‘Muslim’ is a broad category, it needs to be given as much specificity as possible in order to avoid producing images of a monolithic and undifferentiated religious community. Section II sets out the model of what I have labelled ‘a pluralistic institutional approach to integration’. The substantive claim is that this pluralistic institutional approach to integration provides promising options for the incorporation of cultural and religious minorities, challenging the assumption that it is impossible to grant consideration to religious diversity and gender equality at the same time. Of special interest here are those situations in which claims for so-called ‘Muslim Sharia Arbitration Councils’, religious-based arbitration tribunals, interact with public concerns about power disparities between men and women in the resolution of family law disputes. We will demonstrate the possibility of implementing such a vision by reference to a recent decision by the Supreme Court of Canada, Bruker v. Marcovitz (2007), which breaks new ground.     

Strange Buddhas and the King of the Monks: Locating History and Community in a Muslim State

In this paper I discuss the way in which ethnic and cultural minorities articulate a sense of community through the production and negotiation of historical agency. The Thai Buddhist villagers of Kelantan live in a predominantly Malay and Muslim state along Malaysia's eastern seaboard. Although possessing few myths of common origin, these villagers use a myriad of autonomous reckonings of the past in constructing a sense of cultural distinctiveness in the modern Malaysian nation state. The past is often spoken of by Thai villagers in the guise of anecdotal stories which encapsulate the dizzying array of relationships the community is enmeshed in. My paper shows how these stories are meaning filled texts by which villagers understand their marginal identity. I conclude by arguing that anthropologists should pay close attention to the minutiae of disjunctured histories that permeate the lives of men and women everywhere as a valuable means of making sense of contemporary social realities.     

The enemies within: targeting Han Chinese and Hui minorities in Xinjiang

How can we account for the targeted pattern of violence in Xinjiang, in which Uyghur secessionist groups attack some second-order minorities such as the Han Chinese and the Hui, but not the sizeable populations of Kazak, Kyrgyz, and Mongol minorities? Based on a variety of primary and secondary sources, I argue that members of the Han minority, being the national majority in China but a ‘nested minority’ in Xinjiang, are doomed to become a primary target of secessionist attacks as they represent, in and of themselves, the state from which Uyghur nationalists are trying to secede. Han Chinese’s – and to a lesser extent the Hui’s – economic and political dominance over the Uyghurs, along with their lack of historical ties to Xinjiang, also motivates their targeting while reinforcing the bond between other indigenous and comparatively disadvantaged minorities.     

Looking beyond ethnicity: the negotiation of Chinese Muslim identity in Penang,Malaysia

The conflation of ethnic and religious identities, particularly that of Malay and Muslim, has long historical and political roots in Malaysia. Being one of the most safeguarded identity marks in Malaysia, Islam has become part of the core of Malay ethnicity and plays a prominent role in ethnic politics. Muslim converts from ethnic minorities, such as the Chinese and Indians, are therefore faced with social expectation and pressure to ‘become Malay’. This paper discusses the difficulty and improbability of Chinese Muslim identity in the previous literature and the recent development that enables the decoupling of religious and ethnic identities. By looking beyond ethnicity, the most salient social divider in Malaysia, and looking into other possibilities, such as religious identity, this paper aims to paint a picture of social relations and identification that is more complex yet flexible amongst the Chinese Muslim converts in Penang.     

Control over female ‘Muslim’ bodies: culture,politics and dress code laws in some Muslim and non-Muslim countries

Control of the female body is a key component of both the formation of Muslim identities and the control of Muslim communities in European countries. I will argue that the regulation of the clothing worn by Muslim women, both the restriction of its use (which occurs mainly in non-Muslim countries) and the requirement to wear a particular item, share the same goal: the control of women’s bodies. In this respect, I will consider both the legal regulations that require women to wear the so-called ‘Muslim’ clothing and those that restrict it as a way of disciplining the population, and will focus on the control of women as a privileged form of political control.     

The Migration–Development Nexus: Sri Lanka Case Study

This paper explores the relationship between migration and development in Sri Lanka, a country that has been the source of large numbers of migrants and the recipient of much development assistance. Commissioned as part of a wider study conducted by the Centre for Development Research, Denmark, this case study seeks to answer a set of specific questions about the nature and extent of links between development assistance and migration flows. The paper surveys the socio–economic context in which both migration and development have taken place in Sri Lanka, describing the causes, scale, and features of migration flows from Sri Lanka in recent decades. Two main streams of migration flows are identified: labour migration and political migration. The flows are distinguished by ethnic characteristics (the former is mostly Sinhalese and the latter pre–dominantly Tamil) and destination (the former to the Middle East and the latter to the West). Both flows have intensified during a time of protracted conflict and in the context of waraffected economic development since the early 1980s.
The importance of remittances from migrants to the Sri Lankan economy and the extent to which diaspora activities impact Sri Lanka are also discussed. Despite the lack of statistics, especially on informal remittances from the Tamil diaspora, it is suggested that the remittances have been and will continue to be a sizeable component of foreign exchange receipts in Sri Lanka. The paper concludes that the complex interactions between migration, development assistance, remittances, and conflict are important for the prospects for peace and reconstruction in Sri Lanka. The challenge in Sri Lanka will be to move from a vicious cycle of conflict, underdevelopment and migration to a more virtuous one. In this process, it is suggested that the diaspora will be a key player in the shift towards peace and remittances will be an integral part of reconstruction.     

A sociological comparison of anti‐Semitism and anti‐Muslim sentiment in Britain1

Comparisons of anti‐Semitic and anti‐Muslim sentiment (the latter also known as ‘Islamophobia’) are noticeably absent in British accounts of race and racism. This article critically examines some public and media discourse on Jewish and Muslim minorities to draw out the similarities and differences contained within anti‐Semitic and anti‐Muslim sentiment. It provides a rationale for focusing upon the period of greatest saliency for Jewish migrants prior to the Second World War, compared with the contemporary representation of Muslims, and identifies certain discursive tendencies operating within the representations of each minority. The article begins with a discussion of multiculturalism, cultural racism and racialization, followed by a brief exploration of the socio‐historical dimensions of Jewish and Muslim groups, before turning to the public representation of each within their respective time‐frames. The article concludes that there are both hitherto unnoticed similarities and important differences to be found in such a comparison, and that these findings invite further inquiry.     

John Porter Book Prize Lecture: Bringing the Social Back In—On the Integration of Muslim Immigrants and the Jurisprudence of Muslim Minorities

In much of the academic debate on the integration of Muslims into Western liberal democracies, Islam is often treated as one or the sole independent variable in the lives of Muslims. Offering to view Islam—or the understanding of Islam among Muslims—as the dependent variable, The Muslim Question in Canada discusses the influence of socioeconomic forces in shaping the Muslim immigrants’ opinions, modes of thinking, and even interpretations of their faith. Drawing on this general approach, which is introduced and developed in the book using a variety of both quantitative and qualitative data, this article focuses on a school of thought within the Islamic jurisprudence known as fiqh al‐aqalliyyat al‐Muslema (the jurisprudence of Muslim minorities). The premise of the jurisprudence of Muslim minorities is that the lived realities of Muslims who reside in non‐Muslim countries are so fundamentally different from those of the Muslim‐majority nations that traditional Islamic jurisprudence cannot offer meaningful solutions for their problems. Therefore, there is a need to establish an entirely different jurisprudential approach centered around the lives of the Muslim minorities. The purpose of the bulk of jurisprudential theorization efforts in this line of reasoning is to facilitate the lives of the Muslim minorities; as well, they aim to create a foundation for the moral obligations of Muslims toward non‐Muslims in such environments. I argue that a crucial element that triggers such a development is the existence of a positive relationship between Muslims and non‐Muslims in immigrant‐receiving countries. Souvent au sein des débats sur l'intégration des Musulmans dans des démocraties libérales de l'Ouest, l'Islam est traité comme un ou le seul enjeu dans la vie des fidèles. The Muslim Question in Canada examine l'Islam ou la compréhension de l'Islam chez les Musulmans comme un enjeu dépendent et aborde l'influence des forces socio‐économiques sur les opinons des immigrants musulmans ainsi que sur leurs modes de pensée et même sur la manière dont ils interprètent leur foi. Inspiré par cette approche, que l'on présente et développe dans le livre, et qui se sert de données à la fois quantitatives et qualitatives, cet article se concentre sur une école de pensée à l'intérieur de la jurisprudence islamique, connue sous le nom de fiqh al aqalliyyat al‐Muslema (la jurisprudence des minorités musulmanes). La prémisse de la jurisprudence des minorités musulmanes est que les réalités vécues par les Musulmans qui vivent dans des pays non‐musulmans sont au fond tellement différentes de celles de la majorité musulmane que la jurisprudence traditionnelle ne présente pas de solutions pertinentes pour résoudre leurs problèmes. Ainsi, il faut établir une approche jurisprudentielle totalement différente, axée sur la vie des minorités musulmanes. L'objectif de la plupart des efforts au niveau de la théorisation de la jurisprudence qui adoptent cette vision est de rendre la vie des minorités musulmanes plus facile. Ces efforts tentent aussi de faire en sorte que les Musulmans ressentent une certaine obligation morale envers les non‐Musulmans dans ces environnements. J'avance ici que l'aspect qui déclenche un tel développement est le rapport positif entre les Musulmans et les non‐Musulmans dans les pays qui reçoivent des immigrants.     

A ‘Minority’ on the Move: Boundary Work among Filipina Muslim Migrant Domestic Workers in the Middle East

This article analyses the migration of a religious ‘minority’ that is largely invisible within migration studies, namely Muslim Filipina domestic workers. More specifically, this research shows that the category of ‘minority’ is not fixed and is always negotiated through transnational spaces and boundary work. In doing so, the article highlights how religious belonging, the status of minority and migration intersect and are negotiated during the period prior to these women leaving their country, during their time in the country of destination, and when they return to the Philippines. How boundary work affects the religious belonging of this Muslim ‘minority’ is underlined by presenting the Middle East as an opportunity to perform norms of ‘Muslimness’. The performance of these norms as an opportunity for these women to challenge the status of being a ‘minority’ in the Philippines is also examined. Finally, this article shows how these Muslim ‘minorities’ gain access to a certain symbolic capital by becoming hajji and balikbayan (returnees) when they return home.     

Between a rock and a hard place: second-order minorities in the Aceh conflict

Secessionist movements are often motivated by a sense of exclusion, abuse, and assimilation at the hands of host states. But in waging armed struggles and constructing ethnic nationalisms, they may replicate such grievances against their own minorities. This paper seeks to provide a deeper understanding of how ‘second-order minorities’ respond to secessionist ethno-nationalism. Based on ethnographic research in Aceh, Indonesia, this paper looks to how Javanese, Malay, Alas, and Gayo communities responded to Acehnese secessionism. Aceh’s minorities did not support Aceh’s rebels, opting to flee or resist rebellion. In explaining their reaction, I suggest that the same ethno-nationalist project which united many Acehnese in the secessionist struggle served to repel non-Acehnese communities, leading to ethno-nationalist revivals among Aceh’s minorities and continued tensions in the post-conflict era.     

Managing ‘American Islam’

Focusing on the case of Islam in post-9/11 United States, this article highlights the particularity of how US secularism is enacted by the state. In much sociological theory, the United States has been understood to be a neutral and non-interfering state with regard to religion, thereby fostering a pluralist religious context of free consumer choice. Some Muslim reformists have argued that this context makes the US highly fertile ground upon which to reform Islam and to improve women's status in Islam. This article argues that, in the context of the US-led ‘war on terror’, the government has drawn on and amplified this discourse in the service of producing a representation of the US as tolerant, while also seeking to promote a concept of ‘true’ Islam and produce patriotic Muslim citizens. At the center of this discourse are contested portrayals of Muslim women as symbolic of a modern and liberated Islam that is uniquely ‘American’ and opposed to other presumably oppressive Islams. While this context may in fact promote the reform of Islam, it does so with state involvement rather than as a result of state neutrality.     

Burmese Indians in contemporary Burma: heritage,influence, and perceptions since 1988

This article seeks to explore the current role, significance and influence of Burmese Indian minorities in post-1988 Burma as well as the perceptions the Burmese indigenous society and elite have developed on them since the colonial era. British Burma (1826–1948) witnessed a massive immigration of Indian communities that disproportionately dominated Burma's colonial enterprise. A strong resentment thus arose among the Burman Buddhist majority, illustrated by the rise of a popular ‘indophobia’ phenomenon. Paroxysmal expressions of the colonial original trauma were observed through recurrent pre-independence anti-Indian riots as well as a specific and enduring linguistic patronizing classification of the ‘Kalas’ by the Burmese language. Nationalistic administrative laws, enacted by the Burmese post-independence parliamentarian and military governments, furthered the downgrading and discrimination of Burmese Indians who remain however a visible minority today, with a manifest economic weight and a strong socio-cultural presence throughout Burma. In this paper, it will, however, be argued that after years of ‘Burmanization’ processes, Burmese old-age ‘indophobic’ sentiments have turned towards more ‘islamophobic’ tendencies, now explicitly targeting the Muslim communities of Indian origin, but that it remains difficult to evaluate their impact on Burma's current policymaking.