Nuclear fetishism,the fear of the ‘Islamic’ bomb and national identity in Iran

The paper's focus is the concurrence in the Islamic Republic of Iran between the state's enrichment of uranium, internationally feared as a potential Islamic atomic bomb, and the identification of the radio-active material by many Iranians as a national cultural object. In contrast to the Islamic virtues imposed by the state that had created an autarkic image of Iranians in the global context, nuclear technology offered them the opportunity to become cosmopolitan consumers of nuclear energy, a global product that also represented the ‘excellence’ of Iranian scientists’ and engineers’ competence. Instrumental in this re-invention of national identity outside the political space was a reified (fetishised) conception of the nuclear object as a utility – nuclear energy. The enhanced utilitarian use of nuclear material mystified (metamorphosed) both the oppressive relation of Iranian people with their Muslim rulers and their incongruous relation with the rest of the world. The mystifying impact of nuclear production on their national and international relations served Iranians to draw on their role as internationally recognised bourgeois agents (burghers) by subsuming (neutralising) their brutalised relation with the Muslim rulers within the instrumental relation of producers/consumers of the nuclear product. Thus, in their exclusive demand for the right to emulate the non-Iranian producers/consumers of nuclear energy as a global product, Iranians acted in their capacity as burghers. A burgher is defined here, following Hegel, as the agent of civil society whose primary concern is to pursue his/her own interest by using the needs of others as the means to satisfy his/her own. The rationality that governs the action by burghers is ‘the suitability of means to their ends’. By adopting the rationality of a burgher, Iranians abandoned their quest for citizenship. The rights of citizen, in contrast with the cosmopolitan right of burgher to emulate producers/consumers, were geared to the exercise of individual autonomy within the political space, as a domain of contested representations. The paper examines the inadequate mediation of modern institutions that has historically postponed the nationalisation of Iranian society and has delayed the emergence of the Iranian nation as a political community. Looked at from this standpoint, nuclear production offered to Iranians the opportunity to avoid a hazardous route of taking part in a political construction of Iranian identity by acting as citizens and instead draw on their fragmented bourgeois identity to define the nuclear product as ‘national’. This identification matched their Muslim rulers’ interest to represent the enriched uranium internationally as a national, as opposed to Islamic, achievement without having to face the Iranian nation as a political community. The consequence was the Iranians’ failure to deal with nuclear technology and the question of public safety both as a national and international issue which could only be addressed if Iranians had acted in their capacity as citizens.     

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.     

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.     

How the host nation's boundary drawing affects immigrants’ belonging

Across Western democracies, the place for newcomers in the host society is debated, involving often a questioning of immigrants’ belonging to their new nation. This article argues that immigrants’ feeling of host national belonging depends on how the host nation imagines its community and its concomitant boundaries. Utilising survey and country level data in multilevel regressions, immigrants’ belonging is found to vary significantly across the 19 countries included. A central contribution is the finding that citizenship policies do not explain this cross-national variation. Instead, what matters is the informal boundary drawing produced in the majority population's conception of what is important for being part of the national ‘us'. Thus, immigrants’ belonging is significantly greater when the majority population prioritises attainable criteria of national membership. In addition, these priorities are shown to have deep historical roots as immigrants’ belonging is greater in settler countries and in nations which democratised early. By showing that national imageries have consequences for a country's welcoming capacities, and by showing that these welcoming capacities are historically path dependent, the study contributes to the debate within nationalism studies about national identity's causal significance.     

Immigration,national identity and political trust in European democracies

This article argues that discrepancies between individual-level conceptualisations of national identity and official government approaches to national identity, as reflected in policies towards migrants, contribute to reduced levels of political trust in Europe. Public opinion data matched with contextual data measuring immigrant incorporation policies are used to investigate this proposition. The findings indicate that individuals who take a more exclusive approach to national identity but live in political systems that are comparatively more welcoming of immigrant incorporation into the national political system tend to be the least trusting of their political systems, and this is closely followed by those individuals who adopt a more inclusive form of identity but live in countries that are relatively less welcoming in their treatment of immigrants. Where individual identity and immigrant incorporation are both inclusive, trust tends to be relatively high.     

Trust among recent immigrants in Canada: levels,roots and implications for immigrant integration

ABSTRACT

Generalised trust promotes social interactions and may well be a crucial component of immigrant integration. Recent immigrants in particular are likely to be viewed by themselves and others as ‘outsiders’ who are unfamiliar with the expectations and norms that structure day-to-day social interactions in the host country. This study relies on a unique combination of three sources of data all derived from World Values Surveys to examine levels of trust, and its sources, among newcomers in one country with a large immigrant population, Canada. The evidence indicates that recent immigrants to Canada make a clear distinction between trust in other people in general, and trust in Canadians in particular: the former is grounded in pre-migration cultural influences, while the latter is grounded in immigrants’ experiences in the new host country. Moreover, the evidence suggests trust in Canadians is a crucial component of immigrant integration.     

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.     

Muslims’ social inclusion and exclusion in France,Québec,and Canada: does national context matter?*

This article compares the social experiences of Muslim minorities in three contexts – France, Québec, and English Canada – each reflecting a different approach to immigrant integration. France’s republican model emphasises cultural assimilation and the exclusion of religion from the public sphere; Canada’s multicultural model advocates official recognition of minority cultures; Québec shares Canada’s tradition of large-scale permanent immigration but embodies a unique intercultural discourse of integration, in some ways resembling France. We compare the social experiences of Muslim and non-Muslim minorities in these three settings using the French ‘Trajectories and Origins’ survey (2009) and the Canadian ‘Ethnic Diversity Survey’ (2002) data on reports of discrimination, friendship networks, social trust, voluntarism, and national identity. We find the Muslim/non-Muslim gap in social inclusion is significant in all three settings and results from ethnic, cultural, or racial differences, more than religion. In assessing immigrants’ social inclusion, we suggest consideration be given to: (i) the reality of ‘national models’ in the community, (ii) a tendency for minorities to locate in more accepting segments of mainstream society, and (iii) the limited impact of policies based on national models.     

Searching for belonging and confronting exclusion: a person-centred approach to immigrant settlement experiences in Canada

ABSTRACT

Drawing on an analysis of three immigrant narratives, this paper employs a person-centred approach to immigrant integration in Canada. It examines how immigrants interpret the inclusions/exclusions that mark their integration experience and the consequences these experiences have on their social identities and sense of belonging. Analysis demonstrates that for immigrants a sense of belonging does not grow in a linear fashion; rather, it grows, stalls, dissipates and/or flourishes in relation to the ties and identifications that immigrants are enabled to forge. Broader structural and historical forces prefigure immigrant inclusion and exclusion in Canada in ways that reflect a hierarchy of migration and belonging. We argue that a recognition of Canada’s ‘hierarchies of belonging’ and the multidimensional nature of social inclusion/exclusion complicate integration metaphors that flatten the uneven social terrain of immigrant belonging.     

Immigration Through Marriage: A Case Study of Bangladeshis in Toronto

People living in developing countries want to migrate to developed countries because of increasing economic disparities. They are attracted to migrate because of material affluence, economic prosperity and political stability of the developed world. Canadian immigration laws restrict immigration for people of different social classes in developing countries like Bangladesh and, therefore, it becomes attractive for both Bangladeshi men and women to migrate to Canada through marriage. How restrictive is the Canadian immigration policy in limiting international migration? How does individuals’ immigration or citizenship status in Canada transform them into desirable brides or grooms? What are the expectations of immigrant brides and grooms? How is marriage used as a strategy to immigrate to Canada? I focus on Bangladeshi immigration to Canada and argue that both Bangladeshi men and women are interested to migrate to Canada through marriage due to restrictive Canadian immigration policies.     

The American melting pot: A national myth in public and popular discourse

This article traces the development of the “melting pot” narrative in the United States. Despite being the subject of significant scholarly critique, this narrative continues to be a central myth and symbol of American national identity. Congressional debates show that it has been useful for legitimating immigration policy, while popular discourse frequently references melting pot symbolism. The melting pot narrative resonates with the public because it simultaneously embraces the American immigration experience and national unity. The article also highlights how this myth is constructed almost entirely around culture, overlooking larger structural disparities that exist between racial groups.     

Racial and Structural Discrimination Toward the Children of Indigenous Mexican Immigrants

My research examines the role of patron saint celebrations in how the children of indigenous Oaxacan immigrants living in Los Angeles, California form ethnic, community, and national identities. Religious practices among immigrants have been characterized as a reterritorialization of religious practices (McAlister in Gatherings in diaspora: Religious communities and the new immigration, 1998). Importantly, legal status may influence transborder movement for undocumented immigrants thereby affecting the extent and character of immigrants’ transnational activities, including their religious practices (Menjívar in J Ethn Migr Stud 28:531–552, 2002). In cases when immigrants may be unable to return their country of origin, rituals figuratively transport immigrants between the sending and receiving community (Tweed in J Am Acad Religion 70:253–277, 2002). Thus, religious identities and practices also enable immigrants to sustain membership in multiple locations, allowing them to affirm continued attachments to a particular sending community or nation even if they are unable to return to their home country (Levitt in Int Migr Rev 37:847–873, 2003). Playing in village-based bands, performing traditional dances, or attending patron saint festivities facilitate indigenous youths’ social integration into the U.S. by fostering a strong sense of ethnic pride in the face of anti-indigenous discrimination from within the Latino population or anti-immigrant hostility from mainstream society. This article explores the racism at structural and individuals levels the children of indigenous immigrants contend with, as well as the effects of these on patterns of identity formation for the children of undocumented indigenous immigrants and on their children’s transnational practices.     

Immigration Policies and Social Determinants of Health: Is Immigrants’ Health at Risk?

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of immigration legislation on Latino immigrants within the social determinants of health framework to understand the impact of such legislation on the immigrant’s health. While the socio-political climate in California is geared towards more pro-integration immigration policies, findings indicate that immigrants still experiences poor treatment in the form of microaggressions, horizontal discrimination, and institutional discrimination. This poor treatment may be an indication of residual anti-immigrant sentiment that remains in the state as well as a spillover effect from the anti-immigrant legislation being passed in neighboring states or national rhetoric. The findings overlap with four domains of the social determinants of health framework including economic stability, education, health and access to care, and social and community context. Implications for practice, policy and research are discussed.     

Social network development experiences of immigrants from Turkey to Canada

The concept of social capital has gained popularity in the field of migration studies in recent decades, yet we still know relatively little about how immigrants develop social networks in their host countries – despite the fact that networks constitute the core of social capital. This paper applies a Bourdieuian approach to migration research while examining the network development processes of immigrants from Turkey to Canada, all within the framework of social inequality based upon occupation and class. My findings demonstrate that network development with co-nationals, members of other immigrant groups, and native-born Canadians is a complex process in which such various factors as social class, ethnicity, habitus, and different forms of capital jointly shape the opportunities to access social networks, as well as the nature of such networks.     

Significant others and the importance of ancestry for Czech national identity

ABSTRACT

Nations are viewed as metaphorical families having common ancestors. Czechs, for example, share the legend about a forefather ?ech who brought his people into Czechia. Analysing the Czech ISSP 2013 data we examine how the importance of having Czech descent depends on Christian denomination, openness towards immigration, perceived commonality with ‘significant Others’, foreign-born parents, and socio-demographics. Results of the analysis suggest that Czech ancestry is less important part of national identity among younger cohorts, people living in big cities and towns, descendants of foreign-born parents, and people who are in favour of immigration from poor countries outside the EU.     

“My Life was Filled with Constant Anxiety”: Anti-Immigrant Discrimination,Undocumented Status,and Their Mental Health Implications for Brazilian Immigrants

Immigration reform and the various costs associated with undocumented immigration have been in national headlines in the past few years. The growth of Latinos as the US’ largest ethno-racial minority has sparked debates about the “browning” of the United States and led to an increase in anti-immigrant discrimination. While some researchers have documented the effects of racial discrimination on the mental health of ethno-racial minorities in the United States, less has explored how anti-immigrant discrimination and undocumented status influence the mental and psychological well-being of Latino immigrants, more specifically Brazilian immigrants, in the United States. Relying on data from in-depth interviews conducted with 49 Brazilian return migrants who immigrated to the United States and subsequently returned to Brazil, this paper will examine how their experiences living as racialized and primarily undocumented immigrants in the United States influenced their mental health. Specifically, I demonstrate that respondents experienced ethno-racial and anti-immigrant discrimination and endured various challenges that had negative implications for their mental health. This paper will also discuss additional factors that researchers should take into account when examining immigrants’ mental health and the challenges immigrants encounter in a racialized society with increasing anti-immigrant sentiment.     

Albanians in the Greek informal economy

"This article addresses the issue of Albanian immigration to Greece, underlines its special character and discusses the problems arising from the Greek immigration policy which, so far, has focused on short-term, inefficient and sometimes conflicting solutions. This article also delineates the current situation of Albanian immigrants, who constitute the largest group amongst all immigrants in Greece and who are largely undocumented. It examines the controversial issue of Albanian criminality, and the social construction of negative stereotypes through prejudicial representations of Albanians by the Greek media."     

“They Are Clipping Our Wings”: Health Implications of Restrictive Immigrant Policies for Mexican-Origin Women in a Northern Border Community

We examine racialization processes experienced by women of Mexican origin in a northern border community during a protracted period of restrictive immigrant policies that have disparately affected Mexican-origin communities, and consider pathways through which these experiences may affect health. This grounded theory analysis draws on interviews conducted in 2013–2014 with 48 first, 1.5, and second generation Mexican-origin women living in Detroit, MI. Racialization processes blurred boundaries between Latinas/os, immigrants, and undocumented immigrants. Racialized policies and interactions required women to negotiate shifting and often precarious social and political terrain. We describe racializing markers used by agents of multiple institutions to assess the legal status of women and members of their social networks, shaping their access to the resources over which institutional agents held power. Specifically, we consider the dynamic mechanisms by which multiple legal, social, and employment institutions exacted immigrant policing and bureaucratic surveillance. These include: (1) interior and border immigration enforcement agents’ active surveillance of residents; (2) local law enforcement officials’ assertion of authority over driver’s licenses and contact with immigration officials, often in traffic-related encounters; (3) Secretary of State clerks’ discretion in assessing legal status and issuing driver’s licenses and state IDs; (4) social welfare agents’ scrutiny of citizenship status in determining access to nutritional, economic, and medical resources; and (5) employers’ exploitation of these structural vulnerabilities to justify unfair treatment of immigrant workers. We theorize several mechanisms, by which these processes affect health, including: stigmatization; hypervigilance; and restricted access to health-promoting resources.     

The impact of acculturation identification and acculturative stress on creativity among Iranian immigrants living in Malaysia

The authors investigate how patterns of heritage and mainstream cultural identification and acculturative stress may explain how Iranians living in Malaysia demonstrate enhanced creativity in creative achievements and creative problem-solving. The sample included 328 Iranian students who were recruited using a cluster sampling method. The results reveal that acculturative strategies (biculturalism, bicultural integration, or bicultural marginalisation) are associated with enhanced creativity. Specifically, strategies that involve disengaging from cultural practices, also referred to as marginalisation, are associated with creative achievements and finding creative solutions to problems. Moreover, heritage cultural identification mediated the relationship between culture shock and creative solution. That is, students who experienced culture shock in the mainstream culture relied on their cultural heritage knowledge and showed decline in their ability to solve a problem creatively. The findings illuminate how creative accomplishment and enhanced creativity potential may be linked to acculturation strategies.     

浅析加拿大民族状况和民族政策

本文介绍了加拿大土著民族的状况及民族政策,并对中、加民族政策进行了分析与比较.