Chinatown 2.0: the difficult flowering of an ethnically themed shopping area

Right in Amsterdam’s picturesque Canal Zone, on and around Zeedijk, Chinese entrepreneurs have carved out a presence in what seems like the local Chinatown. The businessmen have been targeting Asian and non-Asian customers by offering products that – to an extent – can be associated with Asia, China in particular. Since the early 1990s, individual entrepreneurs and their business organisations have campaigned for official acknowledgement of Zeedijk as an ethnic-only district and for governmental support of the enhancement of Chineseness. Following Hackworth and Rekers. [(2005). “Ethnic Packaging and Gentrification. The Case of Four Neighborhoods in Toronto.” Urban Affairs Review 41 (2): 211–236], we argue that this case challenges traditional understandings of ethnic commercial landscapes. In sharp contrast to the current orthodoxy, which would conceive the proliferation of such an ‘ethnic enclave’ as part of a larger process of assimilation, we have approached Amsterdam’s Chinatown first and foremost as a themed economic space: Chinese and other entrepreneurs compete for a share of the market and in doing also for the right to claim the identity of the area. What is the historical development of the Zeedijk area, how did Chinese entrepreneurs and their associations try to boost Chinatown and negotiate public Chineseness, and how did governmental and non-governmental institutional actors respond to those attempts?     

Behind the ethnic–civic distinction: Public attitudes towards immigrants’ political rights in the Netherlands

Public opinion research has sought to distinguish between ethnic and civic conceptions of citizenship and examined the differential associations of these conceptions with policy preferences in the realm of immigration. What has not been examined empirically is why exactly these conceptions are related to people’s preferences. In two survey studies conducted among national samples of native Dutch we tested the proposition that the endorsement of ethnic citizenship is related to lower acceptance of Muslim immigrant rights (Study 1) and their political participation (Study 2) because of a weaker normative sense of common national belonging and higher adherence to autochthony (primo-occupancy) beliefs. In contrast, the endorsement of civic citizenship was expected to be associated with higher acceptance of Muslim immigrant rights and their political participation because of a stronger sense of common belonging and lower belief in autochthony. The findings of the two studies are similar and in support of these expectations.     

The ethnic landscape of rural Australia: Non-Anglo-Celtic immigrant communities and the built environment

Rural ethnic minorities occupy unique economic, social, as well as geographical places in Australian society. Non-Anglo-Celtic immigrants have transformed the rural landscapes through the construction of public and private spaces expressing their cultural heritage. These sites can also significantly impact the dynamics of social cohesion and inter-cultural relations in multicultural rural communities. The paper explores the potential role of the sites built by rural ethnic minorities in promoting both intra-group solidarity and inter-group dialogue. It also provides insights into complexities of multicultural place-making. The paper is divided into two parts. The first part briefly explores the literature on the migration and heritage, place, belonging and social cohesion, and the relationship between social capital and the built environment. The second part outlines empirical findings from Griffith, a regional town in New South Wales. The focus is on the places built by Italian immigrants, such as the Italian clubs and the recently built Italian Museum and Cultural Centre. The construction of these places facilitated a sense of solidarity among the Italian immigrants and expressed their belonging to place. However, the immigrant's attempts at place-making simultaneously involved inscribing a degree of exclusivity and a strategy of becoming more a part of their new environment. In doing this there is also potential for multicultural place-making to intensify the existing intra- and inter-group tensions.     

沙陀族历史杂探

有关沙陀都督府、沙陀族共同体、沙陀族姓等问题 ,学术界向来说法颇多 ,这些说法与历史事实多有出入。本文依据史料认为 :唐初西域地区并无沙陀都督府建制 ;构成沙陀族共同体的基础是“沙陀三部落” ,不能把早期的沙陀突厥与尔后的沙陀族视为一体 ;沙陀族除沙陀三部落外还包含有其他民族成分 ,学术界过去只将李、刘、石三姓视为沙陀族姓与史实不符。沙陀族姓是沙陀族共同体丰富内涵的真实反映     

蒙古国的民族问题与民族政策

蒙古国的民族构成以蒙古族为主,占总人口的90％以上,蒙古族内的十几个部族虽然在方言、风俗习惯和服饰上有所差别,但能自由交流。哈萨克、乌梁海、图瓦、霍屯等突厥民族只占6％多一点。蒙古国民族问题的主要表现是哈萨克族的迁徙问题。在1991-1992年间就有4.1万人迁居到哈萨克斯坦国。迁徙的主要原因：一是蒙古国历届政府对民族理论和民族宗教政策的研究落实不得力;二是受国际大气候的影响,泛民族主义意识抬头。针对这种情况,蒙古国政府采取了协商解决一切问题的方针,及时出台了一些政策法规,收到了较好的成效。     

论我国民族地区的小城镇发展问题

加快民族地区的城镇化进程 ,提高民族地区的城镇化水平是加速我国民族地区经济社会发展和全面建设小康社会的必由之路和必然选择。民族地区的城镇化建设既要坚持大中小城镇协调发展的方针和原则 ,同时又要突出小城镇发展这个基础和重点。在新世纪新阶段 ,民族地区的小城镇建设的总体思路是 :科学规划、合理布局 ,提高质量、注重效益 ,量力而行、稳定推进     

论民族区域自治是国家的一项基本政治制度

民族区域自治从最初的党解决民族问题的一项政策演变到今天被确定为国家的一项基本政治制度 ,经历了长期的探索、实践和比较的过程。将民族区域自治确定为国家的一项基本政治制度 ,标志着我国民族区域自治制度进入了新的发展阶段     

新疆民考民大学生英语自主学习情况调查分析

文章通过摸底实验、问卷调查和访谈形式,对少数民族大学生的英语自主学习情况和思想动态做了一次全面调查。发现民考民大学生的英语自主学习情况不尽人意。民考民大学生在进行英语自主学习时,对老师能给予合适的帮助的期望值较高。认为民考民大学生的英语自主学习效果与教师的有效教学和指导紧密相关,自主学习应是教师与学生共同操作和完成的过程,是一个合作体,离开教师的有效教学和指导的自主学习只会使教与学步入困境,导致无效学习。     

论少数民族地区图书馆在构建阅读型社会中的作用

阐明构建阅读型社会、倡导全民阅读的意义，深入分析我国的阅读现状，指出少数民族图书馆在构建阅读型社会中的特殊作用，并就少数民族地区图书馆如何利用自身优势，在构建阅读型社会中充分发挥自己的独特作用，做好阅读推广工作提出具体建议。     

The typification of Hispanics as criminals and support for punitive crime control policies

The Hispanic population is now the largest and fastest growing minority in the United States, so it is not surprising that ethnic threat linked to Hispanics has been associated with harsher crime control. While minority threat research has found that individuals who associate blacks with crime are more likely to support harsh criminal policies, the possibility that this relationship exists for those who typify Hispanics as criminal has yet to be examined. Using a national random sample, this study is the first to use HLM to find that perceptions of Hispanics as criminals do increase support for punitive crime control measures, controlling for various individual and state influences. Moderated and contextual analyses indicate this relationship is most applicable for individuals who are less apt to typify criminals as black, less prejudiced, less fearful of victimization, politically liberal or moderate, not parents, and living in states with relatively fewer Latin American immigrants.