An exploratory study of acculturation among Muslims in Australia

Muslims constitute 2.2% of the Australian population. Given the current socio-political climate and the limited research, the present exploratory study explores the relationship between acculturation, ethnic identity, self-identity, generational status, religiosity, and demographics among adult Australian Muslims.

A cross-sectional convenience sample of 324 adult Australian Muslims completed either online or paper-based questionnaires in either English or Arabic. Recruitment was via convenience sampling and social media advertisements. Acculturation, ethnic identity (MEIM), religiosity, and demographic variables were measured.

The study sample was young and mostly female, with high religiosity levels. Acculturation was negatively correlated with ethnic identity. From multiple regression analysis, acculturation was predicted independently by religiosity (low), age (young), gender (male) and ethnic identity (low).

First generation Australian Muslims were older, had stronger ethnic identity and religiosity, and more commonly self-identified as non-Australian. By contrast second- and third-generation were more likely to self-identify as bicultural or Australian.

In summary, acculturation of Australian Muslims is influenced by multiple variables, particularly ethnic identity, religiosity, and generation; hence all these variables need to be included in policy regarding successful integration of migrants.     

From a ‘sort of Muslim’ to ‘proud to be Alevi’: the Alevi religion and identity project combatting the negative identity among second-generation Alevis in the UK

ABSTRACT

This article explains how the negative identity of second-generation Alevi-Kurds in the UK has been transmitted intergenerationally, linked to their history of persecuted exclusion in Turkey and to the transnational settlement of Alevi migrants in the UK, and how this sense of marginalization and invisibility in the receiving country can be addressed. Education is identified as a starting point for the underachievement and disaffection of Alevi pupils, which can lead them into more serious trouble and descent into the rainbow underclass. In the quest to tackle this identity issue, a unique collaborative action research project was set up between an Alevi community centre, local schools and a university to develop the world’s first Alevi lessons as part of the compulsory Religious Education curriculum in British schools. The Alevi Religion and Identity Project is described and evaluated in terms of its outcomes, especially its contribution towards a more positive Alevi identity as a reflection of a vibrant community.     

Leveraging the common and outsourcing the distinct: institutional difference and multinational company identity in emerging economies

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the challenges of outsidership faced by multinational companies (MNCs) accessing emerging economies. The paper departs from popular conceptualisations of culture drawing instead on social identity theory as part of an institutions-based view, to explain how employing a singularities approach can allow the identification of commonalities of Indianness and Australianness that can be leveraged to ameliorate negative socially embedded business norms that pose a challenge to MNC success in emerging economies. This study shows that despite recognised formal (regulatory) and informal (cultural) differences, managers of Australian MNCs operating in India were able to innovatively identify and exploit cultural commonalties/singularities to ease cultural adjustment and mitigate intergroup conflict, allowing them to achieve an innovative institutional fit. The paper discusses how, using this approach, sole-venture MNCs can access many of the benefits provided by collaborative entry modes while preserving MNC identity. We further propose that the singularities approach can provide a valuable starting point to develop culturally appropriate competence training initiatives.     

Education,identity, and ideology: the Islamic movement and Moslem religious education in Israel

The Islamic Movement, which is called in Arabic Al-harakaat al-islamiyya or Al-haraka al-islamiyya, has, since its foundation in the 1970s, placed emphasis on education, especially the dissemination of the Islamic message. After the movement scored significant successes in local authority elections, its influence increased on the ideological guidelines according to which some of the Arab education system is partially or fully shaped. The article discusses the split in the movement within the State of Israel, and the differences between the southern and northern faction. It also compares Islamic education and Arab education within Israel and abroad in Europe, in countries which have large immigrant Moslem populations.

The education system that the Islamic Movement tries to develop symbolizes the complexity of the relations between it and the state authorities. They are aware that the authorities will not help in differentiation and separation and will not cease from the constant supervision of the movement's educational institutions. Therefore, their choice of a synthesis between formal and informal education or of a partition between pedagogic state education and moral study classes, is a rational, calculated choice, taking into consideration the reality of a cultural – ethnic – national minority.     

《根》中黑人文化身份的嬗变与重建?

《根》是美国黑人作家亚历克斯·哈利在二十世纪七十年代出版的一部家史小说。小说在追溯家族七代黑人曲折命运的过程中,清晰折射出黑人祖先身上不同的文化身份。通过对黑人家族三个典型人物文化认同的分析来探析黑人文化身份的嬗变与重建过程,这将对文化大融合背景下的少数边缘人群寻找精神归宿起到一定的指导意义。     

蒙元初期的丝绸之路与国家治理

13世纪,随着蒙元帝国的兴起和边界的快速推移,新疆由传统的中国边疆西域变为帝国版图的核心区。四通八达的交通和保障有力的驿站运输,保证了帝国一统天下,重构了此前衰微的丝绸之路。移藩去篱、交叠有效的治理,使蒙元帝国在多元互动、交融共生之中走向繁盛,生动诠释了“丝路精神”,促进了中华民族的形成,为人类文明发展做出了贡献。“一带一路”建设会使新疆由中国“边疆”跃居亚太“核心”,为更多国家和地区的人民带来福祉,促进中国与世界的和平发展。     

文学模糊语言的翻译及译者的地位

本文旨在讨论模糊语言与翻译的关系.以虚对实,以模糊语言翻译原文的准确语言;以虚对虚,以模糊语言翻译原文中的模糊语言;以实对虚,以精确语言翻译原文中的模糊语言等角度探讨模糊语言翻译的方法.在翻译文学模糊语言中,译者应当明确自己的角色和作用,使译文文本同原文一样呈开放性的结构,让译文读者介入其中,去解读,去阐释,从而获得共鸣.     

小我争(护)面子与大我争面子导向之关系的探讨

本研究的目的是从中国人为大我争面子的行为与小我争(或护)面子行为间的关系的角度探讨中国人大我争面子行为的心理学意义.研究一结果显示:小我争、护面子导向量表得分双高组的大我争面子量表得分显著高于一高组和双低组,即提示前者更需要采取为大我争面子的方式来解决小我争面子与护面子需要间的冲突;研究二结果显示:小我争面子导向高的个体会在能力类特质上进行自我增强,小我护面子导向高的个体会在共享类特质上进行自我增强,而大我争面子导向高的个体则同时在两类特质上表现出自我增强,即提示为大我争面子可以让个体同时实现两类社会赞许价值.最后,笔者针对本研究所存在的问题以及进一步研究的议题进行了讨论.     

Ethnic Identities under the Tourist Gaze

This paper examines the construction of Bai ethnicity and Bai identity on the tourist market in Dali, Dali Bai Autonomous Prefecture, Yunnan, China. Focusing on how the social landscape of Dali has changed in response to the development of tourism, this paper explores how Bai ethnicity is advocated as a product loaded with potential economic values. The author discovers that ‘commerce of authenticity’ (T. Oakes, Tourism and modernity in China. London, Routledge, 1998 Oakes, T. 1998. Tourism and modernity in China, London: Routledge.  [Google Scholar]), and different forms of ethnicity and artefacts promoted in the tourist market have not drowned out the sense of being ethnically Bai. Instead, the tourist industry has become a daily reminder of ethnicity to both insiders and outsiders by making people more self-conscious and reflexive about the ‘cultural stuff’ that they may have previously taken for granted, or may have left unattended. This paper demonstrates how locals actively appropriate state-defined categories and reshape them into the repertoire they desire.     

论左联机关刊物《北斗》主编丁玲的身份转换意识

主编《北斗》是丁玲由“同路人”转变为革命的“螺丝钉”的开始。文章通过考察其由一位20年代末以出版同人期刊书籍为乐的女编辑,到担任左联机关刊物《北斗》主编这一身份转换中自我认知历程,探讨了丁玲新的“角色知觉”的觉醒与“角色适应”之间复杂矛盾的精神世界。