Being-in-motion: the everyday (gendered and classed) embodied mobilities for UK university students who commute

This article makes the case for a more robust mobilities approach to student geographies in the UK, in order to problematise the enduring binary of [im]mobility (‘going away’ vs. ‘staying local’) and to challenge the presumed linearity of educational (and mobility) transitions in higher education. Through a discussion of two UK-based studies, we make the case for considering the complex and multi-layered everyday mobilities of students who commute to illuminate a broader range of mobility practices that shape students’ experiences and identities, and which are embedded in multiple and intersecting embodiments of class, gender, age and ethnicity.     

认同理论与世界区域化研究

认同 (identity)是对我是谁、我在哪里的反思性理解。文化认同是认同的核心内容。认同理论对世界区域化研究具有重要的指导意义。世界区域化进程并非始于近代。伴随着人类走向文明的脚步 ,人类历史的横向发展就开始超越国家界限 ,从而形成了不同的区域世界。虽然这种区域世界的发展长期以来都是以某个主导的国家为中心而展开的 ,但它是人类走向整体的世界历史的重要一步。     

民族主义与近代中国民族觉醒--以近代中国北部、西部边疆危机为例

民族与民族主义的概念产生于西方,并被赋予很强的政治含义:在西方的民族理论中,民族以建立民族国家为政治目标,民族主义是建立民族国家的理论基础.这种思想在近代传入中国,对中国的民族觉醒以及国家主权意识的培育产生了相当大的影响,也是近代以来西方殖民主义染指中国边疆民族地区,策划少数民族独立、分裂中国的理论依据.近代以来,在民族与国家关系的处理中,以中华民族为依托的国家观念在外力的作用下得到加强,使边疆危机最终得到化解.     

COVID‐19: A threat to educated Muslim women's negotiated identity in Pakistan

This study attempts to explore how the lockdown/containment measures taken by the government during the COVID‐19 pandemic have threatened educated Muslim women's negotiated identity regarding wifehood and motherhood in urban Pakistan and how they struggle to reposition to reconstruct it. Through semi‐structured interviews, making an in‐depth comparative study of three differently situated cases (Muslim women), this study argues that the abnormal situation that has ensued from the pandemic has reinforced the vulnerability of women's nascent negotiated identity by landing them in a space where they are supposed by the normative structures to step back to carrying out their traditional responsibilities as ‘good’ wife and mother during the crisis. It has found that the pandemic has similarity in its impacts for the women in their familial lives, despite their being variously situated and resistive, due to the general religio‐culturally defined patriarchal social behaviour of the place (Pakistan) toward women and lack of action on the part of the state for implementing its laws of women's empowerment.     

Heterosexual Marital Intention: Effects of Internalized Homophobia,Homosexual Identity,Perceived Family Support,and Disclosure Among Chinese Gay and Bisexual Men

ABSTRACT

The present study explored the factors that influence the likelihood that 217 Chinese gay/bisexual men will engage in heterosexual marriage, focusing on the Chinese cultural context, in which filial duties to marry, have children, and support one’s parents in their old age are taken seriously. Data on heterosexual marital intention (HMI) were examined in relation to demographics, internalized homophobia, homosexual identity formation (HIF), perceived family support, and disclosure. We estimated a multinomial logistic regression model for HMI. Internalized homophobia was a predictor for HMI. Lower levels of HIF and disclosure were found in gay/bisexual men who have married or who intend to marry; and the more family support gay/bisexual men perceived, the more likely they were to enter heterosexual marriages. The findings could help to better evaluate and comprehend the factors leading to heterosexual marriages involving Chinese gay/bisexual men. The social implications of this research are also discussed.     

Forging a Brazilian Islam: Muslim Converts Negotiating Identity in São Paulo

Converts form a growing portion of the Muslim community in São Paulo, Brazil. Often introduced to Islam through media representations, they turn to religion for a variety of reasons, including the desire to search for spiritual truth. This article will examine questions of identity that arise during the process of religious conversion, using data gathered from extensive fieldwork. Specifically, it will analyze how male converts view the place of Islam within the context of Brazilian society and how they reimagine concepts of personal identity through religious conversion. The study suggests that converts hold diverse points of view regarding the development of their spiritual identity, emphasizing both the challenges and benefits of being Muslim and practicing Islam in Brazil.     

Ethnic origin and identity in the Jewish population of Israel*

The paper addresses the multifaceted quality of ethnicity in the Jewish population of Israel by probing into the ethnic categories and their subjective meaning. The analyses utilise data collected during 2015–2016 on a representative sample of Israelis age 15 and older, as part of the seventh and eighth rounds of the European Social Survey (ESS). Hypotheses are developed concerning the relationship between demographically based ethnic origin and national identity, as well as the effect of ethnically mixed marriages on ethnic and national identities. The analyses reveal a strong preference among Jews in Israel to portray their ancestry in inclusive national categories – Israeli and Jewish – rather than more particularistic, ethno-cultural, categories (e.g. Mizrahim, Moroccan, Ashkenazim, Polish, etc). Yet, whether Israeli or Jewish receives primacy differs by migration generation, socioeconomic standing, religion, and political dispositions. While the findings clearly add to our understanding of Israeli society, they are also telling with regard to immigrant societies more generally. First, they reveal a multi-layered structure of ethnic identification. Second, they suggest that ethnic identities are quite resistant to change. Third, ethnically mixed marriages appear to erode ethnic identities and are likely to replace them with national identities.     

Connecting Practical Doings to Cultural Meanings: Exploring the Work of Moral Mediators in Human Service Organizations

This study illuminates the work of moral mediators, which I define as organizational actors who work to strategically monitor, maintain, and manage the moral identity of others. My layered, organizational, narrative analysis of the mentoring organization Big Brothers Big Sisters draws on two types of data: client stories featured on the national website and ten in‐depth interviews with case managers at a local agency. My analysis demonstrates how case managers employ an emotional labor technique of drama dilution, or work done to add ambiguity to public storytelling in ways that leave more space for variations of deservingness, success, and morality. This article emphasizes the paradoxical nature of public organizational narratives and highlights the need for continued exploration of day‐to‐day work in conjunction with organizational structure and cultural values and beliefs.     

Conversion to Islam: Narratives of Awakening,Continuity, and Return

Previous research utilizing conversion narratives to understand how and why people convert has been troubled by the “accuracy” of the accounts. This study of Muslim converts in the United States sidesteps this problem by turning the focus away from the causes, motives, and drivers of conversion and placing it instead on the form or structure of their conversion narratives. More specifically, it foregrounds the subjective process of making sense of one's conversion story through the employment of formulaic narrative structures. Findings suggest that when accounting for their conversion to Islam, these respondents employed three different narrative structures: stories of awakening, continuity, and return. Although these stories vary in meaningful ways, each provides a different perspective on how conversion to Islam can be conceptualized and expressed narratively. The discussion centers on the similarities and differences between these stories in order to more fully articulate and distinguish their underlying premises. I conclude by considering how each of these stories are used by converts to convey the authenticity of their Muslim identities.     

Identity boxes: using materials and metaphors to elicit experiences

This paper considers the use of identity boxes as a data collection method to elicit experiences. Participants were asked to respond to questions using objects to represent their answers. The rationale for using identity boxes was to allow for a more embodied, less textual approach. The identity boxes were then also used to create an artistic installation as one form of data analysis. The reflection section in this paper shows that the approach posed potential risks around the emotional vulnerability of participants, with participants experiencing the project as cathartic and therapeutic. Some participants struggled with the process of thinking through objects as difficult. Although using a less conventional approach to research led to deeper, richer reflections and thus relevant, interesting data, concerns were raised around relevance, generalisability, and more generally the evaluation of the research. The paper concludes with a reconsideration of the identity boxes as a method.