Suchergebnisse

This article considers the questions of the realization of the national policy in the sphere of creation of the Polish national Soviets. The problems of legislative registration of national Soviets are mentioned, the activity of bodies of authority, approaches and the principles of or-ganization of the Polish village Soviets are dealt with. The article also investigates the problem of ethnic identification «of the Polish population», as well as the reliability of Soviet statistics concerning the quantity of the Polish population in the BSSR. = Рассматривается вопрос реализации национальной политики в сфере создания польских национальных советов. Затрагиваются проблемы их законодательного оформления, анализируется деятельность органов власти, подходы и принципы организации польских сельсоветов. Исследуются проблемы этнической идентификации «польского» населения, достоверности советской статистики в отношении его численности в БССР.

This article examines how, since the colonial period, different actors in and from Burma (Myanmar) have mobilized political support around sometimes competing notions of Karen ethno-nationalism. Christian elites in particular have sought to impose a homogenous idea of "Karen-ness" on this diverse society. These concepts and processes have been legitimized by outsiders, including missionaries and (more recently) human rights activists and aid workers. However, attempts to impose Karen unity from above have often proved divisive in practice, and have helped to fuel 60 years of ethnic conflict in Burma. This article also narrates the re-emergence of civil society networks within and between Karen communities over the past decade, and concludes by sketching the outlines of a consociational approach to the problem of Karen "unity in diversity". (Contemp Southeast Asia/GIGA)

This article uses the case study of the reorganisation of the infantry announced in December 2004 to argue that the government undertook reforms that were in the army's interest rather than its own and that the existing schools of thinking within defence fail to explain this behaviour. The article goes on to make three conclusions. Firstly, our traditional assumptions about structure-agency within defence are incorrect and that agency has a far greater role to play. Secondly, that the battle of the Scottish Regiments raises questions about the balance between local, regional and ethnic identity. Thirdly, that the army reorganisation highlights the weakness of the current defence debate in the United Kingdom with much of the existing literature left over from the Cold War period.

Although cohesive neighborhoods are associated with a wide variety of positive outcomes for residents, little research on neighborhood cohesion has been done in multiethnic neighborhoods. This exploratory study combines the administration of Buckner's Neighborhood Cohesion Index to 50 Latinos and 50 African Americans, with semistructured qualitative interviews with 14 Latino and African American residents. Results from the quantitative cohesion measure indicate a moderate level of cohesion in the neighborhood, with Latinos having a significantly higher degree of attraction to the neighborhood as well as neighborly contact. An analysis of the qualitative interviews indicates differences between the two groups, although both groups agree that mutual aid and respect are keys to cohesion. Even with the social distance between ethnic groups, both groups are willing to work together to improve their neighborhood.

Japan has often been regarded as an ethnically homogeneous society whose restrictive immigration policies reflect the deep-seated cultural peculiarities of this 'island nation'. By contrast, I shall argue that Japan's post- 1945 cultural separation from the other countries of East Asia, and its strict border controls, were to a large extent products of Cold War politics. The postwar democratization of Japan went hand in hand with the introduction of tight restrictions on cross-border mobility: restrictions which had profound consequences for the rights of ethnic minorities in Japan (particularly Koreans and Taiwanese). An exploration of the emergence and impact of this border control regime casts new light, not just on Japan's role in the Northeast Asian region, but also on key limitations of nation-state centred notions of liberal democracy.

Historians have traditionally paid relatively little attention to the French migrations to America. Although in the early modern period France was a demographic giant, had a deep – yet not enough recognized – maritime tradition, had many colonies in the Americas from the Gulf of Saint-Lawrence to the Amazon, and suffered from a tumultuous political history comparatively few of its people migrated to British North America and the United States. France has therefore and to some extent understandably enjoyed minimal visibility in the American ethnic landscape. There is, however, a long tradition of French migrations to America, beginning with the Huguenots at the end of the seventeenth century. At times these influxes were important in terms of number and influence, indeed in 1690 and in 1790 French was spoken in the streets of Charleston and of Philadelphia.

Based on the findings of focus groups and key informant interviews, an 'isolation cycle' is proposed to conceptualize the interrelated processes that marginalize first generation migrant Muslim refugee women from meaningful participation in Australian society. We hold that both internal 'ethnic' factors and external societal factors are jointly involved in perpetuating a cycle of isolation for Muslim refugee women. Hence, we propose that the tendency of social analysts, politicians and media commentators alike to focus on one group over the other as a means of casting 'blame' on difficulties surrounding integration is misguided. We conclude that more attention is required by Australian services and government agencies in breaking the isolation cycle through a more sustained, pro-active strategy directed not only at refugee settlers, but Australian society in general.

Abstract: Similarities and differences in predictors of retention/attendance patterns between African American and Hispanic parent participants (N= 143) from a family‐focused preventive intervention were examined. Three broad retention pattern groups, nonattenders, variable attenders, and consistent high attenders, and 2 subgroups of the variable attendance group, decreasing low attenders and decreasing high attenders, were identified. In subgroup analyses, 3 significant discriminant functions were evident: 1 function classified Hispanic parents' retention patterns using sociodemographic indicators (e.g., educational attainment, household income) and 2 functions discriminated Hispanic and African American parents' patterns using family‐level predictors (e.g., multiple caregivers attending the intervention, perceived barriers to participation). Implications are discussed in terms of strategies for improving methods of retaining participants in family‐centered interventions conducted with ethnic minority families.

Indonesia's private television industry blossomed into a powerful source of national, mass culture production in the 1990's and early 2000's. This essay examines the ways in which producers' subject position, in relation to global media form and narrative, is transformed, through production processes and conventions, into a distinctive 'way of looking'. By focusing on the example of a travel program, issues related to the representation of elements classified as 'traditional' or 'ethnic' is explored. Grounded in long-term ethnographic fieldwork among the country's TV producers, programmers and station executives, the essay puts forward the notion that the use of global forms and narratives leads to the encoding of a particular 'gaze' in popular programming, which positions viewers as foreign to symbols of traditional culture. (Asian J Commun/NIAS)

Today's young Koreans were brought up under an affluent & democratized society. Proud of their Korean nationality, they embrace ethnic nationalism in two dimensions: on the one hand, assertive nationalism to the world & toward the United States in particular, & on the other hand, inter-Korean nationalism with the people of North Korea. With no memories of war & less fear of the communist North, younger Koreans prefer peaceful coexistence with North Korea. Although they recognize the importance of the alliance relationship with the United States, they are sensitive to social problems in hosting U.S. forces. Domestically, they are pressing for reforms to make the nation a consolidated democracy. Nevertheless, the political activism of this vibrant generation is limited, driven by selective events. Its immediate interests are largely cultural & pragmatic. Adapted from the source document.

According to the author, ethno-political conflicts of the late XX early XXI centuries clearly demonstrate a dramatic intensification of ethnic consolidation and mobilization processes. T.Polyannikov is not disposed to consider nationalism as mass state of mind characteristic only of the world system's periphery. He regards today's activation of ethno-nationalist consciousness as a world-wide phenomenon. The article pays a particular attention to the study of a difficult interrelation between «postmodern» nationalism and the process of globalization, values of liberalism and political democracy. T.Polyannikov believes that the appearance of a «new» nationalism at the confines of the XXI century constitutes a rather natural, although quite dangerous and fraught with many risks, factor of a general process of global democratization.