This second volume of the book series Nova Collectanea Africana focuses on the relations between minorities and politics in independent Africa. Politics and Minorities in Africa gives an account of political participation of African minorities from their own point of view, instead of analyzing it from the majority's perspective. Rather than keeping the traditional distinction between Mediterranean and Sub-Saharan Africa, Politics and Minorities in Africa encompasses a relevant number of African countries, analyzed through several case studies. The book is divided instead into four thematic sections: Identities, Elections, Religion and Boundaries and Territories. Each chapter presents an original contribution, drawing from different disciplinary approaches. This results in a multifaceted and multidisciplinary overview of the issue.
Source at https://doi.org/10.17238/issn2221-2698.2017.27.165 . ; В статье рассматривается взаимосвязь между наукой и политикой в исследованиях меньшинств в период с 1979 до середины 1980-х гг. в Университете Тромсё. На исследование оказали влияние различные условия того времени, такие как политические события и приоритеты и идеологические потоки в академических кругах. Три фактора повлияли на выбор темы, приоритетов и подходов к исследованиям меньшинств в Северной Норвегии. Первым фактором было возведение дамбы на реке Алта-Каутокейно, затем борьба за права саамов и политические изменения в отношении саамского населения в Норвегии. Каковы были последствия этой политики для исследований в академической среде в Северной Норвегии? Вторым фактором стала исследовательская программа, проводимая Норвежским общим научно-исследовательским сове-том (NAVF). Анализ соответствующих тем и тематических областей в исследованиях меньшинств осуществляется на основе этой исследовательской программы. Наконец, будут использоваться методологические и исследовательские политические дискуссии по эмическим и этическим позициям, которые были значимы в 1980-х гг. Только ли саамы или также исследователи, принадлежащие к этническому большинству, имели право проводить исследования саамов? Источниками явились внутренние документы, отчёты, научные статьи и устные сведения из UiT. ; English abstract : The article examines the interplay between science and politics in minority research in the period 1979 to mid-1980s at the University of Tromsø. Research was influenced by different conditions at the time, such as political events and policy priorities and ideological of streams in academia. Three factors influenced the choice of theme, priorities and approaches to minority research in North Norway. The first factor was the damming of the Alta-Kautokeino river, followed by Sami rights struggle and political changes towards the Sami population in Norway. What consequences did the political case for the research for the academic environment in the Northern Norway? The second factor was the research program run by the Norwegian general scientific Research (NAVF). An analysis on the relevant themes and focus areas within minority research is undertaken on basis of the research program. Finally I will use the methodological and research political discussions on emic and etic research positions that took place in the 1980s. Was it the Sami themselves, or also the researchers belonging to the majority that had the right to pursue research on the Sami? Sources consist of internal documents, reports, research papers and oral sources from the UiT.
Through an exploration of the representation of ethnic minorities in the museums of Kunming, Yunnan Province of China, this article discusses the active role that museums play in the processes of memory and identity engineering, whereby museum images and narratives are used to support collective imagination about ethnic minorities' identities and past. Drawing from a comparative analysis of museum displays in Kunming, I discuss how the image of ethnic minorities is conveyed through a selective process of i) remembering and emphasizing specific cultural elements, ii) forgetting other elements, and lastly, iii) modifying the perception of ethnic minorities relation to the Han majority. By revealing the extent and modalities through which museum representations manipulate ethnic minorities' identities in China, the analysis aims to contribute to our understanding of the multiple ways in which museums act as sites for the enactment of collective memory and imagination.
Regional politics play a decisive role in national politics when region poses ethnic groups in competing manner. Sri Lanka's Eastern province has been a contested region in terms of ethnic and territorial integration as well as the integration of majority and minorities from the independence of the country, during civil war, and in the post-civil war era. This study explores the ethnic groups' competition for political control and autonomy, as well as its impact in Eastern Sri Lanka. This study has employed both qualitative and quantitative data, collected mainly through secondary sources such as literary books, book chapters, journal articles, newspaper cuttings, and government documents, which are analyzed and presented through interpretive and descriptive manners. The study has found that the Eastern province has been a contested choice for the ethnic majority to extend their ethnic domination, and to implement ethno-centric development-cum settlement policies and programs, all of which are ultimately induced to change the ethnic composition of the region and pushed ethnic minorities to mobilize and demand for more decentralized power and autonomy in the region. The thirty-year prolonged civil war made the region not only a war-torn, but also let to undermining regional democratic principles, including minorities' rights for autonomy. The study also reveals that the new emerging post-war political context at the provincial and national levels continues to undermine the minorities' hopes for autonomy in the region. Nevertheless, the region has emerged as 'role-model' for ethnic cohesive politics.
Using a state-level panel data set on the incidence of hate crimes in India, this paper implements difference in difference (DID) and triple difference in difference (DDD) research designs to estimate the causal impact of the right-wing BJP's win in the 2014 parliamentary elections on hate crimes against religious minorities (Muslims, Christians and Sikhs). Comparing the periods 2009-13 (pre-election) and 2014-18 (post-election), I find that BJP's electoral victory caused an increase in the incidence of hate crimes against religious minorities in India.
This study is devoted to politics of nationalism under Bulgarian communism (1944-89). The research aims to analyse the actual content of the Bulgarian communist policies on three main national questions and the ideas behind them. How did Bulgarian communism understand nation and nationalism? How did the Bulgarian Communist Party policy on issues of nationalism change over time? What was the legacy of communist politics of nationalism after the fall of the regime in 1989? This thesis focuses on three national questions in Bulgaria: `the Macedonian Question', the position of the ethnic Turkish minority, and the politics of Jewish identity. It argues that revealing the ideas behind the communist policies in relation to these questions explains how communism understood national identity in Bulgaria. Chapter 1 provides an overview of theories of nationalism and communism in relation to Bulgarian communism. Chapter 2 analyses the understanding of communist internationalism and nationalism of the founders of Bulgarian communism and their followers in the contest of Marxism, Marxism-Leninism and Stalinism. Chapter 3 discusses Bulgarian communist mythology and argues that under communism Bulgarian national mythology was at the basis of promoting cultural nationalism which in its own turn was used for political mobilisation against ethnic diversity. Chapters 4,5 and 6 are dedicated to the three national questions mentioned above and their development under communism. Chapter 7 examines politics of nationalism after the fall of the communist regime in Bulgaria in 1989 and argues that by promoting cultural nationalism based on ethnic homogeneity the policies of the BCP in relation to ethnic minorities determined the politics of nationalism during post-communism in Bulgaria. The chapters are linked by the argument that Bulgarian communism changed its original idea of building a communist ration-State as a political community with class identity at its core to building an ethnically homogenous nation-state with ethnic Bulgarian identity as its organising principle.
As recently as November 1988, the then Minister for Justice, Gerry Collins, speaking in Seanad Éireann during the Second Stage of the Prohibition of Incitement to Racial, Religious or National Hatred Bill, remarked that Ireland was "essentially a homogeneous society" and "despite our membership of the European Community and, therefore, our close relationship with a number of societies which are becoming increasingly multiracial, the racial structure of this country is unlikely to change significantly for some time to come." Whereas Collins viewed Ireland as a homogenous society in the late 1980s, this is certainly not the case today. A look at the 2011 census reveals that 544,357 non-Irish nationals were living in the Republic of Ireland, an increase of 143% since 2002, representing 199 different nations. The change in Ireland's demographics has coincided with a transformation in Ireland's reputation as one of being a socially conservative society dominated by the teaching of the Roman Catholic Church, to one of Ireland being a leading exemplar for human rights and tolerance throughout the world. This was most epitomised by the 2018 repeal of the eighth amendment of Bunreacht na hÉireann, which had placed a constitutional ban on abortion since the divisive referendum of 1983, and the 2015 marriage equality referendum. It is within this context that the tenth issue of Studi irlandesi. A Journal of Irish Studies focuses on "Minorities in/and Ireland" as a means of contextualising the important role minorities have played in Irish society. "Minorities in/and Ireland" comprises ten essays divided up into four sections: "Queer Representations in Literature"; "Home and Away: Notions of Irishness"; "Theatre and Minorities' (In)Visibility"; "Resilience: Travellers and Magdalene Survivors", which broadly address issues such as: the representation of LGBT individuals, exiles, migrants, and refugees in Irish literature; LGBT migrants and political activism; the role of theatre as a medium of giving voice to minorities like Ireland's Jewish community and those with disabilities; and the resilience of Ireland's Traveller community and survivors of Magdalene Laundries. The essays are not confined to one period, instead, they span from the late 1800s to the present day, covering both the North and South of Ireland as well as regions outside Ireland. Combined, these essays provide an insight into a changing Ireland. ; -- 1. Queer Representations in Literature -- 2. Home and Away: Notions of Irishness -- 3. Theatre and Minorities' (In)Visibility -- 4. Resilience: Travellers and Magdalene Survivors
The article examines contemporary memory politics in Belarus as exhibited by new monuments to Holocaust victims, the genocide of the Roma people, and the mass killings of representatives of the Polish minority during World War II. It analyses various instances of the exploitation of the mythology of World War II for daily political purposes. Dr Kotljarchuk draws parallels with memory politics in Ukraine, and its conciliation with Poland and Russia with which Belarus shares similar problems, namely the very limited commemoration of the genocide of the Roma and the swift rate of memorialisation of the Holocaust.
