Exodus by Choice: Voluntariness in Ethnic Migration Sagas

Racial and ethnic violence takes many forms. Genocides, ethnic cleansing, pogroms, civil wars, and violent separatist movements are the most obvious and extreme expressions, but less organized violence such as rioting, and hate crimes by individuals or small groups are products of racial and ethnic conflict as well. Also, the distribution of criminal violence within societies, which may or may not be aimed at members of another group, is in some places a by-product of ongoing conflicts between superior and subordinated racial or ethnic groups. Although estimates of the number of deaths attributable to ethnic violence vary widely, range of eleven to twenty million given for the period between 1945 and the early 1990s show the gravity of this type of conflict (Williams 1994, 50). So it comes as no surprise that scholars have paid increasing attention to such conflicts over the last decades.

Racial and ethnic violence takes many forms. Genocides, ethnic cleansing, pogroms, civil wars, and violent separatist movements are the most obvious and extreme expressions, but less organized violence such as rioting, and hate crimes by individuals or small groups are products of racial and ethnic conflict as well. Also, the distribution of criminal violence within societies, which may or may not be aimed at members of another group, is in some places a by-product of ongoing conflicts between superior and subordinated racial or ethnic groups. Although estimates of the number of deaths attributable to ethnic violence vary widely, range of eleven to twenty million given for the period between 1945 and the early 1990s show the gravity of this type of conflict (Williams 1994, 50). So it comes as no surprise that scholars have paid increasing attention to such conflicts over the last decades.

How can one understand the phenomenon known as “ethnic violence?” Does subsuming events under the category “ethnic violence” assist our understanding or does it obscure it? Are there lessons that theformethnic violence takes can teach us? These questions are important not only for anyone interested in the causes and prevention of ethnic violence but also for those who wish to understand group behavior more generally. I explore this question more fully through analysis of the case of the Russian Federation. Russia is a country where in recent times skinhead violence against ethnic minorities has become an important issue. According to Tarasov, Russia contains between 60,000 and 65,000 skinheads active in at least 85 different cities. These skinheads daily commit appalling acts of violence against members of ethnic minorities and human rights activists. Three instances of violence all from the year 2006 help to illustrate some of their activities.

As ethnic diversity increases in schools, it"s vital to understand the dynamics of ethnic violence, which can negatively impact student well-being and academic achievement. Addressing the issue requires recognizing the complexities of ethnic diversity, promoting inclusivity, and implementing targeted interventions to prevent and mitigate violence. This systematic review focuses on understanding the multiple levels of factors that contribute to ethnic violence among adolescents within school settings. This is a systematic review of articles published between 1990 and the end of 2023 using the keywords race/ethnic minority, adolescent, ethnic and racial minorities, school, and violence in the PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases. And the main entry criteria were articles that dealt with the issue of ethnic violence, and their target population was teenagers of different ethnicities who were studying in educational environments. We identified key determinants at the student, classroom, and school levels. At the student level, immigrant status, gender, and academic performance were significant factors, with immigrants and first-generation boys more involved in violence. Classroom-level factors included the ethnic composition of the classroom, where increased diversity sometimes exacerbated tensions. At the school level, school size, security measures, and the presence of gangs influenced the prevalence of ethnic violence. The consequences of ethnic violence are profound, resulting in physical harm, psychological harm, reduced academic achievement, and long-term health problems. This violence also undermines social cohesion and economic development by perpetuating cycles of fear, mistrust, and social isolation. This review shows that ethnic violence in schools is shaped by a range of student-, classroom-, and school-level factors. In particular, immigrant generation, low SES, classroom diversity without integration, and school-level prejudice or gang presence are pivotal drivers. Multilevel interventions are required to support first-generation adolescents, manage classroom diversity, and implement anti-gang school policies.

Background/Aims Individuals of ethnic minorities within the UK have worse healthcare experiences and poorer health outcomes than their white counterparts. Despite the UK welfare state employing multiple public health and social policies to attempt to reduce the impact of socio-economic inequalities on health, these health inequalities remain. It has been demonstrated that sociodemographic characteristics play an important role in a person’s risk of developing rheumatic disease, their disease progression, and treatment journeys. While research into ethnic inequalities in systemic autoimmune and rheumatic conditions (SARDs) within the USA is extensive, there is limited understanding of the experiences of ethnic minorities in the UK. This study aims to investigate how ethnicity affects the medical and lived experiences of ethnic minorities with SARDs in the UK. Methods We are currently conducting in-depth interviews with participants purposefully selected from the INSPIRE and LISTEN rheumatology research projects to ensure a broad range of sociodemographic characteristics. Interviews to date have been carried out with N = 21 patients (38% S.E Asian and 90% Female), and N = 9 clinicians (67% rheumatologists). Interviewing will continue until data saturation has been reached. Analysis is thematic and involves immersion in the data, coding using NVivo, and discussion of themes with a multidisciplinary team including patient partners. Results Preliminary findings demonstrated that approximately half of the patients in the sample reported experiencing some form of discrimination based on their ethnicity. This included feeling that their ethnicity was a contributing factor to receiving less quality care: “If I were white they would have treated me differently. There is no doubt. I questioned whether they were being prejudiced because I was Korean” (Female lupus patient). Other patients felt that discrimination was often more subtle: “racism, particularly in this country, it’s very sophisticated⋯.you can’t really pinpoint it- it’s like adding garlic to a dish. You know it’s there⋯ But you can’t really prove it” (Female lupus patient). There were examples given of patients feeling typecast by clinicians based on preconceived notions of how people of their ethnicity display disease symptoms or behave. However, other participants reported that their ethnicity had no impact on their care. Some suggested that living in major cities with diverse populations reduced ethnic discrimination. Some clinicians expressed having an awareness of patient-perceived discrimination and communicated more difficulty treating patients of ethnic minorities due to a lack of understanding of their socio-cultural experiences. Conclusion This study is of importance for exploring the experiences and views of clinicians and patients relating to ethnicity. It will also address avenues for improving medical resources, satisfaction with care, and support for SARDs patients of ethnic minorities. Full analyses will be completed by January 2025 and reported at the conference. Disclosure S. Taylor: None. M. Ubhi: None. S. Tayabali: None. R. Modi: None. K. Naidu: None. A. Taiwo: None. M. Piper: None. A. Kaul: None. E. Dunbar: None. W. Diment: None. D. D’Cruz: Corporate appointments; Leadership position on the APS charity board. Consultancies; Consultancy/speaker fees from GSK, Eli Lilly, Vifor and UCB. M. Sloan: None.

(1986). Compulsory admission to psychiatric hospital under the 1959 Mental Health Act: The experience of ethnic minorities. New Community: Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 86-93.

In the WHO Western Pacific Region, primary health care (PHC) is considered ‘the future of health’ and the key to achieving universal health coverage. However, political, economic and social forces...

The ethnic violence that occurred in the former Yugoslavia during the mid-1990s has become one of the defining events of recent history. As such, today's students should develop an awareness of the history of that situation and its implications for contemporary society. Because textbooks provide the structure of most high school history courses, an analysis of textbook coverage of the Bosnian and Kosovar situations should provide critical information regarding what students learn about the events that occurred in those regions. This article analyzes how six frequently used history textbooks cover ethnic violence in the former Yugoslavia, thus providing data regarding what students learn about those situations.

Which combinations of government structures and electoral systems create better frameworks for addressing ethnic violence? Is there any one-size-fits-all institutional solution to violent ethnic conflict? Why or why not? These questions are of substantial importance to scholars and policymakers alike, but the extant literature does not provide a systematic and thorough exploration. In this article, we argue that the effects of political institutions on ethnic violence are moderated by parameters of ethnic configurations. Through a large comparative study, we find that institutions are relevant when ethnic groups are not geographically dispersed, and whether ethnic minorities face a majority group also matters. For concentrated minorities facing a majority, semi-presidential-proportional and presidential-proportional systems are more effective in reducing violence. In cases involving concentrated minorities facing no majority, parliamentary-non-proportional systems are associated with the most intense violence. We conclude that states seeking to alleviate ethnic violence by institutional engineering must take contexts seriously.

Rape as a Tool against Women in War: The Role of Spiritual Caregivers to Support the Survivors of an Ethnic Violence Nazila Isgandarova Rape in war constitutes one of the most common and the most severe forms of violence against women. The rape of women in war is used as “a deliberate strategy to undermine community bonds, weaken resistance to aggression.” Ethnic conflict theories help us understand this phenomenon, which can help us understand why rape against women and children became a war weapon. Ethnic conflicts are not new in history and “many powerful nations have attacked and chased off their lands less powerful nations and groups they deemed subordinate and alien.” Researchers have been trying to answer to questions such as: What is an ethnic conflict? What are the reasons for ethnic conflict? Why has rape become a tool in the war against the enemy? The literature review suggests that rape was and continues to be one of the severe forms of violence against women in war. Its massive application, especially in the twentieth century, raises many questions that will be analyzed in this article: What were and are the main reasons that kept the women who were abused during the Azerbaijani genocide and ethnic cleansing alive? What gave them hope to live? The empirical literature has two main approaches: the rational choice approach and emotion‐based approach, which help us to answer to the above‐cited questions. Rational choice approach emphasizes the actions of elites and political actors, the structural factors and territory. The second approach focuses on the emotions of people who actively engaged in the process. In light of these theories, I answer questions such as: Why the Armenian state organized expulsion, torture, rape, and murder against the members of Azerbaijanis? Why did individuals choose to sink to such savagery against their own lifelong neighbors? How do the female victims of war against Azerbaijan continue their lives with the trauma? What is the role of spirituality and religion? Was spirituality beneficial for the survivors of rape in war? How can the spiritual caregiver support the female survivors of Azerbaijani genocide and ethnic cleansing? Ethnic cleansing is an action “to remove a people and often all traces of them from a concrete territory” and genocide is “the intentional killing off of part or all of an ethnic, religious or national group.” One United Nations report indicates that the purpose of ethnic cleansing is “to instill terror in a civilian population, in order to cause them to flee and never return” as exemplified by Azerbaijanis in Armenia and Karabagh Azerbaijanis were the majority in Armenia and Karabagh until 1988. The purpose of ethnic cleansing by Armenians against them was to stop the increase in number among Azerbaijanis and force them to leave their homelands. Ethnic cleansing always involves violence because people do not leave their homelands willingly. They leave if they are forced out, sometimes in most brutal fashion using hunger, disease, and the pains of displacement. The method of ethnic cleansing includes coerced departure, harassment to induce departure, cultural cleansing, payment for expulsion, etc. Ethnic cleansing is closely related to war; many ethnic cleansing events have taken place during war or during the chaotic transition from war to peace. Another aspect of ethnic cleansing is the destruction of the historical monuments and traces of memory of the presence of the nation, which afflicted with the ethnic violence. The physical remnants of the nation are the first to be destroyed. There are numerous examples of the eradication of the Azerbaijanis's graveyards, the central architectural heritage, etc., in Armenia and the occupied regions of Azerbaijan. Ethnic cleansing also involves crimes of both the individuals and the state against property of the targeted group, including theft and stealing. According to the rational school, ethnic conflict is largely conceptualized as a matter of cynical politicians, who mobilize people by creating fear and greed for personal advantages. In many ethnic cleansing events, including the ethnic cleansing of Azerbaijanis in Karabagh and Armenia, the Russian and Armenian elites encouraged Armenian people to commit violence against Azerbaijanis. The political institutions and state, including but not limited to state officials, including police forces, militaries...

Sport continues to play a prominent role in debates around the inclusion and exclusion of minority groups in Britain. Despite its legacy of racist chanting and abuse in the professional game, English soccer is now increasingly promoted by the British government and the English Football Association (FA) as having a central role to play in challenging racism and increasing the involvement of ethnic minorities in British civic society. This essay attempts to begin to account for the – often problematic – experiences of ethnic minorities in the grass roots game by focusing on those who organize and control local football. Particular attention is paid to the amateurist origins of County Football Associations (CFAs) that emerged in Victorian Britain and continue to inform decision making and the priorities at these associations. It focuses on how those in positions of power at this level – Council Members – are coming to terms with the increasingly diverse nature of their playing population. It uses research undertaken at five CFAs across England that elicited the opinions of those within CFAs with regard to the FA’s ‘Sports Equity Strategy’. This new FA document requires CFAs to take positive action to increase the involvement of ethnic minorities across their local game, including within the CFAs themselves. The essay also discusses some of the reasons why many members of CFAs have difficulty in supporting such race equality initiatives. It explores the ways in which racialized narratives become particularly relevant in understanding such resistance. It is argued that the difficulties faced by ethnic minorities in English local football are better understood when analysing the complex ways that ‘race’ is employed to legitimize the positions of those currently in charge of the game.

BackgroundEthnic minorities in high-income countries have higher rates of unintended pregnancies but are less likely to use highly efficacious long-acting reversible contraception (LARC). The reasons for this are unclear.AimTo understand...

Human resources are the most significant asset, a decisive factor for the existence and development of every country. Human resource development has become an urgent task not only of each country but also of each region and region according to the characteristics of geography, population and requirements of economic development orientation - society. In the mountainous areas of Vietnam, ethnic minority human resources are considered a central factor, playing a decisive role in socio-economic growth and development. Human resource training is a fundamental factor determining socio-economic development in ethnic minority areas in mountainous areas; it plays a decisive role in the education, professional and technical qualifications of human resources, training people capable of leading and gathering ethnic minority communities in production organization and social management; create human resources capable of applying new scientific and technological achievements in parallel with promoting indigenous knowledge and experiences of ethnic minorities in socio-economic development, and at the same time capable of solving new problems, problems arising in practice, production and social life.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0061/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

BackgroundWorldwide, the Coronavirus pandemic has had a major impact on people's health, lives, and livelihoods. However, this impact has not been felt equally across various population groups. People from ethnic minority backgrounds in the UK have been more adversely affected by the pandemic, especially in terms of their physical health. Their mental health, on the other hand, has received less attention. This study aimed to explore the mental health experiences of UK adults from ethnic minorities during the Coronavirus pandemic. This work forms part of our wider long-term UK population study “Mental Health in the Pandemic.”MethodsWe conducted an exploratory qualitative study with people from ethnic minority communities across the UK. A series of in-depth interviews were conducted with 15 women, 14 men and 1 non-binary person from ethnic minority backgrounds, aged between 18 and 65 years old (mean age = 40). We utilized purposefully selected maximum variation sampling in order to capture as wide a variety of views, perceptions and experiences as possible. Inclusion criteria: adults (18+) from ethnic minorities across the UK; able to provide full consent to participate; able to participate in a video- or phone-call interview. All interviews took place via MS Teams or Zoom. The gathered data were transcribed verbatim and underwent thematic analysis following Braun and Clarke carried out using NVivo 12 software.ResultsThe qualitative data analysis yielded seven overarching themes: (1) pandemic-specific mental health and wellbeing experiences; (2) issues relating to the media; (3) coping mechanisms; (4) worries around and attitudes toward vaccination; (5) suggestions for support in moving forward; (6) best and worst experiences during pandemic and lockdowns; (7) biggest areas of change in personal life. Generally, participants' mental health experiences varied with some not being affected by the pandemic in a way related to their ethnicity, some sharing positive experiences and coping strategies (exercising more, spending more time with family, community cohesion), and some expressing negative experiences (eating or drinking more, feeling more isolated, or even racism and abuse, especially toward Asian communities). Concerns were raised around trust issues in relation to the media, the inadequate representation of ethnic minorities, and the spread of fake news especially on social media. Attitudes toward vaccinations varied too, with some people more willing to have the vaccine than others.ConclusionThis study's findings highlight the diversity in the pandemic mental health experiences of ethnic minorities in the UK and has implications for policy, practice and further research. To enable moving forward beyond the pandemic, our study surfaced the need for culturally appropriate mental health support, financial support (as a key mental health determinant), accurate media representation, and clear communication messaging from the Governments of the UK.

It appears that institutions of higher education in Britain are far behind the schools and colleges of further education in assessing the experience and success of ethnic minorities, and in developing and monitoring equal opportunity policies. The article starts with a review’ of currently available evidence from the literature on the participation rate of various ethnic groups in higher education. This is followed by a brief discussion of some key factors influencing their entry into higher education institutions. The information available to date indicates an uneven distribution of ethnic minorities between these institutions and the subjects they offer. The article contains the preliminary findings, from a research project, on the performance of students f om ethnic minority groups at Bradford & Ilkley Community College and four other institutions of higher education in the North of England. There is a brief discussion of some important issues, including racial discrimination and racial harassment, acting as barriers to the success of ethnic minorities in higher education. It is suggested that further research in this area is urgently needed to ensure that students from ethnic minority communities benefit equally from the higher education provision in Britain.