Jordanna Bailkin. Unsettled: Refugee Camps and the Making of Multicultural Britain.

Through overall developments and movements, migration has spread throughout the world, causing concurrence and amalgamation of heterogeneous and culturally different societies. Present day societies are culturally even more diverse: individuals live in numerous cultures, speak in various languages, and have different identities. Despite the fact that the movement of Armenians previously existed in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, and Armenians have made numerous networks around the world, the considerable flow of relocation and the modern term of the Armenian Diaspora has developed because of the First World War after the Armenian Genocide in 1915, more explicitly, it comprises mostly individuals who survived the Armenian Genocide. The current research investigates the lives of the Armenian Diaspora in Germany, more specifically, the ones that have moved to Germany from Armenia, Iran, and Turkey. Studying the lives of the Armenian ethnic group in a host society, it discusses the issues of living in heterogeneous societies and cultures, the role that religion plays in the migration and integration context, affiliation and attachment to various cultures, hybrid cultural, religious and social identities: how Armenians perceive themselves and different societies in Germany, what it feels like to be away from their homeland and live in various cultures simultaneously, to what cultures they have a sense of belonging, how they endeavour to retain their ethnic, religious, and cultural identities, what assists them in the integration process, and how they assess their lives in Germany. The research applies three methods: participant observation, semi-structured interview and Stefan Huber’s questionnaire “The Centrality of Religiosity Scale”. Religion plays a vital role in most of the interviewees’ lives, depending on various circumstances, such as a spiritual nourishment, a psychological support, closeness to one’s ethnicity or ethnic group, access to the host society, etc. According to the current research results, the Armenian interviewees in Germany perceive religion as an inseparable part of their culture, since their religious, ethnic, and cultural identities are intertwined and regarded as an inseparable unit: religious identity – Christian, ethnic identity – Armenian, cultural identity – customs and traditions. Christianity is perceived and practiced by the Armenian interviewees as a ‘cultural religion’ for the following reasons. They consider themselves to be Christians, but are not actively engaged in religious rituals or prayers. Christianity played an important role in the history of Armenians since it helped them preserve their ethnic identity and culture throughout history. Christianity has become an inseparable part of their culture since many Armenian customs and traditions are tightly connected to it and play an important role in their ethnic, national, cultural and religious identities. Interestingly enough, even those, who consider themselves to be atheists, conceive Christianity as an indispensable part of the Armenian culture and identity.

The Relationship between Religion and the Public Square: Freedom of Religion in the Public Space

Reviewed by: Radical Jewish Feminism: Voices from the Women's Liberation Movement by Joyce Antler Cara Rock-Singer Joyce Antler. Radical Jewish Feminism: Voices from the Women's Liberation Movement. New York: New York University Press, 2018. 464 pp. doi:10.1017/S0364009419001107 Joyce Antler's Radical Jewish Feminism: Voices from the Women's Liberation Movement tells a history of Jewish feminism in the United States from the 1960s through 1980s. The book brings together the stories of the women's liberation movement, which was led disproportionately by Jewish women, with those of explicitly Jewish feminisms that emerged in the 1970s–80s. In tracing the continuities and ruptures between two generations of Jewish feminisms, Antler considers how Jewish and gender identities have mutually shaped a range of American feminist projects. The book adds significant nuance to narratives of undifferentiated white, middle-class, second-wave feminism and challenges simple divisions between gender universalism and Jewish particularism. In part 1, Antler analyzes approximately twenty organizational and intellectual leaders of radical feminist groups in Chicago, New York, and Boston during the 1960s–70s. These women rarely invoked their Jewish identities, and in turn, historians have largely ignored the role of Jewishness in the movement. By [End Page 220] contrast, Antler argues that Jewish values constituted a significant, if implicit, component of their feminist projects: "Jewish backgrounds and values" usually manifest as "latent" "imaginations and memories" of Jewish marginalization, social values, and political traditions (69). During the 1970s–80s, a new generation of women formulated feminisms as Jews, which Antler argues was itself a radical act. In part 2, Antler presents the stories of approximately twenty such women, including "religious liberationists," who sought gender equality as religious subjects; "secular Jewish feminists," who resisted antisemitism and assimilation on the political Left; Jewish lesbians, who fought both antisemitism and homophobia; and global feminists, who embraced Jewishness in a climate of anti-Zionism. The survey in part 2 illustrates that Jewish identity is far from homogenous and Jewish feminisms were not merely applications of feminist ideas to particular Jewish concerns, but rather novel negotiations of gender, sexual, ethnic, and religious identities. The book concludes with an epilogue that briefly introduces six women who have shaped the direction of Jewish feminism since the 1990s. One of the central contributions of this volume is its new source material. To redress the historiography of US feminism and American Jewry, Antler melded published writings, archival materials, and previously conducted oral histories with her own research to establish a rich new record of feminist stories. In addition to individual interviews and conference calls with women who had been members of various feminist cohorts, Antler convened "Women's Liberation and Jewish Identity," a gathering of approximately forty influential Jewish feminists at New York University in 2011, to reflect on the role of Jewish identity in their feminist activism. This book intervenes in debates among historians of second-wave feminism and of American Jewry that hinge on the status of Jews as a distinct group within American society. First, Antler sets out to show how Jewish difference mattered in the formation of radical feminism, in order to complicate narratives in which Jewish women are squarely white in a binary white-black racial system. Antler not only shows the range of socioeconomic, political, religious, and ethnic identities and experiences of radical feminist leaders, but also probes how each city's political ecology combined with the personal identities, collective chemistry of groups, and reactions to the successes and failures of prior or parallel feminist ventures to shape each unit of the broader feminist social movement. The second major historiographical conversation is concerned with the relationship between Jewish and American history. Antler draws on David Hollinger's formulation of "communalist" versus "dispersionist" histories. The former refers to narratives whose scope is limited to those self-identified or considered by others to be Jewish, while the latter opens the aperture to shed light on the lasting relevance of Jewish roots even among the unidentified or unaffiliated. The dispersionist approach enables Antler to consider a multiplicity of fluid Jewish identities and show that Jewishness, defined capaciously as a racial, religious, or ethnic category, influenced feminist thought and practice. While...

The current study examined associations among religious and ethnic identity exploration and commitment, and psychological well-being (PWB) among 683 Latinx emerging adults. A subset of data collected in the Multi-Site University Study of Identity and Culture was analyzed, focusing on three measures: (a) Multigroup Ethnic Identity Measure (MEIM), (b) Religious Identity Measure (adapted from MEIM), and (c) Scales of Psychological Well-Being–Short Form. Correlations indicated that PWB was positively related to religious and ethnic identity commitment, not exploration. Regression analyses indicated that commitment to religious or ethnic identity were positively associated with PWB, while exploration of religious or ethnic identity were not associated with PWB. In addition, religious identity exploration moderated the relation between ethnic identity exploration and commitment and PWB. These findings have implications for efforts to support the development of ethnic and religious identity among Latinx emerging adults.

Louseborne Relapsing Fever in Young Migrants, Sicily, Italy, July-September 2015.

Thinking Women, Feminism, and Muslim Identity through Bodies and Space in Turkey

David Weinberg's multi-national study focuses on the efforts by the Jews of France, Belgium, and the Netherlands to reconstruct their lives after the Second World War. These efforts have largely been ignored, perhaps because the emphasis on assisting survivors in displaced persons camps in occupied Germany, Austria, and Italy and in developing Israel as the centre of the Jewish world after the Holocaust diverted attention from the struggle by Jews in western Europe to recover their voice and sense of purpose. Weinberg attempts to set the record straight, presenting the challenges that were faced both in the national context and in the world Jewish arena and examining how they were dealt with. Weinberg begins his study by reviewing the action taken to revive Jewish communities in the three countries materially and institutionally, remodelling them as efficient, self-sustaining, and assertive bodies that could meet new challenges. With the creation of the State of Israel, Jews who stayed in western Europe had to defend their decision to do so while nevertheless showing public support for the new nation. There was also a felt need to respond quickly and effectively to any sign of antisemitism. In addition, tensions arose between Jews and non-Jews concerning wartime collaboration in deportations, and the need to memorialize Jewish victims of Nazism. The Cold War offered challenges of its own: the perceived need to exclude communist elements from communal affairs was countered by a resistance to pressures from American Jewish leaders to sever links with Jews in eastern Europe. Yet beneath the show of assertiveness Jewish life was fragile, not only because of the physical depletion of the population and of its leadership but because the Holocaust had shaken religious beliefs and affiliations and had raised questions about the value of preserving ethnic and religious identity. At the same time, new forms of Jewish consciousness had evolved, meaning that Jewish leaders had to provide for diverse educational, religious, and cultural needs. This book's comprehensive approach offers a broad and valuable addition to existing studies on the regeneration of Jewish life in individual European countries. Underscoring the similar political, cultural, social, and economic issues facing Jewish survivors in France, Belgium, and the Netherlands after the Holocaust, David Weinberg demonstrates how, with the aid of international Jewish organizations, they used unprecedented means to meet unprecedented challenges. It is a story worth telling that adds much to our understanding of postwar European Jewish life.

Language is used not only for communication but also for enacting multiple identities to reveal information about oneself such as who we are, where we come from, who we believe in etc. This is done by means of using a tribe, gender, region or a country specific dialect, accent, sociolect, vocabulary or phrase to identify oneself with a specific tribe, gender, social class or ethnic group, a region or a nation. Greetings such as-‘Assalamualeikum’ (‘peace be with you’), ‘God bless’, ‘Shalom’ (‘peace’) are used by people to identify oneself with a particular faith (Muslim, Christian and Jewish respectively). Thus, language use serves here as a means of constructing religious identity. Region and tribe specific dialects, accents and sociolects are also used to construct regional, social class, ethnic or tribal identities. This process of identity construction occurs both in the real world as well as in a virtual reality on-line, where people can either take their real identity with them or construct an on-line identity that can be as divergent as they wish. As on-line communication gains significance in everyone’s life, research on the nature of this communication is required to uncover various underlying issues governing this type of communication. In this respect, the present study aimed to explore the strategies and ways in which language and other means were used by Saudi Arabian youths to construct and enact their various identities such as gender, social class, tribal, regional, religious etc. To this end, a social networking website was designed and Saudi youths (aged between 18 to 30 years) were invited to participate by posting and chatting online on the website. Of such posts, around 300 comments were selected for the content analysis. The analysis of these comments posted by 71 Saudi females and 85 males over two months revealed that Saudi youths used their language on-line to construct and enact their gender, tribal, regional, religious identities. Participants were seen to be using their tribe, region, gender, religion and Arab culture related words and phrases to construct and reveal their tribal, regional, gender, religious and cultural identities consciously and unconsciously.

Language is used not only for communication but also for enacting multiple identities to reveal information about oneself such as who we are, where we come from, who we believe in etc. This is done by means of using a tribe, gender, region or a country specific dialect, accent, sociolect, vocabulary or phrase to identify oneself with a specific tribe, gender, social class or ethnic group, a region or a nation. Greetings such as-‘Assalamualeikum’ (‘peace be with you’), ‘God bless’, ‘Shalom’ (‘peace’) are used by people to identify oneself with a particular faith (Muslim, Christian and Jewish respectively). Thus, language use serves here as a means of constructing religious identity. Region and tribe specific dialects, accents and sociolects are also used to construct regional, social class, ethnic or tribal identities. This process of identity construction occurs both in the real world as well as in a virtual reality on-line, where people can either take their real identity with them or construct an on-line identity that can be as divergent as they wish. As on-line communication gains significance in everyone’s life, research on the nature of this communication is required to uncover various underlying issues governing this type of communication. In this respect, the present study aimed to explore the strategies and ways in which language and other means were used by Saudi Arabian youths to construct and enact their various identities such as gender, social class, tribal, regional, religious etc. To this end, a social networking website was designed and Saudi youths (aged between 18 to 30 years) were invited to participate by posting and chatting online on the website. Of such posts, around 300 comments were selected for the content analysis. The analysis of these comments posted by 71 Saudi females and 85 males over two months revealed that Saudi youths used their language on-line to construct and enact their gender, tribal, regional, religious identities. Participants were seen to be using their tribe, region, gender, religion and Arab culture related words and phrases to construct and reveal their tribal, regional, gender, religious and cultural identities consciously and unconsciously.

Mindset × Context: Schools, Classrooms, and the Unequal Translation of Expectations into Math Achievement.

A strong autistic identity can help to support mental well-being, reduce anxiety and depression, increase self-esteem, and strengthen a shared community for autistic people. Autistic people are regularly faced with a decision to disclose their autistic identity to others and report a range of experiences after disclosure. The purpose of this brief report was to examine the association between identity and disclosure decisions in a sample of autistic adults to gather preliminary evidence justifying future research. Specifically, we were interested in learning more about how autistic identity is associated with one's approach to disclosure, while also exploring associations with other identities such as ethnic, gender, sexual, and religious identity. Participants (N = 111) completed an online questionnaire about their intersecting identities and their approach to disclosure. The research team that conducted this study was composed of both autistic and nonautistic researchers. Results demonstrated that participants who felt their autistic identity and sexual identity were highly important also reported frequent disclosure of being autistic. Religious, gender, and ethnic identity were not associated with one's disclosure decisions or their disclosure outcomes. Overall, the results of this study emphasize the link between autistic and sexual identities and autism disclosure, but more research in this space is needed to better support the wider autism community.

Abstract“How do we see refugees? The refugee has become a multifaceted symbol, the most prominent political figure of our time” states the brochure of an art retrospective by Khaled Hourani, a Palestinian artist reflecting on the reduction of refugees to abstract symbols of victimhood by humanitarian representations. In the eyes of the artist, the blue figure (Fig. 1.1), so common in relief organizations´ visual depictions, is the migrating human being, without a specific national, religious, ethnic, or gender identity. Yet, the visual landscape of contemporary displacement is anything but abstract. Images of overcrowded boats in the Mediterranean, refugee camps, improvised shelters along migration routes, children and families in need, and people stranded behind fences and walls have come to constitute a powerful reminder of contemporary conditions of displacement for people on the move. Yet, the question remains: how do we see refugees?

Art Spiegelman’s MAUS, a Pulitzer-prize-winning two-volume graphic novel, zooms into wartime Poland, interweaving young Vladek’s – the author’s father – experiences of World War II and the present day through uncanny visual and verbal representational strategies characteristic of the comics medium. “I’m literally giving a form to my father’s words and narrative”, Spiegelman remarks on MAUS, “and that form for me has to do with panel size, panel rhythms, and visual structures of the page”. The risky artistic strategies and the “strangeness” of its form, to use Harold Bloom’s term, are essential to how the author represents the horrors of the Holocaust: by means of anthropomorphic caricatures and stereotypes depicting Germans as cats, Jewish people as mice, Poles as pigs, and so on. Readings of MAUS often focus on the cultural connotations in the context of postmodernism and in the Holocaust literature tradition, diminishing the importance of its hybrid narrative form in portraying honest, even devastating events. Using this idea as a point of departure, along with a theoretical approach to traumatic memory and the oppressed survivor’s story, I will cover three main topics: the “bleeding” and re-building of history, in an excruciating obsession to save his father’s – a survivor of Auschwitz – story for posterity and to mend their alienating relationship and inability to relate; the connection between past and present, the traumatic subject, and the vulnerability it assumes in drawing and writing about life during the Holocaust as well as the unusual visual and narrative structure of the text. The key element of my study, as I analyse a range of sections of the book, focuses on the profound and astonishing strangeness of the work itself, which consequently assured MAUS a canonical status in the comics’ tradition.

Background/Context Students of Color continue to be underrepresented at the undergraduate level. Recent research has demonstrated the importance of non-academic psychosocial factors for understanding college experiences. One factor, identity, is a broad, multidimensional construct that comprises numerous distinct domains, including political, religious, gender, ethnic, and academic identities. Two identity domains that are particularly relevant for college Students of Color are ethnic and academic identities. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study In the present study we focused on identity development processes in college and how they differ between Students of Color and White students. Specifically, our study examined four hypotheses: Compared with White students, Students of Color would 1) report higher levels of ethnic identity and 2) endorse higher levels of ethnic-academic identity integration, and that the group difference in ratings of ethnic-academic identity integration would be both 3) mediated and 4) moderated by ethnic identity. Research Design This study was a cross-sectional survey of 282 college students in the U.S. (69% women, M age = 19.65, SD =2.78, Range = 18-39; 90% born in the U.S.). Participants were categorized as either White (54%) or as a Student of Color (47%). Participants completed rating-scale measures of ethnic identity exploration and commitment, academic identity, and ethnic-academic identity integration. Findings/Results Findings in the study supported our four hypotheses: 1) Students of Color reported higher levels of ethnic identity than White students, 2) Students of Color reported greater integration between their ethnic and academic identities than White students, 3) this difference was partially explained by Students of Color having stronger ethnic identities than White students, and 4) ethnic identity moderated the relation between ethnicity and ethnic-academic identity integration, such that ethnic identity predicts greater ethnicity-academic identity integration for Students of Color and White students, but the association is stronger for Students of Color. Conclusions/Recommendations Ethnic minority college students endorse higher levels of integration between their ethnic background and academic major. The ability for students to integrate their ethnic and academic identities may provide students with a sense of belonging during their college years. Both ethnicity and the academic environment play a role in the ways in which students feel belonging and pursue their academic careers. Thus, it is important to examine experiences of belonging in an academic context.

Survey research has evidenced the work-related stresses reported by higher education staff during the COVID-19 pandemic, with indications that some groups may have been more vulnerable than others. However, for the most part, this research has not taken into account individuals’ intersecting identities and their circumstances, which are likely to influence the strategies which are best placed to support their wellbeing. This qualitative study contributes to this area of research through an examination of workplace wellbeing for diverse professional and academic staff, providing a more in-depth understanding of their lived experiences during the pandemic. Data were 36 open-ended questionnaires and 20 interviews from diverse academic and professional staff, in terms of their intersecting gender, sexual and ethnic identities; age; job role and grade scale; caregiving responsibilities and disability status, at a large UK public research university. Using inductive thematic analysis, the findings support key influences identified in the quantitative studies but also highlight new themes such as the salience of ethnic, religious and gender identities and anxiety and trauma from the pandemic. The findings further emphasise the importance of the organisational infrastructure to support staff welfare. Evidence-based, workplace strategies are offered to address the key findings. Overall, our study highlights the importance of providing targeted support and acknowledging the traumatic experiences of university staff during crisis situations and underscores how equity, diversity and inclusion are key considerations for wellbeing practices and policies in the workplace.