Ethnic Group Identity Research Articles

The Ethnic-Religious Minority of Cham in Cambodia: Reflections from an Ethno-Historical Account

‘Cham’, as an ethnic identity group emerged under the Kingdom of Champa that was spread across parts of present day central Cambodia and southern Vietnam. With a loss of its sovereign identity due to centuries of historical invasions- marked with colonial conquests and civil unrests, most surviving members of the Cham community now reside in scattered provincial regions across Cambodia and Vietnam. The community’s presence in Cambodia, as an ethnic religious minority, saw itself becoming vulnerable to extreme acts of religious persecution and genocidal killings under the Khmer State both, before and during the Khmer Rouge. This ethno-historical account seeks to focus on providing a brief history of the Cham presence in Cambodia; its cultural profile, the intra-identity classifications that the Cham identify with, and capture how do members within the Cham community perceive (and explain) their own identity, and the socio-cultural differences that define them. The study incorporates a narrative-based ethnographic approach- involving interpersonal oral conversations with members of the Cham community residing in Phnom Penh, that are documented in detail here. Each narrative helps one understand the nature of complexities involved in the sub-cultural classification (and in the self-imagination) of those ‘categorized’ as Cham (or often called ‘Khmer Islam’). Long conversations with identified interviewees further allowed the interviewers (the authors) to expand the existing literature available on the ethnic minority’s cultural history and the intra-identity groups existing within it, which actually appear to be more entwined with one another as against the literary perception created (often seeing them as binaries to one another). Based on our observations, we suggest that while the religious identity of Islam predominantly defines (and distinguishes) the Cham from the Khmer majority, still, a peek into their cultural (say, on religious ritual propriety) brings out a more hybrid relationship between the Cham and the Khmer culture, that merits a more intensive evaluation through primary observations.

Multiculturalism for true equality: a normative argument for multicultural Turkey

The Republic of Turkey uses a Turkish-based integrationist method in managing its ethno-cultural diversity. In accordance with this method, the republic recognises its ethno-cultural diversity in the private domain, but then calls on all its minority ethnic groups to converge on Turkish identity, the identity of the dominant ethnic group (Turks), in the public realm. According to this article, it is better for Turkey to replace its current integrationist method with a multiculturalist one. In the existence of the integrationist method, ethnic Kurds have been disadvantaged in many areas, e.g., culture, education and language, preventing the republic from ensuring true equality between ethnic Kurds and Turks. The article maintains that true equality would be provided between the two ethnic groups through a multiculturalist method of managing ethno-cultural diversity. This method would recognise, preserve and promote not only majority but also minority identities in both public and private realms, ultimately enabling the Kurds of Turkey to form, safeguard and advance their own societal culture.

Multiculturalism for true equality: a normative argument for multicultural Turkey

The Republic of Turkey uses a Turkish-based integrationist method in managing its ethno-cultural diversity. In accordance with this method, the republic recognises its ethno-cultural diversity in the private domain, but then calls on all its minority ethnic groups to converge on Turkish identity, the identity of the dominant ethnic group (Turks), in the public realm. According to this article, it is better for Turkey to replace its current integrationist method with a multiculturalist one. In the existence of the integrationist method, ethnic Kurds have been disadvantaged in many areas, e.g., culture, education and language, preventing the republic from ensuring true equality between ethnic Kurds and Turks. The article maintains that true equality would be provided between the two ethnic groups through a multiculturalist method of managing ethno-cultural diversity. This method would recognise, preserve and promote not only majority but also minority identities in both public and private realms, ultimately enabling the Kurds of Turkey to form, safeguard and advance their own societal culture.

Research on Public Participation in Recording Intangible Cultural Heritage in Rural Area

Being an important part of cultural heritage, intangible cultural heritage (hereinafter referred to as “ICH”) needs to be passed down from generation to generation. Seemed as the gene of national cultures, ICH is very important for the development and prosperity of human culture, for the development of social economy and civilization, and for the identity of individuals and ethnic groups. Since the publication of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2003, ICH safeguarding activities have been fully implemented throughout the world. Recording ICH is a basic and important way to safeguard ICH, this way plays an important role and has been widely approved throughout China and other countries. It has been applied in many ICH item safeguarding, such as Nanjing Yunjin, Qinhuai Lantern Festival. As we all know, ICH resources are very rich in China. There are 39 ICH items have been listed in “ the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity”, 1,372 ICH items have been listed in “the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in China”. There are a large number of famous and not famous ICH items scattered in urban areas. To record so many ICH resources, it is not enough to rely on the power of the government. As the creator and inheritor of ICH, the public should play an important role in the safeguarding activities. Attracting the public to participate is a prerequisite of ICH safeguarding. Through questionnaires, interviews and other research methods, this paper introduces the public’s awareness and attitude about recording ICH, and their ability and willingness to participate in ICH safeguarding activities. Based on the current status, It analyzes the advantages of public participation in the protection of ICH , and the disadvantages, opportunities and threats are also analyzed. Based on the international principle of “government-led, public participation”, this paper proposes to construct a “folk-government” model to optimize the quality of recording ICH. To ensure the quality of public participation, it further points out that some measures should be taken, such as strengthen the government leadership to provide necessary support, identifying their advantages and responsibilities of different participants to joint, expanding the participation content and diversifying the participation method. These measures are all aimed at promotion the safeguarding and inheriting the ICH.

Ретрадиционализация в культуре русского сельского населения Западной Сибири (XX — первые десятилетия XXI в.)

The XX century and the first decades of the XXI century are characterized by the process of retraditionalization, which is well fixed by expeditionary ethnographic materials within the framework of the culture of life support. On the example of the Russian rural population of the Western Siberia, vital culture has demonstrated some forms of retraditionalization — substitution technologies in economic life, social mutual assistance and support and actualization of irrational knowledge. The considered forms of retraditionalization perform the functions of adaptation to complex socio-economic conditions and symbolic identification of social and ethnic groups.

ВЕРА В РЕЛИГИОЗНОМ СОЗНАНИИ СТУДЕНЧЕСКОЙ МОЛОДЕЖИ БИИК БУРЯТСКОГО ИНСТИТУТА ИНФОКОММУНИКАЦИЙ (БИИК СибГУТИ)

In modern society, there is an active process of the revival of religions, reflected in the formation of the religious consciousness of young people, including students. Youth is included in the religious system under the influence of the family, the media, advertising and the promotion of religious ideas. Faith in God is one of the indicators of the development of religious consciousness among students. In Buryatia, the religious life of society is associated with faiths that historically shape religious consciousness: shamanism, Buddhism, Christianity, accompanied by an increase in the construction of temples, datsans, the opening of shamanistic ritual places of worship, etc. In connection with the increase in the religious activity of society, a sociological study was conducted among students of students studying at the Buryat Institute of Infocommunications, a branch of the Siberian State University of Telecommunications and Informatics. The results of the analysis showed that the majority of students believe in God and have a religious consciousness, while Orthodoxy and Buddhism are dominant in determining the religiosity of respondents. Christianity in the form of Orthodoxy and Catholicism is also represented in the religious consciousness of students. At the same time, Orthodoxy is predominant among students, indicating religious identity in the unification of the peoples of Russia. Belief in Buddhism in religious consciousness is identified with the ethnicity of the Buryats. Shamanism and Buddhism as a belief in deities are separated, along with this they have common ideas in a single substrate of religious consciousness. The process of the revival of Orthodoxy, Buddhism and shamanism continues, students, on the basis of faith in God, identify themselves with religions on ethnic, social, ideological grounds, which in our opinion is associated with the growth of national identity of ethnic groups. Faith has become an indicator of ethnic and national identity, positively influencing religious self-awareness, strengthening the cultural traditional values of our state. The purpose of the study is to identify the characteristics of faith in the religious consciousness of students of the Buryat Institute of Infocommunications to obtain objective results of the development of youth religiosity.

Cercetare sociolingvistică longitudinală asupra identităţii româneşti din Ungaria

This paper examines bilingual subjects’ twenty years changes in defining their own affiliation to their Romanian ethnic group, which can be characterized with a Romanian– Hungarian language shift process. In this circumstance the statement “group identity can survive language shift” (Edwards 1985: 163) has a special importance. The same Romanian subjects (members in the historic group) living in Hungary were asked (with direct and indirect questions) three times (in 1990, 2000, and 2010) in semi-structured interviews (tape-recorded). Based on subjects’ responses mainly three types of ethnic identity changes could be detected during the twenty years. One of them was in synchrony with the longitudinal trend of Romanian–Hungarian language shift process. Subjects included in the second type confirmed strongly their Romanian ethnic group identity in 2010 despite the fact that they rejected it in 1990 (and in 2000). Subjects from the third type declared themselves consecutively having Romanian identity. These types of twenty years changes were strongly influenced by historic time (including the period from the collapse of socialist regime to the EU membership of Hungary), and the lifespan of the subjects (getting older makes the importance to go back to ethnic group roots).

Chicken or the egg? A cross-lagged panel analysis of group identification and group-based relative deprivation

Group identification and group-based relative deprivation (GRD) are critical predictors of numerous group-oriented attitudes and behaviours. While social-identity-based approaches suggest that salient group identities increase social comparisons, empirical data bearing on the causal direction of the relationship between group identification and GRD are mixed. To resolve this inconsistency, we examined the cross-lagged effects of group identification on GRD—as well as the potential reverse causal pathway—using three annual waves of data from a nationally representative sample of ethnic minorities in New Zealand ( N = 5,115). Although we found evidence of a reciprocal relationship between variables, ethnic group identification had a stronger positive cross-lagged effect on ethnic GRD than vice versa, suggesting that social identity is an important antecedent to invidious group-based comparisons. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

“You think you’re Black?” Exploring Black mixed-race experiences of Black rejection

ABSTRACTUtilizing interview data with thirty-seven British people of Mixed White and Black Caribbean heritage, this paper draws upon the concept of “horizontal hostility” to describe how Black mixed-race experiences of Black rejection impact on self-perceptions and expressed ethnic identities. In demonstrating the effects of being excluded from a relatable collective Black identity, the paper argues that horizontal hostility is critical in the project of theorizing mixed-race. Experiences of horizontal hostility represent significant turning points in mixed-race lives as they can prompt reconsiderations of mixed-race positionings within the broader Black imagined space. Beyond the benefits that horizontal hostility offers to mixed-race studies, it provides insights into conceptualisations of Blackness – as a collective racial identity, community and politics. The article unpacks how, when and why its boundaries are policed, adding to debates relating to the future formation and maintenance of ethnic group identities and categories more generally.

Evaluation the Role of Media and Language Policy in the Stabilization of Interethnic Relations at the Present Stage: The Example of a Multinational Kazakhstan

Background: Theoretical and practical study of technologies for preventing and regulating inter-ethnic conflicts is an urgent problem for multinational Kazakhstan, which is undergoing the stage of statehood formation. The aim of the research is to analyze the place and role of democratic mass media and language policy in the system of mechanisms for improving national relations and to identify the main levers of influence on the formation of the language environment.
 Objectives: The object of the research is the analysis of the influence of mass media on the improvement of interethnic relations and aspects of the formation of the language environment as a factor in the development of interethnic relations.
 Method: The main research methods were expert evaluation, principles of unity and development, system and comparative analysis, socio-political and functional approaches, historical and comparative method, and content analysis.
 Results: The scientific result of the study was to identify the influence of mass media and language policy on the formation of civil society in a multinational Kazakhstan.It also reveals the dynamics of the language situation in the regions of the country in terms of its impact on inter-ethnic relations and determines the role of the language factor in the structure of ethnic identity of the largest ethnic groups in Kazakhstan.
 Conclusion: The results of this study can be used in the analysis of ethnopolitical situations in the regions of Kazakhstan, in the process of training journalists.

Distributional Differences and the Native American Gender Wage Gap

We use the Theil index and data from the 2012–2016, American Community Survey 5-Year Sample to document and analyze gender wage inequality for American Indian and Alaska Native (AIAN) women across single, multiracial and ethnic identity groups. Mean differences in hourly wages by gender contribute little to measured wage inequality when individuals are separated based upon their proximity to tribal homeland areas. Instead, we find between-group wage inequality is a function of glass-ceiling effects that differ by AIAN identification and homeland area. Differences in glass-ceiling effects across AIAN identity groups suggest the need to disaggregate data by AIAN ethnic identity. Furthermore, under certain circumstances, it may be appropriate to combine some racial AIAN identity groups into a single population even if the focus is to study policy impacts on citizens of federally recognized AIAN nations for those using government survey data.

Identity Multiplicity, National Group Contact, and Acculturation: The Role of Identity‐Related Cognitions

AbstractPersons with migration background (PMB) face the question of whether they can become full members of the receiving society, and at the same time maintain their ethnic group identity and culture. Alongside experiences of contact with the national group, this research examined the role of three identity‐related cognitions for PMB's acculturation attitudes: (1) perceived permeability and (2) perceived compatibility of national and ethnic identities, and (3) perceived overlap of ethnic and religious identities. Data from two groups—Muslim Palestinian and Christian Hungarian PMB in Germany—provided initial support for the model. Multigroup path analysis showed that positive contact related positively with cultural adoption, both directly and indirectly via permeability, whereas negative contact related negatively only in sample 2. Compatibility moderated the association between the acculturation attitudes. Perceived overlap showed differential effects for Christian and Muslim PMB. The results highlight that different immigration groups face different contexts of integration. Implications for the study of religious identity and identity multiplicity are discussed.

Exploring English speaking Muslim women\u2019s first-time maternity experiences: a qualitative longitudinal interview study

BackgroundMuslim women of child-bearing age make up a fair part of the UK society, however, literature addressing their health needs or experiences of health services have not been extensively researched. The term ‘Muslim’ is often combined with ethnic group identity, rather than used to refer to people distinguished by beliefs or affiliations. Muslim women commonly observe certain religious and cultural practices during their maternity journey. The little research there is in this area suggests that more could be done from a service provision perspective to support Muslim women through this significant life event. The aim of this study was to investigate Muslim women’s perceived needs and the factors that influence their health seeking decisions when engaging with maternity services located in North-West of England.MethodsThe study used longitudinal semi-structured interviews with seven English-speaking first-time pregnant Muslim women receiving maternity care in North-West of England. Total of 21 interview; each woman was interviewed during the antenatal (29 to 40 weeks of pregnancy), immediate postnatal (within the first 2 months after birth) and later postnatal (4 months after birth) period. Audio-recorded interviews were transcribed and thematically analysed using Braun & Clark (2006) as a guide to forming a systematic approach to handling raw data.ResultsMuslim women associated most aspects of the maternity journey with their religious beliefs. Religion was not the primary reason for them becoming pregnant, yet it was an aspiration for them becoming mothers. Emerging themes include: 1) a spiritual perspective; 2) expression of religious requirements; 3) perceptions of healthcare professionals. Religious values and practices provided a positive resource for women during their maternity journey. They described how healthcare professionals approached their needs, while highlighting their concerns of the negative presentation of Muslims in Western media.ConclusionMuslim women need to feel confident to express their needs within a maternity setting. Lack of awareness amongst healthcare professionals around religious values and how Muslim women may feel when expressing their needs can inhibit them getting optimal care that acknowledges their needs. The study concludes that educating healthcare professionals about Muslim women’s worldview would enhance the quality of maternity care for Muslim women.

Unintended consequences of post-conflict power-sharing. Explaining civilian activism

Under what conditions do civilians mobilize after power-sharing agreements? Research on post-conflict power-sharing has neglected the possible consequences of power-sharing agreements on micro level dynamics, i. e. civilian activism. We argue that (i) power-sharing practices increase the probability of civilian activism, (ii) political and territorial power-sharing practices are especially relevant in this regard, and (iii) ethnic identity groups affiliated to the former rebels are more likely to respond to power-sharing practices compared to other ethnic groups. Using data on power-sharing agreements and civilian activism in African post-conflict countries (1989–2006), we find support for our expectations. The results suggest that the effect of power-sharing practices on protests and riots is particularly high for ethnic groups with linkages to the former rebel organizations.

Culture Communication: Is an Effective Support for Conflict Resolution and Peace Process in Myanmar?

Culture is a system of shared belief and customs in the society. In other way, culture is the symbol of the life of people. Myanmar and its citizen has suffered the trauma of ethnic conflicts throughout the history since 1948. The governments of Myanmar throughout the times have also been finding the solution for conflict resolution and peace process based on the political approach. Now, it is the time for considering about an alternative approach to conflict resolution and peace process based on the culture which is the symbol of the people. The study aims to provide the new interpretation in completing conflict resolution by Myanmar government and a kind of support that can reveal the hidden and being forgotten cultures and identities of ethnic minority groups in Myanmar based on cultural communication. The researcher made two group discussions with ethnic people in two ethnic regions of Myanmar and had in-depth conversation for detailed facts and information. The research mainly presents the impact of culture communication as a better tool for conflict resolution and peace process based on the real voices of ethnic people.

Ukrainian National Dumas: National Perceptions in the Process of Intercultural Communication

The article presents the results of empirical research on ethnopsychological groups of people living in different regions of Ukraine in the context of intercultural ideological systems. In particular, residents of Ukraine and foreign students from Africa and Middle East, which study at Sumy State University, were invited to share their impressions from the listened dumas, performed by Canadian bandurist Victor Mishalow during his concert tour in Ukraine. They also watched and listened to video recordings of such folk dumas as «Cossack Golota», «Marusya Boguslavka» performed by kobzar Mykola Budnyk and bandura player Fedir Zharko. Students analyzed the characters’ images, expressed their understanding and attitude to characters’ actions and compared them with the national heroes of their own countries.
 The national peculiarities of the worldview of Ukrainians, representatives of Africa and the Middle East expressed in their language are defined. The language itself is the core of people’s psyche, way of thinking, and identity of ethnic group’s moral and ethical norms of life. The analysis of folk art helps to emphasize the peculiarity of foreign students’ perception of words, rhythm, music, and the symbolic system of folk poetic works. Author notes that the psychological of figurative system of Ukrainian dumas and folk songs of the mentioned peoples has a purely national color: it is a category of national outlook and at the same time is a artistic and aesthetic category.
 The solution of these problems forms an understanding of the specific of national characters and the national world in folk poetic works of the peoples of Africa, the Middle East and Ukrainian folk dumas, which is the main purpose of the study and its novelty, because such typological comparisons are investigated for the first time.
 These experimental studies, the development of the ideas of dumas studies and studies on a national character, the peculiarities of a national world perception, world outlook and world expression have substantiated the need for a deeper study of Ukrainian dumas’ role in the formation of the national personality during intercultural communication.

The Social Functions and Dysfunctions of Brazilian Immigrant Congregations in “terra incognita”

Ethnic congregations are often considered safe havens for immigrants. This is supported by a large body of literature showing that many religious congregations in diasporic contexts help immigrants maintain their ethnic group identity and cohesion, build social capital, and adapt more smoothly to life in an unfamiliar society. The role of ethnic congregations in the lives of immigrants is, however, complex and multifaceted, and some recent research suggests that, in some ways, these congregations may inhibit their adaptation to the larger society and arouse tensions among the very immigrant communities they intend to help. In light of these varying observations, we seek to explore the functions—and potential dysfunctions—that ethnic congregations have among Brazilians who have immigrated to central Texas. Using data drawn in 2013 from participant observation and 16 in-depth interviews conducted in two Brazilian evangelical congregations, we find that respondents perceive that their congregations strengthen their feelings of attachment to Brazilian culture and language and foster the development of social capital within to the Brazilian immigrant community. At the same time, however, some respondents acknowledge that church members can become overly dependent on their congregations and isolated from the larger society, leaving them susceptible to potential exploitation at the hands of more established co-ethnics within the congregation.

Perceived group discrimination and psychological well‐being in ethnic minority adolescents

AbstractFew studies have examined the relation of perceived group discrimination and psychological well‐being. Yet, there are theoretical reasons to expect such a relation, and members of ethnic minorities usually perceive higher levels of group discrimination than personal discrimination. In this research, we investigated the associations between perceived group discrimination and several indicators of psychological well‐being among 354 Moroccan‐Dutch adolescents controlling for perceived personal discrimination and testing the extent to which ethnic group identification moderated these associations. Our results showed that higher perceived group discrimination was associated with higher parent‐ and adolescent‐reported internalizing (e.g., fear, worries) and externalizing problems (e.g., anger, aggression) but not with lower personal self‐esteem. For personal self‐esteem a negative association with perceived personal discrimination was found. Moreover, for adolescents with a strong ethnic group identification, there was no relationship between perceived group discrimination and parent‐ and adolescent‐reported internalizing problems, while for those with a weak ethnic group identification, perceived group discrimination was associated with more parent‐ and adolescent‐reported internalizing problems. Conversely, perceived group discrimination was unrelated to personal self‐esteem among low identifiers, but positively related to it among high identifiers. Results indicate that minority group members can be negatively affected by discrimination, even if they do not experience it at first hand. Thus, future research on the psychological effects of discrimination should include group perceptions.

DETERMINING LINGUISTIC IDENTITY OF ETHNIC GROUPS AS THE INFLUENCING FACTOR ON EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY (CASE STUDY OF REPRESENTATIVES LIVING IN THE SOUTH OF THE TYUMEN REGION)

Introduction . Nowadays, in the modern world there is a marked tendency towards increasing mobility of the population. The problem of regular complex monitoring of migration processes is caused by the need for assimilation of representatives of the ethnic minorities arriving to the permanent residence to regions of Russia, which neither geographically, nor linguistically are areas with high concentrations of their native ethnic groups. Unfortunately, statistical information on migrants in the majority of regions is limited to the results of national population censuses. In the meantime, the lack of analytical work does not enable to solve effectively a number of essential social problems, including the field of education where teachers often face problems of training of pupils of multinational composition and have to consider a linguistic identity of ethnic minorities. The aim of the present article is to reveal and describe the principles of determination of linguistic identity of ethnic groups according to their influence on activity of subjects of education and educational policy of the region (the case study of the representatives of various ethnic groups, living in the south of the Tyumen Region, the town of Ishim). Methodology and research methods . The study was based on a comparative historical method of investigation. The main research methods involve: contentanalysis of legislative acts and documents; participant and non-participant observation over the migrants’ children during individual work on teaching the Russian and English languages; qualitative and quantitative analysis; the survey methods, including the expert questionnaires, conducted by specially developed techniques. Results and scientific novelty . The full linguistic representation of the city with the multinational population is given on the basis of the statistical data obtained from official sources and gained during the empirical research. The language strategies used by migrants are described. The complex of the principles that helps the representatives of various ethnic groups establish the linguistic identity is outlined. Positioning of linguistic self-identity is considered as the factor influencing educational activity of all its subjects. It is noted that the greatest difficulties with linguistic and social assimilation are experienced by migrants’ schoolaged children. It is shown how linguistic self-determination of school students and members of their families is related to the quality of children education at school. Practical significance . The research findings have important implications to adjust for the measures undertaken by the government for successful integration of migrants and their children into the ethnic Russian-speaking majority that is significantly important for effective functioning of the educational system.

Этническая идентичность малочисленных народов Западной Монголии

Этническая идентичность малочисленных народов Западной Монголии