Ethnocultural Research Articles

“Licensed” and “underground” religious revival in postwar northern Soviet Kazakhstan

The patriotic fervour surrounding the "Great Patriotic War," amplified by Soviet propaganda, led to concessions for some religious groups, though still constrained by Soviet anti-religious legislation, while others were excluded entirely. This paper argues that ethno-religious groups that aligned with the Soviet narrative, which mythologised the war effort, were able to engage in limited religious activities. In contrast, communities excluded from this narrative were compelled to maintain their religious traditions clandestinely for a prolonged period. These excluded groups were also deprived of any centralised religious organisations or church structures. Consequently, unlike in Central and Eastern Europe, the struggle for religious freedoms in this context did not follow the typical church vs. state model, but rather a citizens vs. state dynamic. This phenomenon is particularly evident in northern Kazakhstan, where the deportation of various nationalities resulted in the coexistence of ethno-religious groups with vastly different statuses.

Курдский народ в борьбе за независимость (вторая половина ХХ – начало ХХI в.) и геноцид в Иракском Курдистане

The article delves into the struggle of the people of Southern (Iraqi) Kurdistan for self-determination and the repression of the ruling regime in Iraq, which brought the Kurdish population to the brink of extermination. The issue of Southern Kurdistan in Iraq has been on the agenda for many decades. The Iraqi Kurds achieved self-government at the cost of incredible efforts. It is emphasized that the recognition of the right to territorial autonomy by the Iraqi government in 1974 was a success of the Kurdish national movement. However, the infringement of the rights of the Kurds continued. The apogee of the repressions were the events of the Iran-Iraq War of 1980–1988 and the use of chemical weapons against the population of the autonomy. In 2005, Iraq promulgated a new draft Constitution, which reflected the opinion of all ethno-confessional groups of the country – Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds: the country was declared a Federal Republic, and the Kurdish language was declared the state language on the territory of Kurdistan. Conclusion dwells upon the fact that the centuries-long struggle of the Kurds of Iraq ended with the proclamation of autonomy and the granting of democratic rights and freedoms to the population of the Kurdish Autonomous Region. And the facts reflected in the documents of international organizations on the deliberate destruction of the Kurdish minority in Iraq, especially during the years of Saddam Hussein’s rule, are obvious. An important condition for the success of the Kurdish national movement at any stage of its development is the unity of its ranks. The methodological basis of the article is the principles of historicism and objectivity. Documentary materials, personal sources, and media news data serve as the empirical basis of the study and are introduced into scientific discourse.

Targeting telecommunications: Why do rebel groups target information and communication technology infrastructure?

Although there has been much interest in how communication technology can shape conflict, the deliberate targeting of the telecommunication infrastructure by rebel groups has been largely overlooked. This article demonstrates that while some rebel groups systematically target telecommunications, others do not. It is argued that this reflects deliberate choices, and that rebel groups adapt their strategies based on cost–benefit analyses. Given the aim of avoiding detection and being targeted themselves, rebels may be more likely to target the telecommunication infrastructure when faced with a government with a technologically sophisticated military. However, a further increase in the opponent’s technological capabilities beyond a certain tipping point may compel rebels to employ preventive measures other than targeting telecommunications. Marxist-socialist or religious groups are expected to be more likely to target telecommunications to maintain a homogeneous propaganda space directed at their constituency, facilitating indoctrination and propaganda. These expectations were evaluated in an analysis of all rebel groups for the period 1970–2013. The results showed a non-linear relationship between rebel targeting of telecommunication infrastructure and the technological capabilities of the government forces, while Marxist-socialist and ethno-religious groups were more likely to target telecommunications compared with other groups.

Was Grand Duchy of Lithuania a Federation?

According to received wisdom in the historiography of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL), going back to M. Dovnar-Zapolski, M. Liubavski, O. Halecki, the territorial form of government in the GDL was federal in the late XV-early XVI century. The paper critically reviews the arguments advanced in favor of this thesis and argues that the concept of empire describes the territorial organization of GDL in a more accurate way. The criticism of the federalist theory is grounded in the conceptual analysis of the state forms provided by the distinguished Lithuanian historian and law theorist Mykolas Rėimeris (1880-1945). In his analysis, M. Rėimeris draws the distinction between a unitary state and three types of state compounds: federation, confederation, and empire. While federation and empire share the principle of subordination as the mode of organization, in the empire this is the subordination to a privileged metropole territory and cultural-ethnic group, while in federation all territories are subordinated to the federal center on parity grounds, all participating in federal government. Supplementing M. Rėimeris' ideas with those from the contemporary comparative sociological research on empires and imperialism (S. Eisenstadt, M. Doyle, A. Motyl, Ch. Tilly), the author argues that GDL was an empire because relations between Lithuania in the strict sense (including also some Russian lands annexed by the early XV century) and Polotsk, Vitebsk, Smolensk, Volynia, Kiev, Samogitia, etc. were those of subordination of the periphery to the imperial metropole. The proponents of the federalist thesis mistake as federalism what in reality was a system of indirect rule characteristic for premodern empires. The historiographical tradition was blind to imperial features of GDL because it implicitly or explicitly compared GDL with the Moscow state, considering it as a paradigmatic case of empires. However, the Moscow empire represents only one specific type of empire - Westphalian empire, distinguished by the early application of direct rule. While most medieval polities were transformed into sovereign territorial states and Westphalian empires in the early modern time, GDL was unique in following the path of federalization. However, GDL was transformed into a federation only on the eve of the Lublin Union in 1569, while in the XIV-first half of the XVI century it was a traditional empire, including metropolitan military agrarian domains and indirectly ruled peripheral areas shading into areas of mere hegemony.

Художественные практики современных российских немцев в контексте традиций и новаций: на примере программы фестиваля культуры «Немецкая Слобода» (2015–2022 гг.)

The subject of research in this article is the artistic practices of modern Russian Germans, implemented within the framework of the cultural festival “German Sloboda”. It is proved that festival artistic practices belong to the “culture of ethnos” (according to V. G. Babakov’s classification), that is, they are a combination of ethnic and externally introduced components. The latter are the artistic practices of postmodernism, such as performance, happenings, environment and their varieties. The scientific novelty of this work is the consideration of the traditional culture of Russian Germans in the context of artistic forms, methods and techniques of modern times. The objectives of the work include: an analysis of the artistic practices of the cultural festival of Russian Germans “German Sloboda” from the point of view of correlating ethnic content and modern forms of its presentation, as well as the development of the above-mentioned artistic practices in the history of the festival. To achieve the set goals and objectives, a historical-genetic method is used, which allows us to trace the relationship between ethnic traditional and modern innovation in artistic practices, as well as a structural-functional method that demonstrates the artistic practices of modern Russian Germans as an integral part of their spiritual culture. As a result of the analysis of the artistic practices of the cultural festival of Russian Germans “German Sloboda”, a conclusion is made about the culture of modern Russian Germans as a synthesis of the immanent and transcendent, as a combination of following the sociocultural experience of previous generations – traditions – and the desire of the current generation for changes – innovations. The “culture of ethnos” of modern Russian Germans is in the stage of modification and transformation of its forms, creative experimentation, search for an individual-personal beginning with constant reliance on the collective traditional experience of the past. The seven-year history of the cultural festival of Russian Germans “German Sloboda” clearly demonstrates the active use of postmodern artistic practices, in which art leaves traditional spaces (galleries, museums, concert or theater halls) and conquers new spaces that are not necessarily associated with art.

An empirical investigation of ethnic-cultural procedural fairness effects and their boundary conditions among three societal groups in South Africa

ABSTRACT Ethnic-cultural procedural fairness refers to the perception that societal actors use fair and unbiased procedures to make decisions vis-à-vis one’s ethnic-cultural group. Prior research using ethnic-cultural minority samples has convincingly shown that such perceptions are associated with a range of desirable outcomes. Yet, this body of evidence has so far limited its scope to European and North American samples. Moreover, more research is needed on the underlying psychological processes. Therefore, the central aim of the present study was to investigate ethnic-cultural procedural fairness effects among three societal groups in South Africa. In Study 1 (N = 326 black South Africans), we observed relationships between ethnic-cultural fairness perceptions and positive institutional and intergroup attitudes. Institutional and social trust respectively mediated these associations. Study 2 (N = 747) replicated these findings among white (n = 595), but not among coloured South Africans (n = 152). Notably, across both studies, we also obtained evidence for moderation. That is, procedural fairness effects on institutional attitudes were significantly smaller among socioeconomically burdened black participants, and procedural fairness effects on intergroup attitudes were fully curbed among white participants who reported high levels of perceived group discrimination. Taken together, our results call for enhanced attention to procedural fairness obstacles outside of typical WEIRD settings.

Self-determination and secessionism in Nigeria: a contextual analysis through Edward Azar’s protracted social conflict theory

ABSTRACT This article examines the rising divergence but convergence of self-determination and secessionist campaigns in Nigeria. For a contextual analysis, it turns to Edward Azar's protracted social conflict (PSC) theory, exploring the connections between communal disgruntlement and self-determination. The analysis indicates a significant relationship between communal dissatisfaction and self-determination. Through purposive sampling, it selected 44 in-depth interview respondents to obtain complementary qualitative data that were content analysed. In contrast to the 1960s secessionism, which was largely restricted to Eastern Nigeria, combined with the legacies of colonial rule, popularity of ethno-religious politics, an increase in insecurity and violence, economic hardship, communal insecurity, and deeper perception of ethnic marginalisation, the current wave of self-determination is more contagious and politically attractive in three (South West (SW), South East (SE) and South (SS) –) of the existing six geopolitical zones in Nigeria. The article concludes, returning to the erstwhile regionalism will salvage Nigeria from territorial disintegration..

Trajectories of Public Islam: Public Religious Expressions among American Muslim Advocates

Abstract In American mainstream cultural discourse, Islam is often constructed as undemocratic, violent, and un-American. How do American Muslim advocates react to these tarnished representations of their religion? This paper examines the ways in which Muslim advocates construct public discourse around Islam by exploring the possibilities for and recognizing the constraints on their public religious expressions in U.S. civic life as advocates navigate cultural templates infused with de-sacralized Christian meanings. Based on participant observation in two Muslim advocacy organizations, the article demonstrates that advocates map Islam differently, depending on whether the imagined audience of their public discourse is other Muslims or non-Muslims. When advocates imagine addressing non-Muslims, the public discourse of both groups similarly emphasizes Islamic compatibility of Muslim with American values. Among both groups, there is a process of filtering certain religious expressions for more expansive social maps that uncovers the unequal power dynamics shaping trajectories of public religion in civic life for one of the most stigmatized ethno-religious groups in the United States today. This paper contributes to expanding our understanding of how civic culture enables and constrains historically marginalized groups’ attempts at redefining belonging.

Leadership Failure as a Drawback to Africa’s Socio-Economic Development: Analysis of the Challenges and the way forward

Leadership crises in Africa has precipitated series of military coups, insecurity and other myriad of challenges various states in the continent have been plagued with since their independence from colonial subjugation. And these, as many scholars contended, account for the unenviable position of the continent in developmental indexes—like the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Human Development index (HDI) which ranked world countries based on key developmental dimensions and indicators. With focus on leadership landscape, this paper examined the continent’s developmental challenges, the efforts made to curb them at national and continental levels, and the way forward. Secondary data sourced from journal articles and published reports formed the bedrock of the analysis which, first, traced the root of the challenges to the balkanisation of the African continent during colonial rule, and second, showed the failure of the persistent experimentation of unrefined western models of democracy in post-independence Africa. The paper therefore posited that without derogating from 21st century universal leadership values, home-grown democracy that will inculcate African values and ensure inclusion of all ethnoreligious groups holds the key to ending the continent’s leadership crises, which would in turn set it on track for sustainable development.

Communalism Factor in Evolution of Political Situation in British India (1920s-1930s)

This article delves into specific aspects of complex political processes that unfolded in the interwar decades in British India, serving as the foundation for the subsequent decolonization of Hindustan. Drawing from an analysis of documentary sources and literary works, a comprehensive overview is provided regarding the factors shaping Indian communalism and the conceptual perspectives of its proponents during the period under review. The study concludes on the contradictory nature of colonial policy during this period. On one hand, it contributed to the formation of elements of political culture within Indian society and to some extent laid the groundwork for India’s future federative system. On the other hand, its aim was to deepen divisions among various ethno-confessional and social groups of the Indian population to solidify control over a key segment of the British colonial system. The actions of colonial authorities significantly exacerbated relations between key ethno-confessional groups of the Indian population by the late 1930s, setting the stage for the dramatic post-World War II processes leading to the partition of British India into two sovereign entities. The complex relations between these entities largely shape the contemporary character of international relations in South Asia.

Identity, Clothing, and Criminal Mobility in Early Modern Ottoman Society

In the early modern Ottoman Empire, social identity was closely tied to a hierarchical structure, with the sultanate occupying the highest tier and ordinary subjects positioned at the lower end. Empire’s inhabitants were divided into groups based on the style and color of their clothes. By dressing in clothing from a different gender, socioeconomic class, or ethnoreligious group, one could disguise their true identity and social status. This article endeavors to unveil the motivations that compelled ordinary people to employ clothing as a means to conceal their involvement in criminal activities. Furthermore, it investigates the constraints associated with common identity-altering practices, particularly from the vantage points of religion, gender, and intersectionality. Drawing from an array of archival sources such as mühimme records, chronicles, manuscripts, and qadi court registers, the article scrutinizes the consequences of these practices.

Population-genetic and comparative interpopulation studies of the 15 autosomal STR markers in the population living in the Northwest of Iran.

Iran, a country in the Middle East, has several ethnic and ethno-religious groups and needs its own ethnic-specific databases for the forensic statistical parameters and allele frequency of STR markers. We have investigated 600 unrelated Turk individuals from four northwestern provinces of Iran using the Identifiler™ system (TPOX, FGA, vWA, TH01, CSF1PO, D2S1338, D3S1358, D5S818, D7S820, D8S1179, D13S317, D16S539, D18S51, D19S433, and D21S11). Furthermore, STR allelic frequencies were compared to previously population-based data. After Bonferroni correction, deviation from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) was observed in the FGA, TPOX, VWA, and D19S433 loci (P value < 0.05). The combined power of discrimination (CPD) and exclusion (CPE) values for all 15 STR loci were 0.9999999999999999999984 and 0.9999999, respectively. In comparison with Azerbaijani and Turkish populations, there were no significant differences on all STR markers. However, in the Chinese Han population, differences at 13 STR loci were detected. Additionally, comparisons of Fischer genetic distance indices (FST) P-values did not reveal any statistically significant difference between Northwestern Iran, Azerbaijan and Iran (Fars) populations. PCA and PCoA analyses showed that our population was grouped with different populations in different quarters, showing a positive and negative correlation, respectively. In the NJ and UPGMA phylogenetic trees, Iranian populations were grouped together. These results demonstrated that the given set of STR markers can be confidently used for all identification tests in Northwestern Iran.

The influence of education on gender attitudes among ethno-religious majority and minority youth in Germany from a longitudinal perspective

It is well-known that exposure to education is related to egalitarian gender attitudes. Yet, previous studies did not sufficiently take the temporal variation of this relationship into account, especially regarding ethno-religious minority and majority adolescents in Europe. Adolescence represents crucial years for attitude development. We analyze the association between secondary education and gender attitudes of female and male youth belonging to the majority, Muslim, and non-Muslim minority in Germany by employing the CILS4EU-DE panel data with more than 3200 adolescents. Obtaining a secondary school degree is associated with more egalitarian gender attitudes in general. However, different patterns emerge for the various ethno-religious groups and for females and males. Particularly, the effect of secondary education in general is stronger for boys than girls, and upper secondary education is stronger for Muslim minorities than for majority youth. Thus, attitudes develop during adolescence, and education can lead to more egalitarian gender attitudes among some groups but not all equally.

The extended contact asymmetry: Authoritarians benefit more from positive but do not suffer more from negative extended intergroup contact

Contact with outgroup members can serve as a powerful demonstration of the quality of intergroup norms to other ingroup members. This extended contact of fellow ingroup members with outgroup members is known to positively affect intergroup attitudes. Research has demonstrated a positive relationship between positive extended contact and positive intergroup attitudes—even for those most prone to prejudice, such as those high in authoritarianism. However, little is known about the relationship between negative extended contact and intergroup attitudes, or about its interaction with authoritarianism. With correlational data from seven samples (totaling 2,760 respondents across four countries), we ran an internal meta-analysis examining the relationships of positive and negative extended contact with attitudes towards immigrants for group members of advantaged ethnic-cultural groups. The analysis controlled for direct contact and relevant demographic variables to ensure robustness. We considered right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) and its subdimensions as a moderator of these relationships. As expected, positive extended contact showed a stronger relationship with attitudes towards immigrants for high authoritarians. Unexpectedly, negative extended contact showed no interaction with authoritarianism. Put differently, negative extended contact showed a similarly large relationship with intergroup attitudes among high and low authoritarians. These results reveal an extended contact asymmetry: positive intergroup norms created by positive extended contact promote tolerance among authoritarians, whereas negative extended contact does not particularly harm those individuals more. Contrary to our expectations, the analysis of RWA’s subdimensions did not reveal further insights. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed in light of the current debates on norm-setting and intergroup tensions.

The Biafra Story in Film: An Appraisal of Biyi Bandele’s &lt;i&gt;Half of a Yellow Sun&lt;/i&gt;

Diverse scholarly and artistic expressions in book form and documentary films have been employed to document the story of the Nigerian Civil War by persons who were actively or peripherally involved in the events surrounding it. Attempts at telling the story have been coloured by different factors like military, political, ethno religious and egocentric considerations. This study examined the war's account through Biyi Bandele’s Half of a Yellow Sun, a filmic adaptation of Chimamanda Adichie’s novel with the same title. Using qualitative content analysis method and grounded on the Trauma and Cinema Theory, the study examined the film’s representation of historical facts and how such perspectives may have been received. The film's reception by the Nigerian cinema audience and government through the cinema regulatory authority were examined. The study concluded that the suppression of critical historical facts in the film through censorship represents the unwillingness of the government to allow for citizen conversation, which the film could provoke and which may lead to proper closure and possibly lay to rest, the ghost of the fratricidal war that almost ripped the country apart between July 1967 and January 1970.

Group boundaries in the Netherlands: how religion and ethnicity matter for social integration

Abstract Both religion and ethnicity have been found to be important group boundaries for immigrants’ social integration into European societies. However, since both characteristics often overlap, their unique influences remain understudied. Conceptualizing social integration as a form of boundary work, this study aims to disentangle religious and ethnic group distinctions and to examine how they matter for immigrants’ contact with members of the Dutch majority group. Relying on data from four large immigrant groups in the Netherlands, that allows exploiting religious diversity within ethnic groups, we describe differences in contact with Dutch majority members between 13 ethno-religious group combinations, and we perform multiple-group SEM across the 10 largest combinations. Results indicate that while the importance of religious affiliation and ethnicity is group-specific, the strongest boundary for immigrants’ contact with members of the Dutch majority group is that between the religious and non-religious. The relative importance of religion and ethnicity for social integration is explained both by immigrants’ own maintenance of group boundaries and their perception of boundary permeability.

The Alevis and Roma/Gypsy in Turkey: republican freedom revisited

This study examines the prospects and limitations of the republican theory of freedom as an analytical tool for analysing Turkey’s state of rights and liberties. Following an outline of the main philosophical arguments of republican freedom, which emphasises the link between freedom and non-domination, the paper focuses on the cases of Alevis and Roma-Gypsy populations in Turkey, as two different minority groups that face a unique set of identity problems. The debate on the nature of the discriminatory treatment of certain ethnoreligious groups in Turkey tries, on the one hand, to demonstrate the republican conception’s promise to uncover difficulties relating to the status of freedoms. On the other hand, it seeks to highlight potential constraints, especially when it realises socio-economic rights.

The sounds of who we are: rethinking divided cities through sound

ABSTRACT In scholarly analyses, popular representations, and professional responses, the image of the city, divided along ethnic and religious lines, is encoded in dualistic metaphors of “us and them” and “our side and their side of the city”. Those imaginations of divided cities are based on the assumption that the city dwellers of different ethno-religious groups do not share a sense of togetherness and community. In this paper, we cross-fertilize literature on divided cities and sound studies to demonstrate how sound functions as a lens to explore senses of separation and togetherness among city dwellers in a divided city. By using examples of calls to prayer, church bells, and ways in which music is performed and consumed, we argue that developing an attentiveness to soundscapes in contexts of ethnic conflicts helps not only to rethink binary definitions of divided cities but also to challenge taken-for-granted urban planning strategies in ethnically divided cities.

Religion and the everyday citizenship of people with dementia in Nigeria: A qualitative study.

Research on the lived experience of dementia is burgeoning across the social and health sciences. Yet, very little is still known about the experience of dementia for many tribes and ethnoreligious groups, as most studies are conducted in Western countries. The aim is to advance the understanding of the role of faith and prayer in the lives of people with dementia in Nigeria through a lens of everyday citizenship. Interviews were conducted with 17 older people with dementia in a low-income, Yoruba-speaking community in Southwestern Nigeria. After transcription, the data were analysed thematically. The major theme identified in participants' accounts was that prayer served as a space for active and agentic participation. This theme was further elaborated upon through four subthemes: (1) agency in routine and daily prayer, (2) cognitive (re)framing through prayer, (3) prayer as a vehicle for active social interaction and support, and (4) prayer as work and transaction. Participants described religious practices as important to their acceptance of the situations, their feelings of hope in everyday lives, and their connection and contributions to the community. Analysis also shows the centrality of relationality in the everyday experiences of people with dementia. This article contributes to advancing the understanding of the socially orientated everyday experience of dementia. It contributes to a small body of literature on the social aspect and everyday experiences of living with dementia in Africa and stands out as the first of its kind study in Nigeria.

Mechanism of State Direct Salary per Capita Taxation in the Belarusian Provinces of the Russian Empire in the First Half of the 19th Century

The article discusses the legal mechanism of state direct salary per capita taxation in the Belarusian provinces of the Russian Empire in the first half of the 19th century. The place and role of Belarusian lands in the per capita taxation system of the Russian Empire is determined. It has been established that, in general, the legal mechanism of per capita taxation on Belarusian lands in the first half of the 19th century for peasants and townspeople was identical to the taxation process in the European part of Imperial Russia. The regional specificity of the per capita taxation system in the Belarusian provinces of the Russian Empire boiled down to the presence of a number of categories of the population that were exempt from paying the per capita tax or had temporary tax breaks, and was characterized by a significant proportion of Jewish townspeople among the per capita tax payers. At certain periods of time, certain social and ethno-confessional (Jews) groups of the tax-paying population had special per capita salaries. In certain periods of time, certain social and ethno-confessional (Jews) groups of the tax-paying population had special per capita salaries. In addition, until 1851, the per capita tax of the rural population included a duty for the right to freely distill and sell wine. Differences are noted in the principles of allocation of per capita salaries in individual Belarusian provinces. The share of Belarusian provinces in the accrued per capita taxes of Imperial Russia has been revealed. t is concluded that on the eve of large-scale reforms in the 1860s. The Belarusian region had a low degree of burden with direct poll taxes within the vast Russian state. Attention is drawn to the fact that the state capitation taxation system gave rise to fiscal-serfdom oppression.