Kin Community Research Articles

Exploring the Role of a Māori Kin Insider Researcher’s Positionality

This paper aims to shed light on my positionality in my doctoral research by exploring some of the advantages and challenges faced as a Māori kin insider researcher conducting research in my own kin community of Te Araroa. It highlights my chosen positionality and the role that whakapapa research methodology and kinship can play in a Māori kin community study. This is my journey as a Māori kin insider researcher, and I acknowledge that my experiences may differ from those of other Māori kin insider researchers. The complexities surrounding my positionality are explained by drawing on critical themes such as kin included researcher, kin accountability, social boundary theory and reflexivity. For other Māori kin insider researchers and indigenous researchers working within their own kin community, I hope this paper will offer helpful information to understand some of these complexities.

Class Trips beyond Borders: Reimagining the Nation through State-Sponsored Heritage Tourism

AbstractThe article explores how cross-border heritage tourism is promoted in public schools to reimagine Hungary as an ethnically homogeneous nation by incorporating ethnic kin communities that live in neighboring countries. Cross-border heritage tourism has long served to establish strong ties to ethnic diaspora communities that live beyond the territorial borders of the nation-state. National borders in Central and Eastern Europe were repeatedly redrawn across ethnic groups over the twentieth century. Heritage tourism remains a key cultural and economic practice that symbolically questions current national borders and aims to increase the viability of ethnic enclave economies in countries where the given ethnic group is a minority. The article focuses on a large-scale student travel program that was launched by the Hungarian government in 2010, the year that marked the start of a brisk populist turn in Hungarian politics. The program provides funding to public school students for organized class trips to areas of neighboring countries (Romania, Slovakia, Serbia, Croatia, and Ukraine) that belonged to the Hungarian state before World War I. It shows how the Hungarian government mobilizes the public education system to foster a narrow and exclusionary ethnic understanding of cultural membership by selectively overemphasizing Hungarian heritage in regions that have had multi-ethnic, multi-religious, and multicultural histories for centuries. This project extends research on identity-based heritage tourism to show how it has become an integral part of the propaganda toolkit of populist governments.

Sociolinguistic aspects of address terms based on Kazakh consanguine kinship system

The Kazakh society, being traditional in nature, strictly regulates the behavior of its members in many spheres of life, including family communication. The usage of kinship address terms to refer to relatives as well as nonrelatives indicates the uniqueness of the Kazakh culture. Kinship address terms are powerful means of creating and maintaining solidarity among not only members of a kin community but the whole society. In the Kazakh language, there is a plethora of address terms young people use to refer to the members of their family and сlose relatives. The present article is aimed to investigate the address terms that modern younger generations of the Kazakhs use to refer to their parents, siblings, grandpar- ents, uncles, aunts and cousins, and nonkins to determine in what way kinship address terms regulate the communicative behavior of the younger generation and formation of their live values. The analysis of data obtained through on-line survey, observation and face-to-face interviews yielded valuable informa- tion on the usage of address terms within a nuclear family and close consanguine relatives. The research revealed a strong family orientation of today’s Kazakh young people. A peculiarity of Kazakh address terms is a wide use of «Russianized» and Russian kinship terms by the modern Kazakh youth due to two factors – intercultural communication and the bilingual situation in Kazakhstan. Investigation of Kazakh consanguine kinship terms of address employed by the younger generation theoretical and practical sig- nificance. It enabled to demonstrate the links between language use, social relations and cultural values. Key words: kinship, consanguine, address terms, politeness, communicative behavior, hierarchy, on-line survey, face-to-face interview

Intraspecific interactions in the annual legume Medicago minima are shaped by both genetic variation for competitive ability and reduced competition among kin

Documenting if plants exhibit kin competition avoidance in intraspecific plant interactions is relevant both to improve crop growth, and to understand diversity and composition in natural plant communities. However, a number of confounding mechanisms complicates detecting kin competition avoidance from experiments comparing plants growing with kin and non-kin neighbors. We conducted complementary greenhouse experiments using genotypes from four populations of the annual Medicago minima, which in a previous study showed higher survival when interacting with kin relative to non-kin. We show that genotypes vary in kin competition avoidance, and in competitive ability, but find no indication of complementary resource use. Importantly, from our first experiment of root growth behavior, we know that some genotypes exhibit kin competition avoidance. Yet, the variation in competitive ability we find in our second experiment, where plants grow in mini communities together with either kin or unrelated genotypes, can alone explain the variation we observe in growth and biomass among communities. In our case, the genotypes with highest competitive ability were also those that showed kin competition avoidance. This confounding effect obscured the disentangling of mechanisms underlying difference in growth between kin and non-kin interactions. When silencing root exudates by adding activated carbon to a subset of our genotype combinations, we found increased size asymmetry of plants grown together, and mostly in kin communities. This suggests that plants recognize the identity of neighbors via root exudates, and compete less with neighbors recognized as kin. To detect kin competition avoidance we suggest designing experiments that pair unrelated genotypes with similar competitive abilities. Such design, combined with silencing root exudates would be powerful to detect whether plants show kin competition avoidance or not.

Kin-State Politics: Causes and Consequences

AbstractThis article situates the development of the kin-state politics literature within the context of post-Cold War scholarship on ethnicity, nationalism, and conflict. It outlines how an increasingly mature literature emerged around the domestic political and foreign policy drivers of kin-state politics as scholars drew from a number of perspectives, from the literature on irredentism to that on diaspora politics and transborder nationalism. The article then evaluates scholarship on the drivers and impacts of kin-state politics, with a focus on the consequences of kin-state politics for the cultural and political landscape of external kin communities and the impact on regional security and stability. While a rich and nuanced literature has helped to contextualize the tensions and complexities of the former, I argue that the latter needs to be developed further. Careful work needs to be done to more precisely establish the conditions under which kin-state politics constitute a security threat. Future scholarship should bring together a more ground level perspective of how kin-state policies are perceived, utilized, and/or instrumentalized by their intended subjects with a critical understanding of how the “game” of kin-state politics is played within the home state and the kin-state.

Transnational Social Engineering Project of Turkish Islamists

AKP knows how to take advantage of the deep sense of grievance of expatriates in the Western countries. To reiterate, governmental institutions, kin organisations, Islamist communities and networks financed by AKP have been playing a significant role in this manipulation. Among others are Yunus Emre Turkish cultural centers, Diyanet financed mosques, Presidency of Turks Abroad and Kin Communities, TURKEN foundation that is headed by Bilal Erdogan, and UID (Union of International Democrats) and its branch UEID (Union of European Turkish Democrats). With the destruction of the Gulen movement, radical Salafi communities have taken the lead. Given AKP’s fatwa providers’ radical decrees and other AKP-supported radicalised religious communities in the Western Europe, AKP is doing the same thing HT has done in the UK and other Western European countries.

Reinterpreting the value chain in an indigenous community enterprise context

PurposeResearch in the field of indigenous value chains is limited in theory and empirical research. The purpose of this paper is to interpret values that may inform a new approach to considering value chains from New Zealand Maori kin community contexts.Design/methodology/approachThe paper derives from research that develops Indigenous research methods on positionality. By extending the “included researcher” (Kawharu, 2016) role, the research recognises the opportunity of being genealogically connected to one of the communities, which may enable “deep dive research” relatively easily. Yet practical implications of research also obligate researchers beyond contractual terms to fulfil community aspirations in innovation.FindingsResearch findings show that a kin community micro-economy value chain may not be a lineal, progressive sequence of value from supplier to consumer as in Porter’s (1985) conceptualisation of value chains, but may instead be a cyclical system and highly consumer-driven. Research shows that there is strong community desire to connect lands and resources of homelands with descendant consumers wherever they live and reconnect consumers back again to supply sources. Mechanisms enabling this chain include returning food scraps to small community suppliers for composting, or consumers participating in community working bees, harvesting days and the like.Social implicationsThe model may have implications and applicability internationally among indigenous communities who are similarly interested in socio-economic growth and enterprise development.Originality/valueThe apper’s originality, therefore, derives from addressing a research gap, showing that indigenous values may provide a new approach to conceptualising value chains and developing them in practice.

Polityka Turcji wobec Bałkanów Zachodnich po 2008 roku

With the disintegration of Yugoslavia, all the balances in the Balkans were altered and the instability that arose from this process reached a level that threatened international peace. The historical ties between the peoples of Turkey and countries of the region have extended until today. There are Turkish minorities and communities as well as kin communities in the Balkan countries on the one hand; whereas there are citizens of Balkan‑origin in Turkey on the other. Turkey aims to initiate a psychological breakthrough in the Balkans to undo the negative memories of the past. At the regional level, Turkey follows three different sets of policies. The first is to develop bilateral relations to the possible highest extent. The second track is the creation of trilateral mechanisms, such as between Turkey, Serbia, and Bosnia; and Turkey, Croatia, and Bosnia‑Herzegovina. The third track aims to achieve region‑wide cooperation efforts and foster economic interdependence to secure the future of the political relations.

계명대 소장본 에 담긴 담화 관습 교육 내용 연구

As a material published in the latter part of Joseon, ‘Eongandok’ is a letter-writing textbook which dealt with the formality tone should keep when writing a letter in Korean. ‘Eongandok’ is a material that shows the custom of discourse of Korean language and culture, centered on various examples. Existing studies on ‘Eongandok’ are focused on block book ‘Eongandok’. On the other hand, in the case of manuscripts, studies are not actively conducted due to uncertainties surrounding the transcriber and transcribing time. In the case of ‘Eongandok’ housed in Keimyung University and, used in this study, it is highly useful as a research material as transcriber and imprint are clearly recorded. Thus, this study researched the custom of discourse of the Korean language culture in ‘Eongandok’, focusing on the ‘Eongandok’ edition housed in Keimyung University.BR First, this study examined the revised Korean language education curriculum and high school Korean textbooks in order to understand the characteristics of the discourse practice. Also, this study examined the educational direction of the discourse practice from the perspective of social constructionism. The discourse practice of the Korean language presented in the textbooks can be arranged into the discourse customs centering on family and kin community, discourse customs emphasizing ranking and formality, discourse customs emphasizing emotion and feeling, discourse customs lowering oneself and raising the other party, and generosity expression. Next, based on the previous research, this study examined the characteristics and the educational implications contained in Keimyung University’s ‘Eongandok’, and analyzed the discourse practice of Korean language reflected within.BR ‘Eongandok’ is a textbook used by ancestors for the purpose of teaching discourse practice. By using ‘Eongandok’ we will be able to understand the tradition of discourse practice that our ancestors learned. Also, by accepting and criticizing our findings from today’s point of view, this study can contribute to the formation of desirable Korean language culture.

Siyasi aracılar ve Türkiye’nin Balkanlarda Devletten-Topluma Yönlü Diplomasisi

The Justice and Development Party governments in Turkey have placed public diplomacy into theservice of foreign policy as a multi-dimensional tool-kit to be utilized in extending the overseascommunication beyond governments towards their publics. And this may be the first time in theRepublican history that by the Justice and Development Party era, people abroad have found Turkey’smission bodies more accessible and reachable in terms of both institutional presence and of institutionalwillingness to involve in their affairs/problems. The Justice and Development Party governments haveaccordingly adopted a comprehensive ‘state-to-society’ public diplomacy agenda, targeting for instancethe so-called ‘kin communities’, by which shared civilizational memories, values and histories areoften recalled and promoted in building relations. The target communities have thus been encouragedto embrace such identity frames and hence to re-negotiate and when possible redefine their senseof belonging in a civilizational sense. This is a development which brings the constitutive appeal ofthe country’s new foreign policy into a brighter light. Based on this, this paper initially questions theconstitutive influences Turkey has possibly posed to the targeted communities abroad. Moreover,in the implementation of such state-to-society public diplomacy, certain political figures in Turkeyhave functioned as intermediaries between the public diplomacy bureaucracy and the communitiesabroad, as facilitators of Turkey’s access to the targeted communities, and vice versa. These politicalelites have mostly been the members of the ruling party in the Parliament, acted as the chairman ofinter-parliamentary friendship groups, accompanied prime ministers and presidents in their visits totarget communities, and used their personal ties and networks to bring the targeted communities closerto Turkey, and vice versa. They therefore have direct involvement in the conduct of overseas stateto-society policy and have personally contributed to the country’s public diplomacy campaigns. Thispaper, at this juncture, secondly aims to unfold this intermediary role of the political elites, whichwould help garner a better understanding of the sources and causes of Turkey’s societal influencesabroad. The paper uses Turkey’s relations with the Bosniak and Albanian communities in the Balkansas case studies to trace the state-to-society diplomacy and the intermediaries’ roles within it. To betterobserve both the influence and the intermediaries’ facilitative role, interviews are conducted with someof the political intermediaries who took part in Turkey’s reach to the kin communities in the Balkans.

Literature Review: AKP’s Long Arm in the West, Turkish Diasporas and Sunni Muslims

Islamist nationalist project the AKP has embarked upon has found its resonance in foreign policy which espoused a proactive, interventionist policy in ex-Ottoman territories and Turkish diaspora communities. The most striking and significant change in AKP’s conception of nationalism is the role attributed to Muslimhood in determining the identity and the scope of nation. Turkey’s greater engagement with diasporas reflects the features of the state’s new imagined political community, expanding it by including previously excluded communities. The diaspora is perceived as a potential pool of votes for the AKP besides other roles in lobbying and public diplomacy, while the kin communities and Sunni Muslims in the West are perceived as loyal allies abroad as well as investments for Turkey’s aim to be a global actor in the near future.

Indigenous entrepreneurship: cultural coding and the transformation of Ngāti Whātua in New Zealand

Innovation and entrepreneurial endeavour by Māori communities is increasingly capturing the attention of academics and wider society, but like indigenous entrepreneurship studies more generally, Māori entrepreneurship is still a relatively new field of study. A gap or an opportunity in both cases is to critically examine the application of culture in entrepreneurship. Culture can of course mean many things to many people. Theoretical insights concerning culture in indigenous entrepreneurship will develop as case studies are investigated, and factors unique or different to each are understood. In this article, therefore, and in contributing towards theory development, I explore one particular innovation, modelled by a frame called cultural coding for entrepreneurship. Cultural coding identifies and examines essential features for the successes that unfolded within the Auckland-located kin community Ngāti Whātua as they pursued an extraordinary entrepreneurial endeavour: acquiring and then securing a large area of central business district land (the Railway Land, including the former central Auckland Railway Station) in New Zealand’s largest city. Case study analysis is further aided by insights stemming from renowned economists Ludwig Lachman and Joseph Schumpeter concerning combining and recombining resources in new ways, and the related idea of “opportunity recognition”. The resources were principally the people and their values, but they also included land and finance, without which there was no enterprise. This article stems from research undertaken within the author’s community from a researcher position that is located between the insider and outsider dichotomies, but which is more aligned to a nuanced Māori research positionality described in this research as a whakapapa or genealogically-informed “included researcher”.

A Conceptual Typology of Kin‐State Mediation

In this article, I argue that kin states can play major roles in international mediation processes involving their kin communities. Although kin states may be naturally biased toward their kin, kin states are sometimes actively involved in mediation processes and such involvement is even encouraged by third‐party mediators. In this study, I divide the various roles assumed by kin states in mediation into four main conceptual categories: promoter, quasi‐mediator, powerbroker, and enforcer. My analysis presumes that a kin state can use its close ties with its kin community to make third‐party mediation more successful. I support and illustrate this model using cases of kin‐state involvement in peace processes and examine both the benefits and complications that kin‐state mediation can entail. This study contributes to scholarship examining the effectiveness of biased mediators. I conclude that the role a kin state assumes in a mediation is often context‐dependent, but that third‐party mediators and the international community can use their leverage over kin states to improve the peace process.

“Communicating Africa”. Researching Mobile Kin Communities Communication Technologies, and Social Transformation in Angola and Cameroon

« l’Afrique qui communique » Recherche sur les communautés mobiles, les technologies de la communication, et les transformations sociales en Angola et au Cameroun Si le concept de communauté demeure largement associé à sa dimension géographique, les études sur le transnationalisme dans les années 1990 ont conduit à envisager la communauté comme un réseau plutôt que comme un lieu. C’est dans cette optique que s’inscrit cette contribution, en développant l’idée de « chaînes de personnes » liées entre elles pour former une communauté. Les recherches menées au Cameroun et en Angola/Namibie montrent l’ancienneté d’une telle notion de communauté, dont les membres ont toujours été considérés comme des chaînes d’individus dans des lieux divers. Au fur et à mesure des contacts qu’ils établissent les uns avec les autres, les individus construisent et entretiennent des relations communautaires. Les nouvelles technologies de l’information et de la communication permettent de se focaliser sur la mobilité et les interrelations entre les personnes à travers leurs histoires de vie et la manière dont ils utilisent ces nouvelles technologies au quotidien.

Households and kinship networks: the costs and benefits of contextualization

In Household and Family in Past Time (1972) Peter Laslett explicitly differentiated the study of kin relations within the domestic group from the study of those beyond it. Yet in subsequent decades the latter project – the conceptualization of the domestic group within the larger kin group – has not proceeded very far, even though it can easily be pictured as the ‘next step’ in micro-structural research. In part this is due to the inherent difficulties of recreating the larger kinship context precisely on the basis of available evidence. However, it is also because of changing conceptualizations of kinship and because demographic change demonstrably reduced the number of identifiable kin. If this project is to be pursued, its costs and benefits have to be weighed. On the one hand, the larger kin group may not have been important even if it can be identified as a group; also, migration might have dispersed kin groups so that only a few personal kin remained beyond the domestic group. On the other hand, the significance of kin groups is an empirical question which needs to be tested against historical evidence. Individuals also certainly had personal kin communities that were not corporate groups but still could have influenced the behaviors of persons within the domestic group. It is best to assume about the past that the domestic domain and the kinship domain interacted, creating the starting point for an interactive theory consisting of five propositions and their corollaries, outlined in the article.

Gender, Dress and Self-Empowerment: Women and Burial Societies in Botswana

One measure of relative poverty humiliation and indignity among Batswana is wearing tattered clothes (makatana). Literally a dress (seaparo) means to adorn oneself. Particular kinds of clothes have multiple meanings and authorise and legitimise participation of certain social groups in given situations in society. This paper focuses on specific ways in which women in local institutions known as burial societies (diswaeti in everyday Tswana discourse) ceremonially and ritualistically empower themselves through an event known as kapeso - to be garbed enrobed or dressed. Empowerment embodies a sense of competence mastery strength and ability to effect change. The event incorporates biblical knowledge associated with Christian religious ceremonies of dedication or devotion and Tswana funeral ritual symbols. Given the extraordinary context of the AIDS crisis in Botswana taking up specific intervention roles of providing emergency financial relief to households in distress demands some sort of public authentication. Women in burial societies adopt a particular dress code as ritual object of social power to perform gendered social roles that closely conform to status obligations to self family kin community and society. Their dress code enables them to dramatize social action (that is the ability to understand what they do and to use that understanding as part of their performance) in ways that redefine gender relations practices of spirituality across denominational affiliation and Tswana humanism (botho). (authors)