ABSTRACT This study examines the role of Dhanak of Humanity in supporting Hindu-Muslim interfaith marriages in India, where couples face societal, legal, and familial resistance. It explores how Dhanak of Humanity helps individuals navigate complex identity negotiations, balancing personal beliefs with communal expectations. Through legal aid, counselling, and advocacy, Dhanak of Humanity fosters secular values, challenges rigid religious boundaries, and redefines belonging. Drawing on interviews and organisational reports, this paper argues that interfaith marriages reshape identity discourses. Ultimately, Dhanak's work in Humanity contributes to broader conversations on personal freedom, secularism, and national identity in contemporary India.

This study examines the intersection of football and nation branding in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, exploring how the country strategically leverages the sport to reshape its global image. Through major investments—such as the acquisition of Newcastle United Football Club and the recruitment of international football icons including Cristiano Ronaldo—Saudi Arabia has sought to expand its global presence and project a modern national identity. These initiatives form part of the broader Vision 2030 framework, which aims to diversify the economy and redefine perceptions of the Kingdom beyond its oil-based image. Employing a qualitative research design, the study draws on 12 semi-structured interviews with experts from diverse fields—including sociology, international relations, media and communication, sport management, and cultural studies—to provide nuanced insights into Saudi Arabia’s investments in football and their implications for the nation’s branding strategy. The findings reveal that participants view football as both a means of advancing Saudi Arabia’s modernisation narrative and a reflection of its engagement with global conversations on sports, image, and soft power, allowing the Kingdom to connect with international audiences and challenge prevailing stereotypes. Ultimately, the study contributes to a deeper understanding of how nations employ sports to construct persuasive narratives and enhance their international reputation.

ABSTRACT This article explores the first five years of the Irish young people’s anti-abortion group Youth Defence. Using newspaper articles and archival sources, I illustrate how the group effectively mobilised the category of ‘youth’ in their activism. ‘Youth’ was used to excuse their militant activities and any violence associated with the group. I also argue here that while the group’s activism was profoundly influenced by American campaigners, their rhetoric and activism also embodied nationalist and Catholic tropes. The establishment of Youth Defence also marked a turning point in the anti-abortion movement in Ireland. As older strategies appeared to be losing momentum, the young activists used very imaginative ways of operating but also built on older activists’ methods such as the engagement with transnational connections. I show how the activism of these young people, while focused on the abortion issue, also represented a reaction against broader social and cultural change in Irish society. In subsequent sections, I focus on the activities of Youth Defence and show how their activism, which attracted significant media attention, represented a new wave of more militant anti-abortion activity in Ireland, which provoked tensions both among the public and within the wider anti-abortion movement. Fundamentally, the article aims to show that while the anti-abortion cause was the main reason for activists joining Youth Defence, it also enabled them to channel wider anxieties around young people’s experiences, national identity and changes in Irish society, into protest. In exploring the history of Youth Defence, this article contributes to the history of conservative activism in Ireland and the wider history of the anti-abortion movement.

This study critically examines Islamic discourse in the English textbooks prescribed for middle and secondary school students in Sindh, Pakistan. It explores how these textbooks shape learners’ religious and national identities by encouraging pan-Islamic connections. The research highlights recurring themes drawn from textbook excerpts that are used by key actors in Sindh’s education system to promote a sense of Pakistani patriotism grounded in religion, rooted in the historical legacy of Pan-Islamism. Using a qualitative design, the study applies thematic analysis to selected content from the English textbooks. Its analytical framework is informed by Foucault’s discourse theory, particularly his ideas of the technologies of power and the self in producing subjects. The theoretical perspective also incorporates debates surrounding pan-Islamic thought. The findings suggest that within school education, textbooks function as influential tools that present Islam as an all-encompassing metaphor for Pakistan’s national identity. The study situates these textbooks within schools as sites of discursive social practices. It argues that by presenting discourse as legitimate knowledge, the textbooks lead students to construct an imagined “us” from a religious standpoint—both as Pakistanis in particular and as part of a broader Muslim brotherhood in general.

At the request of the National Commission of Monuments, Sites and Historic Assets of the Nation, in coordination with the Municipality of Ensenada and the National University of Rosario, the enhancement of the Fuerte Barragán National Historic Monument in the town of Ensenada, province of Buenos Aires, was carried out. For such purposes, the archaeological and heritage intervention of the site was carried out, in which archaeologists, teachers and students of the anthropology career of the National Universities of Rosario and La Plata, employees of the Municipality of Ensenada, museologists, restorers and public officials, among others, participated. From this phenomenon, mechanisms of construction of collective memory were developed centered on the links between material culture, space, official history and national identity. This work aims to present the results of the enhancement and the analysis of social representations around the strategies of dissemination, custody and conservation of the site considering the perspectives of the different actors involved. Actions aimed at appropriation and recovery are part of the processes of reaffirmation of the identity of social groups, who construct representations about the archaeological site.

Violent disputes and ethnic clashes have been a common phenomenon in plural societies over the years. Globally, these incidents of ethnic division have been manifested in power politics and control of resources, hence posing a major challenge to unity and social cohesion in these societies. In Kenya threats to ethnic diversity are predominantly ascribed to political instigation, land disputes, ethnic divisions, demonstrations, subsequent clashes, and riots, which are common occurrences during each political campaign season. Uasin Gishu County boasts of a diverse population comprising various ethnic groups has been an epicenter of ethnic conflicts in Kenya for many years. This study sought to put into perspective challenges of ethnic diversity in the county in the face horizontal inequalities which has been a major factor for ethnic tensions in Kenya. The study adopted Interpretivist philosophy. The study applied descriptive and historical research designs. The study found out that there were a myriad challenges towards ethnic diversity amid horizontal inequalities which included high levels of Politicization of ethnicity, Corruption and Impunity of Public Officers, misuse of various media and technology platforms, Institutionalized discrimination, historical injustices and marginalization. The study concluded that there was a combination of factors that made it challenging to manage horizontal inequalities and ethnic conflicts in Uasin Gishu County. These factors created ethno-political competition among major ethnic groups in the county, thereby leading to an environment in which ethnic animosity thrived over national identity and Unity hence incessant ethnic tension and violence in the county. The study recommended a multi-pronged stakeholder approach to address the challenge of horizontal inequalities.

The rupiah plays a vital role as a symbol of national identity and sovereignty, but awareness among rural communities about its function and importance is often limited. In Kutalimbaru Village, the main challenges identified are low monetary literacy, which results in physical damage to money and a lack of awareness about counterfeit money. Through the Real Work Lecture (KKN) program, community service efforts were carried out with the aim of internalizing the values of “Love, Pride, Understanding (CBP) of the Rupiah.” The approach used was community-based education through interactive workshops and practical demonstrations on money care techniques and an introduction to the security features of the Rupiah. Findings in the field show a transformation in the community's attitude; from being indifferent to being more careful in handling paper money and better understanding the role of the Rupiah in economic stability. This program has succeeded in increasing the financial literacy of citizens while strengthening the spirit of nationalism through appreciation of the national currency. Keywords: community empowerment, micro businesses, tempeh products, entrepreneurship, Sialaman Village.

The authors examine a little-studied scientific problem: the connection between the collective image of the future and sporting identity, which is based on the achievements of talented Armenian athletes such as Tigran Petrosyan (chess), Yuri Vardanyan (weightlifting), and Eduard Azaryan (gymnastics). It is shown that their successes, as well as those of the Ararat football club enhanced the Armenians’ national pride. The authors conclude that in the late 1980s, sport became a communicative mechanism for expressing national sentiment. In the context of Soviet reality, the achievements of Armenian athletes aroused a sense of pride among citizens and contributed to the increasing of national self-awareness, shaping a positive image of Armenia both within the USSR and internationally. The success stories of outstanding Armenian athletes, their performances on the international stage and at world championships, have become part of the nation’s cultural heritage. In the second half of the 20th century, high-performance sports in the Armenian SSR, serving as a means of social consolidation and a symbol of national pride for the Armenian people, influenced social processes in the multinational USSR, fostering a sense of local identity.

The language used to describe health equity efforts has become increasingly contested. Understanding how language influences public attitudes is essential to effectively communicate equity-focused concepts across ideological groups. To assess the association of language and framing with public receptiveness to health equity concepts, including alignment of definitions with shared values, reactions to common terms, and preferences for public health framing statements. This cross-sectional online survey of 1000 US adults was conducted between April 9 and April 25, 2025, using an international public opinion research firm that recruited from a nonprobability-based online panel with matching and weighting to national benchmarks. Participants were stratified by age, sex, race and ethnicity, self-reported political ideology, and geographic region to approximate national demographics. The survey included 3 modules: (1) random assignment to a definition of health equity or health equality with values-alignment questions; (2) evaluative reactions to 10 common health equity terms; and (3) preferences for 4 pairs of equivalent public health statements differing only in framing. Primary outcomes included participant ratings of values alignment (including personal values and values core to national identity, the latter of which were termed American values in the survey), evaluative reactions to equity-related terms (negative to nonnegative), and framing preferences across ideology groups. Descriptive statistics assessed values alignment, reactions to terms, and framing preferences. Among 1000 US adults (weighted number, 513.2 [51.3%] female; 105.8 [10.6%] very liberal, 164.0 [16.4%] liberal, 344.0 [34.4%] moderate, 205.9 [20.6%] conservative, 98.7 [9.9%] very conservative, and 81.5 [8.2%] not sure), respondents represented a broad range of ages, racial and ethnic backgrounds, and educational attainment. Respondents assigned to the health equity definition reported higher alignment with personal values (42.9%-87.4% across groups) than those assigned to health equality (28.5%-79.0% across groups), with endorsement of either concept increasing progressively from very conservative to very liberal respondents (P < .001 in both cases). When assessing perceived core American values, health equity (47.0% [95% CI, 33.1%-60.8%]) was more frequently endorsed than health equality (21.1% [95% CI, 9.6%-32.5%]) among those identifying as very conservative. Four terms-accessible health care, health care investment, population health, and community health-were broadly well received (<10% negative responses in most groups), whereas the terms marginalized communities and inclusive health elicited more divergent reactions across ideologies (P < .01 in both cases). Collectivist (our health vs your health) and affirming (start, support, and increase) framings were consistently preferred across groups. In this national online survey of 1000 US adults, respondents showed both ideological differences and areas of convergence in responses to health equity language and framing. These findings suggest that strategic use of broadly resonant terms and collective, affirming framings may foster understanding of and support for health initiatives across political ideologies.

ABSTRACT This article examines an exchange of ideas, concerning creole languages, that connected the Soviet linguist Nikolai Marr, the Austro-German linguist Hugo Schuchardt, and a number of writers and thinkers from the Caribbean. It considers emerging discourse around hybrid national identity, which was developed in the Americas, and had a strong bearing on ideas about creole languages. These ideas were received by Schuchardt and in turn transmitted to Marr, thereby establishing an unexpected avenue of communication from the Americas to the Soviet Union.

This article explores how symbolic and cultural capitals shape the perceptions of Ukrainian political elites regarding Russia as a geopolitical threat, focusing on the transformations since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Using Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of practice, the paper argues that elite perceptions are not only reactions to external events but also products of internal struggles within the political field, influenced by elites’ positions, accumulated capitals, and embodied experiences. The article also integrates a postcolonial perspective to examine how the legacy of Russian imperialism continues to affect Ukraine’s political elites, shaping their identity, legitimacy, and responses to the evolving threat. This relational analysis provides a deeper understanding of the dynamics of national identity, memory politics, and power struggles in postcolonial and post-Soviet contexts, highlighting the role of symbolic hierarchies in the construction of political authority and threat narratives.

With the collapse of the post-Cold War bipolar world order, religious institutions regained their public role in the socialist and people’s republic states of Central, Eastern and Southeastern Europe. Religion not only regained its social influence, but also once again became a decisive factor in shaping national identity. During the disintegration of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, religion did not merely attempt to fill the ideological void left by the crisis of the socialist value system; it also actively contributed to the reconfiguration of national values, culture, identity and political discourse. This study examines the religious factors that contributed to the sacralisation of national identity; the consolidation of the ‘Us’, ‘Them’, and ‘Us versus Them’ narratives; and the justification of wartime violence during the disintegration of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY). In this context, ‘Us’ refers to the dominant religious/ethnic community of a given member republic, while ‘Them’ denotes the ethnic majority and their confessional affiliations living in other member republics. This mainly refers to the three largest religious/ethnic communities, Orthodox Serbs, Catholic Croats, and Bosnia and Herzegovina Muslims. The ‘Us versus Them’ confrontation escalated tensions and ultimately played a central role in the disintegration of the SFR of Yugoslavia. The study concludes that religion played a dual role: on the one hand, it supported the preservation of community identity and social cohesion; on the other hand, it fostered exclusion, the ethnicisation of loyalty, the political instrumentalisation of religion, and the legitimisation of war discourses on the other.

This article explores early nineteenth century American travel narratives about Izmir, focusing on how these texts reflect both the city’s complex cosmopolitan character and the tension embedded in the formation of American national identity, and carries a fresh perspective shaped by U.S. nation-building and the ideology of Manifest Destiny. In the midst of the expansionism debate, Americans endeavored to define the American identity and their democratic rights who would become future citizens if they proceeded with westward expansion, even if it meant establishing a cosmopolitan empire. To that end, they engaged with the multiplicity of the Ottoman Izmir, with a subtle critique of their own empire in the making. Through close readings of certain travelogues, the article analyzes how Izmir’s urban landscape with its layered multiculturalism and spatial segregation served as both a site of fascination and disorientation for Americans negotiating their place in a Euro-dominated world. These travel accounts reveal the contradictions between American ideals of unity and the challenges posed by multicultural realities abroad. In doing so, the article contributes to broader discussions of Ottoman urban history and American exceptionalism by highlighting Izmir as a mirror through which Americans confronted the tensions within their own national narrative.

The purpose of this study is to identify how Abdul Rahim Salim Kajai’s (1894-1943) concept of Malay national identity shapes the character system in his short stories. The scientific novelty of the study lies in demonstrating for the first time how the author’s political views and ideals shape a specific character system and are conveyed through the images of the heroes. As a result, the study reveals a clear structure within the extensive character system of Kajai’s short stories, grouping the characters based on their commitment to the author’s ideology, while the identified categories of heroes correlate with their ethnic origin. It is emphasized that the writer’s nationalism determined the special role of Malay protagonists in the narrative and predetermined the significance of the issue of Malay national identity. The study established that Kajai uses a clearly structured system of characters in his stories as a tool for conveying his ideas, stimulating Malay audiences to self-reflect and consider their own situation, which speaks to the significance of his works in the context of national identity formation.

Purpose. This article examines one of the unstudied components of the macroconcept QUANTITY in Yakut linguofolkloristics – “the concept of UNDETERMINED QUANTITY”. The purpose of the study is to identify ways of representing this concept in the texts of the Yakut heroic epic olonkho and establish a nationally specific component reflected in the language of the Yakut ethnic group. Results. As a result of the study, the concept UNDETERMINED QUANTITY in olonkho texts is represented by everyday realities (hotoghos ‘fisher floats’), celestial bodies (yi ‘moon’, kun ‘sun’), natural phenomena (buor ‘earth dust’), objects of living nature (yam byrdaga ‘mosquitoes’) and natural landscapes (khonuu ‘valley’, myraan ‘mountain’), most of which are in comparative constructions with the case indicators -taagar, -nan, with the lexical indicators kurduk, saga. To enhance the meaning of plurality, the narrator uses techniques such as parallelism (repetition of the same thought in several lines) and hyperbolization (deliberate exaggeration). These techniques are traditional in Yakut storytelling, and give the olonkho poetry and color. The storyteller creates visual and mental images of the described object or subject based on not only personal perception but also the perception and knowledge of the world characteristic of his people, experiences that have formed among him and his people over a long time. Conclution. Thus, the national identity of the speaker of the Yakut language in the verbalization of the concept UNDETERMINED QUANTITY lies in a set of images based on the life activities, traditions and cultural values of the Yakut people.

ABSTRACT Education is a key site for nation-building and fostering citizenship across the globe. Historically, Israel’s state education system has promoted ethno-national Zionist values. In the past two decades, Israel has undergone processes of neoliberalisation with the entrepreneurial ethos gaining prominence, emphasising future orientation, personal autonomy, and individualisation in service of the neoliberal state. How is the global entrepreneurial discourse, which encourages autonomous and individualistic citizens, assimilated and translated within a state education system aiming to establish ethno-national citizenship? Drawing on qualitative data including in-depth interviews with state education policymakers and educators, observations of schools’ educational spaces, and content analysis of ministerial official publications, the findings reveal a hybrid entrepreneurial-Zionist ideal citizen reflected in current educational discourse, merging neoliberalism and ethno-nationalism, combining future orientation with Jewish-Israeli narratives. This research contributes to citizenship studies by showing how entrepreneurial and national ideals of citizenship can be mutually reinforcing, rather than merely coexisting. The study demonstrates how in Israeli state education a hybrid model of citizenship integrates global neoliberal discourses of individualism with national narratives of collective ethno-national belonging.

ABSTRACT Modern archaeological museums built since the early Republican era in Turkey embody the secular state’s vision of modernization, combining modern architecture with the instrumentalization of archaeology in nation-building narratives. Despite increasing recognition of modern heritage globally, such buildings in Turkey often remain overlooked, facing threats of demolition or neglect. With the demolition of the Antalya Archaeological Museum on the agenda, this article draws attention to the conservation of modern architectural heritage. It examines two further museums, Çanakkale Archaeological Museum and Aphrodisias Museum, with different fates and discusses their current preservation issues. These institutions are not merely exhibition spaces but ideological instruments in the construction of national identity and collective memory. The study contextualizes them within international conservation frameworks and highlights the tension between their symbolic significance and current treatment. Through the cases, the study evaluates how architectural, functional, and political transformations reflect still under-recognized memory spaces of modern architectural heritage in Turkey.

ABSTRACT This paper argues for the right to reclaim lost bodies, understood through three interrelated dimensions: recovering evidence of destroyed bodies, rediscovering memories of Indigenous peoples erased from history and culture and resisting legal fictions that deny original land rights. Together, these dimensions propose a renewed human rights framework capable of confronting the enduring consequences of colonialism, including shaping national identities, dispossessing legal subjects and destroying bodies. This argument is developed through literature and legal cases. It begins with the disappearance of the body of Juan de Moraes, an eleven-year-old boy killed by police in Rio de Janeiro in 2011; examines the erasure of Indigenous presence in Brazilian cultural history, including in the work of poet Gonçalves Dias and culminates in the contemporary legal struggle over the original land rights of the Xokleng nation. The paper proposes that reclaiming lost bodies is a form of justice rooted in hope, hospitality and memory. Drawing on alternative human rights methodologies inspired by Costas Douzinas, Ronnie Warrington, Edward Said, and recent scholarship on memory, alterity, and self-determination, it explores how justice might be delivered beyond legal limits, across aesthetic and ethical boundaries, in the oldest human act of returning bodies to the living.

ABSTRACT During the Indian Freedom Struggle, a contemporary need existed to create an Indian narrative to counter imperialism and colonial historians. In this way, Indian historians were becoming part of the freedom movement. Gandhi actively participated in the freedom movement through political moves, but he also wanted to counter imperialism by establishing an educational institute like Gujarat Vidyapith. That is why in Gujarat Vidyapith the Puratattva Mandir was established to counter the imperialist consequences while offering the Indian perspective of looking at the past, which was also a critical concern of the Indian freedom struggle. The Puratattva Mandir members dedicated their understanding of history to Gandhi's concept of the nation. This was an attempt to fulfill the contemporary needs of the National Movement through historical writings. In this paper, an attempt will be made to critically examine the emerging national identity in the history of the members of Puratattva Mandir between 1920 and 1930.

ABSTRACT This paper examines the transformation of citizenship in Taiwan through democratisation and decolonisation, focusing on the pivotal role of the household registration system. Originating as a colonial and authoritarian tool for population control and the projection of a China-centric identity, the system has evolved into a crucial mechanism defining Taiwanese citizenship. While democratisation has facilitated the establishment of a Taiwan-centric legal identity and enhanced the political rights of Taiwanese citizens, this transformation has been constrained by two major issues: the ambiguity between national and citizen identity, and the continued marginalisation of indigenous peoples. Drawing on coloniality of citizenship, the authors explore how democratisation has enabled Taiwanese citizens to engage in substantive political participation while simultaneously limiting indigenous peoples’ access to assert their rights. Despite legal advances, such as the right to prior-consultation for indigenous peoples, settler-state frameworks – embodied by the household registration system – continue to impose settler-centric criteria on indigenous peoples. This ongoing coloniality reflects a tension between indigenous peoples’ definition of citizenship, which is rooted in land, lineage, and community, and the state’s citizenship frameworks. This study underscores the ongoing colonisation and the need to foster citizenship models that recognise the subjectivity of indigenous peoples within liberal democracies.