Status Of Minorities Research Articles

Language and a Continent in Flux

This article introduces the present forum edition on linguistic identities in twenty-first-century Europe. We consider how discourses of inclusion and exclusion, embedded in discourses of the nation, continue to be relevant in understanding and interpreting the social, cultural and political status of (minority) languages and their speakers. In order to introduce the various studies that comprise this forum, we relay how language debates provide a lens through which wider systems of prestige and hierarchy may be focused. Such debates can, at one and the same time, both alter and reflect the meanings and interpretations of Europe itself.

A ‘Minority’ on the Move: Boundary Work among Filipina Muslim Migrant Domestic Workers in the Middle East

This article analyses the migration of a religious ‘minority’ that is largely invisible within migration studies, namely Muslim Filipina domestic workers. More specifically, this research shows that the category of ‘minority’ is not fixed and is always negotiated through transnational spaces and boundary work. In doing so, the article highlights how religious belonging, the status of minority and migration intersect and are negotiated during the period prior to these women leaving their country, during their time in the country of destination, and when they return to the Philippines. How boundary work affects the religious belonging of this Muslim ‘minority’ is underlined by presenting the Middle East as an opportunity to perform norms of ‘Muslimness’. The performance of these norms as an opportunity for these women to challenge the status of being a ‘minority’ in the Philippines is also examined. Finally, this article shows how these Muslim ‘minorities’ gain access to a certain symbolic capital by becoming hajji and balikbayan (returnees) when they return home.

Knowledge and Willingness for Organ Donation in the Middle Eastern Region: A Meta-analysis

Medical advancements over the past decades brought organ transplantation as a definitive therapy for different end-stage organ failure. However, non-availability of organs required for transplantation is a major challenge worldwide. We aimed to determine the knowledge and willingness to donate organs in various populations and settings in the Middle Eastern region. Literature searches were conducted on PubMed, MEDLINE, Cochrane, and Google scholar electronic databases. Different combinations of search terms such as “organ donation”; “knowledge”, “awareness”; “beliefs”, “willingness”; and “attitude” along with the country names were used. Additional searches using reference lists of studies and review articles were conducted. Data were extracted using standardized excel form and pilot tested. Three authors independently abstracted the data using a data collection form. Results from different studies were pooled for the analysis when appropriate. The search yielded 1806 articles; 1000 duplicates and review articles were excluded, and a further 792 articles not relevant were excluded. Finally, 14 original studies met the inclusion criteria. Total pooled sample size for assessing knowledge was 6697 and for willingness was 8714. Pooled overall knowledge regarding organ donation was 69% with a 95% CI [64.5, 73.5]. Pooled overall willingness to donate organ was 49.8% with a 95% CI [41.3, 58.4]. Knowledge about organ donation and willingness to donate organs varies in different population and settings in the Middle East. These in fact are linked to multiple social factors ultimately leads to ‘consent’ for donating organs by a potential donor. Family’s influence; religious, traditional and spiritual beliefs; and status of ethnic, minority, and immigrant populace are the important determinants of the decision for organ donation. Understandings on social determinants in organ donation remain crucial and should be addressed while developing policies and organizational developments.

Sandžak Between Interculturalism and Multiculturalism

Building a multicultural society is one way of finding a Vivendi mode for resolving the national status of autochthonous peoples, minorities, minority communities or minority groups in the country, without conflict and war. In such a society, these peoples and groups exercise their right to resolve their political status, their economic, cultural and social development through constitutional possibilities, through international documents, all through various democratic mechanisms - referenda, agreements, etc. In that way they regulate their right to internal-internal, and sometimes external-external self-determination, and thus acquire certain elements of their international legal subjectivity. In this paper, we want to make some clarifications on the construction and functioning of a multicultural and / or intercultural society, using the research of the author Andrea Semprini and his book on Multiculturalism in the United States, with the intention that this may serve as an instructive practical-theoretical example of solving similar problems in our former Yugoslav - above all, the Sandžak area.

Learning language regimes: Children's representations of minority language education

AbstractMinority language education initiatives often aim to resist dominant language regimes and to raise the social status of migrant or autochthonous minorities. We consider how participating children experience these alternative language regimes by analysing drawings made by children in two minority education settings—a Slovene‐German bilingual school in Austria and an Isthmus Zapotec (Indigenous) language and art workshop in Mexico. We examine how children's drawings represent language regimes in the social spaces they inhabit. Considering these drawings in relation to ethnographic observations and interviews with educators, we illustrate differences between how the social spaces are planned by educators and how they are represented and experienced by learners. Generally speaking, the children in our studies depict flexible, multilingual experiences and spaces, in contrast to the educators’ agendas of separating or emphasizing languages for pedagogical purposes. Mexican children's perception of themselves as participants in fluid language regimes, and Austrian children's increasing appropriation of multilingual space over time through both (school‐like) routines and (fun) exceptions can inform the efforts of minority language educators.

Human Rights Issues Arising from the Implementation of Sharia Law on the Minority of Western Thrace—ECtHR Molla Sali v. Greece, Application No. 20452/14, 19 December 2018

The Molla Sali case, recently heard by the ECtHR, concerns the compatibility of the implementation of Sharia in the family and personal relations of the Muslims of Western Thrace, who remained within the boundaries of the Greek State after the exchange of populations under the Treaty of Lausanne, to the ECHR. The applicant, a Greek national of the Muslim minority of Western Thrace, complained that she could not be beneficiary by testament of her deceased husband’s estate, member of the same minority, since, according to the position of the Court of Cassation, due to a series of international agreements and relevant domestic norms, the law of succession applicable to her case was the Islamic Law that prohibits the testament, instead of the civil law. However, the ECtHR found that the applicant was victim of a violation of article 14 of the ECHR in conjunction with article 1 of Protocol no 1. In this case, the ECtHR considered for the first time the question of the compatibility of a religious community’s separate legal status with the ECHR. The rationale behind the decision is within the framework of the core principles of the Court’s case law on the limits of the autonomy of religious communities and acknowledgement of minority rights. The Court, based on the main line of arguments which constitute the corpus of its jurisprudence on religious and minority issues, ruled that the separate legal status of the Muslim minority cannot justify divergences from the application of the General Law, to the extent that such divergences violate the Greek citizens’ rights enshrined in the Constitution and the ECHR and it condemned Greece on the basis of “discrimination by association”.

Original Nation Approaches to 'International' Law (Onail): Decoupling of the Nation and the State and the Search for New Legal Orders

Original Nation Approaches to 'International' Law (Onail): Decoupling of the Nation and the State and the Search for New Legal Orders

Philipp Alexander & Crona David: a conversion, divorce, and custody case, Braunschweig, 1752/53

ABSTRACTPhilipp Alexander David (1730–1808), the son of the prominent court Jew Alexander David (1687–1765) in Braunschweig, expressed his wish to convert to Christianity in 1752. This triggered a complex, fast-paced discourse among and between Christians and Jews about conversion, divorce, custody of children, and the status of minorities. An intense public theological discourse between Lutheran and Pietist Protestant theologians in Halle and Helmstedt revealed a clash of religious ideals with natural parental rights. Traditional patriarchic views of marriage and family contrasted with an emerging enlightened perspective of the rights of the mother.

Selected Abstracts From the Proceedings of the 2015 Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM) Conference on Medical Student Education.

The Society of Teachers of Family Medicine (STFM; http://www.stfm.org) is a community of professionals devoted to teaching family medicine through undergraduate, graduate, and continuing medical education. This multidisciplinary group of physicians, educators, behavioral scientists, and researchers works to further STFM's mission of improving the health of all people through education, research, patient care, and advocacy. The STFM held its 41st Conference on Medical Student Education in Atlanta, Georgia from February 5-8, 2015. The conference this year was met with record attendance and student scholarship winners. The STFM Education Committee selected 10 abstracts, of which five are presented below.

Correlates of mental disorders among minority Arab adolescents in Israel: results from the Galilee Study

BackgroundThe Galilee Study is the first large epidemiological study to compare correlates of mental disorders between two Arab Palestinian minority groups of adolescents in Israel.MethodsA two-stage cross-sectional study, carried out between 2012 and 2014, included all 9th grade students from 5 Arab localities, representative of 77% of the Muslim and 100% of Druze citizens in Israel. During the screening stage, 1639 students completed the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire in the classroom (response rate = 69.3%). During the follow-up stage, 704 adolescent-mother dyads were interviewed at home; using the Development and Well-Being Assessment, the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ)-12, the Subjective Feeling of Discrimination Index (FDI), and socio-demographic questions (response rate = 84.4%).ResultsPrevalence of any disorder, internalizing or externalizing disorders among Muslim adolescents were 19.2, 15.8 and 4.2%, respectively and among Druze adolescents 10.9, 5.9 and 5.5%, respectively. Muslim adolescents were 3.2 times more likely than Druze adolescents to have an internalizing disorder, while Druze were 2 times more likely than Muslim to have an externalizing disorder. Males were at higher risk than females for externalizing disorders in both populations, though among Druze the risk was more striking. Learning disabilities increased the likelihood of having an externalizing disorder in both populations. Risk factors for internalizing disorders among Muslim adolescents were female gender, a very low socio-economic level, few siblings, LD, high maternal GHQ-12 score and high FDI; and for externalizing disorders, male gender, a relatively low socio-economic level but not the lowest, learning disability and high maternal GHQ-12 score.ConclusionsWe found an association between religion/ethnicity and internalizing and externalizing disorders as well as a strong correlation between religion/ethnicity and socio-economic variables. Therefore, we tend to conclude that not religion per se but the multifaceted socio-cultural and economic factors that characterize religious groups are associated with mental disorders. Very low socio-economic level and feeling discriminated which were traits connected only to Muslim adolescents, were associated with internalizing disorders. When preparing preventive measures aimed at furthering mental health among minority adolescents, authorities should focus on improving the socio-economic status of minorities and reducing institutional and personal discrimination. The educational and mental health establishments could undertake measures to improve resilience and coping strategies of Muslim families living in the most adverse conditions, such as providing special support through the school counseling services and coordinating, at the ministerial levels, school and community health services in order to carry out joint preventive programs and referrals to specialist services when needed.

Legal status of national minorities in Ukraine: security problems and realities

The article is devoted to the study of the legal status of national minorities in Ukraine, its problems, the definition of the main guidelines in the study of the contradictory issue of ensuring the rights of national minorities through the analysis of fundamental legal acts and the real situation in the country, formulation of conclusions and certain principles that will improve the situation of minorities. in Ukraine. As of today, the concept of the legal status of national minorities in Ukraine is not sufficiently researched and there is no perfect legislative framework aimed at improving their status. For Ukraine, as for any multiethnic state, the issue of national minorities is perpetually relevant and needs constant study and analysis. The formation of Ukraine as an independent state has put on the agenda both a theoretical and a practical task - to develop its own concept of national policy.

Закарпатский вопрос в отношениях стран Вишеградской группы и Украины в конце XX — начале XXI веков

The question of the impact of socio-economic and ethnic development of Transcarpathian region on relations between Ukraine and neighboring countries of the Visegrad group in the late XX - early XXI centuries is considered. The relevance of the study of this plot is due to the geographical and historical-cultural specifics of the Transcarpathian region. It is shown that its diverse ethnic and linguistic map was in the focus of attention of a number of states - Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, etc. in the period under review, both in the context of addressing the integration of the region into the economic and transport and logistics infrastructure of the large Carpathian macroregion, and periodically escalating relations between representatives of national minorities - supporters of Transcarpathian autonomy and adherents of the unitary model of Ukrainian statehood. The author pays special attention to the influence of these aspects on the eastern direction of the foreign policy of the Visegrad countries in relation to Ukraine, in particular, in connection with the implementation of the EU “Eastern Partnership” initiative. It is concluded that the most acute and negatively affecting the development of interstate cooperation between Ukraine and the neighboring countries of the Visegrad Four turned out to be the status and position of national minorities, especially the Hungarian one, which enjoys active support from Budapest. The policy of Kiev, aimed at strengthening the position of the Ukrainian language to the detriment of the languages of national minorities, caused an increase in tension in relations with Hungary, which was aggravated by the lack of an effective program of socio-economic development of the region based on interested external partners.

Slovaks in the Czech lands after 1945: Between the state nation, minority and assimilation

The study examines migration of Slovaks to the Czech Lands since 1945 till present days. It focuses on migration waves in post-war decades according to results of population censuses, it also describes the numbers and territorial placement of Slovaks in Czechia and it characterizes their social, demographic and educational structure, as well as their activities and change of legal status after the split of Czechoslovakia in 1993. Slovaks are not original, autochthonous inhabitants of the Czech Lands, but they came there long time before the creation of the first Czechoslovak Republic in 1918. Their migration had mainly social and economic motives. Since the early 1990s qualitative changes in character of migration started to emerge, when social reasons were often replaced by familial ones. After the division of Czechoslovakia political motives appeared as well. In 1945–1992 Slovaks lived in the Czech Lands as members of the second state-forming nation of the Czechoslovak Republic. After the creation of the Czech Republic on January 1, 1993, their legal status changed and they became the most numerous minority starting to create a new identity. Thanks to activities of nationally-committed Slovak intelligentsia Slovaks in the Czech Republic started to reflect the benefits of their status of an ethnic minority in democratic society with guaranteed laws for development of their national life.Key words: Slovaks, migrations, Czech Lands, national minority

The Limits of Tolerance from the Perspective of Their Public Legitimization

The limits of tolerance are discussed in this article with regard to the status of religious, ethnic, and national minorities in liberal-democratic societies. The question that the author is trying to answer is this: how can minority policies be designed in such a way that they provide the due conditions for the reproduction of minority identities over time which, at the same time, do not compromise national integrity. The line of demarcation between these two kinds of policy would also be the limit of tolerance, concerning the role of these identities in society. In the first part of the article a critical analysis is made of the policy of cultural neutrality of the state, based on the differentiation between the approaches to minority issues in the public and in the private life of the citizens. In the second part an alternative possible solution is presented―to draw the limits of tolerance by means of the legitimization of minority policies via public communication which is protected from manipulations by means of the methodology of public deliberation.

Poison in the Ivy: Race Relations and the Reproduction of Inequality on Elite College Campuses by W. Carson Byrd

Reviewed by: Poison in the Ivy: Race Relations and the Reproduction of Inequality on Elite College Campuses by W. Carson Byrd Walter R. Allen and Gadise Regassa W. Carson Byrd. Poison in the Ivy: Race Relations and the Reproduction of Inequality on Elite College Campuses. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2017. 264 pp. Paperback: $34.95. ISBN: 978-0-8135-8936-7 Poison in the Ivy: Race Relations and the Reproduction of Inequality on College Campuses reflects the growing disillusionment with higher education's efforts to sufficiently address inequality and negative racial attitudes. Byrd offers a sociological perspective on how elite colleges in the United States sustain and reinforce racial inequity through campus social redlining. Student's limited interactions with diverse peers distort their understanding of racial disparities on campus and beyond. Building on Pierre Bourdieu's theory of social reproduction of power in institutions, Byrd examines how elite higher education institutions create and reinforce individualistic conceptualizations of racial inequality. Byrd's study helps readers make sense of why notions like meritocracy and individualism persist despite demonstrable structural racial inequities in the United States and globally. Elite college campuses represent perfect settings for study since they are often simultaneously sites of progressive change and entrenched racial inequality. Byrd masterfully demonstrates that despite exposure to research and knowledge disputing racial stereotypes, student's [End Page E-2] socioeconomic status, racial identities, and peer interactions can lead them to rationalize—and accept—racial disparities. Using elite college environments as proxy, this book explores racism and the future prospects of racial equality in the United States. Poison in the Ivy focuses on elite college campuses given their students' disproportional access to opportunity, status, and privilege. Elite colleges are major contributors to the pipeline for influential public and private leadership positions. Byrd's prior research on racial essentialism, race and intelligence, and racial socialization in highly selective colleges sets the context. He goes on to analyze how toxic, segregated campus environments inhibit students' efforts to make sense of racial inequity in their own lives, on campus, and in the wider community. He identifies how college students develop social networks, how social interactions inform racial attitudes, and whether racial identities influence these outcomes. Byrd addresses five key issues: (1) how often students interact across racial and ethnic lines, (2) whether patterns vary across social situations, like friendships, roommates, or student organizations, (3) the relationship between student interactions and racial beliefs, (4) how racial identity influences attitudes and interactions, and (5) how "eliteness" and "whiteness" jointly shape student ideologies and interactions. To explore these questions, Byrd analyzes quantitative data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Freshmen (NLSF), a 1999-2003 study of 3,251 students from 28 of the nation's most highly selective colleges and universities. The book's intuitive structure eases reader access by introducing typical views of race, difference, and inequality on college campuses. Byrd's longitudinal framing of the college-going process illustrates the evolution of racial attitudes and beliefs. He details the process of racial socialization and intra- and inter- group interactions before, during, and after college. Chapter Two, "Life Before College: Factors Influencing Early Views of Race and Inequality," begins with the understanding that college students receive messages around race and difference early on in their educational journeys. Before college, from primary through secondary school, students develop and are bound by rigid conceptualizations of race and inequality. By the time they enter college, students have deep-seated beliefs about race as well as how and—with whom—they should interact. Byrd finds that students disregard structural explanations of racial and class inequalities and instead attribute the lower social and economic status of racial minorities to individual causes. Whether these ideologies change during college is explored in the next two chapters. Chapter Three, "Mixing it Up on Campus: Patterns of and Influences on Student Interactions," introduces the crux of the argument by analyzing interactional patterns during college. When students enter college, they find a space characterized by racial hierarchy and segregation that normalizes certain patterns of social interactions. Ironically, for many students, college is their first exposure to racial, ethnic diversity. Byrd finds that pre-college friendships across racial lines...

Compassionate meditation to heal from race-related stress: A pilot study with Asian Americans.

Racism and race-related stress can negatively impact the mental health status of ethnic minorities. In recent years, college campuses have held demonstrations to promote awareness regarding racism and to call for resources to help improve campus climate and to address the needs of students of color. This study answers this call by developing and evaluating the benefits of a peer-led compassionate meditation program to help students of color heal from race-related stress. To date, no studies have examined whether compassionate meditation (a specific type of meditation) can be used as a therapeutic tool to address racial stress. This article discusses the formative process for developing and pilot-testing the effects of this culturally responsive 8-session compassionate meditation program with Asian American college students. Despite a small sample size, results were promising. and participants evidenced decreases in general distress, as well as depression, anxiety, and PTSD symptoms. Moreover, by the end of the program, fewer students were clinically depressed. The results of this study provide some initial evidence that brief, culturally responsive compassionate meditation interventions may be a promising and cost-effective method for addressing the impact of racism and race-related stress. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

"Fewer but not weaker": Understanding the intersectional identities among Chinese immigrant young gay men in Toronto.

Sexual minorities of color in North America are frequently defined as a "double minority" group. Intersectionality theory has inspired investigations into how different forms of marginalization intersect to shape the lives of people with multiple minority statuses. In this constructivist grounded theory study, 18 Chinese immigrant gay men between 18 and 28 years of age participated in a semistructured individual interview to narrate their lived experiences in relation to their intersectional identities. All interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed through a constant comparative method. Several themes emerged from the data. First, study participants perceived their sexual identity as either compatible with or irrelevant to their cultural identity and did not experience negotiating conflicts between their sexual and cultural identities. Second, the intersectionality was context-specific. Study participants experienced a certain form of marginalization in the contexts of disclosing their gay identity and finding a dating partner within a gay community. Third, participants considered the label double minority oversimplified and derogatory. They emphasized that their daily lives were in a complex power structure that was constituted by more than two identity categories. The marginalization based on their ethnic and sexual identities weighed differently and should not be understood as simple math. Last, despite carrying the status of minority, these gay men indicated that their intersectional identities served as a source of social support. This study contributes to the knowledge base around intersectionality by uncovering its qualitative nuance and bringing to light its contextual specificity. Practice, policy, and research implications are provided. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Status of Minorities: A Comparative Study of India and Pakistan

This research article titled "Status of Minorities: A Comparative Study of India and Pakistan", is an attempt to understand the status of minorities e.g., economic, political, social and constitutional rights that has been underestimated for decades. Comparative analysis research method has been used to comprehend the rights of minorities and their violations by India and Pakistan. To understand the status of minorities in India and Pakistan the liberalism theory is being used. The data supported my research hypothesis "Violations of Rights of Minorities in Pakistan is the outcome of individual actions whereas in India the violation of minority rights is backed by government machinery" Pakistan's stance on protection of constitutional, socio economic and political rights of minorities from day first is very clear. Rights of minorities have been protected under objective resolution 1949 and then in constitution of 1973. While Indian constitution is a secular one, the majority Hindus are using this secular constitution to exploit rights of the minorities. Off and on the communal violence is been witnessed. Gujrat massacre under the Chief Minister ship of Modi current Prime Minister of India can be termed as state sponsored massacre of Muslims. When Modi took office as PM, the radical Hindus become more hostile towards minorities living in India. On governmental level many unilateral legislations have been made against minorities' religious rituals e.g., Muslim marriage Act of Tripple Talaq. Beside this unlawful Citizenship amendment bill and abrogation of article 370 from Kashmir and Farmers Agricultural Acts without consulting Sikh community led to an uncertainty. The liberalist theory advocates the rights of every individual must be ensured as it is the basic principle of democratic system of government. But it has been observed that serious violations of minority rights at state level in India and individual level in Pakistan.

The legal status of minorities and universities in inter-war Czechoslovakia

The legal status of minorities and universities in inter-war Czechoslovakia

Caregiving Status and Health of Heterosexual, Sexual Minority, and Transgender Adults: Results From Select U.S. Regions in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System 2015 and 2016.

Insufficient research attention has been paid to the diversity of informal caregivers, including sexual and gender minority caregivers. This study examined health effects of caregiving separately from sexual orientation or gender identity status, while stratifying by gender among cisgender adults. We hypothesized that compared with heterosexual cisgender noncaregivers, heterosexual caregivers and lesbian/gay/bisexual (LGB), and transgender (T) noncaregivers would report poorer health outcomes (i.e., self-reported health, and poor mental health days and poor physical health days), and LGBT caregivers would report the worst health outcomes. This is a secondary data analysis of the 2015 and 2016 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System data from 19 U.S. states. After adjusting for covariates and stratifying by gender among the cisgender sample, heterosexual caregivers, LGB noncaregivers and LGB caregivers had significantly higher odds of self-reported fair or poor health (adjusted odds ratios [aORs] 1.3-2.0 for women and 1.2 for men), poor physical health days (aORs 1.2-2.8 for women and 1.3-2.8 for men), and poor mental health days (aORs 1.4-4.7 for women and 1.5-5.6 for men) compared with heterosexual noncaregivers (reference group). By contrast, transgender caregivers did not have significantly poorer health than cisgender noncaregivers. LGB caregivers reported the worst health compared with other groups on multiple measures, signifying they are an at-risk population. These results suggest the necessity to develop LGB appropriate services and programs to prevent poor health in LGB caregivers. Existing policies should also be inclusive of LGBT individuals who are caregivers.