Showing papers in "Ethnic and Racial Studies in 2011"
TL;DR: This paper argued that there is a racial grammar that normalizes the standards of white supremacy as the standards for all sort of social events and transactions, and that such a grammar is as importan as race.
Abstract: Racial domination, like all forms of domination, works best when it becomes hegemonic, that is, when it accomplishes its goal without much fanfare. In this paper, based on the Ethnic and Racial Studies Annual Lecture I delivered in May 2011 in London, I argue there is something akin to a grammar – a racial grammar if you will – that structures cognition, vision, and even feelings on all sort of racial matters. This grammar normalizes the standards of white supremacy as the standards for all sort of social events and transactions. Thus, in the USA one can talk about HBCUs (historically black colleges and universities), but not about HWCUs (historically white colleges and universities) or one can refer to black movies and black TV shows but not label movies and TV shows white when in fact most are. I use a variety of data (e.g., abduction of children, school shootings, etc.) to illustrate how this grammar works and highlight what it helps to accomplish. I conclude that racial grammar is as importan...
199 citations
TL;DR: The authors examine the trajectories of mobile people within particular places, moments and networks of connection, examining the encounters of pilgrims, migrants, missionaries or members of a diaspora, and explore the degree to which mobility produces cosmopolitan sociability.
Abstract: This special issue features ethnographies that examine the trajectories of mobile people within particular places, moments and networks of connection. Critiquing the ready equation of cosmopolitanism with experiences of mobility, we examine the encounters of pilgrims, migrants, missionaries or members of a diaspora. Defining cosmopolitanism as a simultaneous rootedness and openness to shared human emotions, experiences and aspirations rather than to a tolerance for cultural difference or a universalist morality, the authors explore the degree to which mobility produces cosmopolitan sociability.
198 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examine what it means to study race from a spatial perspective and propose a theory of racial space, defined by inequality and difference, to explain the persistence of racial inequality in its varied and often subtle, forms.
Abstract: This article examines what it means to study race from a spatial perspective. In order to make explicit connections between spatial and racial processes, we present an interdisciplinary snapshot of the work being done under the banners of space and race, and offer a framework – a theory of racial space – for linking these concepts. We provide four key characteristics of space – contested, fluid and historical, interactional and relational, and defined by inequality and difference – that overlap with prevalent theorizing on race and racialization. We suggest that a framework of racial space provides a language for explaining the persistence of racial inequality in its varied, and often subtle, forms today, and reveals a useful analytical and practical pathway for challenging and changing the existing racial order.
193 citations
TL;DR: In this article, interviews with deportees in El Salvador and Mexico and with immigrants in the United States indicate that expanded US enforcement policies are straining transnational families and imposing fear on immigrant communities.
Abstract: Interviews with deportees in El Salvador and Mexico and with immigrants in the United States indicate that expanded US enforcement policies are straining transnational families and imposing fear on immigrant communities. Expanded enforcement is removing long-term settlers with strong kinship ties to the United States. Through various strategies, some immigrants attempt to cope with new enforcement operations, while others involuntarily return to their home communities. The findings suggest that (1) conceptualizations of immigration policy enactment of the ‘liberal state’ need to be reassessed, and (2) migration policies of the United States, Mexico and El Salvador need to be revisited in light of their human costs.
173 citations
TL;DR: This paper analyzed Estonia, Latvia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan as nationalizing states, focusing on four domains: ethnopolitical demography, language repertoires and practices, the polity and the economy.
Abstract: This paper analyses Estonia, Latvia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan as nationalizing states, focusing on four domains: ethnopolitical demography, language repertoires and practices, the polity and the economy. Nationalizing discourse has figured centrally in these and other ‘post-multinational’ contexts. But nationalizing projects and processes have differed substantially across cases. Where ethnonational boundaries have been strong, quasi-racial and intergenerationally persistent, as in Kazakhstan, nationalization (notwithstanding inclusive official rhetoric) has served primarily to strengthen and empower the core nation. Where ethnonational and linguistic boundaries have been blurred and permeable, as in Ukraine, nationalization has worked primarily to reshape cultural practices, loyalties and identities, thereby in effect redefining and enlarging the core nation. Where boundaries have been strong, yet show signs of being intergenerationally permeable, as in Estonia and Latvia, nationalization was init...
143 citations
TL;DR: The authors provides a theoretical review of academic, government, community, and media responses to international students in general and the consequences of the education-migration nexus in particular, arguing that discourses of human rights and consumer rights have become increasingly interconnected in these debates.
Abstract: Since the late 1990s, the intersection of education and migration policies in Australia has shifted international students from transient consumers to potential citizens. This article analyses responses to the ‘problem’ of international students as consumers, workers, and migrants, particularly the conceptualization of their rights and protections, and the ways students have been positioned as both passive subjects and activist citizens. The article provides a theoretical review of academic, government, community, and media responses to international students in general and the consequences of the education-migration nexus in particular. It argues that discourses of human rights and consumer rights have become increasingly interconnected in these debates. This analysis adds to the emerging literature on changing conceptions of rights and citizenship in neoliberal contexts, and also illuminates the social and political consequences of the education-migration nexus in Australia. This will have reso...
142 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the current EU regime turns some refugees into undocumented migrants and shields EU Member States from their international legal obligations, and illustrate the effect of EU asylum policy through a case study of a group of young Afghan men in Paris.
Abstract: Each year refugees transit southern EU Member States where in theory they should claim asylum but where in reality they have little chance of being able to make a claim, and almost no chance of having it examined properly, much less being actually granted asylum. This paper argues that the current EU regime turns some refugees into undocumented migrants – ‘illegal migrants’ in political and public discourse – and shields EU Member States from their international legal obligations. The article illustrates the effect of EU asylum policy through a case study of a group of young Afghan men in Paris.
141 citations
TL;DR: The authors discusses the relationship between multiculturalism and national identity, focusing on the Australian context and argues that inclusive national identity can accommodate and support multiculturalism, and serve as an important source of cohesion and unity in ethnically and culturally diverse societies.
Abstract: This article discusses the relationship between multiculturalism and national identity, focusing on the Australian context. It argues that inclusive national identity can accommodate and support multiculturalism, and serve as an important source of cohesion and unity in ethnically and culturally diverse societies. However, a combative approach to national identity, as prevailed under the Howard government, threatens multicultural values. The article nevertheless concludes that it is necessary for supporters of multiculturalism to engage in ongoing debates about their respective national identities, rather than to vacate the field of national identity to others.
136 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore how cultural taxation affects faculty of colour in a research university and expand the analysis of cultural taxation to include issues of legitimacy that challenge non-white faculty.
Abstract: There has been a marginal increase in the number of racial minorities among college and university faculty, yet current attacks on affirmative action and prevailing attitudes about the inferiority of non-white faculty place an extra burden on these individuals in academia. Amado Padilla (1994) introduced the concept of ‘cultural taxation’ to describe this burden where additional responsibilities are placed upon non-white faculty because of their ethno-racial backgrounds. These responsibilities include serving on numerous committees, advising larger numbers of students and serving as ‘departmental experts’ for their particular ethno-racial group. These expectations of non-white faculty are not placed as heavily upon white faculty, can impede career progress and affect job satisfaction. In this paper, we explore how cultural taxation affects faculty of colour in a research university. Additionally, we expand the analysis of cultural taxation to include issues of legitimacy that challenge non-white ...
134 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors test hypotheses of secularization and religious vitality for Turkish second generation in Europe and find that religious vitality predicts the maintenance of religion in the second generation, highlighting the role of religious socialization within immigrant families and communities.
Abstract: Drawing on recent cross-national surveys of the Turkish second generation, we test hypotheses of secularization and of religious vitality for Muslim minorities in Europe. Secularization predicts an inverse relationship between structural integration and religiosity, such that the Turkish second generation would be less religious with higher levels of educational attainment and intermarriage. The religious vitality hypothesis predicts the maintenance of religion in the second generation, highlighting the role of religious socialization within immigrant families and communities. Taking a comparative approach, these hypotheses are tested in the context of different national approaches to the institutionalization of Islam as a minority religion in four European capital cities: Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels and Stockholm. Across contexts, religious socialization strongly predicts second-generation religiosity, in line with religious vitality. The secularization hypothesis finds support only among the se...
129 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a wide variety of organizations (notably the UN and nongovernmental organizations) have used sport as an interventionist tool to nurture peacemaking across divided communities.
Abstract: In recent years, a wide variety of organizations (notably the UN and nongovernmental organizations) have used sport as an interventionist tool to nurture peacemaking across divided communities. This paper examines and theorizes these peacemaking initiatives across the expanding ‘sport, development and peace’ (SDP) sector. I begin by locating SDP projects within their historical contexts, and as significant elements within the emerging ‘global civil society’. I then set out three ideal-type models of SDP project; namely, the ‘technical’, ‘dialogical’, and ‘critical’. Each model is examined through a set of common social heuristics, such as its core objectives and paradigmatic methods. The models may be employed to analyse other peacemaking and development fields. The first two models are most influential among existing SDP projects; the potential benefits of the ‘critical’ model are also outlined.
TL;DR: In this paper, an examination of the early twentieth-century approaches to Islamophobia, both the term and the phenomenon, is presented, and the aim is to show that the phenomenon had already been identified at the end of the nineteenth century and that it had been defined by the beginning of the twentieth.
Abstract: This paper contributes to the debate on the meaning of the term ‘Islamophobia’. It proposes an examination of the early twentieth-century approaches to Islamophobia, both the term and the phenomenon. The aim is to show that the phenomenon had already been identified at the end of the nineteenth century and that it had been defined by the beginning of the twentieth. That definition could throw some light on the current debate about the meaning of the term.
TL;DR: This paper showed that cultural diversity may vary by type across countries and over short periods of time, and that ethnic diversity is a significant predictor of economic performance in OECD countries despite the fact that they constitute a particularly homogeneous and economically advantaged group.
Abstract: Many claim that national economic success depends upon cultural homogeneity. We collect new time-series data and develop new measures of ethnic, linguistic and religious fractionalization for the OECD countries. We show that cultural diversity may vary by type across countries and over short periods of time. We also show that our measure of ethnic fractionalization is a significant predictor of economic performance in OECD countries despite the fact that they constitute a particularly homogeneous and economically advantaged group.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that interpersonal racial discrimination should be understood as a potentially gendered phenomenon and draw from black and multiracial feminist theories to demonstrate the importance of gender for understanding and analysing interpersonal race discrimination.
Abstract: In this paper we draw from black and multiracial feminist theories to argue that interpersonal racial discrimination should be understood as a potentially gendered phenomenon. While there are some discriminatory practices that are directed at both black men and black women, some forms of racial discrimination affect men more than women, and some affect women more than men. Still other forms may be gender-specific. Our review of existing literature shows that most survey research has utilized measures and models of racial discrimination that fail to account for these gender differences. Drawing on the 2001–2003 National Survey of American Life (NSAL) we demonstrate the importance of gender for understanding and analysing interpersonal racial discrimination. We offer concrete ways for social researchers to centralize gender in their analyses. By doing so, we hope to advance the development of an intersectional approach to racial discrimination.
TL;DR: The authors argue that by focusing on institutionalized forms of Islam, they run the risk of reifying Muslims as being "all about Islam" and argue that the everyday practices and identities of minority Muslims can be seen as expressions of minority identities, and as a type of individualized religiosity.
Abstract: The purpose of this article is to show how a focus on ‘non-organized’ Muslims in Europe can contribute with insights on the everyday lives and practices of Muslim minorities. The empirical foundation is interviews conducted in Germany and Denmark. I argue that by focusing on institutionalized forms of Islam we run the risk of reifying Muslims as being ‘all about Islam’. The article reflects and discusses the benefits of adapting the framework of lived religion methodologically to investigate how Muslim makes sense of Islam on a micro-level. I show how the interviewees in this study have reconfigured religious practices, or no practice at all, which is connected to attitudes of privatization, individualization and pragmatism. The everyday practices and identities can be seen as expressions of minority identities, and as a type of individualized religiosity, and I discuss how these identities are different from the identities of activist and vocal Muslims.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the impact of ethnic school composition on the national and sub-national identifications of pupils in Flemish primary schools and found that the ethnic heterogeneity of the school is negatively associated with non-native pupils' identifications, while the proportion of non-natives at school is positively related to native pupils' identities.
Abstract: In various European countries, policy-makers strive for educational desegregation to enhance pupils' national identifications. Since little empirical evidence supports such a policy and social identity theorists emphasize the importance of context, this article examines the impact of ethnic school composition – measured by the proportion of non-natives and ethnic heterogeneity – on the national (Belgian) and sub-national (Flemish) identifications of pupils. Multi-level data analyses from the surveying of 2,845 pupils (aged 10–12) in sixty-eight Flemish primary schools reveal differential effects for natives and non-natives. While the proportion of non-natives at school is negatively associated with non-native pupils' identifications, it is positively related to native pupils' identifications. In general, the ethnic heterogeneity of the school is negatively associated with pupils' national and sub-national identifications. Our findings indicate that the relation between ethnic school composition a...
TL;DR: The special issue "Irregular Migrants: Policy, Politics, Motives and Everyday Lives" as discussed by the authors outlines the changing patterns of irregular migration at the end of the twentieth century and the start of the twenty-first century, explores the ways in which irregular migration has been analysed conceptually and empirically, highlights the contribution the volume as a whole makes to the literature in this domain and examines the key emergent themes from the papers in this volume.
Abstract: This introduction to the special issue ‘Irregular Migrants: Policy, Politics, Motives and Everyday Lives’ outlines the changing patterns of irregular migration at the end of the twentieth century and the start of the twenty-first century, explores the ways in which irregular migration has been analysed conceptually and empirically, highlights the contribution the volume as a whole makes to the literature in this domain and examines the key emergent themes from the papers in this volume. Finally, the paper concludes by suggesting gaps in our knowledge and areas for further research.
TL;DR: The authors examines the impact of diaspora on secessionist conflicts, focusing on the Albanian, Armenian and Chechen diasporas and the conflicts in Kosovo, Karabakh and Chechnya during the 1990s.
Abstract: This article examines the impact of diasporas on secessionist conflicts, focusing on the Albanian, Armenian and Chechen diasporas and the conflicts in Kosovo, Karabakh and Chechnya during the 1990s. How do diasporas radicalize these conflicts? I argue that despite differences in diaspora communal characteristics and the types of the secessionist conflicts, a common pattern of mobilization develops. Large-scale diasporic support for secessionism emerges only after independence is proclaimed by the local elites. From that point onwards diasporas become engaged in a conflict spiral, and transnational coalitions are formed between local secessionist and diaspora groups. Depending on the organizational strength of the local strategic centre and the diasporic institutions, these coalitions endure or dissipate. Diasporas exert radicalization influences on the conflict spiral on two specific junctures - when grave violations of human rights occur in the homeland and when local moderate elites start losing credibility that they can achieve the secessionist goal.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the determinants and modes of irregular migrant mobilizations, and explore the processes of development in these movements, in order to understand the reasons for the mobilization or absence of mobilization of irregular migrants.
Abstract: Why and how do those who by definition seek to avoid the attention of the public and who lack resources manage to mobilize collectively? Comparing the situation of irregular migrants in three European cities (Copenhagen, London and Paris), this article aims to provide some understanding of the reasons for the mobilization, or absence of mobilization, of irregular migrants. It also seeks to explore the processes of development in these movements. In exploring the determinants and modes of irregular migrant mobilizations, this paper builds on Axel Honneth's theory of recognition and expands the analysis provided by theories of social movements of the passage from individual suffering to collective action.
TL;DR: This paper investigated the contribution made by migrant workers to the care workforce in England and highlighted the different kinds of racism experienced by migrant care workers and the importance of the support they receive in terms of balancing their right to protection, managing the workforce, and respecting the choice of people using social care services.
Abstract: This article reports part of the findings of research undertaken between 2007 and 2009 that aimed to investigate the contribution made by migrant workers to the care workforce in England. The study involved analysis of national statistics on social care and social workers and semi-structured interviews with a wide range of stakeholders, including ninety six migrant care workers. The interviews elicited some accounts relating experiences of racism and discrimination from some people using social care services, employers, and UK-born care workers. This included directly racist comments and refusals to receive services from workers from a visibly different ethnicity alongside more subtle racism. The research highlights the different kinds of racism experienced by migrant care workers and the importance of the support they receive in terms of balancing their right to protection, managing the workforce, and respecting the choice of people using social care services.
TL;DR: The authors explored the entry strategies used by young undocumented migrants in relation to the UK immigration system and their undocumented status, and examined the extent to which these young migrants have agency in their efforts to negotiate the complex and exclusionary immigration and asylum regime.
Abstract: Based on data from in-depth qualitative interviews with young undocumented migrants from Brazil, China, Ukraine, Zimbabwe and Kurds from Turkey, this article explores the entry strategies used by young people in relation to the UK immigration system and their undocumented status. Against a brief account of Britain's regime, the paper first examines why and how these migrants come to the UK and the ways in which they entered the country. Second, the paper explores strategies in relation to immigration status and considers: the use of different immigration statuses; the role of the asylum system in their strategies including as an attempt to regularize status or as a route to becoming undocumented when refused asylum. Finally, the paper examines the extent to which these young migrants have agency in their efforts to negotiate the complex and exclusionary immigration and asylum regime.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors demonstrate how codevelopment policies and initiatives of local governments in Catalonia also relate to migrants' local process of incorporation in their country of residence, and highlight the role of receiving country local governments.
Abstract: Over the last decade both national and local actors in Spain have picked up on international trends encouraging a policy framework of migration and development. Policies of codevelopment are tied in with issues of migration management in the sense of linking current and future migration flows with processes of development in the country of origin. However, this article demonstrates how codevelopment policies and initiatives of local governments in Catalonia also relate to migrants' local process of incorporation in their country of residence. In so doing, the article seeks to bridge and contribute to studies of migration and development as well as issues of national and local citizenship and migrant incorporation. Importantly, the article highlights the role of receiving country local governments in the nexus between migrant transnational practices and processes of incorporation.
TL;DR: This article examined the relationship between non-Muslim students' experiences of contact with Muslims and their intergroup anxiety, outgroup attitudes, perceptions of outgroup variability and intergroup behavioural intentions.
Abstract: Numerous studies have reported an increase in prejudice against Muslims in recent years. Less research has investigated how this increase might be stemmed and relations between non-Muslims and Muslims improved. In this article, we address prejudice against Muslims from the perspective of intergroup contact theory. We conducted two cross-sectional studies to examine the relationship between non-Muslim students' experiences of contact with Muslims and their intergroup anxiety, outgroup attitudes, perceptions of outgroup variability and intergroup behavioural intentions. Study 1 (N=58) showed that frequent high-quality contact with Muslims predicted more positive outgroup attitudes, more perceived outgroup variability and more positive behavioural intentions. These associations were mediated by intergroup anxiety. Study 2 (N=60) replicated these effects and additionally showed that anxiety mediates the influence of extended contact on the same outcome measures. Discussion focuses on the implications...
TL;DR: Non-Hispanic black children were able to define race more accurately, but overall Hispanic children encountered more racial discrimination, with frequent reports of ethnic slurs, and after accounting for ethnic identity, perceived racial discrimination remained a salient stressor that contributed to low self-esteem.
Abstract: This paper examines whether children of marginalized racial/ethnic groups have an awareness of race at earlier ages than youth from non-marginalized groups, documents their experiences with racial discrimination, and utilizes a modified racism-related stress model to explore the relationship between perceived racial discrimination and self-esteem. Data were collected for non-Hispanic black, non-Hispanic white, and Hispanic children aged 7 - 12 using face-to-face interviews (n = 175). The concept of race was measured by assessing whether children could define race, if not a standard definition was provided. Racial discrimination was measured using the Williams Every-day-Discrimination Scale, self-esteem was measured using the Rosenberg Scale, and ethnic identity was assessed using the Multi-group Ethnic Identity Measure. Non-Hispanic black children were able to define race more accurately, but overall, Hispanic children encountered more racial discrimination, with frequent reports of ethnic slurs. Additionally, after accounting for ethnic identity, perceived racial discrimination remained a salient stressor that contributed to low self-esteem.
TL;DR: The authors found that high levels of support for extreme right-wing parties may have a polarizing effect, heightening awareness of personal heritage and making ethnic identity more salient in attitudes towards multiculturalism.
Abstract: While Europe is unifying, it is also becoming more diverse, making multiculturalism one of the most hotly debated political issues in Western Europe. Minority citizens occupy an important place in the landscape of this challenging issue. Using the Eurobarometer 53 survey of European citizens, I look at the gap between Europeans who claim minority heritage and those who do not in support for multiculturalism in fifteen European Union member nations, taking into account percentage of extreme right-wing vote. This contextual factor has a persistent significant effect on the difference between minority and non-minority attitudes. High levels of support for extreme right-wing parties may have a polarizing effect, heightening awareness of personal heritage and making ethnic identity more salient in attitudes towards multiculturalism. This suggests an extension of group threat theory in which conceptions of what constitutes both a group and a threat can be created at the level of discourse.
TL;DR: In this paper, a transformation of the nostalgic concept of diasporic homecoming in the context of a new cosmopolitanism is discussed, with the aim of reclaiming ancestral homeland as a place for expression of solidarity with the planet.
Abstract: This paper focuses on a transformation of the nostalgic concept of diasporic homecoming in the context of a new cosmopolitanism. By bringing economic and social capital into a land with a high rate of poverty, the US Armenian Americans of the second and third generation have come to feel incorporated into ‘ancestral homeland’ in Armenia in a variety of different ways. They combine ‘homeland imaginaries’ and ‘ancestral tourism’ with an assertion that to reclaim Armenian soil is to contribute to the environment of the entire planet and its inhabitants. Newcomers in post-socialist Armenia are engaged in acts of rejuvenating the local landscape for a ‘better future’ spurred by a cosmopolitan capacity to assume responsibility for the fate of the globe. This article questions under what circumstances ethnic ties negate cosmopolitan identifications and how and when diasporic travellers reclaim their homeland as a place for expression of solidarity with the planet.
TL;DR: It is found that across cohorts, females have enjoyed greater gains in education than men, and for some race/ethnic groups, recent cohorts of women average more years of education than comparable men.
Abstract: Despite the importance of education for shaping individuals’ life chances, little research has examined trends and differences in educational attainment for detailed demographic subpopulations in the United States. We use labour market segmentation and cohort replacement theories, linear regression methods, and data from the National Health Interview Survey to understand educational attainment by race/ethnicity, nativity, birth cohort, and sex between 1989 and 2005 in the United States. There have been significant changes in educational attainment over time. In support of the cohort replacement theory, we find that across cohorts, females have enjoyed greater gains in education than men, and for some race/ethnic groups, recent cohorts of women average more years of education than comparable men. And in support of labour market segmentation theories, foreign-born Mexican Americans continue to possess relatively low levels of educational attainment. Our results can aid policymakers in identifying v...
TL;DR: Morales and Giugni as mentioned in this paper, SOCIAL CAPITAL, POLITICAL PARTICIPATION and MIGRATION in EUROPE: MAKING MULTICULTURAL DEMOCRACY WORK? Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011, xviii + 308 pp., £55 (h...
Abstract: Laura Morales and Marco Giugni, SOCIAL CAPITAL, POLITICAL PARTICIPATION AND MIGRATION IN EUROPE: MAKING MULTICULTURAL DEMOCRACY WORK?, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011, xviii + 308 pp., £55 (h...
TL;DR: The authors investigates the contested processes through which gender and racial ideologies are practiced to place a specific group of women in particular gendered and racialized labor markets and investigate how a gendered-racialized ideology is utilized to legitimate and naturalize the gendered racialized division of care labor within the global capitalist context.
Abstract: This essay investigates the contested processes through which gender and racial ideologies are practiced thereby place specific group of women in particular gendered and racialized labor markets. The migration of female live-in care workers to Taiwan exemplifies how gender and racial ideologies are embodied in everyday practices that justify the paid care work done by these women and that produce their subordinate status. In this essay, I take the problematic of representation of "migrant care workers" as a point of entry, to investigate how a gendered-racialized ideology is utilized to legitimate and naturalize the gendered-racialized division of care labor within the global capitalist context.