Showing papers in "Ethnic and Racial Studies in 2012"
TL;DR: In this article, the authors outline some elements of the programme of an emergent methodological transnationalism, which aims to de-naturalize the concept of the national within migration studies.
Abstract: Building on the transnational approach to migration, this introduction outlines some elements of the programme of an emergent methodological transnationalism. This effort aims to de-naturalize the concept of the national within migration studies. First, the analysis identifies methodological challenges of migration studies, such as contextualization, the ethnic lens and the essentializing view on ethnicity. Second, it indicates the relevant conceptual elements which deal with these methodological challenges, such as the critique of methodological nationalism, cosmopolitanism and the relational concept of space. Third, it addresses the relevant methods, such as multi-sited ethnography, the mobile methods approach, as well as researchers' positionality and strategies of de-ethnicization, all of which correspond to the new epistemology of migration studies. Finally, it highlights the common characteristics of the contributions to this special issue, which go beyond the normative view of cross-border...
181 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a qualitative cross-national exploration of how minority groups respond to stigmatization in a wide variety of contexts is presented, focusing on the range of destigmatization strategies ordinary people adopt.
Abstract: This special issue offers a first systematic qualitative cross-national exploration of how diverse minority groups respond to stigmatization in a wide variety of contexts. This research is the culmination of a coordinated study of stigmatized groups in Brazil, Israel and the USA, as well as of connected research projects conducted in Canada, France, South Africa and Sweden. The issue sheds light on the range of destigmatization strategies ordinary people adopt in the course of their daily life. Articles analyse the cultural frames they mobilize to make sense of their experiences and to determine how to respond; how they negotiate and transform social and symbolic boundaries; and how responses are enabled and constrained by institutions, national ideologies, cultural repertoires and contexts. The similarities and differences across sites provide points of departure for further systematic research, which is particularly needed in light of the challenges for liberal democracy raised by multiculturalism.
143 citations
Journal Article•
138 citations
TL;DR: This paper explored the role of recreational sport as a means and marker of social integration by analysing the lived experiences of Somali people from refugee backgrounds with sport and examined the extent to and ways in which participation in sport contributes to Somali Australians' bonding, bridging and linking social capital.
Abstract: This paper explores the role of recreational sport as a means and marker of social integration by analysing the lived experiences of Somali people from refugee backgrounds with sport. Drawing on a three-year multi-sided ethnography, the paper examines the extent to and ways in which participation in sport contributes to Somali Australians' bonding, bridging, and linking social capital. It is shown how social bonds and bridges developed in the sports context assist in the (re)building of community networks that have been eroded by war and displacement. Sport's contribution to social capital should however be neither overstated nor over-generalized. Bridging social capital in sport is relatively weak and few bridges are established between Somalis and the host community. Negative social encounters such as discrimination and aggression can highlight and reinforce group boundaries. Access to and use of linking social capital is also unequally distributed across gender, age, ethnic, and socio-economic...
136 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the effect of social capital on the likelihood of employment and occupational status of first generation immigrant men in Germany was analyzed using longitudinal data, and it was concluded that bridging social capital contributes to a better economic position and bonding social capital does not.
Abstract: Using longitudinal data, this paper analyses the effect of different forms of social capital on the likelihood of employment and the occupational status of first generation immigrant men in Germany. This allows me to examine to what extent social capital of the bonding and the bridging types yield different returns. The study considers how contacts with natives, co-ethnic ties and family-based social capital are beneficial to the economic position of immigrant men. Random effects and fixed effects models show that strong inter-ethnic ties are beneficial both for employment and occupational status. There is no effect of co-ethnic ties and family-based social capital. It is concluded that, when using panel data, bridging social capital contributes to a better economic position and bonding social capital does not.
116 citations
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TL;DR: In this paper, the meaning of scholarly reflexivity is discussed, and how it can be directed at three levels of hidden presuppositions: the social, the disciplinary, and the scholastic.
Abstract: It is widely recognized that our understanding of the racial order will remain forever unsatisfactory so long as we fail to turn our analytic gaze back upon ourselves, the analysts of racial domination, and inquire critically into the hidden presuppositions that shape our thought. However, for reflexivity to be employed widely in the interest of scientific truth, analysts must acknowledge that reflexive thinking entails much more than observing how one's social position (racial identity or class background, for example) affects one's scientific analyses. In this paper, we deepen the meaning of scholarly reflexivity, discussing how it can be directed at three levels of hidden presuppositions: the social, the disciplinary, and the scholastic.
115 citations
TL;DR: A review of the heterogeneity of methodologies used for converting ethnicity into statistics and their limitations for any potential standardization can be found in this paper, where the authors identify epistemological and methodological dilemmas.
Abstract: Statistics on ethnicity, if not on ‘race’, are common in a large number of countries around the world, but not in the western part of Europe. This divergence can be explained by legal prohibitions attached to data protection provisions and by a political reluctance to recognize and emphasize ethnic diversity in official statistics. Following different traditions of political framing, northern, central and eastern European countries have implemented different ways of collecting ‘ethnic statistics’. This article provides a review of the heterogeneity of methodologies used for converting ethnicity into statistics and discusses their limitations for any potential standardization. As part of the enforcement of anti-discrimination policies, European human rights institutions are urging a reconsideration of the choice of ‘colour-blind’ statistics. Counting or not counting by ethnicity raises epistemological and methodological dilemmas which this article attempts to identify.
114 citations
TL;DR: The authors examined how minority groups in Israel cope with stigmatization in everyday life, focusing on working-class members of three minority groups: Palestinian Arabs or Palestinian citizens of Israel, Mizrahim (Jews of Middle Eastern and North African origin) and Ethiopian Jews.
Abstract: This study examines how members of minority groups in Israel cope with stigmatization in everyday life. It focuses on working-class members of three minority groups: Palestinian Arabs or Palestinian citizens of Israel, Mizrahim (Jews of Middle Eastern and North African origin) and Ethiopian Jews. It reveals the use of racial, ethnic and national markers in daily processes of social inclusion and exclusion in one sociopolitical context. Palestinians, a group with a fixed external identity and a limited sphere of participation, were found to use the language of race and racism when describing stigmatizing encounters. Ethiopian Jews, the most phenotypically marked group, strictly avoided this language. For their part, Mizrahi Jews perceived the very discussion of stigmatization as stigmatizing, while often using ‘contingent detachment’ to distance themselves from negative group identities. Despite differences between the communities and the powerful role of the state in establishing symbolic and soc...
113 citations
TL;DR: The interaction between the immigration and health systems in the USA is examined, highlighting regional differences and the importance of local politics and history in shaping health care alternatives for the foreign born.
Abstract: On the basis of a study of forty health care delivery institutions in Florida, California, and New Jersey, this paper examines the interaction the immigration and health systems in the USA. We investigate barriers to care encountered by the foreign-born, especially unauthorized immigrants, and the systemic contradictions between demand for their labor and the absence of an effective immigration policy. Lack of access and high costs have forced the uninsured poor into a series of coping strategies, which we describe in relation to commercial medicine. We highlight regional differences and the importance of local politics and history in shaping health care alternatives for the foreign-born.
104 citations
TL;DR: This paper analyzed how members of a stigmatized group understand their experience of stigmatization and assess appropriate responses when asked about the best approach to deal with stigmatization, and about responses to specific incidents.
Abstract: Drawing on interviews with 150 randomly sampled African Americans, we analyse how members of a stigmatized group understand their experience of stigmatization and assess appropriate responses when asked about the best approach to deal with stigmatization and about responses to specific incidents. Combining in-depth interviews with a systematic coding of the data, we make original contributions to the previous literature by identifying the relative salience of modalities and tools for responding. We also examine closely through qualitative data the two most salient modalities of response, ‘confronting’ and ‘deflating’ conflict, the most salient tools, teaching out-group members about African Americans, and ‘the management of the self’, a rationale for deflating conflict that is largely overlooked in previous studies. We find that ‘confronting’ is the more popular modality for responding to stigmatization among African Americans.
104 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the establishment and reproduction of this ethnic division of labour is analysed through qualitative interviews with Norwegian employers and Polish migrant workers, finding that Polish migrants and their particular "work culture" are perceived by Norwegian employers as well-suited for work in the firms' temporary external workforces but unfit for permanent positions unless they assimilate to a "Norwegian work culture".
Abstract: Following large-scale labour migration from Poland to the Norwegian construction sector since 2004, new ethnic divisions of labour have been established between the usually native core workforces of construction firms, and Polish migrant workers hired through temporary subcontracting and staffing agencies. Survey data suggest that there is very little mobility between these segments of the labour market. The establishment and reproduction of this ethnic division of labour is analysed through qualitative interviews with Norwegian employers and Polish migrant workers. Polish migrants and their particular ‘work culture’ are perceived by Norwegian employers as well-suited for work in the firms’ temporary external workforces but unfit for permanent positions unless they assimilate to a ‘Norwegian work culture’. These stereotyped employment practices are reinforced by the migrants’ own tactical use of the cultural capital available to them when negotiating the conflicting expectations in different job ...
TL;DR: The authors showed that individuals in Sweden with foreign sounding surnames who take on more Swedish-sounding or neutral surnames have a positive earnings progression compared to individuals who do not change their surnames.
Abstract: Research has shown that individuals in Sweden with foreign-sounding surnames who take on more Swedish-sounding or neutral surnames have a positive earnings progression compared to individuals who k ...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors explored a series of possible factors: demographic variables, economic status, and human and social capital characteristics, and found that the significant impact of the identity as perceived by veteran Israelis on the immigrants' self-identity for the three groups under study.
Abstract: This study of immigrants’ integration in Israel centers on one major subjective parameter, namely the immigrant's identity To explain it we explore a series of possible factors: demographic variables, economic status, and human and social capital characteristics Three recent immigrant groups are examined: from Western countries, from the former Soviet Union (FSU), and from Ethiopia These immigrants came to Israel during the last two decades from different societies, following different immigration circumstances and various motives The findings, based on the 2007 Ruppin survey data, point to the significant impact of the identity as perceived by veteran Israelis on the immigrants’ self-identity for the three groups under study Also, different variables affect each of the immigrant groups FSU immigrants behaved according to most of our hypotheses, whereas Western and Ethiopian immigrants did not Findings are discussed in light of the debate on measuring and defining immigrants’ identity
TL;DR: Kim et al. as discussed by the authors described the politics of belonging in the adopted territory of South Korea as a "transnational korean adoption history" and the "politics of belonging".
Abstract: Eleana J. Kim, ADOPTED TERRITORY: TRANSNATIONAL KOREAN ADOPTEES AND THE POLITICS OF BELONGING, Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2010, xvii + 320 pp., £16.99 (paper) Adopted Territory is a compreh...
TL;DR: Engel as mentioned in this paper used a more systematic comparative approach in which information on each case or country is tabulated, and showed that several polarities are oddly linked, as in a Mobius strip.
Abstract: is not provided with the more clear-cut exposition of patterns that would have been yielded had a more systematic comparative approach been used in which information on each case or country is tabulated. Most readily the book could have been extended to deal with the Australasian extension of Anglo-American indigenous situations, because their circumstances and context are broadly similar and their literatures are intertwined. Extension to the rather more different and/or complex indigenous situations of Asian, Africa and even Europe would have been a much larger task. Perhaps, too, the book is too drily documentary based so that the social circumstances of the people involved seldom breaks through, nor is the institutional arrangements of the international legal arena fleshed out, let alone how the institutions of the host settler societies affect their fate. Engel shows that several polarities are oddly linked, as in a Mobius strip. Highly localized indigenous groups appeal for assistance and support from international actors and despite their low technology level deploy the Internet. Diversity and uniqueness are pursued in the languages and styles of the West. Emphases on culture and the economic intertwine. Global and local fascinatingly blend. These complexly linked polarities give her narrative a haunting grandeur.
Abstract: practical capacity to actually challenge racism. Case studies of two English professional football clubs and the Sport Against Racism Ireland initiative address the cultural politics of anti-racist campaigning, discussing not only the varying effectiveness of sport-based strategies but also the contingent nature of any advances. It is shown that challenging/ speaking out against racism does not necessarily ensure an inclusive workplace or sporting culture, and residual discriminatory attitudes need to be challenged continually. The collection concludes with a manifesto from the editors, detailing the forms that anti-racism in sport ought to take: legislation, campaigning, education and action. The importance of power is reiterated, and drawing on the CRT concept of ‘contradiction-closing cases’ the message is clear that, without significant structural change and social justice for minority ethnic groups, many dominant claims of equality in sport remain short-lived and superficial. Sport and Challenges to Racism should be required reading for academics and students interested in sport and race and possesses the potential to become an anti-racist prima for sport activists and policy-makers outside of the academy as well.
TL;DR: This article found that a forced binary question format results in a whiter and more racially unequal picture of Brazil through the movement of many higher income mixed-race respondents into the white category, and that regardless of question format, racial inequality in income accounts for relatively little of Brazil's overall income inequality.
Abstract: Many scholars advocate the adoption of a black-and-white lens for the analysis of racial inequality in Brazil. Drawing on a nationally representative dataset that includes race questions in multiple formats, we evaluate how removal of the ‘brown’ category from the census or other social surveys would likely affect: (1) the descriptive picture of Brazil's racial composition; and (2) estimates of income inequality between and within racial categories. We find that a forced binary question format results in a whiter and more racially unequal picture of Brazil through the movement of many higher income mixed-race respondents into the white category. We also find that regardless of question format, racial inequality in income accounts for relatively little of Brazil's overall income inequality. We discuss implications for public policy debates in Brazil, and for the broader scientific and political challenges of ethnic and racial data collection and analysis.
TL;DR: In this paper, a reformed logic of the Millian methods of agreement and difference takes into account the causal connections among the cases and calls for a 'homeland dissimilation' perspective and comparisons of internal and international migration as a way to take off the self-imposed national blinders that pre-determine many of the conclusions of the assimilation and even transnationalism literatures.
Abstract: Drawing on thirteen years of fieldwork among Mexican migrants in the United States and Mexico and comparisons of immigration policy throughout the Americas, this paper systematically elaborates the advantages and disadvantages of different kinds of multi-sited studies. A reformed logic of the Millian methods of agreement and difference takes into account the causal connections among the cases. I call for a ‘homeland dissimilation’ perspective and comparisons of internal and international migration as a way to take off the self-imposed national blinders that pre-determine many of the conclusions of the assimilation and even transnationalism literatures.
TL;DR: The authors showed that incorporating racial self-identification and other-classification in analyses of inequality reveals more complex patterns of advantage and disadvantage than can be seen using standard methods and suggest new directions for studying racial inequality in the United States and around the world.
Abstract: The experience of race in the United States is shaped by both self-identification and ascription. One aspect reflects personal history, ancestry, and socialization while the other draws largely on appearance. Yet, most data collection efforts treat the two aspects of race as interchangeable, assuming that the relationship between each and an individual's life chances will be the same. This study demonstrates that incorporating racial self-identification and other-classification in analyses of inequality reveals more complex patterns of advantage and disadvantage than can be seen using standard methods. These findings have implications for how racial data should be collected and suggest new directions for studying racial inequality in the United States and around the world.
TL;DR: The authors examined the process of boundary drawing and re-drawing between the research participants and the researcher in a fieldwork experience in a German city, Schonberg, and found that there is a clear power hierarchy between the two parties that originates in national belonging.
Abstract: This article links migrant transnationalism with methodological debates, in particular the researcher's positionalities and self-reflexivity, which have so far barely been addressed in transnational studies in any systematic manner. Drawing upon my fieldwork experience in a German city, ‘Schonberg’, it examines the process of boundary-drawing and re-drawing between the research participants and the researcher. While there is undeniably a clear power hierarchy between the two parties that originates in national belonging, other positionalities such as gender, ethnicity, class and stage in the life cycle may, at their intersection, work to reverse such an asymmetrical relationship. Boundaries between ‘us’ and ‘them’ are not static and are, rather, created in a situational manner. Thus, attending to multiple positionalities in their intersection in research processes may help the researcher to re-evaluate the naturalized primacy given to national belonging.
TL;DR: The War of Words, War of Stone: RACIAL THOUGHT and VIOLENCE in Colonial Zanzibar as discussed by the authors, 2011, 414 pp., $23.95 (paper)
Abstract: Jonathon Glassman, WAR OF WORDS, WAR OF STONES: RACIAL THOUGHT AND VIOLENCE IN COLONIAL ZANZIBAR, Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2011, 414 pp., $23.95 (paper) War of Words, War of Stone...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that current research on migration would benefit from a more balanced combination of offline and online ethnography, taking into account how online connectivity affects the nature of migration and the conditions of being a migrant.
Abstract: This article contributes to recent scholarship on the changing nature of fieldwork practices within migration research, focusing on the practice of online ethnography. It makes a case for the significance of the internet and, more specifically, social network sites, in the experience of many migrants. I state that online togetherness is an integral part of the lives of many migrants which also interrelates with ‘offline’ aspects of their social lives. Therefore, I argue that current research on migration would benefit from a more balanced combination of offline and online ethnography, taking into account how online connectivity affects the nature of migration and the conditions of being a migrant. Methodologically, I suggest that ethnography is well suited for generating understandings of the significance of the internet in the experience of migrants, but that a number of adjustments in methods of data collection and analysis must be made.
TL;DR: The authors found that soap opera viewing provides female audiences in the diaspora with opportunities to reflect on their own gender identities as distant from hegemonic discourses of gender in their region of origin but as proximate to a moral set of values they associate with this same region.
Abstract: This paper focused on an area of transnational Arabic television, which has attracted little scholarly attention: soap operas and their consumption among women in the Arab diaspora. Focus groups with Arab audiences in London revealed the significant role that soap operas play in sustaining a gendered critical and reflexive proximity to the Arab world. The paper shows that soap opera viewing provides female audiences in the diaspora with opportunities to reflect on their own gender identities as distant from hegemonic discourses of gender in their region of origin but as proximate to a moral set of values they associate with this same region. This was especially, but not exclusively, the case with young women born in the diaspora.
TL;DR: Goldin, Goldin, Geoffrey Cameron, and Meera Balarajan as discussed by the authors, "Exceptional people: How MIGRATION SHAPED our world and will define our future".
Abstract: Ian Goldin, Geoffrey Cameron, and Meera Balarajan, EXCEPTIONAL PEOPLE: HOW MIGRATION SHAPED OUR WORLD AND WILL DEFINE OUR FUTURE, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2011, xi + 371 pp., $24....
TL;DR: The authors address expressions of identity and belonging at the intersection of online communicative practice and offline spatial formations, with a focus on the specificities of gendered constructions of sociality and subjectivity in the diaspora.
Abstract: The lives of transnational groups and individuals are marked by a spatial and imaginary split: a phenomenon wherein identity, belonging and representation have become increasingly elusive concepts, and the realm of the ‘cultural’ vastly important. And, the theoretical compasses of cosmopolitanism and transnationalism are particularly relevant and illuminating in considering social space, mediated communication and belonging in relation to urban diasporic communities and gendered subjectivities. The aim of this paper is to address expressions of identity and belonging at the intersection of online communicative practice and offline spatial formations, with a focus on the specificities of gendered constructions of sociality and subjectivity in the diaspora.
TL;DR: The authors examined the identity choices of Ethiopian and Eritrean immigrants of Amhara, Tigrayan and Tigrinya ethnicity within the context of the larger debate on how non-white immigrants are being incorporated into American society.
Abstract: In this article, I examine the identity choices of Ethiopian and Eritrean immigrants of Amhara, Tigrayan and Tigrinya ethnicity within the context of the larger debate on how non-white immigrants are being incorporated into American society. I argue that these immigrants resist racialization even while their actions and attitudes potentially reinforce America's racial divide. They implicitly challenge American racial categories by thinking of themselves as Habasha, which they view as a separate non-black ethno-racial category that emphasizes their Semitic origins. Meanwhile, they often distance themselves from American blacks through pursuing transnational connections, producing Habasha spaces, displaying the attributes of a ‘model minority’ and preserving Habasha beauty through endogamy. By remaining relatively isolated within their ethnic communities in Washington, DC, which is the focus of this study, they may succeed in differentiating themselves from American blacks, but they are not likely ...
TL;DR: This article explored the role of opinion-based groups in understanding responses to racist violence such as the 2005 Cronulla riots in Australia and argued that these groups use rhetoric in attempts to claim dominant status within society by aligning their identities with positively valued social categories such as ethnicities and national identities.
Abstract: This research explores the role of opinion-based groups in understanding responses to racist violence such as the 2005 Cronulla riots in Australia. Traditionally, explanations of collective action in social psychology and sociology focus on conflict between broad social categories. We propose that the responses to the riots can be understood not only as inter-group conflict between Muslims and non-Muslims, or an in-group argument amongst non-Muslims, but as a bona fide inter-group conflict between supporters and opponents of the riots. We argue that these groups use rhetoric in attempts to claim dominant status within society by aligning their identities with positively valued social categories such as ethnicities and national identities. The analysis of rhetoric from the groups supporting and opposing the riots demonstrates consistent, albeit contested, attempts to align support for the riot with the Australian national category in conflict with countervailing attempts to align opposition to the...
TL;DR: The authors explored what it means for those from black and minority ethnic communities, particularly more recent arrivals, to live within and adapt to specific multicultural urban contexts, and examined how forms of belonging are expressed, re-produced and negotiated through the spatial trajectories of everyday life.
Abstract: Drawing upon research conducted with young people in the city of Leicester, England, this paper explores what it means for those from black and minority ethnic communities, particularly more recent arrivals, to live within and adapt to specific multicultural urban contexts. After introducing prevailing racisms and accommodations, the paper examines how forms of belonging are expressed, re-produced and negotiated through the spatial trajectories of everyday life. This includes the value of emerging versions of place through community, religious practice as a form of social capital, the importance of routine, and the construction of multifaceted identities. Such experiences relate to contingent hierarchies of acceptance and legitimacy, histories of settlement, economic marginalization, as well as gendered and generational roles. These young people negotiate everyday life and belonging by retaining, extending and forging local and trans-national ties; highlighting the relationship between sociospatial positions, everyday practice and identity formation.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors employ an ethnomethodological, conversation analytic approach to examine some ways in which racial categories are treated as resources for action or constraints on action and conclude that these findings point to the contingent and situational operation of a practical non-racialism (as well as practical racialism), and thus to the achievement of these ideologies in the moment-by-moment unfolding of interactions.
Abstract: The anti-apartheid struggle was characterized by tensions between the opposing ideologies of non-racialism (exemplified by the Freedom Charter) and racialism (exemplified by Black Consciousness). These tensions have remained prevalent in public policies and discourse, and in the writings of social scientists, in the post-apartheid period. In this paper I examine some ways in which issues of whether, when, and how race matters become visible in everyday interactions in South Africa, and what insights this may offer with respect to these ongoing tensions. Specifically, I employ an ethnomethodological, conversation analytic approach to examine some ways in which racial categories are treated as resources for action or constraints on action. I conclude by arguing that these findings point to the contingent and situational operation of a practical non-racialism (as well as practical racialism), and thus to the achievement of these ideologies in the moment-by-moment unfolding of interactions.
TL;DR: Durrheim, Xoliswa Mtose and Lyndsay Brown as discussed by the authors, RACE TROUBLE: RACE, IDENTITY and INEQUALITY in POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA, Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2011, 234 pp., $70.00 (hard)/$69.99 (e-book...
Abstract: Kevin Durrheim, Xoliswa Mtose and Lyndsay Brown, RACE TROUBLE: RACE, IDENTITY AND INEQUALITY IN POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICA, Lanham, MD: Lexington Books, 2011, 234 pp., $70.00 (hard)/$69.99 (e-book...