Showing papers on "Multiculturalism published in 2008"

Citizenship and Immigration: Multiculturalism, Assimilation, and Challenges to the Nation-State

Abstract: Citizenship encompasses legal status, rights, participation, and belonging. Traditionally anchored in a particular geographic and political community, citizenship evokes notions of national identity, sovereignty, and state control, but these relationships are challenged by the scope and diversity of international migration. This review considers normative and empirical debates over citizenship and bridges an informal divide between European and North American literatures. We focus on citizenship within nation-states by discussing ethnic versus civic citizenship, multiculturalism, and assimilation. Going beyond nation-state boundaries, we also look at transnational, postnational, and dual citizenships. Throughout, we identify methodological and theoretical challenges in this field, noting the need for a more dynamic and comprehensive understanding of the inter-relationships between the dimensions of citizenship and immigration.

Attitudes toward Immigrants, Immigration, and Multiculturalism in New Zealand: A Social Psychological Analysis1

Abstract: The research examines attitudes toward immigrants and immigration policy based on a random sample of 2,020 New Zealand households. The analyses revealed that New Zealanders have positive attitudes toward immigrants and endorse multiculturalism to a greater extent than Australians and EU citizens. In addition, structural equation modeling produced an excellent fit of the data to a social psychological model commencing with multicultural ideology and intercultural contact as exogenous variables, leading, in turn, to diminished perceptions of threat, more positive attitudes toward immigrants, and, finally, support for New Zealand's policies on the number and sources of migrants.

Race and Arab Americans Before and After 9/11: From Invisible Citizens to Visible Subjects

Abstract: Bringing the rich terrain of Arab American histories to bear on conceptualizations of race in the U.S., this groundbreaking volume fills a critical gap in the field of ethnic studies. Unlike most immigrant communities who either have been consistently marked as "non-white," or have made a transition from "non-white" to "white," Arab Americans historically have been rendered "white" and have increasingly come to be seen as "non-white." This book highlights emergent discourses on the distinct ways that race matters to the study of Arab American histories and asks essential questions. What is the relationship between U.S. imperialism in Arab homelands and anti-Arab racism in the lives of Arab Americans? What are the relationships between religion, class, gender, and anti-Arab racism? What is the significance of whiteness studies to Arab American studies? Transcending multiculturalist discourses after September 11 that have simply "added on" the category "Arab American" to the landscape of U.S. ethnic and racial studies, this volume locates September 11 as a turning point, rather than a beginning, in the history of Arab American engagements with race, multiculturalism, and Americanization.

Ethnoburb: The New Ethnic Community in Urban America

Abstract: This innovative work provides a new model for the analysis of ethnic and racial settlement patterns in the United States and Canada. Ethnoburbs - suburban ethnic clusters of residential areas and business districts in large metropolitan areas - are multiracial, multiethnic, multicultural, multilingual, and often multinational communities in which one ethnic minority group has a significant concentration but does not necessarily constitute a majority. Wei Li documents the processes that have evolved with the spatial transformation of the Chinese American community of Los Angeles and that have converted the San Gabriel Valley into ethnoburbs in the latter half of the twentieth century, and she examines the opportunities and challenges that occurred as a result of these changes. Traditional ethnic and immigrant settlements customarily take the form of either ghettos or enclaves. Thus the majority of scholarly publications and mass media covering the San Gabriel Valley has described it as a Chinatown located in Los Angeles' suburbs. Li offers a completely different approach to understanding and analyzing this fascinating place.

‘Who wants to feel white?’ Race, Dutch culture and contested identities

Abstract: Is the concept of ‘whiteness’ applicable to the Netherlands (and – mainland Europe)? This article explores cultural expressions of white normativity and possible interpretations of the notion of whiteness as identity. For that purpose we combine two data sets: first white and/or Dutch normativity in political and public life and in the media are discussed, and, second, everyday experiences of racial and/or national identity among whites. The former includes MA theses on newspaper coverage of the Dutch multicultural society. The latter draws from student essays about the meaning of whiteness in their life histories. Dutch students avoid references to ‘skin colour’ and to ‘whiteness’ because of the ‘racial’ connotations. Inequalities are not denied but recognized and verbalized more readily in terms of ethnicity, citizenship, national identity or western superiority and civilization.

Cosmopolitan Anxieties: Turkish Challenges to Citizenship and Belonging in Germany

Abstract: In Cosmopolitan Anxieties , Ruth Mandel explores Germany’s relation to the more than two million Turkish immigrants and their descendants living within its borders. Based on her two decades of ethnographic research in Berlin, she argues that Germany’s reactions to the postwar Turkish diaspora have been charged, inconsistent, and resonant of past problematic encounters with a Jewish “other.” Mandel examines the tensions in Germany between race-based ideologies of blood and belonging on the one hand and ambitions of multicultural tolerance and cosmopolitanism on the other. She does so by juxtaposing the experiences of Turkish immigrants, Jews, and “ethnic Germans” in relation to issues including Islam, Germany’s Nazi past, and its radically altered position as a unified country in the post–Cold War era. Mandel explains that within Germany the popular understanding of what it means to be German is often conflated with citizenship, so that a German citizen of Turkish background can never be a “real German.” This conflation of blood and citizenship was dramatically illustrated when, during the 1990s, nearly two million “ethnic Germans” from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union arrived in Germany with a legal and social status far superior to that of “Turks” who had lived in the country for decades. Mandel analyzes how representations of Turkish difference are appropriated or rejected by Turks living in Germany; how subsequent generations of Turkish immigrants are exploring new configurations of identity and citizenship through literature, film, hip-hop, and fashion; and how migrants returning to Turkey find themselves fundamentally changed by their experiences in Germany. She maintains that until difference is accepted as unproblematic, there will continue to be serious tension regarding resident foreigners, despite recurrent attempts to realize a more inclusive and “demotic” cosmopolitan vision of Germany.

Ethnic prejudice and discrimination in Europe.

Abstract: This article provides an introduction to research on European prejudice and discrimination. First, we list the distinctive characteristics of a European perspective and provide a short sketch of European immigration and ethnic groups. Europe has become a multicultural community. Nevertheless, public opinion and the continent's politics often do not reflect this empirical fact. Prejudice and discrimination directed at immigrants are a widespread phenomena across Europe. Several cross-European surveys support this conclusion, although theoretically driven surveys on prejudice and discrimination in Europe remain rare. Cross-European research studies classical and modern theories of prejudice and discrimination and attempts to uncover the psychological mechanisms that explain individual readiness to exclude ethnic groups. A brief sketch of recent European research is presented. This issue offers both important cross-national perspectives as well as needed comparisons with the more studied case of racial prejudice and discrimination in the United States.

The End of Multiculturalism?: Terrorism, Integration and Human Rights

Abstract: This topical book provides a thorough examination of debates on multiculturalism, in the context of current discussions on security, integration and human rights. Recent debates on national identity and the alleged failure of multiculturalism have focused on the social disorder in Oldham, Burnley and Bradford in the summer of 2001 and the bombings and attempted bombings in London in July 2005. Derek McGhee assesses how these events and the events that have occurred outside Britain, especially the attacks on the USA on 11th September 2001, have resulted in the introduction of a number of high profile debates in Britain with regards to immigration, integration, citizenship, 'race' inequality and human rights.McGhee examines these debates on multiculturalism and terrorism in light of enduring questions regarding 'Muslim integration' and 'Muslim loyalty' in contemporary Britain. He also explores the nature of a diverse range of inter-related areas of public policy, including anti-terrorism, immigration, integration, community cohesion, equality and human rights, critically examining many of the Government's key strategies in recent years. "The End of Multiculturalism?" will appeal to a wide readership of students and academics in sociology, politics, international relations and law.

The Politics of the Gap: Indigenous Australians, Liberal Multiculturalism, and the End of the Self-Determination Era

Abstract: Since the 1970s, “self-determination” has been the dominant trope for expressing national aspirations for Indigenous Australians. Through the principles of self-determination, the liberal multicultural state has attempted to deliver postcolonial justice to its first peoples. In this new century, the sheen of the self-determination era has faded. Once heralded as the antidote to the racist assimilation era, it is now depicted as the cause of social ills. In this article, I draw on an ethnographic study of White antiracists working in Indigenous health in northern Australia to analyze the brand of liberal rationality that dominated the discourse of the self-determination era. By engaging with a “tribe” of White people who identify with the aims of the self-determination era, we can decipher the logic of self-determination as an instrument of the liberal state and better understand the internal contradictions and ambiguities that have led to its recent demise.

The Oxford Handbook of Political Theory

Abstract: I CONTEMPORARY CURRENTS II THE LEGACY OF THE PAST III POLITICAL THEORY IN THE WORLD IV STATE AND PEOPLE V JUSTICE, EQUALITY, AND FREEDOM VI PLURALISM, MULTICULTURALISM, AND NATIONALISM VII CLAIMS IN A GLOBAL CONTEXT VIII THE BODY POLITIC IX TESTING THE BOUNDARIES X OLD AND NEW

Promoting the Mental Health of Immigrants: A Multicultural/Social Justice Perspective

Abstract: Immigration is a major factor that is greatly contributing to the unprecedented demographic changes that are presently occurring in the United States. This article discusses the challenges encountered by immigrants, taking into account the historical, sociopolitical, economic, cultural, and psychological factors that contribute to successful adjustment and adaptation to their new environment. In doing so, it outlines a new theoretical approach to working with this unique cultural group that is embedded in a multicultural/social justice helping perspective.

More than Two Decades of Changing Ethnic Attitudes in the Netherlands

Abstract: This article uses data from three studies to examine changing reactions toward ethnic minority groups in the Netherlands (1979–2002). Using realistic conflict theory, Study 1 focuses on support for discrimination of immigrant groups in general. The findings indicate that this support is more widespread in times of high levels of immigration, when the unemployment level has recently risen strongly, and among cohorts that grew to maturity in times of large immigration waves or high unemployment rates. Studies 2 and 3 focus on changing feelings toward different ethnic out-groups in an ideological context (2001–2004) marked by a shift from multiculturalism toward assimilation. Study 2 showed that the shift toward assimilation negatively affected Dutch participants' feelings toward Islamic outgroups, but not to other minority groups. Study 3 used an experimental design, and the results showed that ethnic attitudes are more negative in an assimilation compared to a multicultural context. It is concluded that the structural and ideological social context is important for understanding people's changing reactions.

The Family in Question: Immigrant and Ethnic Minorities in Multicultural Europe

Abstract: Table of Contents - 6 Acknowledgements - 8 Preface - 10 1. The Family in Dispute: Insiders and Outsiders - 16 2. Inside and Outside: Contrasting Perspectives on the Dynamics of Kinship and Marriage in Contemporary South Asian Transnational Networks - 38 3. 'For Women and Children!' The Family and Immigration Politics in Scandinavia - 72 4. Defining 'Family' and Bringing It Together: The Ins and Outs of Family Reunification in Portugal - 90 5. Debating Cultural Difference: Ayaan Hirsi Ali on Islam and Women - 114 6. Family Dynamics, Uses of Religion and Inter-Ethnic Relations within the Portuguese Cultural Ecology - 136 7. The Dream of Family: Muslim Migrants in Austria - 166 8. Who Cares? 'External', 'Internal' and 'Mediator' Debates about South Asian Elders' Needs - 188 9. Italian Families in Switzerland: Sites of Belonging or 'Golden Cages'? Perceptions and Discourses inside and outside the Migrant Family - 206 10. Dealing with 'That Thing : Female Circumcision and Sierra Leonean Refugee Girls in the UK - 226 11. Socio-Cultural Dynamics in Intermarriage in Spain: Beyond Simplistic Notions of Hybridity - 246 12. Debating Culture across Distance: Transnational Families and the Obligation to Care - 270 Notes and Contributors - 294 Index - 300

White Normativity: The Cultural Dimensions of Whiteness in a Racially Diverse LGBT Organization:

Abstract: This article builds on examinations of whiteness in organizations by considering how white normativity—or the often unconscious and invisible ideas and practices that make whiteness appear natural and right—is sustained even in organizations that are attentive to structural factors. Based on two years of ethnographic fieldwork, this article critically examines the racial identity and culture of the Center, a Los Angeles lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) organization with a national reputation for multiculturalism, a visible presence of people of color in leadership, and a staff of more than 50 percent people of color. Despite these indicators of racial diversity, the organization also maintained a local reputation among queer people of color as the white LGBT organization in Los Angeles. The author demonstrates that the Center's formal and public attempts to build and proclaim a racially diverse collective identity, along with its reliance on mainstream diversity frames available in the broad...

Multicultural Horizons: Diversity and the Limits of the Civil Nation

Abstract: The intensity of feeling that multiculturalism invariably ignites is considered in this timely analysis of how the ‘New Britain’ of the twenty-first century is variously re-imagined as multicultural Introducing the concept of ‘multicultural intimacies’, Anne-Marie Fortier offers a new form of critical engagement with the cultural politics of multiculturalism, one that attends to ideals of mixing, loving thy neighbour and feelings for the nation In the first study of its kind, Fortier considers the anxieties, desires, and issues that form representations of ‘multicultural Britain’ available in the British public domain She investigates: -- the significance of gender, sex, generations and kinship, as well as race and ethnicity, in debates about cultural difference -- the consolidation of religion as a marker of absolute difference -- ‘moral racism’, the criteria for good citizenship and the limits of civility This book presents a unique analysis of multiculturalism that draws on insights from critical race studies, feminist and queer studies, postcolonialism and psychoanalysis

From Colonial Pluralism to Postcolonial Multiculturalism: Race, State Formation and the Question of Cultural Diversity in Malaysia and Singapore

Abstract: In postcolonial societies, multiculturalism is a historical problem conditioned by colonial racial knowledge and state formation on the one hand, and by the ethnic conflicts of decolonization on the other. The reality and legacy of colonial racisms in colonized societies were not straightforward affairs. Anthropological knowledge was crucial for the construction of colonial state institutions, where racial ethnography determined the way each native ethnic group was ruled. In turn, nationalist consciousness developed along communitarian ethnic lines. The inheritance of the colonial racial state by nationalists created the conditions for postcolonial ethnic conflict. Drawing on the acclaimed Malaysia and Singapore cases of successful postcolonial management of ethnic conflict, I show the transition from colonial pluralism to postcolonial multiculturalism, in which nationalist leaders tapped into communitarian practices, scripted cultural identities and transformed themselves into a transcultural elite to maintain authoritarian rule through state multiracialism. However, globalization today is creating a new pluralism that threatens this multiracialism and presenting opportunities for democratization.

The new integrationism, the state and Islamophobia: retreat from multiculturalism in Australia

Abstract: Since their introduction to Australia in the early 1970s, the politics of multiculturalism have entailed a degree of state control over the cultural affairs of (principally immigrant) ethnic communities. This was largely obtained by consent rather than coercion, and this consent was often purchased with various forms of state resourcing for community needs, with a measure of coercion attached to the threat, where necessary, of funding withdrawals. Beyond the basic framework of liberal-democratic norms, very little of the ground rules for the acceptable practice of minority culture were inscribed in legislation or state pronouncements. The pursuit of the ‘War on Terror’ since 9/11 has increasingly seen the intrusion of the state into cultural, and especially religious, matters of minority populations, overwhelmingly among Muslims, in Australia. Pronouncements are now routinely made by political leaders of what is acceptable in a sermon, for example, and what is ‘extreme’, ‘radical’ or unacceptable. Religious leaders themselves have been identified by state actors as exemplary or beyond the pale and to be replaced. The government has involved itself in the process of selection of religious representatives, and made strong representations about the selection of leaders and their necessary attributes, such as fluency in English, attitudes favouring ‘integration’, beliefs in women's rights, positive disposition towards the alliance with the United States, and so on. There have also been government demands for ethnic/religious schools to teach ‘Australian values’. At present there is no legal basis for such prescription and proscription, which operates rather by hectoring and harassment and the implied conditionality of the remnants of multicultural funding. All of this action can be shown to be discriminatory, in that it is directed only towards Muslims. It also represents a dangerous trend in terms of undermining the right to religious freedom, enshrined in a number of international treaties to which Australia is a signatory.

Whose agenda Is It

Abstract: Developments in Britain reflect a shift from a shallow but widely endorsed multiculturalism to a growing preoccupation with abuses of women in minority cultural groups. Four main issues have been debated in the media and become the basis of either public policy or legal judgment: forced marriage, honour killing, female genital cutting, and women’s Islamic dress. The treatment of these issues has often been problematic, with discourses over culture tending to misrepresent minority cultural groups as monolithic entities, and initiatives to protect women becoming entangled with anti-immigration agendas. It has therefore proved hard to address abuses of women without simultaneously promoting stereotypes of culture. The most encouraging signs of resolving these tensions appear where there has been a prior history of women’s activism, and a greater willingness on the part of government to draw groups into consultation. We argue that this offers a greater prospect of devising effective initiatives that do not set up multiculturalism in opposition to women’s rights.

Tracks, intersections and dead ends

Abstract: This article discusses multicultural challenges to state feminism in Denmark and Norway, focusing both on similarities and differences in the two countries policy responses. In spite of important differences, we point towards similar problems and dilemmas in the public responses to multiculturalism and diversity among women connected to a state feminist agenda that in both countries has been rather one-sided in its conception of what women-friendliness may imply. The first part of the paper expands on institutional `tracks': (Variations in) state feminist traditions, in religious traditions, and in the inclusion of organizations of civil society in political power. The second part explores the framing of the hijab as a political issue of `intersections' of gender equality versus religious belongings. The third part investigates what we see as a `dead end' in policy making to prevent violations of women's rights; that is the general, age based, restrictions on family unification as a means to combat forced...

One nation, three cultures: exploring dimensions that relate to leadership in Malaysia

Abstract: Purpose – Malaysia is a multicultural country with a distinct mix of three major races; Chinese Indians, and Malays. This paper sets out to explore the contribution of the three main ethnic groups to leadership in Malaysia.Design/methodology/approach – Summated scales for the importance of Excellent Leader (EL), Personal Qualities (PQ), Managerial Behaviours (MB), Organisational Demands (OD) and Environmental Influences (EI) were developed using most of the items categorised by Selvarajah et al. and several other items rated highly in the study. A structural model was constructed to explain the relationship in excellence in leadership.Findings – From the three ethnic groups, 512 managers participated in the research. The findings suggest that Malaysian managers maintain distinctive leadership behaviour along ethnic lines and a Malaysian leadership identity is still in its infant stage.Practical implications – Malaysia is a country with three distinct ethnic population groups and is yet to forge a single M...

Second-generation asian american pan-ethnic identity: pluralized meanings of a racial label

Abstract: Recent research on the collective identity label described as Asian American, which was originally formulated as a political move- ment symbol, shows only some support among the various Asian ethnic groups that reside in the United States at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Based on a sample of second-generation Asian American student leaders in four public universities, this study provides empirical evidence that the definition of the term Asian American has multiplied as a result of major demographic and cultural factors that have affected the Asian popu- lation. These definitions reflect ethnic and religious diversification as well as the model minority stereotype and a cohort identity for the second-gen- eration experience. At the same time, this diversification of definitions is also influenced by two concurrent and interlacing cultural discourses, one that emphasizes the racialized otherness of being "Asian American" and another that emphasizes the cultural diversity within this racial label. Implications for future research and theoretical development follow.

Riotous Citizens: Ethnic Conflict in Multicultural Britain

Abstract: Contents: Preface Introduction Theorizing crowds, riots and public disorder The riots of 2001: an overview and comparison of Oldham, Burnley and Bradford Accounts of how the Bradford riot began Diversity, motivations and targets the dynamics of a crowd of citizens 'Take me to your leader': reflections on power, 'race' and the politics of rioting 'Outsiders in our own country': the interpersonal consequences of rioting Disciplined and punished: strategic repression and the shaming of a community Citizenship, generation and ethnic identity The emergence of community cohesion Conclusion: another famous victory? Bibliography Index.

Citizenship education and the Ajegbo report: re-imagining a cosmopolitan nation

Abstract: Following the 2005 London bombings, there is widespread public debate about diversity, integration, and multiculturalism in Britain, including the role of education in promoting national identity and citizenship. In response to official concerns about terrorism, a review panel was invited to consider how ethnic, religious and cultural diversity might be addressed in the school curriculum for England, specifically through the teaching of modern British social and cultural history and citizenship. The resultant Ajegbo report proposes a new strand on 'identity and diversity: living together in the UK', be added to the citizenship education framework. While the report gives impetus to teaching about diversity, it does not strengthen the curriculum framework proposed in the Crick report. It fails to adopt a critical perspective on race or multiculturalism or adequately engage with young people's lived experiences of citizenship within a globalised world. I analyse how the review panel conceptualises identity, democracy and diversity. I then consider its assumptions about racism, human rights, and citizenship education, concluding with reflections on how citizenship education might be developed in the task of re-imagining the nation and meeting the needs of emergent cosmopolitan citizens.

Multicultural society and everyday cultural racism: second generation of Ethiopian Jews in Israel's ‘crisis of modernization’

Abstract: The core of this article sets out to examine the extent to which a multicultural society can prevent cultural racism, which, like multiculturalism, is by definition based on a culture of diversity and separation. The ‘first modernity’ was organized along national lines, with a centralist state that opted to create an essentialist and uncontested national identity. Immigrants, especially those who came from ‘third world’ countries, were expected to undergo a process of assimilation, and to integrate into the dominant culture by relinquishing their particular past and tradition. Multiculturalism, which emerged historically as a criticism of that perspective, aims at creating a kaleidoscope of associations and cultural communities, which inevitably presents a challenge to the one ‘truth’ of the nation-state with the argument that this ‘truth’ favours some groups over others. Within the multicultural model, identity politics of various groups is perceived as a means to achieve recognition, acceptance...

Being black in Australia: a case study of intergroup relations

Abstract: This article presents a case study in Australia's race relations, focusing on tensions between urban Aborigines and recently resettled African refugees, particularly among young people. Both of these groups are of low socio-economic status and are highly visible in the context of a predominantly white Australia. The relationship between them, it is argued, reflects the history of strained race relations in modern Australia and a growing antipathy to multiculturalism. Specific reasons for the tensions between the two populations are suggested, in particular, perceptions of competition for material (housing, welfare, education) and symbolic (position in a racial hierarchy) resources. Finally, it is argued that the phenomenon is deeply embedded in class and race issues, rather than simply in youth violence.

Outsider Within : Reworking Anthropology in the Global Age

Abstract: Outsider Within presents an approach to critically reconstructing the anthropology discipline to better encompass issues of gender and race. Among the nine key changes to the field that Faye V. Harrison advocates are researching in an ethically and politically responsible manner, promoting greater diversity in the discipline, rethinking theory, and committing to a genuine multicultural dialogue. In drawing from materials developed during her distinguished twenty-five year career in Caribbean and African American studies, Harrison analyzes anthropology\u2019s limits and possibilities from an African American woman\u2019s perspective, while also recognizing similarities between peoples, despite social, cultural, and political differences. In seeking to productively engage anthropologists of diverse geographical, cultural, and national origins, Harrison challenges them to work together to transcend stark gender, racial, and national hierarchies.

Performing authority: discursive politics after the assassination of theo van gogh

Abstract: In November 2004, the assassination of the filmmaker Theo van Gogh in Amsterdam by an Islamic extremist shocked The Netherlands. Critics of multiculturalism quickly linked the murder to the perceived failure of ‘soft’ integration policies and questioned the authority and legitimacy of Amsterdam’s political leadership. This article studies the response of political leaders to those challenges from a performative perspective. Analysing governance as performance illuminates the importance of actively enacting political leadership in non-parliamentary settings such as talk shows, mosques and other religious meeting places, and improvised mass meetings in times of crisis. The authors distinguish different discursive means of performing authority, make suggestions for dealing with crisis events in ethnically and culturally diverse cities and draw some lessons from this approach as well as for methods of studying public administration.