Digital Commons Network^™

Defining The Other, Jorge Capetillo-Ponce

Jorge Capetillo-Ponce

G. W. F. Hegel said: “Everything is what is not.” Throughout human history, we find a continuous struggle to define the other, the foreigner, the unknown, the opposite of we or I. And, as the quote from Hegel indicates, what they are, that we are not, helps define the frontiers of personal and group identity.

National Identity, Nationalism, And The Organization Of The European Union, Antonio V. Menéndez Alarcón

Antonio V. Menéndez Alarcón

Based on in-depth interviews and document analysis, this article examines the relationships between cultural identification and the process of European integration. It shows that French and Spanish people's cultural attachments to Europe as a common social organization is still very limited and reflects a concern for the defense of a national identity. This research contributes to our understanding of the European integration and to the theory of cultural identity by suggesting a dynamic paradigm that articulates the constitution of a formal organization with the process of cultural identity formation.

National Identities Confronting European Integration, Antonio V. Menéndez Alarcón

Antonio V. Menéndez Alarcón

This article examines the relationships between cultural identification and the process of European integration. Specifically, it describes and analyzes 1) people's cultural attachments to Europe as a common social organization and 2) the connection between people's perception of European integration and the defense of a national cultural identity

Representation In Kenya, Its Diaspora, And Academia: Colonial Legacies In Constructions Of Knowledge About Kenya's Coast, Jesse Benjamin

Jesse Benjamin

This paper explores the construction of knowledge in Kenya in the context and aftermath of colonialism and underdevelopment. Those communities that were politically and economically marginalized in Coast Province over the past century were also displaced in terms of academic opportunities, resulting in fewer social science scholars from Mijikenda and other non-Swahili communities in both Kenyan and diaspora universities. Underdevelopment studies in Africa and Kenya are briefly reviewed, and the colonial history of asymmetric social relations at coastal Kenya is traced. Finally, key debates over identity and history are examined within this context and shown to be exacerbated by diasporic …

The Embodiment Of Tolerance In Discourses And Practices Addressing Cultural Diversity In Schools, The Case Of Cyprus, Nicos Trimikliniotis, Corina Demetriou, Elena Papamichael

Nicos Trimikliniotis

The report examines the processes, methods and Practices of the Cypriot educational system as the

embodiment of tolerance in discourses and practices addressing cultural diversity in schools. These are

mediated by the perceptions of policy makers, the convictions of stakeholders involved in the processes and abilities of and tools made available to educationalists. In examining the nature of the educational system and particularly the way in which the system treats its minoritised individuals and groups, the philosophy which emerges is that of viewing diversity as a disadvantage and a deficiency that needs to be ‘treated’, against a backdrop of essentialising …

Religion And Nationalism: Four Approaches, Rogers Brubaker

Rogers Brubaker

Building on recent literature, this paper discusses four ways of studying the relation between religion and nationalism. The first is to treat religion and nationalism, along with ethnicity and race, as analogous phenomena. The second is to specify ways in which religion helps explain things about nationalism - its origin, its power, or its distinctive character in particular cases. The third is to treat religion as part of nationalism, and to specify modes of interpenetration and intertwining. The fourth is to posit a distinctively religious form of nationalism. The paper concludes by reconsidering the much-criticized understanding of nationalism as a …

The Priesthood Of Nationalism In Egypt: Duty, Authority, Autonomy, Benjamin Geer

Benjamin Geer

This thesis considers the effects of nationalism on the autonomy of intellectuals in Egypt. I argue that nationalism limits intellectuals’ ability to challenge social hierarchies, political authority and economic inequality, and that it has been more readily used to legitimise new forms of domination in competition with old ones. I analyse similarities between religion and nationalism, using the sociological theory of Pierre Bourdieu together with cognitive linguistics. Focusing mainly on the similarities between priests and nationalist intellectuals, and secondarily between prophets and charismatic nationalist political leaders, I show that nationalism and religion are based on relatively similar concepts, which lend …

Nationalism, Ethnicity, And Modernity, Rogers Brubaker

Rogers Brubaker

No abstract provided.

Economic Crisis, Nationalism, And Politicized Ethnicity, Rogers Brubaker

Rogers Brubaker

No abstract provided.

Nationalizing States Revisited: Projects And Processes Of Nationalization In Post-Soviet States, Rogers Brubaker

Rogers Brubaker

This paper analyzes Estonia, Latvia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan as nationalizing states, focusing on four domains: ethnopolitical demography, language repertories 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 titular 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 …

Charles Tilly As A Theorist Of Nationalism, Rogers Brubaker

Rogers Brubaker

This paper considers Charles Tilly as an important but underappreciated theorist of nationalism. Tilly’s theory of nationalism emerged from the “bellicist” strand of his earlier work on state-formation and later incorporated a concern with performance, stories, and cultural modeling. Yet despite the turn to culture in Tilly’s later work, his theory of nationalism remained state-centered, materialist, and instrumentalist—a source of both its power and its limitations.

Prophets And Priests Of The Nation: Naguib Mahfouz’S Karnak Café And The 1967 Crisis In Egypt, Benjamin Geer

Benjamin Geer

Similarities between religion and nationalism are well known but not well understood. They can be explained by drawing on Pierre Bourdieu's sociological theory in order to consider symbolic interests and the strategies employed to advance them. In both religion and nationalism, the “strategy of the prophets” relies on charisma while the “strategy of the priests” relies on cultural capital. In 20th-century Egypt, nationalism permitted intellectuals whose cultural capital was mainly secular, such as Naguib Mahfouz, to become “priests of the nation” in order to compete with the ʿulamaʾ for prestige and influence. However, it severely limited their autonomy, particularly after …

National Homogenization And Ethnic Reproduction On The European Periphery, Rogers Brubaker

Rogers Brubaker

No abstract provided.

Ethnicity, Race, And Nationalism, Rogers Brubaker

Rogers Brubaker

This article traces the contours of a comparative, global, crossdisciplinary, and multiparadigmatic field that construes ethnicity, race, and nationhood as a single integrated family of forms of cultural understanding, social organization, and political contestation. It then reviews a set of diverse yet related efforts to study the way ethnicity, race, and nation work in social, cultural, and political life without treating ethnic groups, races, or nations as substantial entities, or even taking such groups as units of analysis at all.

Refugee Camps In The Palestinian And Sahrawi National Liberation Movements: A Comparative Perspective, Randa Farah

Randa R Farah Dr.

Drawing on ethnographic field research, this analysis compares the evolution of refugee camps as incubators of political organization and repositories of collective memory for Palestinian refugees in Jordan and Sahrawi refugees of the Western Sahara. While recognizing the significant differences between the historical and geopolitical contexts of the two groups and their national movements (the PLO and Polisario, respectively), the author examines the Palestinian and Sahrawi projects of national consciousness formation and institution-building, concluding that Palestinian camps are “mapped” in relation to the past, while political organization in Sahrawi camps evidences a forward-looking vision.

Communist’S Post-Modern Power Dilemma: One Step Back, Two Steps Forward, “Soft No” And Hard Choices …, Nicos Trimikliniotis

Nicos Trimikliniotis

This paper considers the challenges ahead after having assessed what determined the outcome of the referendum in April 2004 and the balance of forces as they emerge in the Parliamentary elections of 2006. In spite of the generally sound claims that globalisation shifts decision-making away from nation-states, particularly weak and small states to networks beyond the nation-state, in the case of Cyprus what we have for the first time paradoxically is the “fate” of Cyprus primarily in the hands of Cypriots themselves. Although semi-occupied the two communities can make their decision as to the future of their country and state, …

Nationalism In Indonesia: Building Imagined And Intentional Communities Through Transmigration, Brian A. Hoey

Brian A. Hoey, Ph.D.

This article will discuss the Indonesian government’s population resettlement program to explore different ways of looking at the idea of community and community building. Transmigration settlements are both planned and intentional communities. They are planned in accordance to government priorities, which intend them to serve in the building of an imagined community – a unified nation. They are also places where settlers struggle, following their own intent, to build their own personal, everyday vision of community as a place where they feel that they belong. This article will introduce the basic history of the program and its place in the …

發自異域的另類聲響︰戰後海外台獨運動相關刊物初探, Weider Shu

Weider Shu

As far as the field of Taiwan’s political history is concerned, her overseas counterparts, especially those affiliated with the opposition movement, is probably the most ignored one. In this paper, I contend that we have to take the overseas Taiwan Independence Movement (OTIM) seriously while considering the dynamics of Taiwan’s political development due to the following reasons. (1). In terms of Taiwan’s opposition movement, her overseas counterpart was ever the most important arena for the movement as a whole. (2). There was, and still is, very strong connection between Taiwan’s opposition movement and her overseas counterpart. (3). The OTIM plays …

Beyond 'Identity', Rogers Brubaker, Frederick Cooper

Rogers Brubaker

No abstract provided.

Violence Against Women In Belgrade, Serbia: Sos Hotline, 1990-1993, Donna M. Hughes Dr., Zorica Mrsevic Dr.

Donna M. Hughes

The SOS Hotline for Women and Children Victims of Violence opened in Belgrade, Serbia, in 1990. For each call reporting an incident of violence, a data form was completed with the details of the call. Almost all callers were victims of violence from family member or intimate partners. The majority reported incidents of physical and verbal/emotional violence; a minority reported sexual and economic violence. The frequency and duration of violence were very high. Callers were often forced to live with perpetrators because of lack of available housing, which worsened due to privatization, economic sanction against Serbia, and the influx of …

War, Nationalism, And Rape: Women Respond By Opening A Centre Against Sexual Violence In Belgrade, Serbia, Donna M. Hughes Dr., Kathleen Foxter

Donna M. Hughes

On 10 December 1993, International Human Rights Day, The Autonomous Women's Centre Against Sexual Violence opened in Belgrade, Serbia. Plans for the Centre started in 1992 when women from the Belgrade SOS Hotline for Women and Children Victims of Violence formed The Group for Women Raped in War.