Ethnicity

Ethnicity and machine politics

by Jerome Krase

This is a book I co-wrote with Charles La Cerra: Ethnicity and Machine Politics: The Madison Club of Brooklyn. Washington, D.C.: University Press of America, 1992.

First Year Review Paper - Multicultural Citizenship: the case of Cyprus

by George Iordanou

The paper that was used as a basis for my First Year Review presentation. It is an outline of the literature on multicultural citizenship, the literature on Cyprus minorities and the contribution of my project.

A perceptual study of ethnicity and geographical location in London and Birmingham

by Eivind Torgersen

(forthcoming, 2012) In P. Stoeckle, S. Hansen, T. Streck and C. Schwartz (eds.) Dialectological and folk dialectological concepts of space [FRIAS Linguae & Litterae series]. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

2012. Seah, Mabel. Book Review: Steve Fenton, Ethnicity: Key Concepts, Millennium:Journal of International Studies, 40: 416

by Mabel Seah

Regional affiliations: Building a marketing strategy on regional ethnicity

by Delphine Dion

Book chaper co-othored with Lionel Sitz in Marketing Management, A Cultural Perspective, Eds. L. Peñaloza, N. Toulouse, L. Visconti, Routledge.

Le sentiment régional comme levier d'action marketing

by Delphine Dion

Kości, zapinki, DNA czy broń? Problematyka etniczna w badaniach wczesnośredniowiecznych cmentarzysk szkieletowych w Polsce, [in:] Obcy. Funeralia Lednickie Spotkanie 14, ed. W. Dzieduszycki, J. Wrzesiński, Poznań 2012, pp. 333-344.

by Jerzy Sikora

English title: Bones, brooches, DNA or weaponry? Ethnic problems in research of early medieval skeletal cemeteries in northern Poland.

Embodied ethnicity the ethnic affiliation grounded in the body

by Delphine Dion

The ‘Dudley Mosque Project’: a Case of Islamophobia and Local Politics

by Tahir Abbas

co-authored with Frank Reeves and Dulce Pedroso

Re-thinking Jewish ethnicity through social network analysis

by Anna Collar

to be published in 2013 in Network Analysis in Archaeology, (OUP) edited by C J Knappett.

As a response to the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and the subsequent cataclysms in Judaea and elsewhere in... more As a response to the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem and the subsequent cataclysms in Judaea and elsewhere in the Jewish Diaspora, Judaism itself underwent a series of reforms. This paper argues that these reforms (Rabbinic halakhah, standardised laws of moral behaviour) spread through the renewed strong-tie ethnic network of the Diaspora and can be seen epigraphically in the use of Hebrew names, references to the laws, and in the use of the Hebrew language itself. Visualising this process through the use of networks allows us to consider possible routes and mechanisms of information transmission.

Borderland livelihood strategies: The socio-economic significance of ethnicity in cross-border labour migration, West Kalimantan, Indonesia

by Michael Eilenberg

Co-authored with Reed Lee Wadley

Asia Pacific Viewpoint [Wiley-Blackwell] 2009, Vol. 50(1): 58-73.

This paper explores cross-border ethnic relations as an important socio-economic strategy for the borderland Iban... more This paper explores cross-border ethnic relations as an important socio-economic strategy for the borderland Iban population in West Kalimantan, Indonesia. Iban seeking more lucrative wage work have long used their ethnic identity to facilitate circular labour migration across the international border into Sarawak, Malaysia, a strategy which has also compromised their claims to Indonesian citizenship. Drawing on long-term field research among the West Kalimantan Iban, we examine the close interconnections among cross-border labour migration, ethnicity, identity, and citizenship, and how this plays into contemporary issues related to Indonesian political and economic change.

Pauline Universalism: Anachronism or Reality?

by Eliezer Gonzalez

Published in Journal  of  Asia  Adventist  Seminary 14.1 (2011): 65-­‐‑77

Are we able to attribute a modern concept such as universalism (in the sense of the opposite to particularism) to Paul... more Are we able to attribute a modern concept such as universalism (in the sense of the opposite to particularism) to Paul in the formation of his communities, or is such an idea hopelessly anachronistic? This paper suggests that although Paul’s universalism does not fully conform to modern definitions, there is a universalistic dimension to his formation of the ἐκκλησία that was radical within his own culture in both Jewish and Hellenistic terms. Nevertheless, there were some first-century social and philosophical currents that would have provided some implicit support for his application of universalistic principles. However, the roots of Paul’s approach are to be found not so much in Hellenistic philosophical currents, but rather in his understanding of divine convenantal condescension. These considerations allow us some insights to understanding the status of different genders, ethnicities, and socio-economic classes in the Pauline communities.

Отражение социокультурной дифференциации современного общества в русской экспрессивной этнонимии рубежа XX-XXI вв. (=The Reflection of Socio-Cultural Differentiation of Modern Society in the Russian Expressive Ethnonymy of XX–XXI Centuries)

by Alexander Grishchenko

published in 'Prepodavatel' XXI Vek', Moscow, 2009, No. 2, part II, pp. 328-335

The article reviews Russian ethnic slurs (ethnophaulisms, ethnic nicknames), the activation of which at the turn of... more The article reviews Russian ethnic slurs (ethnophaulisms, ethnic nicknames), the activation of which at the turn of 20th – 21st centuries being connected with increase of the role of the ethnic issues in post-Soviet society. A range of the ethnic slurs reflects the age and gender and properly social differentiation of the society in the Russian regions (Tatarstan, Bashkiria, Yakutia, Adygea, Chuvashia) and in a number of former Soviet republics (Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Moldavia).

In pursuit of the pagans: Muslim law in the English context

by Prakash Shah

Western and Muslim law. Muslim law is itself a complex, pluralistic amalgam of different legal ‘bricks’, and in the... more Western and Muslim law. Muslim law is itself a complex, pluralistic amalgam of different legal ‘bricks’, and in the context of the struggle for Islam to be acknowledged as a legitimate source of value pluralism in the Western context, the religious aspects of Muslim law, with their doctrinal justifications, are being foregrounded. With the English case as the main focus, I further argue that customs among Muslims are suppressed in this process of ‘shariatisation’. Beyond that, even Muslim doctrines are being placed under the spotlight in various ways. These changes are taking place as a result of Muslims living as nondominant communities in Europe, where they are under the gaze of the dominant culture and are judged to be potential or actual violators of human rights and the rule of law. Relying on Balagangadhara’s (2005) explanation of the ‘dynamic of religion’, I present these processes as an outcome of the collision of two religious cultures, the Islamic and the Western.

Reasons to Ban? The Anti-Burqa Movement in Western Europe

by Prakash Shah

This MMG Working Paper 12-09 (Göttingen: Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity) is Co-authored with Ralph Grillo, Emeritus Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Sussex. Publications include: Pluralism and the Politics of Difference: State, Culture, and Ethnicity in Comparative Perspective, Clarendon Press (1998); editor of The Family in Question: Immigrant and Ethnic Minorities in Multicultural Europe, Amsterdam University Press (2008); co-editor of Legal Practice and Cultural Diversity, Ashgate (2009). Ralph Grillo is a member of the Advisory Group of the Department of Socio-Cultural Diversity of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity at Göttingen.

During the 2000s, the dress of Muslim women in Muslim-minority countries in Europe and elsewhere became increasingly a... more During the 2000s, the dress of Muslim women in Muslim-minority countries in Europe and elsewhere became increasingly a matter for debate and, in several instances, the subject of legislation. In France, a ban on the wearing of the headscarf
in places of education (2004) was followed in 2010 by the law criminalizing the wearing of the face-veil (usually but inaccurately referred to as the ‘burqa’) in public space. Other countries have enacted similar legislation. Muslim women’s dress has historically been a controversial matter in Muslim-majority countries, too, most recently in North Africa following the Arab Spring, but the present paper concentrates on the movement against face-veiling in Western Europe, documenting what has been happening and analysing the arguments proposed to justify criminalizing this type of garment. In doing so, the paper explores the implications for our understanding of contemporary (ethnically and religiously) diverse societies and their governance.
Is anti-veiling legislation a protest against what is interpreted as an Islamic practice unacceptable in liberal democracies, a sign of a wider discomfort with non-European otherness, or an expression of an underlying racism articulated in cultural terms?
Whatever the reason, is criminalization an appropriate response? An Appendix notes some topics for further research.

Workshop IRSEM 2012 : "Guerre, mémoire, identité"

by gregory cattaneo

Comme le workshop « Penser la violence », qui s’est tenu le 9 février dernier, ce workshop devrait aboutir à une publication chez un éditeur privé.

Ce workshop proposé ici explore les thèmes de la guerre, de la mémoire et de l’identité. Il a été initialement proposé... more Ce workshop proposé ici explore les thèmes de la guerre, de la mémoire et de l’identité. Il a été initialement proposé par Grégory Cattaneo, doctorant allocataire de l’IRSEM.
Associer ces trois notions à un même projet doit permettre aux jeunes chercheurs de l’IRSEM de présenter leurs recherches et d’échanger leurs approches dans un cadre pluridisciplinaire.
La guerre peut s’avérer être un terreau propice lorsqu’on l’approche à travers le prisme de la mémoire et de l’identité (deux questionnements récents en sciences humaines et sociales). En effet, si la guerre peut être instrumentalisée afin de créer ou bien d’exalter une identité, qui restera vivante à travers un travail de mémoire collective ; le sentiment identitaire et la mémoire, quant à eux, peuvent être instrumentalisés à des fins belliqueuses.

A travers ce workshop, il s’agira d’articuler ces notions de manière à produire un questionnement large et susceptible d’intéresser le plus grand nombre. Les jeunes chercheurs de l’IRSEM, ayant un attrait pour ces notions, peuvent réfléchir à un sujet  en connexion avec au moins deux de ces notions. Par exemple, le sentiment d’appartenance à un groupe à travers une identité commune ; la mémoire comme acte de résistance ou de célébration ; le concept de « mémoricide » ou la non-reconnaissance de la mémoire d’une communauté, etc.

‘Space, boundaries, and ethnicity in the ancient Veneto’

by Kathryn Lomas

in G. Cifani and S. Stoddart (eds), Landscape, Ethnicity, Identity in the archaic Mediterranean Area. Oxford, Oxbow (2012).

This paper explores the issues of defining identities at various levels, from kinship group, to state, and to wider... more This paper explores the issues of defining identities at various levels, from kinship group, to state, and to wider ethnic identities, in the context of the ancient Veneto. It approaches these issues by examining the spatial development of key settlements, and the creation and manipulation of both territorial and cultural boundaries. It also examines the role of inscriptions as both territorial markers and as symbols of cultural identity.

TartariaMag_issue1-2012

by Nikolay Tsyrempilov

Migrants and Citizens: The Shifting Ground of Struggle in Canadian Literary Representation

by Naava Smolash

Co-authored with Myka Tucker-Abramson, published in Studies in Canadian Literature

Invisibles ou absents? Questions sur la présence kurde à Bagdad aux Ve-VIe/XIe-XIIe siècles / Invisible or absent? Kurds in Baghdad, 5th-6th/11th-12th centuries

by Vanessa Van Renterghem

During the 5th/11th c., scholars, mystics and militaries were coming to Baghdad from zones of Kurdish population. This... more During the 5th/11th c., scholars, mystics and militaries were coming to Baghdad from zones of Kurdish population. This phenomenon was even stronger during th 6th/12th c. Were these visitors or emigrants Kurds? They are not always identified as such by the medieval sources. This article tries to get a more precise image of Kurdish presence in Baghdad during these centuries. Kurds were part of Seljuqs and Abbasid armies, but also of troups serving local Iraqian rulers. They were emirs (like the powerful Hazārasb ibn Bankīr) as well as simple fighters. Arab chronicles also talk of Kurds as “non-Arab Bedouins” living in the steppa. But Kurds are more difficult to identify in civilian an urban spheres. Some families of Baghdadian scholars, judges or mystics, like the Suhrawardī and the Šahrazūrī, originated from the Kurdish areas, but it is usually not possible to determine their ethnicity. Such conclusions lead us to consider as relatively non pertinent ethnic designations in some contextes, like the urban and learned milieu.
Keywords: Kurds, Kurdistan, Baghdad, ethnicity, nisba, onomastic, prosopography, emirs, army, Seldjuqs, Abbasids, nomadism, sufism, Suhrawardī, Suhrawardî, Šahrazūrī, Shahrazûrî.

Au Ve/XIe siècle, la venue à Bagdad de personnages (lettrés, mystiques, militaires et autres) provenant des zones géographiques à fort peuplement kurde est attestée et s’intensifie même au cours du VIe/XIIe siècle. Ces personnages étaient-ils kurdes ? En l’absence d’identification formelle par les sources de l’époque, plusieurs domaines sont explorés ici afin de préciser la présence kurde à Bagdad au cours de cette période. Les Kurdes étaient présents dans les armées seldjoukides puis abbassides, mais aussi au service d’autres souverains irakiens, sous la figure d’émirs (comme le puissant Hazārasb ibn Bankīr) autant que de simples soldats. Les chroniques arabes les désignent également comme étant des Bédouins non-arabes de la steppe. Il est par contre plus difficile de les distinguer dans la sphère urbaine et civile. Plusieurs lignages de lettrés, de juges ou de mystiques bagdadiens, comme les Suhrawardī et les Šahrazūrī, étaient originaires de régions à fort peuplement kurde, sans que l’on puisse trancher de façon absolue quant à leur appartenance ethnique. Ces résultats nous conduisent à relativiser la pertinence de la désignation ethnique dans certains contextes, urbains et lettrés en particulier.
Mots-clés : Kurdes, Kurdistan, Bagdad, ethnicité, nisba, onomastique, prosopographie, émirs, armées, Seldjoukides, Abbassides, nomadisme, soufisme, Suhrawardī, Suhrawardî, Šahrazūrī, Shahrazûrî.