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Acculturation and wellbeing of refugees: a study of Somalis in Kampala-Uganda
Abstract
Although there is substantial research on refugee acculturation in developed and industrialised countries, there is limited research on the same within Africa in general and Uganda in particular. This study fills this gap by investigating, analysing and describing Somali refugees’ acculturation strategies, ways in which Ugandans influence Somali refugees’ acculturation and the relationship between Somali refugees’ acculturation and their wellbeing. In this thesis I argue that Somali refugees’ acculturation is selective and purposive, and contextual. The selective and purposive actions of Somali refugees are determined by the expected benefits from a particular behaviour, availability of alternatives, situational and individual factors. On the other hand, the contextual factors such as the multi-cultural and religious nature of the host community, laws promoting refugee freedoms and rights, Somali refugees’ residential status and perceived dissimilarity between the cultures of the two groups independently influenced Somali refugees’ acculturation and wellbeing. More importantly, these contextual factors also influenced Somali refugees’ selective and purposive actions in some respects. I conclude by showing that the combination of selective and purposive actions and contextual factors demonstrates Somali refugees’ exercise of socio-culturally mediated agency during their acculturation process and in pursuance of their wellbeing.
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The purpose of this study was to examine friendship developments of 153 Vietnamese immigrant adolescents who resided in an East Coast metropolitan area of the United States. We examined the influences of school diversity and acculturation on the quantity and quality of cross-and same-race friendships. Surprisingly, students who came from schools that are more diverse reported fewer cross-race friendships and lower levels of social support from their cross-race friends. American acculturation predicted greater levels of social support from cross-race friends. For same-race friendships, students who went to schools with higher percentage of Asian students reported more same-race friendships; however, percentage of Asian students was not a significant predictor of social support from same-race friends. Students who reported greater levels of Vietnamese acculturation reported greater levels of social support from their same-race friends. This study has implications for understanding the impact of school diversity and acculturation on friendship development of Vietnamese immigrants. Also, suggestions on how to better conceptualize and measure diversity are discussed.
This volume, which grows out of The Quality of Life (eds. Martha Nussbaum and Amartya Sen, 1993), combines philosophical inquiry with economic concerns regarding women's equality in the developing world. Adopting Amartya Sen's capability framework, international contributors tackle issues of cultural relativism vs. cultural imperialism on the one hand, and questions of local traditions vs. universalist critical judgement on the other. The chief aim of this work is to critically explore the relationship between culture and justice as pertinent to women's development, with special attention paid to cultural sensitivity but without compromising the clarity of rational judgement in cases where women's capabilities are at stake. Building upon the practical and philosophical implications of the lived experience of women from a variety of cultures, the authors theorize the pragmatics of economic development beyond utility towards a vision of gender equality. This book is a must‐read for anyone interested in the ethics of women's economic development.
The protracted nature of conflicts in countries of the global South means that return to home countries for many refugees is increasingly delayed. At the same time, global terrorism and concerns about security have slowed processes of resettlement in countries of the North. Local integration to host communities in countries of first asy- lum may be a remaining option. This paper explores possi- bilities for revival of local integration as a durable solution. The authors situate the study within the frame- work of protracted refugee situations globally and, specifi- cally, within the existing local settlement structure and the Self Reliance Strategy (SRS) in Uganda. Benefits to refu- gee-hosting communities are analyzed through two case studies: local integration through commerce and through primary education. The paper concludes by exploring ways in which stakeholders, including refugees, UNHCR, and donor governments can work together to promote shared and simultaneous development in refugee and na- tional communities, specifically in conceptualizing the du- rable solution of local integration within the context of a national framework for development.
The pilot study was conducted to test the appropriateness of a nutri-tion and food security survey and estimate the prevalence of food security and its relationship with dietary intake habits among So-mali refugees (n = 35) resettled in the United States. The other main objective was to estimate the association between accultura-tion and dietary intake habits. The interviews with the Somali moth-ers indicated that 72% of households were food insecure and, in comparison, the intake of fruits and green leafy vegetables was sig-nificantly lower among the food insecure households than among secure households (p < .05). Both of the acculturation indicators used in this survey, living in the United States for four years or more and having English language proficiency, were associated with a high intake of snack items among participants. Future studies ex-amining the influence of food security and acculturation on health outcomes such as body weight are warranted among refugees in the United States. KEYWORDS acculturation, dietary intake, food insecurity, refugees, Somali Appreciation goes to the Somali health workers for their support and contributions to the survey planning and development. This study was supported by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), as part of SNAP nutrition education (SNAP-Ed) in the Maine SNAP-Ed Plan FY2007.
Research with immigrant youth has shown that they have a variety of orientations to their acculturation process. These different paths (“acculturation strategies”) have been described in terms of assimilation, integration, marginalisation and separation (AIMS). This research has also shown that there are variable adaptations or outcomes to acculturation. Of greatest importance is the finding that these variations in adaptation are usually related to the acculturation strategies that youth use. Generally, those who involve themselves in both their heritage culture and that of the national society (by way of integration) have the most positive psychological well-being, and are most adjusted in school and in the community; in contrast, those who are minimally involved with either culture (the marginalisation course), are least well-adapted; and those who are primarily oriented towards one or the other culture (assimilation or separation) generally fall in between these two adaptation poles. The present study examines the generality of this pattern by comparing samples from two societies that have very different policies and practices with respect immigration and acculturation: Canada and France. We measured acculturation attitudes, identity and behaviours along the two basic dimensions of cultural maintenance and social contact, and then cross-tabulated them, creating the four acculturation orientations. In both societies the usual pattern is replicated: youth who prefer integration have higher self-esteem scores than those who are marginalised; youth preferring assimilation and separation fall in between. This pattern was stronger in Canada than in France, a finding that is interpreted in terms of the differential social context faced by youth in the two societies, particularly the differing national policies and youths’ experience of discrimination.
The first part of this paper proposes a continuum of ideological premises that seeks to account for the broad range of immigrant integration policies adopted by Western democratic states. In the second part, a review of Social Psychological models of immigrant acculturation strategies demonstrates the need to explain more clearly the interactive nature of immigrant and host community relations. The Interactive Acculturation Model (IAM) presented next proposes that relational outcomes are the product of the acculturation orientations of both the host majority and immigrant groups as influenced by state integration policies. The model makes predictions regarding the acculturation combinations most likely to produce consensual, problematic, and conflictual relational outcomes between immigrants and members of the host community. Social psychological research is needed to test the validity of the IAM model empirically. La premiere partie de cet article propose un continuum des premisses ideologiques qui animent les etats democratiques dans la formulation de leurs politiques dintegration envers les immigrants. En deuxieme partie, un survol des modeles proposes par la Psychologie Sociale pour decrire les modes d'acculturation des immigrants demontre la necessite de tenir compte de l'interactionentre les aspirations culturelles des groupes d'immigrants et celles de la communaute d'accueil. Le modele d'acculturation interactif (MAI), presente en troisieme partie, propose que les rencontres interculturelles seront consensuelles, problematiques ou conflictuelles, selon les permutations des modes d'acculturation des immigrants et des membres de la communaute d'accueil. Les assises theoriques du MAI sont a verifier dans des recherches empiriques a venir.
This article provides an overview of immigrant/host majority relations from an intergroup perspective using the interactive acculturation model. Whereas previous research assumed that immigrants must adapt to a single dominant host majority, receiving societies are often made up of host communities whose ethnic and linguistic backgrounds vary, thus offering immigrants the option of adapting to one or more host communities. Two such settings are examined in North America: bilingual Montreal made up of French- and English-speaking host communities; and bilingual Los Angeles with its English-speaking European and African American host communities and its Spanish- and Asian-speaking immigrant communities. The Montreal and Los Angeles studies highlight how integration policies adopted at the national and institutional levels are related to the acculturation orientations endorsed by contrasting immigrant and host community undergraduates living in multilingual and multicultural settings.
This paper reports some of the main findings from a large international study of the acculturation and adaptation of immigrant youth (aged 13 to 18 years) who are settled in 13 societies (N = 5,366), as well as a sample of national youth (N = 2,631). The study was guided by three core questions: How do immigrant youth deal with the process of acculturation? How well do they adapt? Are there important relationships between how they acculturate and how well they adapt? Cluster analysis produced four distinct acculturation profiles: integration, ethnic, national, and diffuse. Factor analysis of five adaptation variables revealed two distinct forms of adaptation: psychological and sociocultural. There were substantial relationships between how youth acculturate and how well they adapt: those with an integration profile had the best psychological and sociocultural adaptation outcomes, while those with a diffuse profile had the worst; in between, those with an ethnic profile had moderately good psychological adaptation but poorer sociocultural adaptation, while those with a national profile had moderately poor psychological adaptation, and slightly negative sociocultural adaptation. This pattern of results was largely replicated using structural equation modeling. Implications for the settlement of immigrant youth are clear: youth should be encouraged to retain both a sense of their own heritage cultural identity, while establishing close ties with the larger national society.
Research and practice in the field of acculturation psychology is continually on the rise. Featuring contributions from over fifty leading experts in the field, this handbook compiles and systemizes the current state of the art by exploring the broad international scope of acculturation. The collection introduces readers to the concepts and issues; examines various acculturating groups (immigrants, ethnic minorities, indigenous peoples, expatriates, tourists, refugees and asylum seekers); highlights the global contexts for acculturation in a variety of societies; and focuses on acculturation of a number of special groups, such as young people, the workplace, and outcomes for health and well-being. This comprehensive new edition addresses major world changes over the last decade, including the increase in global migration, religious clashes, and social networking, and provides updated theories and models so that beginners and advanced readers can keep abreast of new developments in the study of acculturation.
Prefaces - Introduction - PART I RELATIVISM AND THE PROBLEM OF HUMAN NEED - Who Needs Human Needs? - The Inevitability of Human Needs - The Grammar of Human Needs - PART 2 A THEORY OF HUMAN NEED - The Basic Needs of Persons - Societal Preconditions for Need Satisfaction - Human Liberation and the Right to Optimal Need Satisfaction - Optimising Need Satisfaction in Theory - PART 3 HUMAN NEEDS IN PRACTICE - Measuring Need Satisfaction - Health and Autonomy - Intermediate Needs - Societal Preconditions for Optimising Need Satisfaction - Charting Human Welfare - PART 4 THE POLITICS OF HUMAN NEED - Towards a Political Economy of Need Satisfaction - The Dual Strategy
One of the most serious threats to peace, security and the sovereignty of nations in the post-Cold War era is population migration. A particularly volatile form of this threat is the global refugee problem and nowhere is this issue more severe than in Africa. This book offers a comprehensive analysis of refugee experience in the Horn of Africa. It includes an examination of the dynamics of flight from the country of origin, settlement in exile and repatriation to the country of origin. Such an integrative approach sets this book apart from other studies and will serve as a reader for courses on ethno-national conflicts, migration, international politics, security and African politics.
Veteran scholar and peace activist David Cortright offers a definitive history of the human striving for peace and an analysis of its religious and intellectual roots. This authoritative, balanced, and highly readable volume traces the rise of peace advocacy and internationalism from their origins in earlier centuries through the mass movements of recent decades: the pacifist campaigns of the 1930s, the Vietnam antiwar movement, and the waves of disarmament activism that peaked in the 1980s. Also explored are the underlying principles of peace - nonviolence, democracy, social justice, and human rights - all placed within a framework of 'realistic pacifism'. Peace brings the story up-to-date by examining opposition to the Iraq War and responses to the so-called 'war on terror'. This is history with a modern twist, set in the context of current debates about 'the responsibility to protect', nuclear proliferation, Darfur, and conflict transformation.
The goal of this study was to examine the influence of personal predispositions on refugees' resettlement process. Relationship among the participants' motivation to learn about the U.S. culture, ethnic proximity, self-esteem, locus of control, intercultural willingness to communicate, functional fitness, psychological health, and ethnic and U.S. cultural identity salience, was examined. A crosssectional survey design was used as the study method. Sixty seven Bosnian refugees living in a large Midwestern U.S. city took part in the study, which was actually a pilot study of a much larger project. Analyses revealed that motivation to learn about the U.S. culture, self-esteem, locus of control, and intercultural willingness to communicate enhance intercultural transformation of refugees. Ethnic proximity, however, was found to discourage refugees' integration into the new environment. The findings suggest that refugees need to have an active voice in decision making when it comes to their resettlement, so they can better manage culture shock and challenges that cross-cultural adaptation brings along. © Common Ground, Wai Hsien Cheah, Ajlina Karamehic-Muratovic, Hisako Matsuo, Alma Poljarevic, All Rights Reserved.
The purpose of this study is to develop a better understanding of Puerto Rican first- and second-generation youth's migration, identity and adaptation to new lives in the Orlando, Florida, metropolitan area. This qualitative study draws on participant observations, informal conversations, newspaper articles and reports, focus groups and individual interviews with thirty adults and twenty first- and secondgeneration youth to describe the experiences of these Puerto Rican youth. In the paper I argue that these youth's challenges of identity and incorporation are no different from many of the first- and second-generation youth migrating from other countries. The data show that language barriers, accommodations to home, community, and school, and cultural challenges do exist among first- and secondgeneration Puerto Rican youth. Yet these youth indicated high levels of academic achievement and social adaptation, and overall felt supported by their families, community and school.
The employment integration of immigrants and in particular refugees in Swedish society has been the subject of many debates and constitutes one of the major political challenges faced in the last two decades. Like in many European countries, refugees are more likely to be unemployed, have temporary jobs and lower income. Most studies of immigrant economic integration have been undertaken at the national level, taking into account place of birth, but not by admission status. This study focuses on the employment integration by admission status by looking at the outcomes for resettled refugees, asylum claimants (asylum-seekers who may subsequently obtain a residence permit), and immigrants who arrive via family reunion migration. Using logistic regression methods we estimate the probability of having a job after controlling for a set of personal and immigrant intake characteristics as well as contextual factors. The results of the analysis indicate that family reunion immigrants have a faster employment attachment than asylum claimants which in turn have faster employment integration than resettled refugees in the Swedish labour market. The understanding of the results of the analysis is that selection processes (self-selection as well as selection through policy mechanisms) and networks are important factors explaining the employment integration of immigrants.
Eriksen Chapter 1 What is Ethnicity? $rightarrow$ Growing interest for ethnicity and nationalism (political sciences, history, cultural studies, sociology and cultural anthropology) Since 1960s: ethnicity has been a major peroccupation for social anthropologists: Anthropology can generate first-hand knowledge of social life at the level of everyday interaction $rightarrow$ this is the locus were ethnicity is created and re-created Anthropological approaches enable us to explore the ways in which ethnic relations are being defined and perseived by people Anthropology is capable of providing a nuanced and complex vision of ethnicity in the contemporary world Important reason for current academic interest for ethnicity and nationalism: these phenomena have become so visible in many societies that it has become impossible to ignore them Weber (beginning 20th century): ethnicity and nationalism as primordial phenomena $rightarrow$ they would eventually decrease in importance and eventuallt vanish as a result of modernization, industrialization and individualism $rightarrow$ wrong! In many parts of the world, nation-building (the creation and consolidation of political cohesion and national identity in former colonies or imperial provinces) is high on the political agenda Ethnic and national identities have become fields of contestation following the continuous influx of labour migrants and refugees to Europe and North America, which has led to the establishment of new, permanent ethnic minorites in these areas The political dynamics within Europe has move issueas of ethnic and national identities to the forefront of political life (like: the split of the SU or in contrary the unification of Europe in the EU) Origins of the word Ethnicity: Ethnos (Greek) $rightarrow$ heathen or Pagan; English use (14th-19th century): referring to racial characteristics $rightarrow$ around WWII in the USA: Ethnicity was a polite term referring to Jews, Italians, Irish etc. (people considered inferior to the White Anglo-Saxon Protestants) $rightarrow$ The first anthropologists (Malinowski, Radcliffe-Brown etc.): ethnicity was not considered particularly relevant $rightarrow$ it entered the field of cultural/social anthropology in the 1960s, meaning aspects of relationships between groups which consider themselves, and are regarded by others, as being culturally distinctive Race (not a scientific term!) $leftrightarrow$ Ethnicity $downarrow$ There has always been much interbreeding between human populations that it would be meaningless to talk of fixed boundaries between races The distribution of hereditary physical traits does not follow clear boundaries No serious scholar today believes that hereditary characteristics explain cultural variations Race = relevant, because it is a social construct $rightarrow$ personality is somehow linked with hereditary characteristics which differ systematically between races, and in this way race may assume sociological importance even if it has no objective existence Banton (1967) $rightarrow$ race (negative characterization of people, more oriented to the categorization of them) $leftrightarrow$ ethnicity (positive group identification, more concerned with identification of us) $rightarrow$ But: ethnicity can take many forms and the boundaries between race and ethnicity tend to be blurred, since ethnic groups have a common myth of origin, which relates ethnicity to descent $rightarrow$ so the relation = complex $rightarrow$ Ethnicity can arguably exist without acompanying notions of race (for instance: German, Italian or Irish identities in the USA) $rightarrow$ Final point: discrimination based on presumed inborn and immutable characteristics tends to be stronger and more inflexible than ethnic discrimination which is not based on racial differences Ethnicity (relationships between groups whose members consider themselves distinctive, and these groups are often ranked hierarchically within a society) $leftrightarrow$ Nationalism (stresses the cultural similarity of its adherents and, by implication, it draws boundaries vis-à-vis others, who thereby become outsiders $rightarrow$ Relationship to the State = important) Ethnicity $leftrightarrow$ Social Class: 2 main definitions of classes: Marxist View: $rightarrow$ To do with economic aspects Three main classes: Bourgeoisie (who own the means of production and buy other people's labour power) Petit-bourgeoisie (who own mean of production but do not employ others) Working class; most numerous; depend on selling their labour-power Class struggle + Property = important in this view! Weberian View: $rightarrow$ combines several criteria in delineating classes (like income, education and political influence) $rightarrow$ preferred status groups rather than classes So: social class (always refers to systems of social ranking and distribtution of power) $leftrightarrow$ Ethnicity (does not necessarily refer to rank; may well be egalitarian) $rightarrow$ however: there can be a correlation between ethnicity and class (which means that there is a high likelihood that persons belonging to specific ethnic groups also belong to specific social classes) Two main causes for the shift from structure and culture to ethnicity and ethnic group within Anthropology: Increased contact between groups, through migration and urbanization (when a group is brought into contact with people with other customs, languages and identities, they try to maintain their old values and practices, creating a new form of self awareness) A change within Anthropological insights: where ethnicity was first being seen as being primordial (Weber), this idea changed into the idea that ethnic organization and identity are frequently reactions to processes of modernization $rightarrow$ so the terminology changed from societies and cultures to flux and progress, ambiguity and complexity $rightarrow$ group identities must always be defined in relation to what they are not ! Tribe (used in earlier decades; containesd an Eurocentric bias, introducing a sharp, qualitative distinction between us and them (modern $leftrightarrow$ primitive)) $leftrightarrow$ Ethnic group (in this type of terminology this distinction is harder to maintain) Problem in defining ethnicity: where ar the boundaries of the group? $rightarrow$ Moerman (1965): emic category of ascription (someone belongs to an ethnic group by virtue of believing and calling him or herself by the name of that ethnic group and of acting in ways that validate him or herself being a part of that ethnic group) $rightarrow$ the existence of cultural differences between two groups is not the decisive feature of ethnicity $rightarrow$ ethnicity is an essential aspect of a relationship: only in so far as cultural differences are perceived as being important, and are made socially relevant, do social relationships have an ethnic element $rightarrow$ it can thus be defined as a social identity $rightarrow$ the substantial social contexts of ethnicity differ enormously, and ethnic identities and ethnic organizations may have highly variable importance in different societies, for different individuals and in different situations $rightarrow$ vb. Blz. 18/19/20 Final problem: how to articulate the relationship between (a) anthropological theory, (b) native theory and (c) social organization? $rightarrow$ in a sense, ethnicity is created by the analyst when he or she goes out in the field and raises questions about ethnicity $rightarrow$ but: on the other hand, individuals or informants who live in the societies in question may themselves be concerned with issues relating to ethnicity, and as such the the phenomenon clearly does exist outside of the mind of the observer Eriksen Chapter 2 Ethnic Classification: Us and Them Ethnicity: constituted trough social contact (= the application of systematic distinctions between insiders (us) $leftrightarrow$ outsiders (them)) 1920s/1930s: Chicago School (main person: Robert Park): concerned with continuity and change in ethnic relations $rightarrow$ acculturation: the adaption of immigrants to their new cultural context the city: was being seen as kind of ecological system with its own internal dynamic, creating diverse opportunities and constraints for different individuals and groups contained several distinct social worlds based on class, race or national origin (corresponding to distinctive physical neighborhoods, divided by unequal access and ethnic differences) $rightarrow$ in the city, economic, political and cultural resources were to a great extent pooled within each ethnic subsystem so that the individual could achieve many of his or her goals through ethnic networks! $rightarrow$ so acculturation (the adapting of the white, English-speaking majority's way of life) assured mobility Park also introduced the notion of the melting-pot: every society is a more or less successful melting-pot, where diverse populations are merged, acculturated and eventually assimilated, at different rates and in different ways, depending on their place in the economic and the political system Critics of the melting-pot idea: the diverse ethnic groups never merged; the differences between them seem to have been accentuated But: Park did stress that the social mobility of any ethnic group would lead to tension in relation to the other groups Park was also aware of the fluid character of ethnic categorizations (as an individual moves through urban life, the relative importance of his or her ethnic membership changes) Critics of the Chicago School (3 myths of the Chicago School (Cohen 1985)): The myth of simplicity (the idea that rural societies were by default simpler than urban ones) The myth of egalitarianism (also assumed to be typical of rural societies) The myth of inevitable conformity (in rural societies) However, the Chicago school has proved to have lasting value: They showed that ethnic relations are fluid and negotiable They showed that their importance varies situationally They showed that ethnic relations can be conciously manipulated and invested in economic competition in modern societies $rightarrow$ Chicago School as initiators for Symbolic Interactionism Intergroup contacts (which constitute ethnicity may be caused by a variety of factors: Population growth Establishment of new communication technologies facilitating trade Inclusion of new groups in a capitalist system of production/exchange Political change incorporating new groups in a single political system Migration Overcommunication of Group Membership (ethnicity = deliberately shown off $rightarrow$ blz. 28 Kalela Dance) $leftrightarrow$ Undercommunication of Group Membership (actors tried to play ethnicity down and don't try to make it an important aspect of the definition of a situation) Stereotyping: refers to the creation and consistent application of standardized notions on the cultural distinctiveness of a group $rightarrow$ they often (but not always!) tend to be more or less pejorative (often mentioned in connection with racism/discrimination) Stereotypes: need to refer to a social reality + they do not necessarily give accurate hints of what people actually do Functions of stereotypes: Helping the individual to create order in an otherwise excruciatingly complicated social universe Justifying privileges and differences in access to a society's resources Defining the boundaries of one's own group Stereotypes: can often function as self-fulfilling prophecies + they can be morally ambiguous and contested by different parties Mitchell (1974): Various degrees of social classification( not just: us $leftrightarrow$ them) $rightarrow$ perceptions of social distance (for instance: matrilineal peoples from the north would rank other matrilineal peoples from the north as those closest to themselves) Ethnicity: entails the establishment of both Us $leftrightarrow$ Them differences (this is called contrasting (through stereotyping)) and a shared fielf for interethnic discourse and interaction (this is called matching (there must be some mutual recognition inherent in the process of communicating cultural differences, otherwhise the ethnic identity of at least one of the parties will necessarily be neglected and undercommunicated in a situation of interaction)) $rightarrow$ many interethnic relations are highly assymetrical (hierarchical) $rightarrow$ this may lead to ethnic stigmatization of one group by the other and eventually lead to the undercommunication of the ethnic identity of a group $rightarrow$ so: ethnicity and social identities in general are relative and to some extent situational $rightarrow$ the We category may expand and contract according to the situation $rightarrow$ in other words: individuals may have statuses and many possible identities, and it is an empirical question when and how ethnic identities become the most relevant ones $rightarrow$ the point here = ethnicity can be a fluid and ambiguous aspect of social life, and can be manipulated by the agents themselves (blz. 37/38 vb.) $rightarrow$ for ethnic membership to have a personal importance, it must provide the individual with something he or she considers valuabe $rightarrow$ however: sometimes ethnic identities are imposed from the outside by dominant groups General problem of criteria for what is and what is not ethnicity: where should we draw the boundary between ethnic groups and other groups, such as social classes? Eriksen Chapter 4 Ethnic identification and Ideology Study of personal identity was for a long time neglected by anthropologists: social anthropology dealt with processes taking place between people, and the idea was that identity existed inside each individual $rightarrow$ but: what was formerly considered private and fixed is now increasingly held to be public and negotiable $rightarrow$ in anthropological discourse the term identity means 2 extreme different poles: Being the same as oneself Being different Classification = a kind of native theory whereby the infinite complexity of the experienced world is reduced to a finite number of categories $rightarrow$ social classification often has to do with power assymetries Ethnic Classifications = a practical way of creating order in the social universe (social and cultural products related to the requirements of the classifier; they serve to order the social world and to create standardized cognitive maps over categories of relevant others) $rightarrow$ Creation of loyalty to nations: similar logic (people are being categorized according to their country borders) $rightarrow$ if such an ideology is succesful, the compass of one's community thereby increases many times $rightarrow$ So: systems of social classification and principles of inclusion and exclusion always create order, but the kind of order created = related to aspects of the wider social system $rightarrow$ Every social community = exclusive (always constituted in relation to others) $rightarrow$ boundaries of ethnic groups are relative and they can vary, however: in some situation it may be difficult to ascribe a definite ethnic identity to an individual $rightarrow$ Turner (1967): ethnic anomalities (can be considered as neither-not or both-and depending on the situation and the wider context) 2 options for ethnic anomalities (for instance 2nd and 3rd generation immigrants in Europe): Assimilation (adapting to the dominant group) Ethnic incorporation: 2 options ( (1) the anomalous group may declare itself an ethnic category or (2) may continue to be loyal to their grandparents' ethnic category) $rightarrow$ Problem with ethnic incorporation: problem of Gatekeeping: if one is simultaneously a member of two groups which are partly defined through mutual contrasting, difficult situations are inevitable Discussion about social identity: Voluntarily, chosen and strategically? (criticism= multicultural ideology virtually forces people to take on an ethnic identity, even if they would have preferred not to have this aspect of their personal identity highlighted) $leftrightarrow$ Product of culture and society? (criticism= often, individuals who fall between acknowledged categories, exploit their ambiguity to their own advantage; entrepreneurs or cultural brokers) $rightarrow$ Ethnic identities = flexible to a highly varying degree! Analog multi-ethnic environments (environments where some people are perceived as almost like ourselves and other people are perceived as extremely different from us by the dominant group) $leftrightarrow$ Digital multi-ethnic environments (when systems of classification operate on an unambiguous inclusion/exclusion basis, where boundaries are fixed and all outsiders of certain kinds are regarded as more or less the same) Jean-Paul Sartre (1943): We-hood (being inegrated because of shared activities within the collectivity) $leftrightarrow$ Us-hood (people are loyal and socially integrated chiefly in relation to the other) $rightarrow$ Ethnicity is a phenomenon of us-hood, however: the ethnic category or group must aditionally have an element of we-hood (like shared language or religion) to create interdependence $rightarrow$ these cultural similarities may be perceived as threatening (regarded as inalienable possessions) Ethnic symbolism (referring to ancient language, religion, kinship system or way of life) = crucial for the maintainance of ethnic identity through periods of change $rightarrow$ social identity becomes most important when it is being threatened! Forms of boundary maintaince = important, when boundaries are under pressure (can be psychologically reassuring; assuring the continuity with the past $rightarrow$ Religion may, but doesn't always, play a role here) Ethnic identities = expressions of metaphoric kinship (notions of shared descent) $rightarrow$ formation of new ethnic categories follow one of two possible paths: It may come about through an extension of existing identifications (like: tracing descent back to Adam and Eve) Fission: reducing the size of the group with presumed shared ancestry (like: tracing descent back not to Adam and Eve, but to one of their offsprings) $rightarrow$ This notion of ancestry is in itself ambiguous (for instance: with how many generations do we draw the line?) $rightarrow$ No simple relationship between ideology and social practices $rightarrow$ the criterion of shared origins seriously reduces the possible number of ethnic categories there can be made in any society Anthropologists: history is not a product of the past but a response to requirements of the present $rightarrow$ Levi-Strauss (1962): there is always an element of creativity in history writing and identity always has an important element of subjective identity $rightarrow$ So: since it's not objective culture that shapes ethnicity, it makes sense that ethnic identities can be maintained despite cultural change $rightarrow$ but this is paradoxical: ethnic ideologies stress the continuity of that very cultural content as a justification for the continued exitence and cohesion of the group $rightarrow$ since ethnicity is related to kinship as a form of metaphorical or even literal, extended kinship, research into faily origins can have important implications for ethnicity $rightarrow$ DNA tests tend to reveal mixed origins, and can thus be interpreted in different ways and can thus shed a new light on ethnicity $rightarrow$ many scholars have regarded utility as the master variable in accounting for the maintainance of ethnic identity $rightarrow$ however: notions of utility are in itself cultural creations, and so the boundary between meaningful and useful remains blurred Example European Union (blz. 89/90/91/92) $rightarrow$ important note with this example = European identity is not necessarily incompatible with national or ethnic identities! $rightarrow$ E. Evans-Pritchard (segmentary societies) $rightarrow$ However: for the European identity, or any other more encompassing group to exist, it must be socially relevant (must have some goods to deliver and those goods must be perceived as valuable by the target group) To conclude: identity processes are fundamentally dual and comprise aspects of meaning as well as as politics in a wide sense; functionalist or actor-centered accounts of ethnicity may provide good analyses of ethnic incorporation at the level of interaction and group competition, but they usually decline to ask why it is that ethnic identities are so pervasive and fundamental to people! Eriksen Chapter 5 Ethnicity in History Process of Ethnogenesis: the emergence of ethnic relations and ethnic identities (from the perspective of historical change) Barth (1969): what is needed to make ethnic distinctions emerge in an area? (An historical perspective on ethnicity) $rightarrow$ Occupational specialization, and the development of some form of group complementarity, will gradually encourage the creation and enactment of distinguishing signs and, eventually, the emergence of distinctive groups, with separate genealogies, each of which considers the others to be culturally distinctive from themselves Ethnicity: must by definition arise either from (1) a process of social differentiation within a population, which eventually leads to the division of that population into two distinctive groups, (2) through migration, or (3) by an expansion of system boundaries bringing formerly discrete groups into contact with eachother Eric Wolf (1982): interconnectedness between societies important from AD 1400, whereas anthropologists like Malinowski and Levi-Strauss (Hot (modern) $leftrightarrow$ Cold (slowly changing) societies) didn't assume this $rightarrow$ however: intensity + range of the contacts increased greatly with the great discoveries and European colonialism 4 aspects of processes of change: The consequences of slavery and capitalism for the development of ethnic relations in the New World The importance of labour migrants The importance of naming and semantics for the formation of ethnic identities in Africa The consequences of social changes for identity formation and group organization Ethnicity (the social organization of communicated cultural differences) appeared together with capitalism (and thus colonialism) in many parts of the world $rightarrow$ ethnicity must therefore be understood in relation to the colonial division of labour Race and Ethnicity: personal traits and cultural distinctiveness are in many societies still attributed to people on the basis of race, and it is in this way that race overlaps with, and sometimes becomes, ethnic categorization Black Ethnic identity = relative to social context (between local tribes in Africa, this is not important, but for African slaves in the New World they were stigmatized according to their race) $rightarrow$ A group which is powerless undercommunicates its distinctiveness, however: when the same group is suddenly in a superior position, its members will overcommunicate it (vb. Zwarten $leftrightarrow$ Indianen blz. 101/102) $rightarrow$ Ethnicity as it can be identified in colonial and post-colonial societies with a capitalist mode of production must necessarily be very different from the kinds of categorizations which existed in pre-colonial times: The goals pursuead by individuals are different The relevant means of their achievement are different The encompassing social system is different $rightarrow$ Following the integration of traditional people into nation states, cultures become shared $rightarrow$ in this way a lot of different people become a people (with an abstract sense of community and a presumed shared history) $rightarrow$ Contemporary ethnicity (or tribalism) = not something of the past and it doesn't necessarily lie in the difference in culture; it is a product of modernization processes leading up to the present (different ways of integrating into a capitalist society) $rightarrow$ blz. 105/106 $rightarrow$ it has often been remarked that tribes had no empirical existence outside of the mind of the anthropologist $rightarrow$ in pre-colonial times many groups were politically organized through kinship and personal loyalties and they didn't require categorizing $rightarrow$ so ethnicity then took on a verry different form from which it does today Fardon, Southall and Ardener: concerned with the semantics of ethnicity $rightarrow$ the establishment of clear labels for large categories of people may have a conceptually, but also socially reifying effect on groups, as they become official names and their members start using them in their self-identification Technology: can be essential in generating opportunities and constraints for culture and social organization $rightarrow$ mass education plays an important role: standardized mass education can be a extremely powerful machine for the creation of abstract identifications Anderson (1983): communities beyond the size of a closed village are abstractly imagined by their members, but the style of immagination differs $rightarrow$ modern imagined communities: unique, because they have arisen in the age of print-capitalism Leach: ethnic identities are creations $rightarrow$ ethnic identities based on assumptions of shared culture may thus appear as accident of history and little more $rightarrow$ so: any ethnic identity is imaginable, regardless of actual cultural variation or proveable distinctive origins $rightarrow$ So within anthropology: discussion: Traditionally strong bias towards the present (dealing with ethnicity = dealing with a present-day construction of the past) $leftrightarrow$ Some anthropologists (Wolf and Worsley) stress the need to understand the past in order to understand the present (economic, political and cultural histories of peoples may certainly shed light on the origins of contemporary ethnicity, and should not be seen merely as aspects of the present) Two main concerns in the anthropological study of ethnic identity and organization: To reveal ethnohistory as ideology fashioned to satisfy contemporary needs (chapter 4) To point out that there is no necessary fit between ethnic discontinuities and discontinuities of objective culture, respectively (this chapter) Eriksen Chapter 6 Nationalism Nationalism (the ideology of the modern nation-state): relatively recent topic for anthropology Ernest Gellner: nationalism = a political principle $rightarrow$ nationalism as a theory of political legitimacy, which requires that ethnic boundaries should not cut across political ones $rightarrow$ nationalisms = ethnic ideologies, which hold that their group should dominate a state Benedict Anderson: the nation = an imagined political community $rightarrow$ people who define themselves as members of a nation will never know most of their fellowmembers, meet them or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion Anderson and Gellner have largely compatible views: both stress that nations are ideological constructions seeking to forge a link between cultural group and state, and that they create abstract communities of a different order from those dynastic states or kinship-based communities which pre-dated them Anderson: anomaly of nationalism $rightarrow$ Weber and Marx predicted an eventual end of nationalism and ethnicity, but this didn't happen $rightarrow$ Ethnic identities tend to attain their greatest importance in situations of flux, change, resource competition and threats against boundaries Within Anthropology: Turner (showed that ritual symbols are multivocal and that they have an instrumental and a sensory pole); in a remarkably parallel way, Anderson argues that nationalism derives its force from its combination of political legitimation and emotional power) Gellner + Anderson: both emphasize that although nations tend to imagine themselves as old, they are modern (developed in Europe, after the French Revolution) Tradition $leftrightarrow$ Traditionalism (glorifying and re-codifying an ostensibly ancient tradition shared by the ancestors of the members of the nation, bus it does not thereby recreate that tradition) Nationalism (often traditionalistic): stresses solidarity between poor and rich, between propertyless and capitalistic $rightarrow$ the principle of in- and exclusion follows the boundaries of the nation $rightarrow$ banal nationalism (like sports) continuously strengthens and reproduces people's sense of national belonging Vernacularization = an important aspect of many nationalist movements, since a shared language can be a powerful symbol of cultural unity as well as a convenient tool in the administration of a nation state + the use of presumedly typical ethnic symbols = intended to stimulate reflection on one's own cultural distinctiveness and thereby to create a feeling of nationhood $rightarrow$ Gellner, Grillo and others (1980): nationalist ideology emerged as a reaction to industrialization and the uprooting of people from their local communities $downarrow$ Industrialization required many workers with t he same skills and capabilities $rightarrow$ there was need for cultural homogenization (standardization of skills) $rightarrow$ mass education = instrumental in this proces Nationalism = able to create cohesion and loyalty among individuals participating in social systems on a huge scale $rightarrow$ able to direct people's loyalty towards the State and the legislative system rather than towards members of their kin group or village $rightarrow$ however: the drive to homogenization also creates stigmatized others $rightarrow$ there is no inclusion without exclusion ! Conditions for nationalist ideology to be viable: (1) political effectiveness (it must refer to a antion which can be embodied in a nation-state and effectively ruled) and (2) popular support ( it must have belief or mass appeal $rightarrow$ in most cases nationalism starts as an urban elite phenomenon) Nationalist ideology offers security and perceived stability at a time when life-worlds are fragmented and people are beign uprooted Important difference between nations and other kinds of community = scale ! (nation state $leftrightarrow$ kinship networks and face to face interaction) A third condition for nationalist ideology = the technological condition (communications technology facilitating the standardization of knowledge or representations): media = important in the reproduction and strengthening of nationalist sentiments internet = important (research has shown that the Internet has not contributed to a global cultural homogenization) modern means of transportation = has important indirect effects at the level of conciousness in making people feel that they are members of the nation map = a very concise and potent symbol of the nation (demarcating country borders + putting for instance Europe at the center of the world, which geographically isn't valid) Anderson: Nationalism = an ideology which proclaims that the Gemeinschaft threatened by mass society can survive through a concern with roots and cultural continuity $rightarrow$ In general: nationalism appropriates symbols and meanings from cultural contexts which are important in people's everyday experience $rightarrow$ nationalism = a form of metaphoric kinship (vb. Blz. 130) $rightarrow$ nationalism appeared, and continues to appear, in periods when the social and cultural vacuum in human lives in so far as kinship loses importance Differences between the Nation State and other social structures, studied by anthropologists: political boundaries = cultural boundaries double monopoly: on violence (1) and taxation (2) bureaucratic administration + written legislation (which encompasses all citizens) + uniform educational system + shared labour market (which again encompasses all citizens) almost every nation state has a shared, national language $rightarrow$ concentration of power = peculiar to the nation state Cultural egalitarianism (as preached by nationalism): can inspire counter-reactions (where a segment of the population does not consider itself to be a part of the nation) $rightarrow$ vb. Blz. 132/133 $rightarrow$ national identities: constituted in relation to others $rightarrow$ metaphoric war between nation-states (sports may be the best example) $rightarrow$ vb. Blz. 134/135/146 (blz. 136/137/138/139/140): the problem with identity boundaries is being shown, taking Germany as example (considered as the dominant national identity in Europe) (blz. 140/141/142143/144): Mauritius as an example of the discussion if it is possible to have nationalism without ethnicity $rightarrow$ Nations are not necessarily more static than ethnic groups $rightarrow$ polyethnic nations may be effectively redefined historically, in order to accommodate rights claims from groups who have felt excluded from the core of the nation Theoretical distinction between nationalism and ethnicity = simple $rightarrow$ a nationalist ideology is an ethnic ideology which demands a state on behalf of the ethnic group However: (the Mauritian case): nationalism may sometimes express a polyethnic or supra-ethnic ideology which stresses shared civil rights rather than shared cultural roots Certain categories of people may find themselves in a grey zone between full membership in the nation and ethnic minority In the mass media and in casual conversation the two terms are not used consistently Duality of nationalism (the Janus Face of Nationalism): a conflict between a dominating and a dominated ethnic group within the framework of a modern nation-state Eriksen Chapter 7 Minorities and the State Ethnic minority = a group which is numerically inferior to the rest of the population in a society, which is politically non-dominant and which is being reproduced as an ethnic category or group Terms minorities/majorities are relative: As soon as minorities become majorities due to redefinitions of system boundaries, new minorities tend to appear Groups which constitute majorities in one area of the country, for example, may be minorities elsewhere $rightarrow$ diversity is often defined by dominant groups as a problem $rightarrow$ downright genocide and enforced displacements are (brutal) examples of methods employed by sates in their dealings with minorities States have three main strategies in their dealings with minorities: Assimilation $rightarrow$ often believed to help their target groups to achieve equal rights and to improve their social standing, but: they often inflict suffering and loss of dignity to the minorities, who are thus taught that their own tradition is of no value $rightarrow$ successful assimilation may lead to the disappearance of the minority Domination $rightarrow$ implies segregation: referring to the presumed cultural inferiority of the minority Multiculturalism $rightarrow$ citizenship and full civil rights are compatible with several ethnic or religious identities Three principal ways for minorities to respond (A. Hirschmann (1970)): Exit $rightarrow$ ethnic communities favoring secession and full independence Voice $rightarrow$ letting their voices be heard, protests through assimilation Loyalty $rightarrow$ trying to coexist peacefully with the nation state $rightarrow$ note: assimilation is not always willing ! (vb. Black slaves blz. 150) 3 strategies are ideal types: often a compromise between the three is chosen $rightarrow$ integration: the minority's simultaneous participation in the shared institutions of society and its reproduction of group identity and ethnic boundaries Indigenous people: a non-dominant and a non-state (!) group in a delineated territory, with a more or less acknowledged claim to aboriginality $rightarrow$ not necessarily new comers! $rightarrow$ they are vulnerable to modernization and the state Since 1970s: these groups have become politically organized (to promote their interests vis-à-vis the dominant, encompassing majority) Most common conflict (State $leftrightarrow$ indigenous groups) = territorial rights $rightarrow$ interethnic brokers: are crucial for indigenous groups, because they can represent their interests in greater society and because they can complementarize with the authorities and with world opinion Two general points: No necessary contradiction Modernization $leftrightarrow$ Retention of Ethnic Identity (on the contrary, in many cases certain aspects of modernization are required for identity maintenance to be successful) A Minority $leftrightarrow$ Majority involves, most of the time, also other agents who play an important part (Like: international support + interethnic brokers) Literacy = an important point in the ethnic revitalization of indigenous peoples $rightarrow$ paradox of ethnopolitics: the emphasis on literacy and negotiations with the state in ethnic survival seems to imply that in order to save a culture, one must first lose it ! $rightarrow$ potential conflicts (indigenous groups $leftrightarrow$ State) = activated when the majority wishes to control resources in the territory of the indigenous population $rightarrow$ ethnopolitical movements = directed against what they see as attempts to violate their territorial rights and their rights to define their own way of life $rightarrow$ nation state: attempts to force indigenous groups to become sedentary and literate $rightarrow$ put nomadic groups in a difficult situation: All territories belong to someone (State, companies, individuals) in a modern country The administration and surveillance of itinerant minorities present great problems (like property rights and taxation systems) Indigenous people: trapped: Isolation (in order to maintain their tradition; this seems impossible) $leftrightarrow$ Pursuing their political interest (therefore they must first go through a process of cultural adaption) $rightarrow$ Anthropologists: tend not to see the moral obligations of indigenous people as contributing to the preservation of an ancient way of life, but rather in helping the people to make a transition to modernity on their own terms Migrants $leftrightarrow$ Indigenous peoples: Migrants often lack citizenship in the host country Migrants were often members of the majorities in their country of origin In many cases, migrants are only temporarily settled in the host country Labor migrants tend to be totally integrated in the capitalist system of production and consumption Examples of immigrant minority studies $rightarrow$ blz. 160/161 Sandra Wallman (1986; figure 7.1 blz. 162): the salience of ethnicity varies and this variation can be investigated by looking at who does what with whom and for which purposes $rightarrow$ investigating the importance of ethnicity in people's lives Economic activity among migrants: their economic survival depends on using ethnic networks and, perhaps, cultural skills (the goals people trey to achieve are contextually or culturally defined, and in complex multi-ethnic societies members of different groups may pursue different goals) $rightarrow$ the informal economy, where illegal immigrants form the backbone of the labor force = probably very considerable in many rich countries Transnational micro-economies: have become very widespread during the last decades $rightarrow$ migration = a transnational venture, rather than a one-way process Second- or third-generation immigrants become anomalies (they fail to fit into the dominant categories of social classification in society) $rightarrow$ the children of immigrants, while rarely fully assimilated, generally identify themselves more strongly with the values of the majority than their parents did Example: ethnicity in the US (blz. 168/169/170/171) Eriksen Chapter 8 Identity politics, culture and rights Since 1980s: The field of anthropological study is highly politicized The anthropologist carries out research in his/her own society $rightarrow$ problem: there is a normative dimension to research on multicultural issues which is often absent from research in foreign countries Paradox of multiculturalism: decisive variable = power $rightarrow$ the majority has the power to define when minorities should become like themselves (in this case minority members may feel that their cultural distinctiveness = not being respected) or when they should be defined as being different (minority members may end up feeling that they are being actively discriminated against) $rightarrow$ ethnic minorities are no more homogenous than other categories of people ! $rightarrow$ negotiations over the situational legitimacy of ethnic boundaries: Optimistically (negotiations over meaning involving different, culturally conditioned interpretations of social reality) $leftrightarrow$ Pessimistically (encounters between incommensurable language games (Wittgenstein)) Multiculturalism: not a simple term with a well-defined meaning $rightarrow$ most theories of multicultural societies and state policies in the Western world try to strike a balance between extremes: On the one hand (too great diversity makes solidarity and democratic participation difficult to achieve) $leftrightarrow$ On the other hand (total cultural homogeneity is an impossible goal to achieve (even in ethnically homogenous societies!); there will always be minorities demanding their right to be equal but different (like: religious sects and sexual minorities)) Communitarianism (belonging to a community is a primary feature of personhood; downside = over-emphasizes the social integrity and cultural cohesion of ethnic groups) $leftrightarrow$ Liberalism (argue the primacy of the individual; downside = disregards the variability of individual cultural identities) $rightarrow$ more explained on blz. 178/179 $rightarrow$ debate is ongoing in the field of political philosophy and social theory (much theorists search for the coveted middle ground) $rightarrow$ this debate recalls similar, long-standing debates within anthropology (namely: Particularism $leftrightarrow$ Universalism) Notable theoretical contributions to the debate (more discussed at blz. 180/181): Charles Taylor (1992), Will Kymlicka (1995), Bikhu Parekh (2000) $rightarrow$ main problem for all the three: when a liberal society is confronted with anti-liberal views, it will reveal that liberalism is but one of several possible perspective Anthropologists dealing with the discussion of multiculturalism: Terence Turner (1993) $rightarrow$ critical multiculturalism (which aims at extending democratic rights by engaging in critical dialogue across boundaries and within groups) $leftrightarrow$ difference multiculturalism (a relativist position which celebrates difference, essentializes culture and renders dialogue, compromise and even translation difficult) Gerd Bauman (1996) $rightarrow$ two kinds of discourses: dominant discourse (reproduced chiefly through the media and in the public sector; tends to equate ethnicity with community and culture) $leftrightarrow$ demotic discourse (more flexible and complex; it recognizes the situational and multifaceted character of individual identification, and contests some of the terms in which the dominant discourse is framed) Diaspora (the primary identity of an ethnic group connects them to their ancestral country, even I they may have lived their entire lives elsewhere; a diasporic identity implies an emphasis on conservation and re-creation of the ancestral culture) $leftrightarrow$ Hybridity (entails cultural mixing and the emergence of impure, ambiguous identities which reject essentialism and rigid boundaries) Anderson (1992): Long-distance nationalism: people live in one country and are politically involved in another $rightarrow$ adds a new dimension to the theoretical understanding of social identification $rightarrow$ contemporary migration is often an ongoing process (likely to go on for generations) $rightarrow$ example: Americans of Irish descent often provide support for the IRA + the Indian Hindutva Movement (blz. 192/193/194) Three social features which seem to be nearly universal: Competition over scarce resources: successful mobilization on the basis of collective identities presupposes a widespread belief that resources are unequally distributed along group lines Modernization actualizes differences and triggers conflict: with the integration of formerly discrete groups into shared economic and political systems, inequalities are made visible, as comparison between the groups becomes possible The groups are largely self-recruiting: kinship remains an important organizing principle for most societies in the world Five cognitive features which seem to be nearly universal: Cultural similarity overrules social equality: internal differences in ethnic groups are undercommunicated and equality values are discarded for ostensible cultural reasons Images of past suffering and injustice are invoked: referring to past sufferings, invasions, subordinations etc.; framing their own cause as a legitimate revenge The political symbolism and rhetoric evokes personal experiences: perhaps the most important ideological feature of identity politics in general (!); using myths, cultural symbols and kinship terminology in addressing their supporters, promoters of identity politics try to downplay the difference between personal experiences and group history First-comers are contrasted with invaders: by no means universal in identity politics, but it tends to be invoked whenever possible, and in the process, historical facts are frequently stretched The social complexity in society is reduced to a set of simple contrasts: cross-cutting ties reduce the chances of violent conflict, so the collective identity must be based on relatively unambiguous criteria $rightarrow$ again, internal differences are undercommunicated in the act of delineating boundaries in relation to the demonized other Eriksen Chapter 9 The Non-Ethnic Globalization: makes people more and more similar; but the more similar we become, the more different we try to be $rightarrow$ however: the more different we try to be, the more similar we become, since ethnic movements everywhere draw on the same grammar of uniqueness (end chapter 8) Globalization = dual and operates through dialectical negation: Shrinking (of the world by facilitating fast contact across former boundaries) $leftrightarrow$ Expanding (of the world by creating an awareness of difference) Homogenization (of human lives by imposing a set of common denominators) $leftrightarrow$ Heterogenization (through the new forms of diversity emerging from the intensified contact) Centripetal (it connects people worldwide) $leftrightarrow$ Centrifugal (it inspires a heightened awareness of local awareness) Cosmopolitanism (it reminds us that we are all on the same boat and have to live together in spite of our mutual differences) $leftrightarrow$ Fundamentalism (global integration leads to a sense of alienation, threatening identities and notions of political sovereignty) Disembedding = important ! $rightarrow$ objects no longer belong to a particular locality $rightarrow$ yet: it is never total, always counteracted by re-embedding (appearing as manifestations of ethnicity) Giddens (1985): the nation-state is the pre-eminent power-container of the modern era $rightarrow$ over the last years, this assumption has been questioned: the world has changed in such a way that the nation-state is no longer an appropriate synonym for greater society (vb. Blz. 202/203/204) $rightarrow$ be this as it may, there is little doubt that social identities in many parts of the world, in the post-Cold War era, seem to be more open to negotiation than they were in the decades following the Second World War, However: as the emphasis on primordial, ethnic or national identities is stronger than it used to be On the one hand (we witness powerful centripetal waves of cultural homogenization, tighter economic integration etc.) $leftrightarrow$ On the other hand (we have seen new localisms or particularisms continue to emerge and to assert their demands vis-à-vis the centres) Nation-state = too small to solve the problems facing humanity and too big to give the people a sense of community $rightarrow$ necessity for new frameworks Globalization (Robertson 1994): the world as a processual, fluid and complex network of networks $rightarrow$ reaction by anthropologists: glocalization (the creative fusions of local and non-local elements) $rightarrow$ Clifford Geertz + Marshall Sahlins (indigenization of modernity) $rightarrow$ in our post-traditional world individuals are faced with more options and fewer scripts than before: Purist identities: preserving and reproducing tradition Hyphenated identities: living in two worlds; juxtaposing their ancestral identity with that of the host society Hybrid or Creole identities: acknowledging irreducible mixing as a fact of life Jonathan Friedman (1987, 1990, 1991): five major strategies (life-strategies) for satisfying the structures of desire that emerge in the different niches of the global system: Modernist strategies: society can be governed effectively on moral and sensible principles; self, society and the world can develop according to presently conventional criteria Postmodern strategies: (1) a cynical distancing from all identification, but an acute awareness of the lack of identity and (2) a narcissistic dependence on consumption as a means for the presentation of self Traditionalist strategies: caused by an experienced need among individuals in modern societies to engage in a larger project in which identity is concrete and fixed despite mobility, success and other external changes in social conditions Third world strategies: developed in order to attract wealth and power through clientship Fourth World strategies: strategy of the formation of politically autonomous communities which aim at re-establishing a formerly repressed identity and lifestyle $rightarrow$ these five life-strategies are not mutually exclusive, but they do suggest (1) great qualitative variations within the global system and (2) that there is a global system which one has to relate to Evance-Pritchard: Segmentary Societies: conflicting loyalties may reduce tensions and prevent conflicts between lineages $rightarrow$ these multiple or conflicting loyalties do not only operate on the basis of kinship (also age-groups, trade or personal friendship) Modern society: Multiple loyalties of minorities may be a potential conflict within nation-states (because nation-state remains hegemonic) $rightarrow$ migrants, refugees, transnational families: obvious examples $rightarrow$ also multiple social identities along several other lines: employees or transnational companies are trained to be loyal to their companies, not to their countries, for example internet: provides opportunities for the expression of shared identity across borders multiple identities (diverse and flexible) $leftrightarrow$ segmentary identities (Evans-Pritchard; concentric circles and orderly) non-ethnic identities can also be highly important $rightarrow$ Gender identity: of great importance in every human society, although gender-based political organizations are comparatively rare $rightarrow$ Gender as a cultural construction, whose legitimacy is justified through references to biology Sexual Stereotyping: to do with ethnicity (often used to describe ethnic groups as a whole) Similarities: women in some societies $leftrightarrow$ some indigenous groups $rightarrow$ muted categories with little formal power: Both are compelled to use the language of the dominators in order to be able to express their interests Both groups are taught that their specific social identity is immutable and biological; as a consequence their subordination is natural Both groups may be told that their contribution to society is negligible and that they should therefore remain subordinated Also: Fundamental differences: physical segregation among gender lines = much more difficult to achieve than segregation among ethnic lines Sport = interesting for an investigation of the dynamics between group loyalties and gender (sports is often male dominated, and brings out a rich symbolism which has so far not been properly analyzed in relation to nationalism, violence and sexuality) A one-side focus on ethnicity may prevent a researcher from seeing social systems in other ways which may also be relevant: The existence of ethnic anomalies or liminal categories should serve as a reminder that group boundaries are not unproblematic Non-ethnic criteria for group membership are situationally relevant in every society, and in modern societies they proliferate and can be identified as multiple identities Ethnicity $leftrightarrow$ Social identity ? (cultural complexity combined with group differentiation is not necessarily linked with ethnicity) Problem around concept of ethnicity: seems to imply that there exists an ethnic phenomenon in the world which requires a single explanation -- which has biological or other shared and objective origins Thinking about ethnicity and boundaries: Digital (tends to regard groups as mutually exclusive) $leftrightarrow$ Analogue (people may be a bit of this and a bit of that) A final point: not everyone can take part in a given community ! $rightarrow$ all categorizations of group membership must have boundaries; they depend on others in order to make sense Vb. Mauritania $rightarrow$ blz. 215/216/217/218
Knowledge of food practices and preferences of various ethnic groups is needed in order to provide effective nutrition education and care to an increasingly diverse population. Scant information on food practices of Arabs in the US is available. This study investigated food practices, changes, preferences and acculturation of some Arab students in US universities. After contacting 248 potential participants by e‐mail, a questionnaire was mailed to a convenience sample of the 70 students enrolled in US universities who were born in an Arab country and had agreed to participate. Completed questionnaires were returned by 45 men and women from nine Arab countries and enrolled in five US universities. While living in the US, the number of meals consumed per day decreased (P P P P P P Document Type: Research Article DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1470-6431.2011.01023.x Affiliations: Department of Education, Nutrition and Restaurant/Hotel Management, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, USA Publication date: September 1, 2011 $(document).ready(function() { var shortdescription = $(".originaldescription").text().replace(/\\&/g, '&').replace(/\\, '<').replace(/\\>/g, '>').replace(/\\t/g, ' ').replace(/\\n/g, ''); if (shortdescription.length > 350){ shortdescription = "" + shortdescription.substring(0,250) + "... more"; } $(".descriptionitem").prepend(shortdescription); $(".shortdescription a").click(function() { $(".shortdescription").hide(); $(".originaldescription").slideDown(); return false; }); }); Related content In this: publication By this: publisher In this Subject: Business By this author: Brittin, Helen C. ; Obeidat, Bayan A. GA_googleFillSlot("Horizontal_banner_bottom");
This paper explores the question whether whatever is done intentionally is done for a reason. Apart from helping us to think about those concepts, the question is interesting because it affords an opportunity to identify a number of misconceptions about reasons. In the paper I argue that there are things that are done intentionally but not done for a reason. I examine two different kinds of example: things done “because one wants to” and “purely expressive actions”. Concerning the first, I argue that the tendency to think that things done because one wants to are things done for a reason derives from conflating the reason that explains why someone did something with their reason for doing it. While these sometimes coincide, they need not always do so. And although the fact that someone wanted to do something can contribute to explaining the person's action, it is not normally that person's reason for doing that thing. Purely expressive actions also provide examples of things done intentionally but not for a reason. I argue that, although those actions are spontaneous, they are nonetheless intentional and that, since they are mere expressions of emotions, they are not done for reasons - although there are reasons why we do them.
The main goal of this book is to take a closer look at the process of acculturation among members of ethnic minorities and majorities in Latin American settings, focusing on the role of acculturation dimensions and strategies in shaping one important source of psychological adjustment; namely, self-esteem. This aim has at least three important challenges for empirical research on these issues. The first refers to the multiple causation of acculturation and psychological adaptation. The second involves the measurement of acculturation dimensions and strategies. The third relates to the inclusion of cultural variation in the analysis. In order to address the first challenge, a framework for research on ethnic groups is proposed. To address the second challenge, an alternative to the conventional measures of four acculturation strategies is proposed here. To address the third challenge, this book is devoted to the analysis of acculturation and psychological adaptation in Costa Rican settings, which reflect the cultural diversification that characterizes Latin American countries in many ways. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
The paper examines the concept of ‘vulnerability’ drawing on literature on welfare systems in the developed world, and vulnerability
to famine and disasters in the Third World. The concept is applied to a case study of refugee vulnerability in Greece. Factors
influencing the livelihood and vulnerability of a sample of refugee households and individuals living in Athens in 1992 are
considered. It is argued that vulnerability must be viewed in terms not only of the characteristics of individuals and households,
but also in terms of the context of state policies and the wider characteristics of society and the economy. A number of elements
both of Greek policy and society that significantly increase refugee vulnerability are identified, along with actual and potential
responses of agencies providing assistance to refugees.
Research on acculturation has revealed a variable relationship between acculturation and mental health, which is due to the presence of a number of moderating factors. Some of these factors, namely, modes of acculturation, acculturative experience with the host society. contact with the culture of origin. and individualistic values have been examined in order to understand better the relationship of these factors with acculturative stress. In the present research, Central American refugees (N=101) who were resettled in Canada completed a questionnaire dealing with their attitudes, behaviours, values, and levels of acculturative stress. Results indicated that different factors are involved in the prediction of psychological and somatic aspects of acculturative stress, with contact with the culture of origin and modes of acculturation being the best predictors.Dans le domaine de l'acculturation. les études ont montré l'inconstance du lien entre les variables de l'acculturation et la santé mentale, ceci en raison de l'intervention d'un certain nombre de facteurs modérateurs. Afin de mieux saisir l'impact de ces facteurs sur le stress d'acculturation. on a examiné 1'effet du mode d'acculturation, de l'expérience avec la société d'accueil, du contact avec la culture d'origine ainsi que des valeurs individualistes et collectivistes des individus. Dans la présente recherche, 101 réfugiés d'Amérique centrale au Canada ont répondu à un questionnaire portant sur leurs attitudes, comportements, valeurs et le niveau de stress d'acculturation. Plusieurs facteurs permettent de prédire les aspects psychologiques et somatiques du stress d'acculturation. les meilleurs prédicteurs étant le contact avec la culture d'origine et les modes d'acculturation.
Our paper introduces this special issue of JEMS on the role of the local context in immigrant and second-generation integration in the United States. Recent literature has argued that national contexts are important for understanding the integration of immigrants and their descendents. The articles in this issue make the case that local contexts, broadly defined at any sub-national scale, are also important for understanding integration within the US; they suggest that it is incorrect to think of a singular and spatially undifferentiated integration process for US immigrants. In addition to previewing the contents of the articles in this issue, our paper includes a review of the meaning of generations and integration and a general discussion of the roles of local contexts in mediating processes of integration. This discussion raises questions about the appropriate spatial scale for the analysis of integration and for comparisons of the integration experience across contexts. The paper concludes with suggestions for future research on local contexts of integration within the US.
The Behavioral Acculturation Scale (BAS; Szapocznik, Scopetta, Kurtines, & Aranalde, 1978) was used in 1986 to study the pattern of behavioral acculturation among a sample of Vietnamese refugees. Subjects were 64 refugees from Viet Nam who had resided in the United States from 1 to 24 months. In contrast to Szapocznik et al.'s findings of a positive relationship between behavioral acculturation and length of residence for a Cuban-American sample, behavioral acculturation of these Vietnamese refugees was found to be significantly and negatively related to length of residence when the effect of employment status was statistically controlled. Regression analyses found that behavioral acculturation was predicted by current employment status, socioeconomic status in Viet Nam, length of residence in the United States, and education. Implications of the findings for conceptualizing and measuring the process of acculturation are discussed.
This article addresses the acculturation process immigrants and refugees go through when immigrating to the United States, and the various factors that impact the process of acculturation for both the individual and the family as a whole. The nature of the acculturative stress, which groups of immigrants are mostly affected by it, and the psychological disorders caused as a result of going through this process have been discussed. Four strategies of coping with the acculturative stress process and the factors that impact the choice of a certain strategy have also been described.
It is often assumed that refugees in the US are at an economic disadvantage compared to other immigrants. A number of hypotheses have been postulated to explain this ‘refugee gap’. Refugees, on average, have less English language ability, less educational experience, different forms of family support, poorer mental and physical health, and generally reside in more disadvantaged neighbourhoods than other immigrants. Although these factors are well supported by evidence for specific refugee groups, a lack of representative data for both refugee and non-refugee migrants has made the testing of this refugee gap challenging. Using the first wave of the New Immigrant Survey, these hypotheses are tested on employment, occupation, and earnings outcomes using multivariate modelling techniques among recent immigrants in the United States. Findings demonstrate that accounting for each of the aforementioned explanatory factors minimizes the earnings and occupational differences between refugees and all other immigrants. Despite the inclusion of these factors within the model, however, a refugee disparity in earnings and occupational attainment continues to exist.
For ethnic groups in which religion is an important dimension of culture, attention needs to be paid to religiosity as a system of meaning when studying their process of acculturation. Using a sequential mixed model research approach, where quantitative have preceded qualitative methods, three generations of the Assyrian population in a Swedish city have been studied concerning their acculturation processes in relation to religious values and practices. The research question guiding this study is: Does religiosity function as a system of meaning among the Assyrian youth in Sweden? The main objective of this study is to highlight the role of religiosity in the process of acculturation. The quantitative questionnaire material shows that religious values and practices decline from the first to the third generation (statistical significance at p < 0.001). The qualitative interview study with members of the third generation shows that religion has been a positive part of childhood. In adulthood, however, other systems of meaning also have become central at the same time as religious institutions and representatives are being criticised. This change needs to be understood against the background of the Swedish cultural context, one of the most secularised in the world.
There are two main theoretical perspectives on how groups and individuals manage the process of acculturation. One is the "stress, coping and adaptation" approach, which is the focus of this chapter. The other is the "cultural learning" perspective. In the general framework presented in Chapter 2 of this handbook, a distinction was made between two kinds of change: the first are those cultural and psychological changes that take place easily in a relatively straightforward way through a process of culture learning and culture shedding; the second are those changes that generate stress for the group and individual. In the latter case, cultures can clash, especially when the purpose of the contact is hostile; and individuals can conflict, especially when there are scarce resources. Moreover, the process of culture learning and shedding may involve psychological conflict, where, for example, there are incompatible values held by members of the dominant and non-dominant groups. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Examined the process of acculturation with a specific emphasis on the impact of economic integration on psychological well-being and adaptation. 110 Turkish immigrants (aged 20–70 yrs) living in Montreal were surveyed through questionnaires. Despite high educational attainments, two-thirds of the sample were either unemployed or underemployed. Inability to fully integrate into the labor force in the 1st 6 mo in Canada was attributed mainly to lack of competence in both official languages, difficulty in getting credentials and accreditations recognized in Canada, and lack of Canadian work experience. In time, these barriers were overcome. In their place, market conditions (e.g., economic recession) delayed full participation in the work force. The model developed and tested through LISREL 8 demonstrated that adversity experienced in employment life, such as status loss, unemployment, and underemployment, had a negative impact on both psychological well-being and adaptation to Canada. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
This article proposes expanding Berry’s theory of acculturation strategies into a three-fold model to be applied to the case of acculturation among migrants. The expanded model includes the community of co-migrants as a distinct referent. It addresses the dynamic and multi-directional relationship between the three referents and the individual migrant, which all interact to create the experience of acculturation among migrants.
An expanded typology is presented representing positive or negative attitudes toward each referent. The typology delineates eight possible strategies of acculturation among migrants, namely positive attitudes towards all three referents, negative attitudes towards all three, and the six possible variations between these extremes. Though not previously conceptualized and formalized, examples of all eight strategies were found in the existing literature. Some examples are cited, supporting the assertion that in the socio-psychological phenomenon of acculturation among migrants, the community of co-migrants plays a role which may be differentiated from the home culture and the host culture referents of the Berry model. The model provides a structure for exploring expression of these acculturation strategies among various sub-groups within a community of co-migrants.
The current article is essentially a hypothesis paper, citing support for each of the proposed strategies of acculturation from published empirical studies carried out among a wide variety of migrant populations. A preliminary testing of the typology (Taieb, 2008) found that the cultures of the home, host and co-migrant communities do play distinct roles in the acculturation process, and verified that the eight profiles may be recognized in an empirical study. Directions for further empirical verification and refining the preliminary model are suggested.
This paper examines the role of co-ethnic social capital on the earnings of refugees, using a unique data set for adult refugees who resettled in Portland, Maine, between 1998 and 2004. Multiple regression models test the effect of access to co-ethnic social capital on the log earnings of refugees in their first and most recent years of work. Results show that over time access to co-ethnic social capital upon arrival decreased earnings for female refugees. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications of the findings for social capital and immigration research.
Since the Somali Civil War in 1991, there have been a large number of Somalis living in the Middle East, Europe, North America, and Australia. An increasing number of these Somalis are living in transnational households where family members live and sometimes move back and forth in different nation-states, yet these families maintain strong ties, share resources, and make decisions collectively about the well-being of different members. In this paper, I argue that women play central roles in establishing and managing these transnational households. I examine these roles and their significance through an analysis of the activities and experiences of two groups of Somali women in Cairo within the domains of their transnational families and communities. These groups of women are: (1) refugees who have been granted or are seeking asylum from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Egypt, and (2) naturalized citizens of Western countries who have relocated to Egypt, and whom I will refer to as émigrés. I argue that many of these women become active members of transnational households and communities to (1) resist legal, economic, and/or cultural "othering" of host societies, and (2) renegotiate past and present identity discourses that marginalize these individuals on multiple levels that are determined by clan affiliations, socio-economic conditions, and gender inequalities. By using complex transnational strategies, these women are engaging in new forms of activism to establish lives with more security, better future opportunities, and more dignity for their families and themselves. Yet their transnational family and community lives have benefits and challenges, which the women experience differently because of their varied diasporic histories and their uneven access to legal and social capital.
This article problematises the ‘vulnerables’ category that the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees applies to groups of refugees. Drawing on 9 months’ qualitative research with young Congolese refugees in Uganda, it presents research subjects’ self-identification and lived realities that do not correspond to the homogenous, fixed ‘vulnerables’ ideal. Moreover, it argues that the ‘vulnerables’ categorisation approach can provoke a number of counter-productive effects, including a focus on symptoms rather than causes, inflated numbers of ‘vulnerables’ and undermining indigenous support structures. An alternative approach that interrogates and addresses the contextual and relational aspects of vulnerability is proposed.