Ethnic Identities

The dislocated, deterritorialized discourse produced by repatriates from formerly European colonies has remained overlooked in academic scholarship. One such group is the Eurasian “Indo” community that has its roots in the former Dutch East Indies, today’s Indonesia. This article focuses on Tjalie Robinson, the intellectual leader of this community from the 1950s to the mid-1970s. The son of a Dutch father and a British-Javanese mother, Robinson became the leading voice of the diasporic Indo community in the Netherlands and later also in the United States. His engagement resulted in the foundation of the Indo magazine Tong Tong and the annual Pasar Malam Besar, what was to become the world’s biggest Eurasian festival. Robinson played an essential role in the cultural awareness and self-pride of the eventually global Indo community through his elaboration of a hybrid and transnational identity concept. By placing his focus “tussen twee werelden” (in-between two worlds) and identifying “mixties-schap” (mestizaje) as the essential characteristic of Indo identity, Robinson anticipated debates on hybridity, transnationalism, and creolism that only much later would draw attention from scholars in the field of postcolonial studies. This article highlights Robinson’s pioneering role in framing a deterritorialized hybrid alternative to nationalist essentialism in the postcolonial era.

במאמר זה מוצג מחקר הבוחן את תפיסותיהם של יהודים עולים מצפון הקווקז ומזרחו (היהודים ההרריים) בנוגע למקומם ומעמדם בחברה הישראלית. עלייה ותהליכי השתלבות של עולים במדינה חדשה מלווים בקשיים הנובעים מהבדלי תרבות ומנטליות. מצב זה יכול להביא לתהליכים נמרצים במערך מאפייני הזהות של המהגרים הנדרשים להתאים את עצמם לחברה החדשה. עיקר חידושו של המחקר הוא בחשיפת ההתנגשות המתקיימת בין מאפייני זהות שונים שהתגלו במעבר מתרבות לתרבות ובחינת ההשלכות של מפגש הזהויות של בני העדה עם החברה הקולטת על הדימוי הקבוצתי והמעמד החברתי. המחקר נסמך על 30 ראיונות עומק עם בני העדה שהגיעו לישראל עם גלי העלייה של שנות התשעים. הממצאים מצביעים על קונפליקט תרבותי וחברתי בולט בקרב צעירים מהדור וחצי והדור השני, הנובע משלילתה ומאי- שילובה של תרבותם מהקווקז בחברה הישראלית. כמו כן עולים הבדלים בין מבוגרים מהדור הראשון לצעירים מהדור וחצי והדור השני ביחס לשיח הזהויות וההשתלבות החברתית- התרבותית בחברה הישראלית.

The early ethnological works of Alfred Métraux are analysed bearing in mind his first fieldwork trip to the Chiriguano, in 1929. The paper discusses personal, academic and professional features of Métraux’s ethnological experience, the nature of the 1929 trip and his concrete relationships with the Chiriguano groups and individuals. Next, we analyse his ideas on material culture as a privileged means of understanding the synthesis of Andean, Chaco and Amazonian cultural influences. Finally, the dilemmas and limitations of his analytical approach regarding Créole cultural influence and social and cultural change are discussed. [Key words: Alfred Métraux, Chané, Chiriguano, material culture, change.]
Se analiza la etnología temprana de Alfred Métraux a la luz de su primer viaje de campo a los chiriguanos, en 1929. Se discute el perfil personal, académico y profesional de Métraux, las peculiaridades de su trabajo de campo en 1929 y sus relaciones concretas con los indígenas chiriguanos en el terreno. Se examinan luego sus ideas sobre la cultura material como campo experimental privilegiado para rastrear procesos de síntesis de influencias culturales andinas, chaqueñas y amazónicas, así también sus dilemas y límites a la hora de interpretar el factor de la influencia criolla y el proceso de cambio social y cultural en un sentido amplio. [Palabras clave: Alfred Métraux, Chané, Chiriguano, cultura material, cambio.]

Firstly, the Roman Catholic «prehistory» of contact between the Panoan groups of Bolivian Amazonia and Jesuit, Franciscan and lay clergy missionaries is described. The paper then analyses the continuity of the evangelization process by diverse evangelical denominations, describing three missionary experiences with the Chacobo since 1955 to the present day. Finally, general insights are proposed relating the anthropological problem of religious conversion.

Race and Racism in Modern East Asia juxtaposes Western racial constructions of East Asians with constructions of race and their outcomes in modern East Asia. It is the first endeavor to explicitly and coherently link constructions of race and racism in both regions. These constructions have not only played a decisive role in shaping the relations between the West and East Asia since the mid nineteenth century, but also exert substantial influence on current relations and mutual images in both the East-West nexus and East Asia. Written by some of the field's leading authorities, this groundbreaking 21-chapter volume offers an analysis of these constructions, their evolution and their interrelations.


REVIEWS
"In the field of race studies, race and racism in East Asia has generally been little explored. These two books [Michael Keevak’s Becoming Yellow as well] each works to address that gap in scholarship. As a pair they go a long ways toward furthering our understanding of the historical, political, and social significance of the role of race in East Asia. Most significantly, these books help us to understand how prominent a factor race was in armed conflicts in twentieth-century East Asia. The volume is divided into two parts. Part One deals with Western conceptions of East Asians. Part Two, fully half of the volume, deals with questions of race and racism from perspectives located within East Asia, whether China, Korea, or Japan. The format of an edited volume allows for a large scope of overall inquiry as well as a significant degree of specificity within individual essay. …The juxtaposition of essays in Part One brings to light a number of important topics for reflection and future research, not least the large and thorny question of just how inextricably intertwined the connections between racism and rear of decline actually are. … Part two “East Asia Race Theories, Racial Policies and Racism” breaks new ground in the field of race studies in that it is devoted to race from entirely East Asian perspectives (and there are many!)."
— Laura Hostetler, Sino-Western Cultural Relations Journal 37 (2015): 74-84.

"Within the historical research on the topic of racism, East Asia has barely played any role. This volume, the outcome of a multi-year project closes this research lacuna. ... Overall, the volume is superbly edited and easy to read and will undoubtedly remain, until further notice, the standard work on the subject of race in East Asia. For those interested in the historical development of the concept of race and wish to go beyond the European framework, this volume is highly recommended."
— Sven Saaler, Historische Zeitschrift (2014)

"A gigantic volume, its real strong point is its variety, with papers probing such interesting and understudied topics ... The scholarly summaries are very accomplished and provide a wealth of material for understanding that race is neither a fixed nor an atemporal construct, nor is it one that can be simply transferred from Western contexts into Eastern ones. ... The essays represent starting points for a variety of new work as such they are very valuable contributions to the burgeoning field. Highly recommended."
— Michael Keevak, Asian Ethnicity (2014)

"This collection of scholarly works explores racial constructions of East Asians from both external and internal perspectives. ... Not only does this book help readers understand how racial constructions of the West and East Asia interacted in shaping their relationships in the past, but also, more importantly, how these constructions still influence their current relationships in the 21st century. Summing up: Recommended. All levels/libraries."
— A.Y. Lee, Choice, 2013


TABLE OF CONTENTS
List of Illustrations and Tables
Conventions
Preface

1. Modern East Asia and the Rise of Racial Thought: Possible Links, Unique Features, and Unsettled Issues
Rotem Kowner and Walter Demel

PART I: WESTERN RACE THEORIES, RACIAL IMAGES AND RACISM
2. Early Modern European Divisions of Mankind and East Asians, 1500-1750 50
Walter Demel and Rotem Kowner
3. How the “Mongoloid Race” Came into Being: Late Eighteenth-Century Constructions of East Asians in Europe
Walter Demel
4. Between Contempt and Fear: Western Racial Constructions of East Asians since 1800
Rotem Kowner
5. “A Very Great Gulf”: Late Victorian British Diplomacy and Race in East Asia
T.G. Otte
6. Pan-Mongolians at Twilight: East Asia and Race in Russian Modernism, 1890-1921
Susanna Soojung Lim
7. National Identity and Race in Post-Revolutionary Russia: Pil’niak’s Travelogues from Japan and China
Alexander Bukh
8. Class, Race, Floating Signifier: American Media Imagine the Chinese, 1870-1900
Lenore Metrick-Chen
9. Racism for Beginners: Constructions of Chinese in Twentieth Century Belgian Comics
Idesbald Goddeeris
10. Race, Imperialism, and Reconstructing Selves: Late Nineteenth Century Korea in European Travel Literature
Huajeong Seok
11. Race, Culture and the Reaction to the Japanese Victory of 1905 in the English-Speaking World
Philip Towle

PART II: EAST ASIAN RACE THEORIES, RACIAL POLICIES AND RACISM
12. A Certain Whiteness of Being: Chinese Perceptions of Self by the Beginning of European Contact
Don J. Wyatt
13. Racial Discourse and Utopian Visions in Nineteenth Century China
Sufen Sophia Lai
14. The Discourse of Race in Twentieth-Century China
Frank Dikötter
15. Racist South Korea? Diverse but not Tolerant of Diversity
Gi-Wook Shin
16. Skin Color Melancholy in Modern Japan: Male Elites' Racial Experiences Abroad, 1880s-1950s
Ayu Majima
17. Anatomically Speaking: The Kubo Incident and the Paradox of Race in Colonial Korea
Hoi-eun Kim
18. Who Classified Whom, and for What Purpose? The “Japanese” in Northeast China in the Age of Empire
Mariko Asano Tamanoi
19. Race and International Law in Japan’s New Order in East Asia, 1938-1945
Urs Matthias Zachmann
20. East Asia’s “Melting-Pot”: Reevaluating Race Relations in Japan’s Colonial Empire 583
Yukiko Koshiro
21. Categorical Confusion: President Obama as a Case Study of Racialized Practices in Contemporary Japan
Christine R. Yano

Contributors
Bibliography
Index

Ефремов Е.А.
(Алматы, Казахстан, Казахстан, Казахский национальный университет имени Аль-Фараби)

Этнокультурная идентичность корейцев Казахстана
(по результатам социологического опроса)
Доклад на X Международной корееведческой конференции ДВФУ

Аннотация
Настоящая статья основана на проведенном опросе и нацелена на выявление степени этнокультурной идентичности корейцев Казахстана. В рамках которого были изучены факторы, влияющие на этническую и диаспорную идентичность, межэтническую толерантность корё сарам и степень их интегрированности в общество Казахстана.
Ключевые слова: диаспора, корё сарам, корейцы Казахстана, этническая идентичность, диаспорная идентичность.



Ethnocultural identity of Koreans in Kazakhstan
(basing on the results of the sociological survey)
Yefrem Yefremov
Al-Farabi Kazakh National University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Paper for the X-th FEFU International Conference on Korean Studies

Summary
In this paper, an analysis of the results of a sociological survey aimed at identifying the degree of the ethnic, diasporic, and cultural identity of Koreans in Kazakhstan was carried out. As part of the survey, the factors influencing ethnic and diaspora identity, interethnic tolerance of Koryo Saram, and the degree of integration of Koryo Saram into the society of Kazakhstan were studied.
As part of this work, an analysis of the results of a sociological survey aimed at identifying the degree of the ethnic, diasporic, and cultural identity of Koreans in Kazakhstan was carried out. As part of the survey, the factors influencing ethnic and diaspora identity, interethnic tolerance of Koryo Saram, and the degree of integration of Koryo Saram into the society of Kazakhstan were studied. It is concluded that the preservation of “Koreanness” in the multiethnic society in Kazakhstan occurs on the basis of genetic factors, as well as due to the preservation of ritual and everyday culture.
Keywords: diaspora, Koryo Saram, Koreans of Kazakhstan, ethnic identity, diasporic identity.

The fifth-century BC played a crucial role in the formation of Greek identity, during which the Greeks developed both a unified and a divided Hellenic consciousness. The Persian Wars (490-479 BC) encouraged the formation of a Pan-Hellenic identity while the Peloponnesian War (431-411 BC) between Athens and Sparta fractured the unity of Greek identity. During both wars, the Greeks used wine as a marker of their collective and individual identities. The Greeks identified the Persians as “barbarians” because they did not consume wine. The Peloponnesian War revealed divisions within Hellenic identity, as shown in the Athenian attitude toward Spartan drinking practices. Examining both Greek writings and material culture reveals that wine played an important part in Greek society. Herodotus’ Histories and Thucydides’ The History of the Peloponnesian War shed light on these two major fifth-century BC conflicts. Athenaeus’ Deipnosophists, from the second-century AD, possesses an assortment of cultural details about the Greeks and “barbarians.” Ancient Greek historians, such as Athenaeus, described the practices and social rules regarding wine consumption. The numerous discoveries of wine paraphernalia demonstrate the spread of wine and wine culture throughout the Greek world. Dionysus, the god wine in Greek mythology, reveals the cultural importance of wine and its relation to the East. Modern scholarship of the fifth-century BC has neglected to make an explicit connection between Greek attitudes toward wine and the formation of their multi-layered identities.

In many Southeast Asian‟s plural societies, long-term and constant interethnic interactions subsequently produce subethnic groups via assimilation process. In Malaysia, one such sub ethnic group is Peranakan, whether that be Peranakan Jawi, Peranakan Sikh or Peranakan Chinese. They are included under four umbrella ethnic categories (Malay, Chinese, Indian, and Others). Generalisation, stereotype and ignorance have resulted in „default‟ homogeneous ethnic identity associated with each ethnic group, thus suppressing distinguishable uniqueness of subethnic groups. Consequently, subethnic groups‟ identity markers may mistakenly be associated with other ethnic categories instead. Has an issue such as mistaken identity any affect on members of sub ethnic groups psychologically? If so, is there any mechanism employed in coping with such problem. This paper attempts to take a closer look at embodied ethnic identity as experienced by Peranakan Chinese of Kelantan (here onwards PCK). First part of the paper explains what embodied ethnic identity is. Second part discusses introductory historical background of PCK. Third part focuses on PCK embodied ethnic identity vis-à-vis „default‟ Chinese identity. Finally, coping mechanisms used by PCK will be discussed.

Introducere sau schiţarea discursului

Cap. I  Cadrul de analiză – operaţionalizarea “ fenomenului etnic”
1.1. Minoritate – majoritate. Grupuri dominante – grupuri subordonate
1.2. Concepte – cheie pentru studiul etnicului
1.3. Abordări teoretice ale etnicului
1.4. Modele ale etnicului în lumea modernă
1.5. Concluzii sau politica etnicului

Cap. II  Oganizarea socială a diferenţei
2.1. Construcţia identitară a etnicului
2.2. Identitatea etnică – etnicitatea
2.3. Instituţionalizarea identităţii colective
2.4. Organizarea identităţilor construite social
2.5. Concluzii sau etnicitatea/identitatea etnică şi politicul

Cap. III Constituirea simbolică a similarităţii
3.1. Mentalitatea ca şi nucleu identitar grupal
3.2. Modelul “construcţiei simbolice” a identităţilor comunitare
3.3. “Etnicitatea simbolică” – un posibil model
3.4. Identitate şi putere, comunităţi şi organizaţii
3.5. Concluzii sau opţiunea identităţii

Cap. IV Mentalităţi şi identităţi în spaţiul bănăţean
4.1. Problematica “câmpului etnic” – trecut şi prezent
4.2. Identităţi organizate – ONG-urile etnicilor din Banat
4.3. Identitatea comunitară – identitatea etnică
4.4. Concluzii – diferenţă şi similaritate în Banat ?


Bibliografie

Introducere sau schiţarea discursului

Banatul – o unitate de existenţă umană colectivă – reprezintă un câmp de investigaţie deosebit de generos din punctul de vedere al ştiinţelor socio-umane. Realitatea complexă a obiectului cercetat face dificilă compartimentarea demersului iniţiat cu scopul cunoaşterii acesteia.
“Cauzele” de natură istorică, geografică, politică, etnică sau socială au modelat destinul Banatului astfel încât s-au format în timp, “zone de civilizaţie şi cultură” în continuă interacţiune unele cu altele, generând un substrat identificabil al “mentalităţilor”.
Aceste zone de civilizaţie şi cultură aflate în mod constant în schimbare şi interacţiune îşi datorează dinamismul unui fenomen social important care a marcat şi marchează încă experienţa Banatului: mişcările migratorii, forţate sau voluntare, care peste secole au mişcat populaţii – transplantând şi amestecând grupuri umane expuse la experienţe de adaptare socială şi readaptare – ceea ce se constituie într-un factor de modelare a mentalităţilor, odată cu evoluţia unor noi caracteristici psihologice.
Înafara factorilor istorici şi sociali care au modelat psihologia colectivă sau “mentalitatea” grupurilor umane aflate în unitatea geografică a Banatului, în plus se poate accentua un alt grup de “cauze” şi anume, acelea asociate cu identitatea etnică.
Domeniile mentalităţii şi identităţii sunt însă dificil de abordat – identitatea este “negociabilă”, iar mentalitatea s-ar părea că şi ea relaţionează cu contextul. În plus, se susţine că mentalitatea poate avea sens doar atunci când se referă la un anumit context politic definit ca şi un cadru de comunicare - mai precis se pune în evidenţă expresia mentală a unei unităţi politice recunoscute istoric. Cu alte cuvinte, dacă se doreşte evidenţierea unei “mentalităţi”, adică a anumitor atitudini, credinţe sau percepţii asupra intereselor împărtăşite ce caracterizează o cultură, atunci trebuie conectată această “viziune asupra lumii” cu un context politic specific dintr-o anumită perioadă de timp. S-ar încerca astfel recuperarea trecutului prin expresiile “imaginaţiei colective”, cu scopul de a accede în lumea mentală şi emoţională a unor epoci mai îndepărtate pe traiectoria istorică a unei unităţi sociale delimitate politic.
În aceeaşi măsură favorizând şi istoria, şi imaginaţia demersul întreprins în acest caz înfăţişează un punct de vedere din perspectiva prezentului, asupra unor constante, paradoxal “mişcătoare” - mentalităţi şi identităţi.
Discursul se schiţează în funcţie de dinamica identităţii etnice – aceasta se organizează accentuând diferenţa şi în plus contribuie la constituirea simbolică a unei “frontiere comunitare” prin evidenţierea şi căutarea unei similarităţi.


Întreaga abordare se doreşte a fi construită în jurul unei axe centrale – etnicitatea - care să parcurgă traiectoria dată de identitate şi putere, organizaţii şi comunităţi.
Demersul nu îşi propune să dea un “verdict” şi nici să prezinte o perspectivă exhaustivă sau imbatabilă; ceea ce îşi propune este punerea unei probleme şi încercarea de modelare conceptuală a unei realităţi complexe.

This is a review of an exhibit that is currently being shown (July 28, 2018 to October 2019) at the the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian [NMAI) on the so-called "Taino" Indians of the Caribbean. The focus of the exhibit is on the pre-Columbian Caribbean indigenous and also on those who claim indigenous or Taino identity and pedigree at the present time.

Until the conclusion of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, there were roughly 750,000 Jews living in Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen, Algeria and Palestine/Israel. A comparative electronic survey of some 900 journals reveals that when scholars referred to these individuals collectively during the last 200 years they employed some twenty different signifiers. The question I address is simple yet potentially foundational: which collective signifier can define and capture most productively, inclusively and comprehensively the socio-political and cultural experiences of those who comprised the Arab Middle East's ten indigenous Jewish minority communities prior to their dispersal (in the post-1949 armistice period)? I propose that the signifier ‘Arabized-Jews’ exhibits explanatory properties that outweigh those of its alternatives both quantitatively and qualitatively. As such, ‘Arabized-Jews’ denotes Jews who were culturally and/or linguistically Arab yet who did not self-define primarily as Arab, let alone in political terms. In exploring the dialectic interface between ethno-politics, terminological formations and the production of meaning, this article suggests that it makes sense for contemporary scholars to employ ‘Arabized-Jews’ to refer collectively to Jews across the modern Arab Middle East.

On the ninth of February 2017 erotic video platform ManyVids caused a scandal among their members on Twitter when a “racist woman” was given the MV Social Media Slayer of the Year. This caused a public outrage over racist content. A day later, the ManyVids removed all ‘raceplay’ video’s on the site, with a public statement that conflated race play and racism. The result was again a heated discussion on Twitter about personal rights, racism and discrimination against specific fetishes. Race play – which is a sexual practice where the either imagined or real racial background of one or more of the participants is used to create a BDSM-scene (Bondage, Dominance/Discipline, Submission/Sadism and Masochism) – lies on the intersection between highly contested racial and sexual minorities, which allows for valuable investigations into the ways we negotiate these concepts. However, in academic research this phenomenon has mainly been overlooked.
This article uses the ManyVids incident as a starting point to use phenomenological investigations and discourse analysis to show how the phenomenon of race play can offer new insights into the relationship between collective identities and personal agency. For people from racial minorities, their choosing to engage in and even their enjoyment of these practices is often justified by pointing out that the race play scene is a site of fantasy and therefore accepting race play is different from accepting (institutionalized forms of) racism. However, looking at the ManyVids controversy we see the argument is not convincing to everyone. Interestingly, as some people in the Twitter discussion pointed out, the media platform did not decide to take down clips in which rape and incest are simulated. Apparently, with these categories of porn, the fantasy/reality distinctions are grounds for acceptance of these practices whereas the same cannot be said for race play videos.
The person of Mollena Williams will also be brought into the discussion. This prominent educator and agent of BDSM and race play has argued in both interviews and performances that for her BDSM scenes in which she re-enacts the experience of her ancestors as African American slaves, are a way to access and process her own cultural trauma. She has even expressed that her ability to do so is empowering to her as an African American woman. This also sheds light on another tension: though most would agree that a person should have the right to choose how to deal with their own traumas, would we also want to be accepting towards people who actively go searching for pornographic video’s where racist slurs and symbols are being used as an erotic device?
With porn we see a distinction between fantasy and reality, but not when it comes to race. To what extent is the distinction clear, how can it be that racialized content makes this boundary disappear? I argue that it is the aforementioned tension between representationalism and personal agency that is at the core of this issue and that we will have to see the controversies about race play, and with it the ManyVids incident, in this context. Even though this apparent tension between individual agency and representationalism is most clearly visible when we look at race play, I argue that it is actually present in most dealings with minorities and can be a problematic and unintended outcome of the ways we think about and try to protect these groups.

In this chapter, stereotypes associated with seven ethnic categories
are reconstructed from scenes and characterisations on Singapore film and television. These stereotypes are mainly described as inadequate representations for understanding the ethnic Other in multiethnic Singapore. The persistence of these stereotypes in spite of Singapore’s multicultural aspirations can be attributed to their commercial value, particularly in the context of audience demand for light entertainment that is immediately gratifying at least with respect to multiethnic insecurities. However, given their resilience and commercial value, stereotypes can be harnessed in ways that jolt audiences out of the comfort of their taken-for-granted and easy-to-manage world of ethnic caricatures. This would require the kind of technical, social, and artistic knowledge and skill that any “renaissance city” should aim to nurture and promote among its citizenry. In fact, this is the kind of social and cultural vibrancy that, set up in dialectical relationship with the official policy-making and
institution-building efforts of officialdom, is necessary for giving
substance, depth, and critical relevance to the mostly emblematic and loudly celebratory, but correspondingly abstract and hollow, principle of multiracialism in Singapore."

For a long period of time, a general belief has reigned in the academic and non-academic circles that Somalis are an extremely exceptional people, in that theirs is a homogeneous society composed of men and women from one eponymous father from Arabia, celebrating monoculturality, monolinguality as well as monotheologicality! In the background of all the said shared commonalities, this study intends to argue that the Somali people have a composition of various communities of distinct ethnic background, with each ethnic community practising its own distinct mode of living and culture in the midst of a conglomeration of multi-ethnogenic societies. Therefore, subsequent to the believed universality of Somali culture and origin, the study aims at clarifying the vagueness of Somaliness or Somali citizenship, and that distinct identities, ethnicities and cultures are categorized or marginalized in the melting-pot of Somaliness. The core theme, however, is to put in the limelight the social situation of the Jareer/Bantu people amidst the racialist nature of pastoral Somaloid stock. Relatively, the study intends to investigate the subject by focusing on some basic questions such as:-

(a) Does Somalia constitute a homogeneous society of Arab origin?

(b) Do the Somali Bantu/Jareer suffer ethnic marginalization?

(c) Who is a Somali and by what criteria is the paradigm of Somaliness/Somalihood determined?

Somalia is generally thought of as a homogenous society, with a common Arabic ancestry, a shared culture of nomadism and one Somali mother tongue. This study challenges this myth. Using the Jareer/Bantu as a case study, the book shows how the Negroid physical features of this ethnic group has become the basis for ethnic marginalization, stigma, social exclusion and apartheid in Somalia. The book is another contribution to the recent deconstruction of the perceived Somali homogeneity and self-same assertions. It argues that the Somalis, just like most societies, employ multiple levels of social and ethnic distinctions, one of which is the Jareer versus Jileec divide. Dr. Eno successfully portrays another Somalia, in which a mythical homogeneity masks the oppression and social exclusion suffered by some ethnic groups in the country

This paper explores the social structures of late medieval Vlachs - particularly the ones inhabiting the Western Balkans (the Dinaric Alps) - in order to determine how collective identities were shaped and reproduced in medieval oral cultures. Southeast European historiographies have often portrayed the Balkan Vlachs as a unitary group and the label "Vlach" as representing a single, homogenous social entity during most of the Middle Ages. Still, social groups cannot exist and function without regular communication-oral or written-between their members. Oral cultures are based on verbal communication and are therefore bound by its specific nature, given that it requires continuous personal contact and oral transfer of information for communication and society to function properly. Literate cultures on the other hand tend to rely on written communication to a considerable extent and given that it allows for information to be conveyed impersonally (by text) its range is (at least in theory) almost limitless-as it is the level of (il)literacy that represents the main communicative and social limit in literate societies. Having in mind the abovementioned communicative and social limits of orality and the fact that it was the predominant if not exclusive form of communication among transhumant pastoralists such as the medieval Balkan Vlachs this paper argues that the range/scope of their group identities and collective identifications was rather limited. Furthermore, this paper discusses the types of collective identities utilized by Vlachs, questioning whether they ever shared a common "Vlach identity" given the fact that the social identity of the medieval people known as "the Vlachs" was primarily shaped and defined from the "outside" and "above"-by state intervention and a legal frame that was forced upon them. The Vlachs in the Medieval Balkans, and particularly in its western part, generally did not possess political authority and power, nor did they have the material resources and literary traditions allowing them to form more complex and enduring communication networks that would in turn have resulted in group identity formation on a larger scale. During the Early Middle Ages the Vlachs were "Vlachs" primarily because they were labelled as such and considered to be a distinct category of population by their Slavic (and later Byzantine) neighbours and overlords, and not necessarily because they originally defined themselves as such. This is not to say that gradually, during the course of the Middle Ages, the bearers of the "Vlach" name could not have started to identify themselves as "Vlachs" by accepting this foreign name (xenonym) as their preferred group name (autonym). Still, when this finally did happen it did not imply a "universal" Vlach identity in the medieval Balkans. Given the communicative limits of oral cultures as well as the Vlachs' position as legal and political "objects" rather than "subjects" it seems most likely that the medieval Balkans witnessed a simultaneous existence of a multitude of "Vlachnesses" which were usually unrelated and unaware of each other.

There are two objectives behind this article. First, it seeks to trace down the pedigree of a theory described in scholarly discourse as the 'ethnogenesis model'. As is often believed, the theory originally was, essentially, an innovative concept proposed by Reinhard Wenskus, the German researcher. My article puts forth the idea whereby it was Walter Schlesinger who had laid the foundations for the theory, whose concept was further developed by Wenskus. My other purpose was to verify the basics of the theory itself, based on relevant empirical material; specifi cally, I mainly deal with original sources reporting on the ethnic composition and history of the Vandal people.

First published in the American Chronicle, Buzzle and AfroArticles on 2nd May 2010

Republished in the portal of the exiled Oromo Parliamentarians

https://www.oromoparliamentarians.org/English/News_Archive/Oromo%20Action%20Plan%20for%20the%20Liberation%20of%20Oromia.htm

The present article is not an original, new text; it consists in the merge of eight articles first published in 2008. The text has been slightly modified, edited and updated. As the series was not completed, I will further expand in forthcoming articles in order to extensively describe the types of actions needed to be undertaken by independent average Oromos in view of the liberation of Oromia and the ultimate destruction of the monstrous colonial tyranny of Abyssinia, the world´s most racist and inhuman state. The present article consists of 21 units, as per below:

1. The Search for Oromo Leadership

2. A New Oromo Leadership: A Global First

3. Weaknesses of the Traditional Political Leadership

4. Identification of the Oromo Nation in 2010

5. Who is the enemy of the Oromos?

6. Local – Regional-level Foes

7. Authentic Oromos and Fabricated Amharas; the Total Opposition

8. Direct and Indirect Colonialism

9. Differentiation among Colonial Rulers

10. Anglo - French Colonial Establishment: Arch-enemy of the Oromo Nation

11. Millions of Oromo Leaders Organized in Independent Groups

12. Present Oromo "Leaderships" and their Inertia

13. Key Figures to Be Considered by All the Oromos

14. Biyya Oromo Independent – Whose Work Is It?

15. Groups of Oromo Liberation Activity – GOLA

16. Ground work

17. GOLA Security – Impenetrability

18. GOLA – Commitment

19. GOLA – Function

20. Basic Directions for GOLA Projects and Endeavours

21. Collection of Information Pertaining to the Oromo Nation

The article discusses the problems of constructing the Kurdish and Yezidi national identities among the Kurmanji-speaking population of the Republic of Armenia (RA) in the post-Soviet period, marked by the intensification of ethno-confessional processes throughout the territory of the former Soviet Union. The term “Kurmanji-speaking population” derives from the Kurmanji language spoken by Kurds and Yezidis and relates to those citizens of the Republic of Armenia, who consider the Kurmanji language as their mother tongue or the language of their ancestors. To a certain extent, this term may offend the majority of our informants, as, according to the 2001 census, most of the Kurmanji-speaking population of the Republic of Armenia consider themselves Yezidis (40.620 persons). However, others (1.519 persons) prefer to be called Kurds, although they speak the same language and profess the same religion – Yezidism. Thus, for the purposes of this article, the use of the term “Kurmanji-speaking population” will replace the differing, often contradictory endonyms of this particular community.

In ethnically non-neutral states, why do some disadvantaged
minorities protest their status, while others acquiesce? Given the difficult circumstances in many cases, why do they not protest more than they do, or turn to violence? This article argues that the key to ethnic protest is the identity that one holds: state-bound identities weaken the grievance–protest relationship. The closer one identifies with the state, the less likely one is to protest, even when significant grievances exist. The case of Israel and its Arab citizens is used to illustrate this relationship. When Arabs identify themselves as more “Israeli,” they are less protest-prone than other Arabs with more anti-establishment identities. This article provides empirical evidence that fostering state-friendly identities may be a desirable goal for many ethnically tense states.

How do “Latinos” or “Hispanics” fit in the country’s “white racial frame”? Are they a “race” – or more precisely, a racialized category? If so, how and when did that happen? Does not the U.S. Census Bureau insist (or has since the 1970s) on putting an asterisk next to the label – uniquely among official categories – indicating that “Hispanics may be of any race”? Is it a post-1960s, post-Civil Rights-era term, not fraught with the racial freight of a past in which for more than a century, in Texas since 1836 and the rest of the Southwest after 1848, “Mexican” was disparaged as a subordinate caste by most “Anglos”? The use of the label “Latino” or “Hispanic” is itself an act of homogenization, lumping diverse peoples together into a Procrustean aggregate. But are they even a “they”? Is there a “Latino” or “Hispanic” ethnic group, cohesive and self-conscious, sharing a sense of peoplehood in the same way that there is an “African American” people in the United States? Or is it mainly an administrative shorthand devised for statistical purposes, a one-size-fits-all label that subsumes diverse peoples and identities? Is the focus on “Hispanics” or “Latinos” as a catchall category (let alone “the browning of America”) misleading, since it conceals the enormous diversity of contemporary immigrants from Spanish-speaking Latin America, obliterating the substantial generational and class differences among the groups so labeled, and their distinct histories and ancestries? How do the labeled label themselves? What racial meaning does the pan-ethnic label have for the labeled, and how has this label been internalized, and with what consequences? This chapter considers these questions, focusing primarily on official or state definitions and on the way such categories are incorporated by those so classified.

Ο Στέφανος Σαχλίκης (π. 1331-πριν το 1403) αναγνωρίζεται εδώ και πολλά χρόνια ως «πατέρας της κρητικής λογοτεχνίας». Σπάνια όμως αναφέρεται ως πρώτος επώνυμος συγγραφέας της νεοελληνικής λογοτεχνίας, παρόλο που είναι ο πρώτος επώνυμος ποιητής που όχι μόνο δεν έχει σχέση ούτε με το Βυζάντιο ούτε με το Μεσαίωνα, αλλά είναι επιπλέον εισηγητής της ομοιοκαταληξίας στη νεοελληνική ποίηση, σύγχρονος του Βοκάκιου και μια γενιά νεότερος από τον Πετράρχη, και μεταφέρει με ποικίλους τρόπους την Αναγέννηση στα νεοελληνικά γράμματα. Στο πρώτο μέρος της ανακοίνωσης θα παρουσιαστούν συνοπτικά οι καινοτομίες της ποίησης του Σαχλίκη σε διάφορα επίπεδα: α. γλωσσικό (χρήση νεοελληνικής με διαλεκτικά στοιχεία, φαινόμενο της «πολυγλωσσίας»), β. μορφολογικό (διάφορα ομοιοκαταληκτικά και μετρικά σχήματα, κυρίως frottola rima και ομοιοκατάληκτο δίστιχο) και γ. θεματικό-ειδολογικό (διάφορα σκαμπρόζικα σατιρικά στιχουργήματα με ηρωίδες τις πόρνες του Χάντακα, ποιήματα της φυλακής, ποιήματα για τη φιλία και τους φίλους, πρώτη γνωστή ποιητική αυτοβιογραφία). Η παρουσίαση θα καταδείξει ότι, αν η Αναγέννηση είναι η πρώτη περίοδος των νεότερων ευρωπαϊκών λογοτεχνιών, τότε αναγκαστικά, στη νεοελληνική περίπτωση, εγκαινιάζεται με την ποίηση του Σαχλίκη. Στο δεύτερο μέρος, αξιοποιώντας τα πορίσματα της σύγχρονης, κοινωνιολογικής και ανθρωπολογικής κυρίως, έρευνας σχετικά με τη φύση και τους όρους διαμόρφωσης της εθνοτικής ταυτότητας, θα αναζητηθούν στα κείμενα του Σαχλίκη στοιχεία αυτοπροσδιορισμού και ετεροκαθορισμού. Παρόλο που οι πολιτισμικοί δείκτες διαφοράς ανάμεσα στο «εμείς» και στο «αυτοί» στην ποίηση του Σαχλίκη δεν περιορίζονται σε εθνοτικό επίπεδο (τα κείμενά του αποτελούν πλούσια πηγή για τη διαμόρφωση τόσο των ταξικών και των έμφυλων ταυτοτήτων όσο και για την έννοια του κοινωνικού περιθωρίου), η ανακοίνωση θα περιοριστεί σε εθνοτικές διαφορές και αναφορές (Ρωμανία, Έλληνες, Λουμπάρδοι, Τουδέσκοι, Εβραίοι). Ιδιαίτερη έμφαση θα δοθεί σε ένα συγκεκριμένο επεισόδιο όπου ο Σαχλίκης, υποχρεωνόμενος να βρεθεί ομοτράπεζος με το βενετσιάνο φύλακά του και τους «λουμπάρδους και τουδέσκους» φίλους του, αναδεικνύει διάφορα στοιχεία της εθνοτικής και ταξικής ταυτότητάς του, επιβεβαιώνοντας σύγχρονές μας θεωρίες (Nash) και αφήνοντας ελάχιστα περιθώρια αμφιβολίας για το πώς αντιλαμβάνεται το «εμείς» και το «αυτοί». Τέλος, λαμβάνοντας υπόψη και τις ιστορικές, κοινωνικές και πολιτικές συνθήκες μέσα στις οποίες ζει (θανατικό του 1348, Αποστασία του Αγίου Τίτου, συντελεσμένη ήδη από τον προηγούμενο αιώνα μετάβαση από την αυτοκρατορική ιδεολογία στην εθνοτική ταυτότητα), θα υποστηριχτεί ότι, αν πρέπει να επιλεγεί ένας από τους, ούτως ή άλλως ψευδώνυμους, αλλά λειτουργικούς, χαρακτηρισμούς που χρησιμοποιούμε («βυζαντινός», «μεσαιωνικός», «νεοελληνικός») για να περιγραφεί ο Σαχλίκης και το έργο του, τότε αυτός δεν μπορεί παρά να είναι ο «νεοελληνικός».

The purpose of this essay is to review some of the basic conceptual debates in nationalism studies under the broad and interrelated categories of ethnicity, nations and nationalism, and classification of nations and nationalism. The sheer volume of literature produced on these subjects, particularly since the collapse of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, poses a major challenge, but the present selective focus using key and influential texts as examples should provide the reader with a solid foundation for further research. The essay has three sections, organized as follows. The first, on ethnicity, provides a brief history of the term and an overview of what is usually described as the debate between primordialist and instrumentalist accounts of ethnicity, but suggests that this characterization is misleading. Section two, on nations and nationalism, begins with a similar etymology before surveying the debate between modernist, perennialist, and ethno-symbolist conceptions of the nature of and relations between those two phenomena. Finally, the third section reviews the range of ways that nations and nationalism have been classified, including the now dominant distinction between civic and ethnic types.

This essay is part of the "Ethnicity, Nationalism, and Migration" section of the International Studies Association's "International Studies Encyclopedia" (www.isacompendium.com).

This article builds on two previous works by the same author about the study of „identities“ and identifications in the past - and represents a supplement to the ideas  presented in those previous works. It is divided into three sections in which discusses specific topics in the field of history of identities/identifications. The first part of the paper deals with the problem of language and  language identification, as well as its possible reach in the past. The author discusses several aspects of these issues: from the question of naming the language to the question of when and why the need for language labeling occurs and what type of situations cause the emergence of some type of „language awareness“. The second part of the paper discusses the problems of terminology and categorical apparatus in history and sociology, using the example of the concept of „clan-society“ or „tribal-society“. The author points to the deficiencies of that concept, as well as the fact that many of the „tribal“ or „clanish“ elements survive in societies that are not usually considered to be organized on “tribal” principles - which is why the author points out that it is questionable whether these „tribal“ or „clanish“ elements of societies ever cease to exist. Even contemporary communities, often known as „peoples“ or simpy „ethnic groups“, are in fact “tribal-like” and “clan-like” constructs given that „ethnic groups“ are social units formed on the basis of (the idea of) a shared descent and consanguinity of the group members. And given that clans, tribes, and similar social units are essentially considered to be groups of blood related individuals, one must ask what purpose does exactly the concept of „tribal society“ serve, and what its scopes and limits are. The third and largest part of this article focuses on some of the problematic elements of population genetics. The author discusses the applicability of genetic research in historical science and the problems occur as a result of these attempts. Apart from discussing terminological and methodological problems that occur when attempting to apply genetic research and its results in the study of history, the author also discusses the problems arising from the use of small numbers of DNA samples when researching human genetic material. Finally the paper addresses the occasional manipulation and sensationalism in articles that are trying to connect genetics and history, especially when this is being done by insufficiently educated authors.