A theory of ethnic violence: ethnic incorporation and ethno-political mobilization in Bulgaria and Cyprus

This article argues that the political accommodation of ethnic groups is a major determinant of ethnic violence and its effects vary depending on the pre-existing levels of mobilization. Accordingly, civic assimilationism is the most effective ethnic incorporation mode in terms of ensuring that weakly mobilized ethnic groups remain peaceful. Liberal multiculturalism is most effective in terms of eliciting peaceful mobilizations from highly mobilized ethnic groups. The ethnocratic mode tends to be the most conducive to violent mobilization at both low and high pre-existing mobilization levels. The theory is explored through case studies of Turks in Bulgaria and Cyprus. By demonstrating how the effects of ethnic incorporation policies vary depending on pre-existing mobilization levels, the article also challenges previous assumptions about the relationship between political opening and ethnic mobilization. Such an account not only explains the political determinants of ethnic violence, but also indicates potential political remedies to such problems.     

The “ethnic” in Indonesia’s communal conflicts: violence in Ambon,Poso, and Sambas

ABSTRACT

This article looks at the communal violence in Ambon, Poso, and Sambas in post-Suharto Indonesia from a comparative perspective. It explores why Ambon and Poso were seen as religious while Sambas was seen as ethnic despite the fact that in all three conflicts different religions and ethnicities fought each other. Examining the “ethnic” elements, this article advances three arguments: First, that the Poso and Ambon conflicts were no less ethnic than the Sambas conflict as they had similar “ethnic causes”. Second, that the religious narrative dominated in Ambon and Poso because it reflected the Islamic resurgence in Indonesia since the 1990s while the narrative in Sambas reflected that it was the latest round of a pre-existing anti-Madurese conflict which had already been “defined” as “ethnic”. Third, that the narratives were framed strategically, thus influencing the trajectory of the conflict but also responding to it.     

The Punjab crisis since 1984: A reassessment

Over the last decade there has been increasing scholarly interest in the ethnic character of the Indian state. This interest has coincided with the rise of the Hindu revivalist Bharatiya Janata Party [BJP], nation‐wide clashes between Hindus and Muslims, and bitter conflict over affirmative action for backward classes. Simultaneously, the Indian state has been confronted by regional movements in Kashmir, Assam and Punjab seeking secession from the Indian Union. By focusing on the Punjab crisis this article argues that conventional explanations have concentrated on national political centralization and regional economic factors, to the neglect of Sikh ethno‐nationalism and its dialectical relationship with strategies for ethnic conflict management followed by the Indian state since 1947. Drawing on recent revisionist accounts, the Indian state, it is suggested, should be viewed as a form of an ethnic democracy in which hegemonic control is exercised over non‐Hindu ethnic groups. The Punjab case‐study shows that hegemonic control has characterized the relationship between the Sikhs and the Indian state between 1947 and 1984, and efforts to re‐establish hegemonic control after 1984 degenerated into violent control. The experience of the last ten years suggests that hegemonic control and violent control are unlikely to provide an enduring solution to the Punjab crisis. Rather, there is a need to address fundamentally the crisis of the Indian political system and how it has managed its minorities since 1947. Central to this reassessment is the viability of India's majoritarian political system in the context of an ethnically plural society.     

The perception of ethnic diversity and anti-immigrant sentiments: a multilevel analysis of local communities in Belgium

Most of the literature suggests a positive relationship between immigrant concentration and anti-immigrant sentiments. The main goal of this study is to investigate the impact of both perceived and actual size of migrant populations on anti-immigrant sentiments. A representative survey of inhabitants of local communities in the Flemish region of Belgium shows a strong tendency to overestimate the presence of non-nationals. The survey allows us to conclude that respondents living in ethnically diverse communities do not have more negative attitudes towards immigrants. Individuals who perceive more immigrants to be present in their communities are more hostile even after controlling for reported contact with members of immigrant groups. We can therefore conclude that the perceived size of the immigrant group has a stronger impact on anti-immigrant sentiments than the actual presence of ethnic minority groups.     

Ethnic intolerance and ethnic conflict in the dissolution of Yugoslavia

The causal link between ethnic intolerance and ethnic conflict is tested using four highly comparable data sets from Croatia that span the time before and after the violent dissolution of Yugoslavia: 1984–5, 1989–90, 1996 and 2003. Though most approaches to ethnic conflict posit a social-psychological dimension critical to violent encounters, our analysis provides an unprecedented empirical examination that dispels the commonly held view that ethnic hatred, hostility, and intolerance are the cause of ethnic conflict. After explaining the events and the shifting social, political and economic landscape that precipitated the war, we examine demographic, social structural and attitudinal changes between 1985 and 2003 that are associated with variation in ethnic intolerance, giving special attention to the connection between religiosity and intolerance. Prior to the war people were slow to translate public tensions into personal animosities. We find strong support for concluding that the events of the war itself and especially elite manipulation of public images of these events, are strongly implicated in rising intolerance during the war, and that the war's residual effect has been slow to dissipate.     

Cyprus,ethnic conflict and conflicted heritage

This article examines the dominant heritage discourse in Cyprus concerning preservation and destruction, and its implications for ethno-cultural identity construction and promotion. By exploring two heritage sites (one north and one south of the Buffer Zone) it suggests that heritage practice is more complex than commonly presented. Specifically, it shows how ethnic conflict has not only been responsible for heritage destruction but also for the preservation of it as an unintended consequence of ‘freezing’ development. It also examines how ethnic groups and individuals may come to evaluate their ‘own’ heritage negatively, specifically as an inconvenient cultural load, in efforts to develop ideologically specific or socially ‘progressive’ identities.     

Political competition,relative deprivation,and perceived threat: a research note on anti-Christian violence in India

A preliminary subnational statistical analysis of violence against Christians in contemporary India, this article suggests that whereas the data provide very little support for simple, demographic explanations of this violence, they do more robustly support theories emphasizing the relative status of ethnic and religious minorities (vis-à-vis majorities) and the perception, among Hindus, that Christians (and other minorities) represent a threat to their numerical, political and economic strength.     

Minorities policy in the post‐Soviet republics: The case of the Gagauzi

This article explores the obstacles to crafting comprehensive policies for ethnic minorities within the Soviet successor states. It focuses on a case that has been viewed as a model for the peaceful resolution of ethnic conflict in the region: Moldova's devolution of power to its small Gagauz (Christian Turkic) minority. The relationship between the Moldovan government and the Gagauzi reached its nadir in 1990, when Moldovan volunteer forces and Gagauz irregulars stood at the brink of all‐out civil war over the issue of a separate Gagauz political entity. Since then, however, Moldova has created a special administrative unit known as Gagauz Yeri ('the Gagauz land'). In contrast to other ethno‐territorial disputes in the former Soviet Union, the Gagauz case has illustrated that a range of policy options exists between the extremes of maintaining a highly centralized, unitary state structure and the devolution of authority to loosely related confederative units.     

Gendering ethnic conflicts: minority women in divided societies – the case of Muslim women in India

ABSTRACT

This article explores the practical and theoretical significance and long-term consequences of the failure to incorporate women’s interests in post-conflict negotiations by examining the case of Muslim women in India. Analyses of deeply divided societies must recognize that political competition and political violence do not affect all citizens equally. Also, the “larger picture” depicted by inter-community conflicts should not overshadow the effects of intra-community conflicts, which are no less important. Evident within each community conflict are the winners and the losers of the political accommodation process, in which the marginalized and weaker sections of each “side” of the conflict may be the real “losers”. Gendered analysis of ethnic conflicts and ethnic conflict resolution demands a reorientation of the concepts of conflict and security – Whose conflict is being solved and who is being secured?     

《生物多样性公约》中“土著和地方社区”术语在中国的适用性和评价指标体系

《生物多样性公约》第8(j)条提出了术语“土著和地方社区”, 《名古屋议定书》关于遗传资源特别是传统知识获取与惠益分享的很多重要条款中都涉及该术语。然而, 二者均未对该术语予以定义, 国际社会对该术语的适用范围至今尚未达成一致, 缔约方只能根据公约文本内涵和各国具体国情予以推断和解读。当前的普遍理解包括殖民主义特征的“狭义土著和地方社区”和仅具有原住民特征的“广义土著和地方社区”两种情况。对于中国而言, “土著和地方社区”是否与中国少数民族社区概念上等同或完全不同, 对于全面履行《生物多样性公约》和《名古屋议定书》具有重要意义。本文通过词源分析、定性和定量化等理论和实证研究, 构建了以少数民族具体地方社区为评估单元的“土著和地方社区特征”评价指标体系, 进而对部分少数民族具体地方社区进行了实际评估。结果表明, 一些至今仍然维持传统生产和生活方式及保留传统文化的少数民族地方社区具有明显的“土著和地方社区”特征, 适用于国际公约的相关规定。这为理解国际上的“土著和地方社区”和中国“少数民族”提供了思路, 为中国履行《生物多样性公约》《名古屋议定书》中涉及“土著和地方社区”的条款提供了技术支持, 也为维护中国少数民族地方社区在遗传资源及相关传统知识获取与公平惠益分享中的应有权益提供了理论基础。     

How Do Real Indians Fish? Neoliberal Multiculturalism and Contested Indigeneities in the Colorado Delta

ABSTRACT   There has been a growing interest in anthropology regarding how certain political conditions set the stage for "articulations" between indigenous movements and environmental actors and discourses. However, relatively little attention has been paid to how these same conditions can suppress demands for indigenous rights. In this article, I argue that the pairing of neoliberalism and multiculturalism in contemporary Mexico has created political fields in which ethnic difference has been foregrounded as a way of denying certain rights to marginalized groups. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted in northern Mexico, I analyze how the arguments of a group of Cucapá for fishing rights in the Colorado Delta have been constrained within these political circumstances. I argue that cultural difference has been leveraged by the Mexican federal government and local NGOs to prevent the redistribution of environmental resources among vulnerable groups such as the Cucapá.     

Social change and community cohesion: an ethnographic study of two Melbourne suburbs

This paper looks comparatively at the process of social change and its impact on local community cohesion in two Melbourne suburbs, ‘Northburb’ and ‘Greenburb’. The two localities are geographically close, part of the same local government area and both highly ethnically diverse, but considerably different in terms of their socio-economic and ethnic profiles. Based on ethnographic data collected through individual interviews, focus groups and participant observation in 2012–2013, the paper shows how the process of deindustrialization and the switch to service economy over the past decades took distinctly different turns in the two localities. Our data suggest that the processes of social change seem to have diminished local community cohesion in both localities. In Northburb, gentrification has contributed to socio-economic polarization, while Greenburb has lagged behind in socio-economic indicators and experienced ethnic fragmentation due to a considerable influx of new immigrant groups.     

Ethnic minority identity and movement politics: The case of the Roma in the Czech Republic and Slovakia

The level of political mobilization among ethnic minorities in Central and Eastern Europe has often been regarded as directly dependent on the strong or weak ethnic identity of the groups involved. Less attention has gone to the role of ethnic leaders in creating ethnic group identities for political purposes. This article explores the influence of political mobilization on ethnic group formation in the case of the Roma (Gypsies) in the contemporary Czech and Slovak Republics. It examines the various ways in which Romani activists in these two countries have “framed” Romani identity. The article suggests that activists’ conceptions of Romani identity are closely tied to their political strategies. At the same time, Romani activists have not been able to gain complete control over the production of Romani identity. They have had to deal with powerful schemes of ethnic categorization promulgated by the media, public officials and policy documents.     

‘Leemos!’: Perceptions of ethnic identity among settlers in north west river,Labrador*’

The influence of gender on patterns of ethnic violence in ex‐Yugoslavia has commanded considerable international attention. This article acknowledges the groundbreaking role of feminist scholarship in bringing the gender variable to the forefront in analyses of political and interpersonal violence. However, feminist applications of gender frameworks are to some extent constrained by feminism's normative commitments. The present article argues for a more balanced and inclusive understanding of the role gender plays in conditioning the actions and experiences of men and women alike, in the Balkans war and other conflicts. Towards this end, a detailed evaluation of gender‐specific and gender‐selective violence in ex‐Yugoslavia is presented, with particular attention to the group that appears to constitute the majority of victims ‐ males between the ages of eighteen and sixty‐five. The article concludes by stressing the importance of the gender variable in analysing ethnic and political violence, and suggests that a more nuanced approach to this variable's operations would shed important light on ethnic violence in ex‐Yugoslavia and worldwide.     

Ethnic diversity,segregation and the social cohesion of neighbourhoods in London

The question of whether and how ethnic diversity affects the social cohesion of communities has become an increasingly prominent and contested topic of academic and political debate. In this paper we focus on a single city: London. As possibly the most ethnically diverse conurbation on the planet, London serves as a particularly suitable test-bed for theories about the effects of ethnic heterogeneity on prosocial attitudes. We find neighbourhood ethnic diversity in London to be positively related to the perceived social cohesion of neighbourhood residents, once the level of economic deprivation is accounted for. Ethnic segregation within neighbourhoods, on the other hand, is associated with lower levels of perceived social cohesion. Both effects are strongly moderated by the age of individual residents: diversity has a positive effect on social cohesion for young people but this effect dissipates in older age groups; the reverse pattern is found for ethnic segregation.     

Contact,trust and social capital in Northern Ireland: a qualitative study of three mixed communities

In a recent paper, Robert Putnam (2007) challenges the contact hypothesis by arguing that ethnic diversity causes people to ‘hunker down’ and essentially withdraw themselves from society. Drawing on qualitative data collected from three mixed communities in Northern Ireland, this paper explores the extent and quality of contact experienced by Protestants and Catholics in their everyday lives. Themes emerging from our data are generally consistent with the contact hypothesis. There is also some support for Putnam's theory that mixed environments can induce ‘hunkering down’ and that inter-group trust may be compromised. However, our data challenge Putnam's argument that these responses are a consequence of ‘anomie’ or ‘social malaise’. Rather, we find that withdrawal from social activity in the neighbourhoods we observed was a calculated response at times of threat, often aimed at protecting existent positive inter-ethnic relations.     

The manipulation of ethnicity: from ethnic cooperation to violence and war in Yugoslavia

The story of the failure of bargaining among ethnic élites and of international diplomacy is well known. What has not been well explained is the spread and support for xenophobic nationalism and ethnic violence among people who had lived cooperatively for thirty-five years. I draw on key ideas of four views on ethnicity and ethnic conflict, and add the concept of cognitive frame in ethnic relations. Yugoslavs possessed two ethnic frames in their minds, an ethnic cooperation and peace frame for normal times, and a crisis frame anchored in World War II memories. Élite contention and mass media propaganda awakened the dormant crisis frame, suppressed the normal frame, and spread insecurity and fear. I explain why ethnic manipulation succeeded, people believed falsehoods, voted for nationalists, how moderates were purged and why men in militias killed innocent civilians.     

Reconsidering primordialism: an alternative approach to the study of ethnicity

This theoretical article first clarifies the exclusive assumptions of primordialism and constructivism. Subsequently, it demonstrates that primordialism has substantial power to explain ethnic phenomena, since (a) ethnic identities persist even in the hardest cases, such as sub-Saharan Africa and the United States, and (b) the attributed significance of assumed kinship has psychological and sociological bases. Finally, this article formulates hypotheses based on the core primordialist assumptions and develops ethnic distance as an explanatory variable on the level of integration of immigrants. It defines ethnic distance as the degree to which two ethnic identities have been solidified as opposed to each other by their dyadic violent conflicts and religious and/or nationalistic education and hypothesizes that the higher the ethnic distance between immigrants and the host society the lower the level of integration.     

The sociology of ethnic relations

The sociological problems presented by ethnic relations should be distinguished from problems of social policy. The foundations for a micro-sociology of ethnic relations laid by Max Weber in 1906–11 have to be interrelated with the macro-sociological contexts within which ethnic groups are constructed by collective action. When ethnic relations have their origin in trans-national migration, much depends on the immigrants’ points of entry into the receiving society's scale of socio-economic status, and, thereafter, on transmitted inequalities. While the nature and causes of social differences associated with ethnic origin have been illuminated by quantitative and qualitative studies, new styles of research are needed to bridge these modes of analysis, such as the measurement of relative preferences for association with co-ethnics.     

Symbolic violence and sexualities in the myth making of Mexican national identity

Symbolic violence has the capability to transform aspects of gender, race, ethnicity and sexuality and it is portrayed in a vast iconography, from myth, historic documents, prints and drawings. In this article I focus on two constructions of national identity that are entwined with gender and sexual roles: first, the mestizo myth, or the narrative of the common ethnic origins of the Mexican nation, and, second, the popular consumption of this national myth in the form of pictures and drawings depicting mestizo couples, the progenitors of idealized Mexican families conforming an integrative nation. To illustrate my argument I have used newspaper articles written by nineteenth-century women and picture cards of calendars and almanacs (mid-twentieth century) which give account of roles of sexuality and gender in shaping the nationalist mythology of common origin.