How strongly do interactions with closely‐related native species influence plant invasions? Darwin's naturalization hypothesis assessed on Mediterranean islands

Aim Recent works have found the presence of native congeners to have a small effect on the naturalization rates of introduced plants, some suggesting a negative interaction (as proposed by Charles Darwin in The Origin of Species), and others a positive association. We assessed this question for a new biogeographic region, and discuss some of the problems associated with data base analyses of this type. Location Islands of the Mediterranean basin. Methods Presence or absence of congeners was assessed for all naturalized alien plants species at regional, local and habitat scales. Using general linear models, we attempted to explain the abundance of the species (as measured by the number of islands where recorded) from their congeneric status, and assessed whether the patterns could be alternatively accounted for by a range of biological, geographical and anthropogenic factors. A simulation model was also used to investigate the impact of a simple bias on a comparable but hypothetical data set. Results Data base analyses addressing Darwin's hypothesis are prone to bias from a number of sources. Interaction between invaders and congenerics may be overestimated, as they often do not co‐occur in the same habitats. Furthermore, intercorrelations between naturalization success and associated factors such as introduction frequency, which are also not independent from relatedness with the native flora, may generate an apparent influence of congenerics without implying a biological interaction. We detected no true influence from related natives on the successful establishment of alien species of the Mediterranean. Rarely‐introduced species tended to fare better in the presence of congeners, but it appears that this effect was generated because species introduced accidentally into highly invasible agricultural and ruderal habitats have many relatives in the region, due to common evolutionary origins. Main conclusions Relatedness to the native flora has no more than a marginal influence on the invasion success of alien plants in the Mediterranean, although apparent trends can easily be generated through artefacts of the data base.     

The Difference that Diaspora Makes: Thinking through the Anthropology of Immigrant Education in the United States

In this article, I examine the possibility of a productive dialogue between diaspora studies and the anthropology of immigrant education in the United States. Arguing that their respective views on the nation-state is a key source for their different orientations toward migrant social and cultural worlds, I nevertheless argue that an engagement between these two fields of study will yield more critical understandings of nationalism, the category of the "immigrant," and multiculturalism within both these areas of scholarship.     

Bayesian transmogrification of clade divergence dates: a critique

The crucial step in Bayesian dating of phylogenies is the selection of prior probability curves for clade ages. In studies on regions derived from Gondwana, many authors have used steep priors, stipulating that clades can only be a little older than their oldest known fossil. These studies have ruled out vicariance associated with Gondwana breakup, but only because of the particular priors that were adopted. The use of non‐flat priors for fossil‐based ages is not justified and is unnecessary. Tectonic calibrations can be integrated with fossil calibrations that are used to give minimum clade ages only.     

The debate between Michael Banton and John Rex: a re-evaluation

Michael Banton's paper provides fascinating insights into his long-running intellectual disagreements with John Rex, the other major post-war figure in the sociology of ‘race relations’. Published work and personal recollections are supplemented by a series of communications by letter to flesh out the precise nature of these debates. They reveal differing views on the ontological status of ‘race’, race relations and racism, as well as a number of criticisms of Rex's work. He argues that Rex was wrong to put so much faith in the ability of classical sociology to address these concerns, and that there was a disjuncture between theory, methods and substance in his empirical work. There is also a suggestion that Rex played down the significance of racism. The greatest difference between them, however, lay in their divergent views on the role of sociology and the sociologist.     

Max Weber in the thought of Edward Shils (1910–1995) and Ernest Gellner (1925–1995): the paradox of two Weberian approaches to the understanding of nations and nationalism?

This article traces the paradoxical impact of Weber's oeuvre on two major scholars of nationalism, Ernest Gellner and Edward Shils. Both these scholars died in 1995, leaving behind a rich corpus of writings on the nation and nationalism, much of which was inspired by Max Weber. The paradox is that although neither scholar accepted Weber's sceptical attitude to the concept of ‘nation’, they both used his other major concepts, such as ‘rationality’, ‘disenchantment’, ‘unintended consequences’, the ‘ethic of responsibility’ and ‘charisma’, in their very analyses of the nation and nationalism. And they both saw, each in his own way, the nation and nationalism as constitutive elements of modern societies. However, the paradox ceases being a paradox if one sees the integration, by Shils and Gellner, of concepts of the nation and of nationalism in the analysis of modernity, as a development of Weber's ideas.     

The politics of ethnic identity: Comparing South Africa

South Africa represents a microcosm of major global conflicts. This laboratory of polyethnic group relations may well teach the rest of the world a lesson of multiracial coexistence and a bridging of extreme class distinctions through pragmatic development policies. Above all, a ‘negotiated revolution’ now promises peaceful nation‐building in a divided society, previously riddled with political violence. The remarkable democratic transformation has led to a substantial decline of politically‐motivated killings so far, although criminal violence has risen. The democratic transition rests partially on the skilful management of racial and ethnic perceptions. Non‐racialism as the core ideology of the new state elicits different expectations and meanings among various segments, differentially privileged and indoctrinated by more than four decades of apartheid. A general theoretical and comparative interpretation of ethnicity sheds light on the legitimacy of competing claims and assesses their prospects and character in light of experiences elsewhere.

Support for Mandela's non‐racial reconciliation remains as soft as the electorate's rejection of the Africanist‐nationalist Pan African Congress could be temporary. As the ANC government is likely to disappoint some high expectations of its constituency and has itself joined the gravy train through extraordinary high salaries for the new officials on the public payroll, the temptation simmers to use populist racial rhetoric. However, as long as government shortcomings are shielded by Mandela's charisma and high approval rate among all population groups, racial antagonisms will be dampened by the desire to succeed economically in an inextricably interdependent consumer society.     

Small acts,Big Society: sewa and Hindu (nationalist) identity in Britain

This paper examines developing Hindu identity in a British context. It focuses on a recent initiative known as Sewa Day, an annual day dedicated to the provision of sewa, or service, as small-scale social action in local communities. Hindu nationalist organizations such as the Hindu Swayamsevak Sangh have been central to promoting and taking part in Sewa Day. The paper asks what purpose is served by the drive to promote social action in this way, arguing that it represents a significant attempt to project Hindus as model citizens, contributors to what the UK government has termed the ‘Big Society’. The paper explores the implications of this project in terms of its ability to re-situate the politics of Hindu nationalism in relation to dominant registers of civic virtue.     

‘We are all equals!’ Militarism,homogenization and ‘egalitarianism’ in nationalist state-building (1789–1945)

Cultural homogenization has accompanied many of the most destructive processes of mass displacement during the Twentieth century. Its goal has been to make polity and citizens ethnically and culturally ‘congruent’. This article questions the explanatory power of traditional accounts linking cultural homogenization with industrialization during state-building processes and the emergence of nationalism. It suggests that further attention must be paid to the role of the military as an essential institution in both of these processes. Finally, the ‘egalitarian’ rhetoric and legitimizing rationale underpinning both militarization and cultural homogenization is assessed as a most powerful nationalist tool for imposing new hierarchical structures.     

Intersectionality,nationalisms, biocoloniality

The early twenty-first century is marked by new postcolonial nationalist ideologies and their indifference to modern histories of colonisation and the urgent need for anti-nationalist theories of racialised subjectification. I discuss the importance of work on ‘intersectionality’ and consider how some theoretical formations reproduce core elements of ‘common sense’ nationalisms such as universal, fixed racial categories, the gender binary and the idea of separate cultures. I then argue for a transdisciplinary theory of racialised subjectivity that I call ‘biocoloniality’.     

Trans-Kemalism: the politics of the Turkish state in the diaspora

Abstract

In contrast to the huge amount of research on Turkish migration and migrants, the diasporic politics of the Turkish Kemalist state constitutes a neglected research subject in the scholarship on Turkish diaspora. How does the Turkish state reach out to its nationals and expatriates abroad? In what ways does the Turkish Republic seek to make Islam (as it does in Turkey) into an instrument legitimizing its politicizing and mobilizing enterprises? To explore these questions, this article investigates the long-distance Kemalism engaged in by the Turkish state to Turkify and secularize its nationals in the diaspora, using its activities in Australia as its case study. In sketching out trans-Kemalism's dimensions, the analysis directs attention to the intimate relationship between the political and religious fields of transnationalism manufactured by the state. The paper concludes that the intense political polarization in Turkey in the present makes the future of trans-Kemalism abroad somewhat uncertain.