Wieviorka's view on multiculturalism: a critique

Like any other society France is increasingly diversified culturally and in terms of collective identities. Clearly it is a multicultural, multi-identificational society, but it is not often willing to discuss openly the changes needed to accommodate its diversity and its de facto multicultural character. Michel Wieviorka has been courageous in trying to launch this crucial debate. In France his work is often appreciated but it is also often held to be ‘politically incorrect’ precisely because it questions the validity of the French republican model and its adequacy for the deep social changes at work in French society, and also because it raises the issue of the necessity of building a French multiculturalism. In this article the most important insights of Wieviorka's perspectives on multiculturalism are presented and some of the problems it implies are discussed.     

Rethinking the ‘everyday’ in ‘ethnicity and everyday life’

While ‘ethnicity and everyday life’ is a familiar collocation, sociologists concerned with racism and ethnicity have not engaged very much with the extensive body of social theory that takes the ‘everyday’ as its central problematic. In this essay, I consider some of the ways in which the sociology of the everyday might be of use to those concerned with investigating ethnicity and racism. For its part, however, the sociology of the everyday has tended to be remarkably blind to the role played by racism and racialization in the modern world. It is thus no less crucial to consider how the experiences of racialized groups might help us rethink influential accounts of the everyday. To this end, I provide a discussion of pioneering texts by C. L. R. James and W. E. B. du Bois, both of whom were driven by their reflections on racism and resistance to recognize the everyday not as an unremarked context, but as, precisely, a problematic one.     

Researching and teaching in the field of ethnic and racial studies: a view from continental Europe

In the first part of the article, I make a few general comments inspired by the reading of Banton's article. I claim that the field of ethnic and racial studies is often dominated by an "Anglo-Americentric" vision that leads to a negation of the variety of approaches to ethnic and racial studies throughout the world. I claim that a process of "decentration" is necessary in order to foster the diversity in our field. In the second part of the article, I make specific comments inspired by my experience as researcher and teacher in a fragmented society such as Belgium. One conclusion is that our teaching has to be contextualized in order to avoid misunderstandings and the reproduction of inadequate conceptions and confusions about ethnic and racial issues among our students.     

Citizenship,ethnicity and multiculturalism: Post‐national membership between Utopia and reality

Neil Bissondath, SELLING ILLUSIONS: THE CULT OF MULTI‐CULTURALISM IN CANADA, Toronto: Penguin Books Canada, 1994, 234 pp., $16.99 (paper).

David A. Hollinger, POSTETHNIC AMERICA: BEYOND MULTI‐CULTURALISM, New York: Basic Books, 1995, 210 pp., $22.00

Will Kymlicka, MULTICULTURAL CITIZENSHIP, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995, 280 pp., npl.

Yasemin Nuhoglu Soysal, LIMITS OF CITIZENSHIP: MIGRANTS AND POSTNATIONAL MEMBERSHIP IN EUROPE, Chicago: Chicago University Press, 1994 (paper), npl.     

Immigrants,ethnicized minorities and the arts: a relatively neglected research area

The aim of this article is to show the necessity to better understand the relevance of the arts in the theoretical and policy debates about immigrant incorporation and diversity in migration and post-migration cities, and also in the present phase of ethnicized and racialized social and economic relations. To do so, five domains can be considered that, taken together, constitute a general framework in which more theoretically grounded empirical research should develop: local culture, social relations and interactions, local cultural and incorporation policies, local politics and local economics.     

Physiological responses to water stress following a conditioning period in berseem clover

Berseem clover (Trifolium alexandrinum L.) is an important crop in semi-arid regions; its herbage and seed yields are often reduced by water stress. Our objectives were (i) to determine the effect of water stress, applied after a conditioning period, on water relations, proline accumulation and plant dry weight, and (ii) to investigate if some physiological responses differed in varieties of berseem. Five cultivars (Axi, Bigbee, Lilibeo, Sacromonte and Saniros) were grown in a controlled environment, and subjected to four irrigation treatments (T1, T2, T3 and T4 referring to plants irrigated to field capacity every 1, 2, 3 or 4 d, respectively) during a conditioning period (12 d). T1 treatment indicated the well-watered control, whereas T2, T3 and T4 treatments represented the conditioned plants. Leaf water potential (Ψ), osmotic potential (Ψπ), relative water content (RWC), gravimetric soil water content (GSWC) and leaf proline concentration were recorded during the conditioning period and a subsequent water deficit period (3 d) applied at early flowering growth stage. The conditioned plants subjected to subsequent water deficit maintained higher values of Ψ, Ψπ, RWC and GSWC, and lower values of leaf proline concentration. Reductions in parameter values were inversely related to the water stress severity that plants had previously experienced. At the end of the experiment, T1 showed 42%, 58% and 31% lower values for Ψ, Ψπ and RWC, respectively, than those of T4. Conditioned plants were also shorter and accumulated less leaf, stem and total dry weight. The conditioning treatments did not affect the relation between Ψ and Ψπ since conditioned plants show similar values of Ψπ as the control at the same Ψ value. Thus, drought acclimation in berseem clover contributed to water stress tolerance by the maintenance of tissue hydration. The berseem cultivars examined showed differences in plant growth parameters, but they were very similar for physiological responses to water deficit. The main genetic difference was recorded for turgor maintenance capacity. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Visual sociology approaches in migration,ethnic and racial studies

The aim of the article is to discuss the advantages of using visual sociology approaches and methods in migration, ethnic and racial studies. It first briefly presents the history of visual sociology and what it consists of. It then moves to immigration, ethnic and racial studies by presenting some examples of visual approaches in a few selected research projects dealing with immigrant electoral politics, the history of migration and music and ethnic politics.