Re-making the majority? Ethnic New Zealanders in the 2006 census

Abstract

The national census is often seen as a site of struggle for minorities seeking recognition and equality. Much less is known about the conditions under which ethnic majorities are galvanized to stake identity claims in the census. This article examines recent trends in New Zealand where an increasing number of people from the dominant New Zealand European group are redefining themselves as ethnic New Zealanders. Drawing from the literature on ethnic boundaries, we theorize the factors underlying the surge in New Zealander identification, and present census data to demonstrate its selective appeal. We also review patterns of national naming in North America and Australia to show that the New Zealander phenomenon reflects a broader shift by settler state majorities to reimagine their identities. The implications for ethnic counting in other contexts are briefly considered.     

Peddling sport: liberal multiculturalism and the racial triangulation of blackness,Chineseness and Native American-ness in professional basketball

Abstract

Deploying liberal multiculturalist discourse, the media depicts professional basketball as a post-racial space where all talented players, regardless of their race, can thrive if they work hard. An analysis of the construction of non-white players in the 1930s and in 2010 demonstrates sport as modulated by racially charged discourse. As part of a liberal multiculturalist frame, the coding of basketball players as hero, threat and novelty serve to privilege whiteness and replicate racialized and gendered images that can be traced to the 1930s. In doing so, the article highlights how liberal multiculturalism involves racial triangulation and the simultaneous processes of hyper-racialization and de-racialization.     

Distribution,diversity and conservation of Anostraca (Crustacea: Branchiopoda) in southern Africa

Southern Africa is defined here as Africa south of the Zambezi and Kunene Rivers. Here, annual average rainfall, rainfall season, and effective temperature are climatic factors which influence anostracan distribution. The type of temporary pool also appears to have some effect on distribution. Areas of high species richness are not confined to any particular climatic region and such areas occur in arid, montane and subtropical regions of southern Africa. Forty-six anostracan species have been recorded from the subcontinent and 80% of these are endemic. IUCN Red Data assessment of species revealed that two species can be considered 'Critically Endangered', while a further four are 'Endangered', and three are 'Vulnerable'. Many parts of southern Africa have been inadequately sampled but in South Africa, where the anostracans are relatively well known, temporary pool inhabitants are threatened mainly by agriculture, urbanization, pollution and pesticides. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Corresponding patterns of geographic variation among populations ofSilene latifolia (=S. alba =S. pratensis) (Caryophyllaceae)

Morphological and biochemical data were analysed from 30 greenhouse-grown populations of EuropeanSilene latifolia. Six separate character sets (flavones, seed, pollen, capsules, male and female flower morphology) were used in the analyses. There was broad-scale congruence between trends of geographic variation in most character sets, with the populations being assigned to western (or southern and western) and eastern clusters. The eastern and western clusters abut along a transition zone that runs roughly from Belgium to the northern Balkans; this zone represents a region of relatively rapid change and contains populations intermediate between the eastern and western clusters. Variation in flower morphology was weak and discordant with variation in the other character sets. The origin and maintenance of the variation pattern is discussed in terms of migrational history and hybrid zones.     

Introduction

The only concrete basis for the discontinuous and hierarchical organization of extant organisms lies in their genealogical (i. e. germ line) relationships. Individuals and populations of common descent are called sib or stirps. Ideally, systematic classification is based on the formulas: (1) sib + taxonomic category + name = taxon, and (2) divergent genealogy of sibs + hierarchy of taxonomic categories + names = taxonomic system (Fig. 1).Presented at the symposium Speciation and the Species Concept during the XIIth International Botanical Congress, Leningrad, July 8, 1975.     

An analysis of determinants of amino acids substitution rates in bacterial proteins

The variation of amino acid substitution rates in proteins depends on several variables. Among these, the protein's expression level, functional category, essentiality, or metabolic costs of its amino acid residues may play an important role. However, the relative importance of each variable has not yet been evaluated in comparative analyses. To this aim, we made regression analyses combining data available on these variables and on evolutionary rates, in two well-documented model bacteria, Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis. In both bacteria, the level of expression of the protein in the cell was by far the most important driving force constraining the amino acids substitution rate. Subsequent inclusion in the analysis of the other variables added little further information. Furthermore, when the rates of synonymous substitutions were included in the analysis of the E. coli data, only the variable expression levels remained statistically significant. The rate of nonsynonymous substitution was shown to correlate with expression levels independently of the rate of synonymous substitution. These results suggest an important direct influence of expression levels, or at least codon usage bias for translation optimization, on the rates of nonsynonymous substitutions in bacteria. They also indicate that when a control for this variable is included, essentiality plays no significant role in the rate of protein evolution in bacteria, as is the case in eukaryotes.     

A partnership project for a new Red List of the Italian Flora

Abstract

The IUCN Red Lists assessment provides an internationally accepted system to verify the extinction risk of species. Working Groups of the Italian Botanical Society have recently discussed the importance of producing a reliable list of species at the national level. This list could be the starting point for future in situ and ex situ plant conservation activities.     

THE PROBLEM OF THE FUTURE WORLD: W.E.B. DU BOIS AND THE RACE CONCEPT AT MIDCENTURY

Most studies of police–minority relations in America focus on blacks, usually in comparison with whites. This pattern is particularly puzzling in light of the growing population of Hispanic Americans throughout the US, now outnumbering blacks and consisting of the majority in some major cities. Aside from the need for more empirical research on the policing of Hispanics per se, comparing Hispanics’ relations with the police to other racial and ethnic groups offers some important insights into both the dimensions that are shared across groups and those that are distinctive to Hispanics. This article critically evaluates the small body of empirical research literature on this topic – highlighting both deficiencies in this literature as well as suggestive findings – and concludes by identifying a set of issues that should be addressed in future studies. The available evidence largely supports a racial-hierarchy perspective with regard to the policing of different racial and ethnic groups in the US.     

The ‘other’ looks back: racial distancing and racial alignment in migrant domestic workers' stereotypes about white and Chinese employers

While the racial and ethnic stereotyping practised by the employers of migrant domestic workers has received significant scholarly attention, these workers' racial essentializations of their employers have been largely ignored. Drawing upon interviews with Filipino migrant domestic workers in Singapore and Hong Kong, I present findings concerning the racial stereotypes these workers hold about white and Chinese employers. This stereotyping involves both racial distancing from local Chinese employers and racial alignment with expatriate white employers. This two-track racial project is a defensive tactic that allows Filipino workers to redefine themselves as occupying a higher position in the global racial order (as they see it) on cultural grounds. However, it also makes them complicit in naturalizing legacy stereotypes that valorize whites as morally and culturally superior. In addition, it encourages them to privilege the West as an idealized destination where they fantasize they will enjoy comfortable working conditions from local white employers.     

Exclusive recognition: against reductionism and distortion

This article analyses two dominant discourses of racial politics in Hawai'i and the work they do naturalizing haole (white people or whiteness in Hawai'i) in the islands. The first is the well-worn discourse of racial harmony representing Hawai'i as an idyllic racial paradise with no conflict or inequality. Frequently contrasting the islands with the ‘racist mainland’, this discourse circulates among many communities and is widely referenced. There is also a competing discourse of discrimination against non-locals which contends that haoles and non-local people of colour are disrespected and treated unfairly in Hawai'i. As negative referents for each other, these discourses work to reinforce one another and are historically linked. I suggest that the question of racial politics be reframed towards consideration of the processes of racialization themselves – towards a new way of thinking about racial politics in Hawai'i that breaks free of the not racist/racist dyad.