Gender,Indigeneity, and the Criminal Courts: A Narrative Exploration of Women's Sentencing in Western Australia

Ethel Rosenberg's prison letters illustrate women's prison writing at a transitional point. Preceding her work are prison writings that focus on self-justification and autobiography; afterward come texts that assert the writer's pride and challenge the penal system and society. Rosenberg's correspondence includes elements of both traditional and contemporary women's prison literature. Along traditional lines, her letters focus on family matters and her own mental state as she attempts to adapt to imprisonment. In their outright assertions of pride in self and anger at perceived injustice, Rosenberg's letters point ahead to the writing of women inmates today.     

Shmaglena: Ethnic framework for problem mediating

The article describes traditional mediators (in Amharic, shmaglotz meaning “elders”; shmagaleh in the singular) who fill a range of roles within the community of Ethiopian immigrants in Israel, as well as a mediation process (shmaglena in Amharic). The present research is a constructivist-qualitative study. Thirteen respondents participated in the study, all of whom were exposed to the shmaglena process. The data were collected through semi-structured content interviews. The research elicited that the shmaglena function has undergone transformation and adaptation to the target nation's culture. It was also found that the shmaglotz constitute an informal authority whose roles resemble those of conflict resolvers in other cultures.     

When are Minorities Worse Off? A Systematic Investigation of Size and Status

Are smaller ethnic groups less advantaged than large groups? This question has not been systematically studied. Using two new datasets, we find that when group size and status are analyzed at national levels smaller groups are generally worse off than larger groups. By contrast, when group size and status are analyzed at subnational (regional or district) levels, smaller groups are better off than larger groups. “National” minorities are disadvantaged while “local” minorities are advantaged.We theorize that two factors are at work in generating this surprisingly consistent relationship. First, a synergy exists at national levels among three features of ethnic groups: size, power, and status. The second factor is based on social dynamics. Specifically, insofar as internal migration is characterized by positive selection, then migrants and their descendants should form the basis of small, privileged groups within the region that they migrate to. Insofar as distance enhances positive selection, this explains why smaller migrations are associated with more privileged groups and larger migrations with somewhat less privileged groups.     

Gender as Survival: Women's Experiences of Deportation from Romania to the Soviet Union, 1945–1950

This paper offers hypotheses on the role that state social welfare measures can play in reflecting nationalism and in aggravating interethnic tensions. Social welfare is often overlooked in theoretical literature on nationalism, because of the widespread assumption that the welfare state promotes social cohesion. However, social welfare systems may face contradictions between the goal of promoting universal access to all citizens on the one hand, and social pressures to recognize particular groups in distinct ways on the other. Examples from the post-Soviet context (particularly Russia) are offered to illustrate the ways in which social welfare issues may be perceived as having ethnic connotations.     

族性安全的概念、理论与范式

族性是族类群体所具有的共同特质,是形成族类群体认同的纽带。族性认同是族类群体形成认知和行动一致性的基础,凭借动员的环节,族性及族性认同被带入政治场域,参与资源和权力的分配,并因循不同的政治行动呈现出族际关系、族类群体与国家关系、族类群体与国际关系的复杂交织和震荡联动,在不同的时空表现出不同的态势和影响。当族类群体的政治行动超出有序范围,以暴力、骚乱、恐怖行动、屠杀、清洗、武装冲突和分裂运动等形式出现时,便给相关群体带来恐惧与伤害,给社会和国家带来失序与动荡,甚至会危及国家主权和地区、国际的政治关系与秩序。族性安全,是指因族性动员而对人的生命、社会秩序、国家主权、国际关系等是否产生威胁或损害的状态。族性转化为安全议题需要以认同为基础、以动员为条件、以信念为支持,并在一定的族际结构中发生,因而需要族性认同、政治动员、民族主义、离散政治等理论的诠释。族性安全的研究范式可分为规范研究和经验研究。     

族性动员及其消抑研究

族类群体的政治行动离不开政治动员的环节,族性动员普遍被视为现代政体中一种潜在的非整合性力量,其发生往往都以族性认同为内核或工具,再加上族群精英或族群政党进行有效的政治动员才得以实现。族性动员是一个族群围绕一定的族群认同(例如肤色、语言、风俗等)进行组织,以追求集体目标的过程。族性动员一旦发生,其对国家秩序、族群关系、经济发展及社会安定造成极大的破坏,由此引发的多米诺效应也许会延续更长的时间,往往造成国家政治秩序紊乱、族群社会行为失范、民众恐惧心理加剧,其后果往往远超过于此,溢出效应可波及邻国,导致地区安全危机,甚至国际安全危机。研究族性动员的理论与实践,有助于深刻洞察民族政治行动的发生、发展规律。族性动员既是一个过程,又是一个行动系统。族性动员既有方向性,又有技术和路径支持。目前,国内对族性动员的理论研究不够深入,缺乏系统分析与建构。在实践层面上,群体性事件爆发的频率在加快,身处全球化、信息化、网络化的大背景下,事件、运动及动员产生的模仿效应在增强。因此,对于民族国家及政府而言,不断寻求有效的整合与消抑策略,防范与管控失控的族性动员,将是任重而道远的过程。     

广西特有少数民族族规民约的社会治理价值研究——以仫佬族为例

仫佬族人民在长期的生产、生活和社会交往中形成了共同确认和信守的族规民约,在国家治理力量不能有效延伸至民族地区的条件下,在当地的社会治理中发挥了极大作用。为此,本文对仫佬族族规民约的内容与形式进行研究,分析其社会治理价值及启示,旨在为新时代加强和创新社会治理提供借鉴。     

The Recursive Indian: The Significance of Complementary Ethnic Alterity in the Bolivian Tipnis March

This article explores ethnic alterity in the Bolivian Tipnis crisis, showing how claiming indigenous, Indian and colonial identities was significant in shaping government strategy and responses among ‘citified Indians’ of La Paz and El Alto and highland indigenous social movements. While Kuper claims indigeneity can distract attention from ‘real local issues’, Andean ethnicity is relational, roles assigned and reassigned in a continually shifting political theatre, where the ‘rebel Indian’ recurs historically, challenging colonial hegemony and reorienting the discussion towards issues of territorial autonomy.     

Exploring the link between trust and political participation in a divided society: evidence from South Africa

In empirical research political scientists have found that individuals with higher levels of trust participate more frequently in politics. But how does this link manifest in deeply divided societies? Examining South Africa 10 years after transitioning to democracy, this paper argues that South Africans’ attitudes towards ethnic others shape their decision to participate in political activities. Drawing upon scholarship on the micro-foundations of trust and participation and using Afrobarometer survey data from over 2000 respondents across South Africa in 2005, I find that South Africans who have been more trusting of non-coethnics have participated more frequently in a broad range of political activities.