Commitment issues: security and belonging in a white Kenyan household

Once the archetype of romantic colonialism, white Kenyans with personal or familial ties to colonialism face a multitude of challenges with respect to their history and political status. In this article, I examine how discourses related to whites “belonging” in Kenya have constellated around the issue of security, especially in Nairobi, where crime (and recently, terrorism) makes security a potent and political topic. Of particular importance is the staff that white Kenyans employ in their homes. In contexts where African neighbours are predominantly impoverished, I emphasise employer–employee relationships as a key performance of commitment to the Kenyan community. As amendments to the Kenyan constitution have brought forth new issues related to citizenship and “commitment” by white Kenyan citizens, I also proffer that domestic projects of securitisation help to establish their investment or commitment to Kenya, constituting both a grounded and discursive defence against crime or political antagonism.     

Media,citizenship and the politics of belonging in contemporary South Africa

Abstract

Drawing on a wide range of theoretical and empirical studies, the articles in this special issue examine issues of citizenship and belonging in South Africa. Questions of belonging and citizenship are neither novel, nor particular to South Africa – they have been high on the intellectual (and popular) agenda internationally since at least the early 1990s. Yet South Africa's history of artificially separating and defining its citizens in the racial regimes of colonialism and apartheid still reverberates today, as is reflected in the continued inequalities marring South African society. Post-apartheid governance of redress still requires the use of apartheid categories of ‘race’, but the terms under which we understand what it means to be South African are much wider, and require continued critical reflection. Using South Africa (and not the global North, as is so often the case) as the focal point for rethinking notions of citizenship and belonging, may urge us to rethink these notions and their meanings within fledgling democracies and societies in transition.     

Rooting and Cultura in West Mexico

Drawing on Kwame Appiah’s discussion of the relationship between rooting and cosmopolitanism, I show that this concern was shared by many in west Mexico, where I conducted fieldwork among diverse groups of townspeople, villagers, weekend visitors from Guadalajara, and migrants working in Guadalajara and in California. All of those groups talked about belonging or rooting to specific places – villages, towns, cities, countries and so on. They also used the term cultura in a way that resonated more with Appiah’s ‘cosmopolitanism’ than with his ‘cultural particularities’. Although most people aspired to gain cultura without losing rooting, I found that many people judged themselves or others to fail in one or both respects. Migrants in California, in particular, were felt to have lost rooting without having become cosmopolitan. I focus throughout on how west Mexicans, including the novelist Juan Rulfo, used their knowledge of history as a way of claiming both rooting and cultura.     

Arabs in the urban social landscapes of Malaysia: historical connections and belonging

The urban landscapes of Malaysia have witnessed a marked increase in the number of non-citizens with the influx of foreign workers to satisfy the needs of a rapidly expanding economy. This paper examines how notions of belonging might have changed through the subsequent interaction between citizens and non-citizens in the Klang Valley, the political and economic centre of the country. It focuses specifically on Arab migrants who find themselves in a region – the Malay world – with which they have had historical connections. Arabs, primarily from the Hadramaut in Yemen, have long formed creole communities in the region. Recent Arab migrants have arrived at a time of two noteworthy developments. First, there is a rediscovery of Arabness underway among creoles. Second, Malaysia's ethnically diverse citizenry has seen renewed and heightened challenges, based on historical arguments, to its sense of belonging. By focusing on novel migrants with historical connections, this paper relates the question of belonging to history and asks a number of questions. How are Arabs shaping the social landscape? How do the historical connections between Arabs and the Malay world matter? What are the implications of the new Arab presence for Malaysian society as a whole?     

贫困大学生消费现象中的城市归属感研究

消费现象中体现的城市归属感是考察贫困大学生适应现实生活、体验幸福感的重要方面。贫困大学生在城市消费物质层面对城市的认同度较高,而在城市消费群体层面对城市的认同度方面较弱。应从高校社会和个体角度提出相应的措施。     

Expressed attachment to Russia and social integration: the case of young Russian speakers in Latvia, 2004–2010

The aim of this article is to establish if expressed attachment to Russia, amongst surveyed Russian-speaking youths in 2004 and 2010 in Latvia, demonstrates any noteworthy correlations with factors promoting integration and feelings of belonging to Latvia. The correlation analysis shows that a sense of belonging to Russia and a sense of belonging to Latvia are not mutually exclusive. However, those Russian speakers in Latvia expressing a closer sense of belonging to Russia are also more likely to prefer an all-Russian environment, are skeptical of their rights and influence in Latvia, and are more likely to perceive discrimination in terms of citizenship status and ethnicity. These preferences suggest either a lack of integration or an “external homeland” influence.     

Global equality of opportunity and self-determination in the context of immigration

David Miller’s political philosophy of immigration employs two complementary argumentative strategies to challenge open border theories. The first strategy is to defeat the principled case for open borders, such as the global equality of opportunity argument for more lax immigration control. The second strategy is to establish the democratic community’s prima facie right to determine the shape of its future, including membership and the right to exclude. First, I argue that Miller’s conception of global equality of opportunity is overly narrow and that his objections to the principle, to the metric and to what counts as feasible political action misfire against other, more plausible, accounts. Second, I argue that his democratic interpretation of collective self-determination does not solve the pressing question concerning the morally justified scope and content of self-determination and the moral limits of the right to exclude. I conclude by questioning Miller’s general strategy: whether theories of immigration should be engaged in an exercise of shifting the burden of proof between open and closed borders. By contrast, I argue that a more desirable task for the political philosophy of immigration is to find ways in which the joint requirement of global equality of opportunity and collective self-determination can be coherently upheld.     

Foreigners Everywhere,Nationals Nowhere: Exclusion,Irregularity, and Invisibility of Stateless Bajau Laut in Eastern Sabah,Malaysia

ABSTRACT

This article explores impacts of national and regional policies upon the Bajau Laut, who occupy the maritime border region shared by Malaysia, the Philippines, and Indonesia. It considers how maritime movements, ethnogenesis, visions for economic development and commercial interaction have evolved in the region. These processes, combined with contemporary nationalism, border securitization, and conservation render such populations both prominent as a target of governmental action and invisible in terms of provision of social services and implementation of conservation initiatives. These facets complicate issues of political belonging within the state of Sabah, the nation-state of Malaysia, and the wider ASEAN region.     

Do Social Relationships Protect Victimized Children Against Internalizing Problems?

We investigated whether social relationships protect children against the effects of victimization on internalizing problems. We used data from the Zurich Project on the Social Development of Children and Youths. Victimization at age 8 years was associated with internalizing problems at age 9 years. Victims who had siblings, warm parents, and a good relationship with the teacher had less severe internalizing problems than those who did not, providing evidence for a protective effect of social relationships. Friendships with classmates were not found to be protective. Furthermore, social relationships did not protect victims more than nonvictims.