Capturing ethnicity: the case of Ukraine

Abstract

Building on past survey-based studies of ethnic identity, we employ the case of Ukraine to demonstrate the importance of taking seriously the multidimensionality of ethnicity, even in a country that is regarded as deeply divided. Drawing on relational theory, we identify four dimensions of ethnicity that are each important in distinctive ways in Ukraine: individual language preference, language embeddedness, ethnolinguistic identity, and nationality. Using original survey data collected in May 2014, we show that the choice of one over the other can be highly consequential for the conclusions one draws about ethnicity’s role in shaping attitudes (e.g. to NATO membership), actions (e.g. participation in the Euromaidan protests), and the anticipation of outgroups’ behavior (e.g. expectations of a Russian invasion). Moreover, we call attention to the importance of including the right control variables for precisely interpreting any posited effects of ethnicity, making specific recommendations for future survey research on ethnic identity in Ukraine.     

Mobility among Pentecostal pastors and migratory “miracles”

Taking into account space and identity in the movements of transnational religious actors, this article is engaged in reframing and reinterpreting experience by investigating the articulation of migratory and religious experiences as expressed by the pastors of four different Brussels-based Pentecostal congregations. The analysis of pastors' narratives, as they reassess the circumstances that brought them from Sub-Saharan Africa or Latin America to Belgium, reveals an interwoven process of geographical shifts and “divine” actions: this offers us an opportunity to consider an implied double process of mobility and religion. On the one hand, we can see how Pentecostalism transforms and subverts their immigrant experience by allowing for an alternate narrative of this experience. On the other hand, we can analyse the effect of the migratory experience on the discourse and religious practices in the new social context, more particularly through the identification of such “Children of God” with missionary duties towards their fellow immigrants. An analysis of the pastors' narratives also offers a particularly relevant opportunity to question the tensions between processes of endogenous identification (missionaries elected by God and working towards the extension of his “kingdom”) and exogenous assignment, repeated associations of otherness and strangeness, and the stigma coupled with pejorative characterizations of the “migrant”.     

保险诈骗罪特殊主体立法模式的缺陷及重构

保险犯罪日趋频繁和复杂,保险诈骗完全可能由投保人、被保险人和受益人以外的人或单位实施,现行刑法关于保险诈骗罪主体的规定范围过于狭窄,在理论和实践上均会产生一系列弊端。应摒弃特殊主体的立法模式,确立一般主体的立法模式。     

试析台湾当局国家认同观与两岸政策

从国家认同观的视角看待台湾当局两岸统独政策,是研究台湾政治发展和两岸政治关系的一个重要课题;在"中国"国家认同观下,蒋介石、蒋经国时期形成了"两岸统一"政策;在"台湾定位"国家认同观下,李登辉时期制定了"两岸分治"政策;在"台湾"国家认同观下,陈水扁时期推行了"台湾独立"政策;在走向"一个中国"国家认同观下,马英九时期确立了"两岸终极统一"政策。     

Variables influencing victim selection in genocide

While victims of racially motivated violence may be identified through observation of morphological features, those targeted because of their ethnic, religious, or national identity are not easily recognized. This study examines how perpetrators of genocide recognize their victims. Court documents, including indictments, witness statements, and testimony from the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia (FY) detail the interactions between victim and assailant. A total of 6012 decedents were included in the study; only 20.8% had been positively identified. Variables influencing victim selection in Rwanda included location, segregation, incitement, and prior relationship, while significant factors in FY were segregation, location, age/gender, and social data. Additional contributing factors in both countries included self-identification, victim behavior, linguistic or clothing evidence, and morphological features. Understanding the system of recognition used by perpetrators aids investigators tasked with establishing victim identity in such prosecutions.     

Self-determination,group identity and the common will

ABSTRACT

Anna Stilz defends a political autonomy account of self-determination that, she argues, best explains our intuitions about why colonization, annexation and foreign occupation are wrong. These are wrong, on Stilz’s view, because they unilaterally coerce individuals living under those systems of government. I argue that Stilz does not show that her account of self-determination explains our intuitions about autonomy in these kinds of cases, because she does not have a separate argument for the value of belonging to particular political groups.     

On Being Black,Muslim, and a Refugee: Stories of Somalis in Chicago

Abstract

Somali refugees are considered one of the largest African refugee populations in the United States and the fourth largest refugee population globally. Yet, there is limited scholarship on their overall migration paths and the ways in which their intersectional identities may impact their resettlement and integration in the United States. Study findings are from a qualitative study on the migration and integration experiences of 15 Somali Americans in Chicago. Findings illustrate the complexities associated with the Somali refugee narrative and how this population is often positioned at the intersections of anti-Black, anti-Muslim, and anti-refugee racism and discrimination in the United States.     

面对文化歧视的加拿大华人

加拿大华人社会从19世纪中叶至今,经历了巨大的社会文化变迁,老移民团体在制度性种族歧视下受到了各种限制与压迫。新移民团体在不平等法案法规废除以后,通过社会流动取得了一些改善与进步。“唐人街”(中国城)的产生、发展及加拿大华人群体面对文化霸权所进行的各种适应性改变,体现了他们在面对白人社会主流文化涵化与融合的过程。加拿大华人自身对于苦难的承受力也促使他们形成新的文化身份,争取到更加有利的发展空间。     

Character-building and freedom in education

Educators, parents, and policy-makers in the United States, as in other countries, are concerned about the apparent inability of many schools to contribute to the development of character and civic virtue in their pupils. The answer, experience shows, is not for government to require a pedagogy of state-defined character education which, in a pluralistic society, would inevitably create new conflicts. Instead, education policy should take advantage of the growing interest on the part of educators in creating autonomous, distinctive schools, and the continuing interest, on the part of parents, in being able to choose what school their children will attend. Schools which exhibit a distinctive character based upon a shared understanding of the goals of education are effective not only in teaching academics but also in developing positive character traits in their pupils. Charter schools and educational vouchers are two means of encouraging and supporting such coherent schools. The article concludes with a series of policy recommendations designed to balance the autonomy of schools against the need for public accountability. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

艺术作品概念的开放性与同一性--对后现代艺术作品解答的一种尝试

20世纪西方艺术哲学对"什么是艺术作品"提出了种种无核心、无确定意义的"洋葱式"解答,而这表明西方艺术理论在不断精密化的同时也在不断地陷入枝节的缠绕,迷失中心和整体的感觉,最终丧失真正的解说能力。将艺术作品作为一个开放概念,从艺术作品中人的印证———技巧与意向,以及作品的同一性———变异与永恒等方面切入,可对后现代艺术作品进行一尝试性解答。