The ethno‐religious ambitions of the Roman Catholic Church and the ascendancy of communism in post‐war Poland (1945–50)

ABSTRACT. This paper differentiates between centrifugal and centripetal aspects of ethno‐nationalism to help account for the ascendancy of communism in the immediate aftermath of World War II in Poland. It argues that the directing of social antipathy to defined out‐groups allowed the Polish Workers' Party (PPR) to manage social anger and that the Roman Catholic Church's ethno‐religious agenda was aligned with the PPR's ethno‐nationalist policy. Furthermore, it is contended that the Church's toleration of hostile actions directed at minority communities supported the PPR's management of social anger. The paper concludes that the Church, despite its manifest intentions and contrary to contemporary perceptions, played a role in the PPR's achievement of hegemony.     

Religion and ethno‐nationalism: Turkey's Kurdish issue

One approach within the Islamic camp treats Islam, which emphasizes overarching notions such as the ‘Islamic brotherhood’ and ‘ummah’, as incompatible with ethno‐nationalist ideas and movements. It is, however, striking that in the last decades, several Islamic and conservative groups in Turkey have paid increasing attention to the Kurdish issue, supporting their ethnic demands and sentiments. Even more striking, the leftist, secular Kurdish ethno‐nationalists have adopted a more welcoming attitude toward Islam. How can we explain such intriguing developments and shifts? Using original data derived from several elite interviews and a public opinion survey, this study shows that the struggle for Kurdish popular support and legitimacy has encouraged political elites from both camps to enrich their ideological toolbox by borrowing ideas and discourses from each other. Further, Turkish and Kurdish nationalists alike utilize Islamic discourses and ideas to legitimize their competing nationalist claims. Exploring such issues, the study also provides theoretical and policy implications.     

Threading a needle: Kazakhstan between civic and ethno‐nationalist state‐building

This paper examines the state‐building project in Kazakhstan since independence in 1991. It argues that both civic and ethno‐nationalistic tendencies in state‐building can be identified but that it is not any particular trajectory of nationalism in Kazakhstan that is of significance so much as the tensions between two very different trajectories. We argue that, at least to date, the government has succeeded in managing these tensions quite effectively both at the policy level and in its relations with different ethnic groups and neighbouring states. Whether Kazakhstan can continue to manage these tensions in the post‐Nazarbayev era is one of the most significant questions facing the country.     

Consociationalism under examination: Is consociationalism the optimal multiculturalist approach for Turkey?

Some scholars maintain that the Republic of Turkey should construct a consociational model to manage its ethno‐cultural diversity. This article suggests consociationalism is not the optimal multiculturalist approach for Turkey, where there is some degree of interethnic moderation between ethnic Kurds and Turks at the grassroots level. In the presence of this mass‐based moderation, a consociational formula is unlikely to provide Turkish political leaders with political incentives that urge them to cooperate and enter into consociational power‐sharing arrangements with their Kurdish counterparts. This renders consociational power‐sharing arrangements difficult to promote or enforce in Turkey. In the absence of such incentives, any multicultural reform of the consociational formula would not be sustainable in Turkey. There would simply not be enough popular support for such reforms. There are some electoral strategies that offer both majority and minority leaders political incentives to move toward the moderate middle, form interethnic coalitions, foster interculturalism, and increase the number of intercultural citizens. These strategies are offered by centripetalism, another multiculturalist approach to managing ethno‐cultural diversity.     

Sri Lankan Muslims: between ethno‐nationalism and the global ummah

ABSTRACT. Sri Lanka's Sunni Muslims or “Moors”, who make up eight percent of the population, are the country's third largest ethnic group, after the Buddhist Sinhalese (seventy‐four per cent) and the Hindu Tamils (eighteen per cent). Although the armed LTTE (Tamil Tiger) rebel movement was defeated militarily by government forces in May 2009, the island's Muslims still face the long‐standing external threats of ethno‐linguistic Tamil nationalism and pro‐Sinhala Buddhist government land and resettlement policies. In addition, during the past decade a sharp internal conflict has arisen within the Sri Lankan Muslim community between locally popular Sufi sheiks and the followers of hostile Islamic reformist movements energised by ideas and resources from the global ummah, or world community of Muslims. This simultaneous combination of “external” ethno‐nationalist rivalries and “internal” Islamic doctrinal conflict has placed Sri Lanka's Muslims in a double bind: how to defend against Tamil and Sinhalese ethnic hegemonies while not appearing to embrace an Islamist or jihadist agenda. This article first traces the historical development of Sri Lankan Muslim identity in the context of twentieth‐century Sri Lankan nationalism and the south Indian Dravidian movement, then examines the recent anti‐Sufi violence that threatens to divide the Sri Lankan Muslim community today.     

Going for Wombat — Transformations in Wirangu and the Scotdesco Community on the Far West Coast of South Australia

ABSTRACT Becoming an object of touristic interest is only one of a series of ways that Aboriginality is being transformed in contemporary Australia, as the space opens up for individuals and groups to reposition themselves as Aborigines within the nation, with a distinctive culture in various forms. The nation's appetite for Aboriginal ‘culture’, within desirable limits (Povinelli 2002) and energised by a sentimental politics (Cowlishaw 2010), continues to grow. There is, however, a destructive flip side to the politics of difference being played out within Aboriginal societies. This is evidenced by the many battles for access to or control of ‘cultural’ resources for their commercial benefits or collective survival value. In many places communities or groups are faced with the terrible choice of distinction or extinction (Comaroff & Comaroff 2009). That is, they must find, and make alienable, something distinctive about themselves or face collective extinction. How one Aboriginal community is responding to these threats and challenges is the subject of this paper. This paper also adds to the growing literature on ethno‐commercialisation by focusing on the central role of language in these processes.     

Exploring the roots and dynamics of Kurdish ethno‐nationalism in Turkey

Using comprehensive and original data derived from a recent major public opinion survey, this study examines an under‐investigated aspect of the Kurdish issue in Turkey: the dynamics and factors behind Kurdish ethno‐nationalism at a mass level. The empirical findings disprove the conventional socio‐economic peace and Islamic‐peace hypotheses around this issue, and our statistical analyses provide strong support for the relative deprivation hypothesis, i.e. that those who think the Turkish state discriminates against Kurds are more likely to have ethno‐nationalist orientations. Multivariate analyses further show that religious sectarian differences among Kurds (i.e. the Hanefi‐Shafi division) matter: the more religious Shafi Kurds have a stronger ethnic consciousness and a higher degree of ethno‐nationalism. The study also provides a discussion of the broader theoretical and practical implications of the empirical findings, which may provide insights into conflict resolution prospects in countries with a Kurdish population.     

Resistance,Symbolism and the Language of Stateness in Timor‐Leste

On gaining independence in 2002 after a protracted struggle against Indonesian occupation, the sovereign Timor‐Leste state began to assert its sovereignty in a range of discursive and expressive media. These assertions developed a distinct ‘language of stateness’ that is the focus of this article. This East Timorese expression of state sovereignty draws heavily on the legacy of the Timorese resistance struggle and on a variety of other sources of symbolic power such as flags, buildings, logos, and uniforms. Yet these efforts have been contested by a range of non‐state actors in Timor‐Leste and the shape that this language of stateness has taken now evokes complaints from martial arts groups (MAGs), ritual arts groups (RAGs), and veterans' organisations that seek to ‘become like the state’ themselves, and who also employ a ‘national language of stateness’ in the form of flags, graffiti, and official buildings. While not challenging the idea of an independent East Timorese state per se, these groups question the prerogative of the state to use and define the language of stateness. In this article I explore the way the state and its challengers use ‘languages of stateness’ and how this shapes their ambivalent stance vis‐à‐vis each other, with both sides often drawing upon a discourse of the fulfilment of the millenarian promises that have for a long time been tied to the achievement of independence.     

Beyond Orange and Green? The awkwardness of negotiating difference in Northern Ireland1

Since the Good Friday Agreement (1988) issues of migration, racism and social difference beyond the ‘two traditions’ have become increasingly prominent in Northern Ireland. This paper investigates the difficulty, the ‘awkwardness’, of multiculturalism and anti-racism as models for negotiating these emerging differences in a society historically grounded in sectarian division. It is argued that multicultural practices, which offer opportunities for the recognition of diverse groups and identities, remain structured by on-going sectarian division in the wider society. Texts produced by anti-racist groups in West Belfast show how racialized ‘Others’ are often incorporated within dominant sectarian narratives. Despite this awkwardness, cultural diversity is fundamentally changing Northern Irish society and helping to denaturalise practices grounded in, and reproductive of sectarianism. In conclusion, it is suggested that Northern Ireland needs an inclusive, polyvocal anti-racism which connects all forms of discrimination, including racism and sectarianism.     

Localism,signification, imagination: de-stabilizing sectarian identities in two fictionalized accounts of ‘Troubles’ Belfast

This paper is a critical discussion and interpretation of literary representations of the city of Belfast with a particular concern with and focus on sectarian forms of nationalism and place-based identity. It identifies various constructs of place particular to the city as articulated by Eoin McNamee's Resurrection Man and Mary Costello's Titanic Town, two ‘fictionalized’ accounts of 1970s Belfast written and published in the 1990s. A ‘dialogical’ methodology is deployed in order to engage with these texts and to challenge and reinterpret various enduring and problematic narratives of sectarian spatiality. The social and geographical identity formations articulated, reflected and constructed therein are, I suggest, variously uncritical and disconnected. Sectarianism in particular can be seen as an empty discourse of signs. Its social and geographical consequences, however, are ‘real’ and measurable; the discursive and the material operating seamlessly as one socially effective and self-reproducing process. The paper argues then, that such forms of entrenched partisan localism are sterile, subjective and contingent, and that the resulting social division is simultaneously ‘real’ and ‘imagined’.

Le localisme, la signification, l'imagination: déstabiliser les identités sectaires dans deux récits fictifs des «Troubles» de Belfast

Irlande du Nord, représentation littéraire, sectarisme, lieu, identité

Cet article est une discussion critique et une interprétation de représentations littéraires de la ville de Belfast qui porte et met d'avantage l'accent sur les formes sectaires relatives au nationalisme et à l'identité propre au lieu. Un nombre de concepts relatifs au lieu urbain qui trouvent leur expression dans Resurrection Man de Eoin McNamee et Titanic Town de Mary Costello sont identifiées. Il s'agit de récits «fictifs» sur le Belfast des années 1970, rédigés et publiés dans les années 1990. La méthode «dialogique» est utilisée afin d'attirer l'attention sur ses textes et de mettre en cause et réinterpréter les divers récits immuables et problématiques entourant la spatialité sectaire. Je propose que les formations identitaires sociales et géographiques qui s'y manifestent, trouvent leur expression et qui sont élaborées manquent de discernement et sont coupées de la réalité. Le sectarisme peut en soi être perçu comme un discours creux sous forme de signes. Les effets d'ordre social et géographique sont toutefois «réels» et mesurables; les éléments discursifs et les matériaux interviennent uniformément dans un processus socialement efficace et se reproduisant par lui-même. Le présent article soutient par ailleurs que de telles formes de localisme à outrance et teinté de partisanerie sont stériles, subjectives et contingentes et que la division sociale qui en découle et à la fois «vraie» et «imaginée».

Localismo, significación, imaginación: la desestabilización de identidades sectarias en dos relatos ficcionalizados de los ‘Problemas’ en Belfast

Irlanda del Norte, representación literaria, sectarismo, lugar, identidad

Este papel es un discurso crítico e interpretación crítica de representaciones literarias de la ciudad de Belfast que se centra, en particular, en las formas sectarias de nacionalismo e identidad con base en un lugar. Identifica varios constructos de lugar que son particulares de la ciudad, articulados por Eoin McNamee en ‘Resurrection Man’ y Mary Costello en ‘Titanic Town’; dos relatos ‘ficcionalizados’ de la ciudad de Belfast en los años 70, escritos y publicados en los años 90. Usamos una metodología ‘dialógica’ para estudiar estos textos y para desafiar y reinterpretar varias narrativas duraderas y problemáticas de la espacialidad sectaria. Sugiero que las formaciones de identidad sociales y geográficas que se ve articuladas, reflejadas y construidas en ellas no son críticas y son desconectadas. El sectarismo, en particular, puede ser interpretado como un discurso de signos vacío. Sin embargo, sus consecuencias son ‘verdaderas’ y medibles; lo discursivo y la material funcionan perfectamente como un sólo proceso que resulta socialmente efectivo y que se reproduce a sí mismo. El papel entonces sugiere que estas formas de localismo partidista son estériles, subjetivas y contingentes, y que las divisiones sociales que resultan de ellas son simultaneamente ‘verdaderas’ e ‘imaginadas’.     

Constructing a shared public identity in ethno nationally divided societies: comparing consociational and transformationist perspectives

ABSTRACT. In order to bolster sustainable peace building in violently divided societies, a normative suggestion is that efforts should be made to construct a shared public identity that overarches ethnic divisions. A number of different centripetal/transformationist processes are identified as engineering a shared identity in comparison to consociational arrangements, which are accused of institutionalising ethnic differences and perpetuating conflict. These transformationist approaches essentially rest on the premise that because ethnicity is constructed it can be reconstructed into new, shared forms. Looking at Northern Ireland, we argue that there are limits to the extent that ethnicity can be reconstructed into shared identities. By analysing consociational and centripetalist/transformationist approaches to division, we conclude that although consociationalism will probably not deliver a common identity, it does provide a robust form of conflict regulation.     

Commemorating a Rural African-American Family at a National Battlefield Park

The Robinson House site is situated within the Manassas National Battlefield Park in northern Virginia. The original Robinson House was constructed in the 1840s and was occupied until 1936 by the same free African-American family. The National Park Service recognizes and interprets the Robinson House since it was part of the Civil War battlefield landscape during the First and Second Battles of Manassas. The original house went through a series of structural additions and alterations in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The house stood until 1993 when arsonists burned it, causing 60% damage to the structure. Today, the east chimney and the stone foundations remain. Amidst the many Civil War monuments at the battlefield park the interpretation of a century of occupation by the Robinson family through the remaining foundations adds meaning and depth to the area's local history. The Robinson House remains symbolize an African-American family's way of life as well as their struggle to survive during Reconstruction and the Jim Crow era. The foundations and site are a steadfast symbol of African-American cultural persistence that has prevailed for over 100 years on a battlefield landscape.