Food as a Cultural Practice among the Mapuche in Santiago de Chile

This article highlights the role of food as an essential tool for immigrant Mapuche families to reinforce their ethnic identity and pass it on to the younger generations in Santiago de Chile. Food and food-related practices were a topic that many Mapuche referred to when they were invited to talk about their culture and life in Santiago; this simultaneously revealed their relation to ‘others’ (Chileans) and their connectedness to their ancestral lands in the Araucania region in the south. Staying attuned and connected to the south through Mapuche food strengthens feelings of cultural continuity and belonging, such that Mapuche ethnic identity does not surrender to the city, but rather is re-created in a new environment.     

Articulating minority nationhood: cultural and political dimensions in Québec's reasonable accommodation debate

Given their precarious position within larger states, national minorities cannot rely on federal governments to affirm their nationhood. Moreover, insofar as nationhood is predicated on a shared history, language and culture, immigrants place additional strains on the maintenance of national distinctiveness and the political claims that derive from it. In 2006–2007, following a series of confrontations over religious practices in the public sphere, Québec's provincial government appointed the Bouchard–Taylor Commission to investigate avenues for the accommodation of immigrant‐related cultural and religious differences. While it failed to generate policy, the commission did provide a discursive space for the (re)assertion of Québécois nationhood. Analysing the production of national identity in newspaper debates of the Bouchard–Taylor report, we offer an alternative to the ethnic–civic paradigm in nationalism theory. Rather than treat ethnic and civic as two separate ends of a single continuum, we conceptualise a relationship between two dimensions: one of culture and one of politics. We show that in contemporary articulations of Québec national identity, the prerequisites of political membership derive their meaning from a productive tension between blood‐based and adoptive conceptions of national culture.     

Immigrant businesses,place-making,and community development: a case from an emerging immigrant gateway

Immigrant businesses have become an increasingly important component in the US economy. However, very few studies have systematically examined the role of immigrant businesses in community development, except for some cases in established immigrant gateways such as New York and Miami. In this study, we explore how immigrant businesses are shaping physical, cultural, social, economic, and political landscapes in their local communities in the emerging immigrant gateway of Charlotte, North Carolina. Focusing on the case of a multiethnic retail corridor, we find that, as active place-makers, immigrant businesses have transformed deteriorating and abandoned street fronts into vibrant and well-frequented urban environments conducive for further development. Through a systematic approach to understanding the place-making process of immigrant businesses, findings from this study call for more in-depth integration of immigrant and ethnic economies in local policies and planning strategies for neighborhood revitalization. These findings are particularly pertinent in the context of the continuous ethnic diversification of our neighborhoods and cities.     

跨境流动背景下族裔社区研究进展及启示

随着全球化的不断推进,跨境流动成为一种常见的地理空间现象,塑造着城市空间和景观,同时作用于族裔社区及族裔经济等,由此带来的多元文化协商进而成为城市发展和城市治理的重要话题。本文通过梳理国内外关于跨境流动和跨国族裔社区的相关研究,发现:(1)国内外关于移民族裔的人文地理学研究仍较倾向于关注跨国空间的特征、演变以及脉络;(2)西方人文地理学界的移民或是跨国族裔研究已展现出较为鲜明的"文化转向"印迹,而国内的相关研究仍处于起步阶段;(3)中国城市族裔空间的研究仍以具体的描述性和解释性研究居多,多尺度、多地方的对比研究较为缺乏。研究立足于国内外移民研究进展,以期更多的跨境流动研究为城市综合治理提出"中国经验"。     

美国加州圣地亚哥华人专业技术新移民的跨国认同调查与研究——移民跨国认同的个案分析

论文以美国加州圣地亚哥中国大陆的专业技术新移民为个案,通过问卷形式,从双语能力、认同类型、文化保持与文化适应、跨国活动和跨国倾向等方面对受访的华人群体进行了调查。通过对调查结果的梳理分析,得出三点结论:一是大部分受访者具有较强的中英双语能力,这既是其高度融入美国主流社会的基础,也是其较强文化适应程度的表现;二是在受访的华人群体中,规律性、经常性的跨国活动并不明显,但其跨国认同度较高;三是在受访的华人群体中,跨国认同是一个多层次、多类型的结合体,它既包括以中国人的族裔认同为主、美国人的国家认同为次的双重认同,也包括混杂性的中美双文化认同。     

“六日战争”对美国犹太人族群认同的影响

20世纪60年代,"大屠杀"话语的传播引发了美国犹太人对族群命运的担忧。在"六日战争"前,面对阿拉伯国家的反犹宣传及其对以色列的重重围困,美国犹太人担心"再次大屠杀"会发生,从而促使美国犹太人对以色列的生存产生深度忧虑。美国犹太社团逐渐把维护以色列的特殊利益和争取美国社会对以色列的同情与支持,作为游说活动的主要目标。美国犹太游说组织通过舆论引导、公开呼吁、经济动员等方式积极进行游说。"六日战争"后,美国与以色列之间的特殊关系迅速发展。美国犹太人的民族自信心和自豪感显著提升,并自觉地将以色列与自身的命运紧密相连。他们在归属意愿、宗教情感、对以色列的文化兴趣、青年群体族群意识等层面表达对以色列的认同,以色列在美国犹太人族群认同中发挥的作用凸显。     

The texted and textured construction of Irish identity in the theatrical world of Charleston,South Carolina

On the eve of the American Civil War, the Irish who had immigrated to the United States as a result of the Great Famine were in the process of constructing an Irish working-class identity in Charleston, South Carolina. A “legacy” for such construction had been created in the previous century: those who had come from Ireland then had used public displays of celebration and concomitant rhetorical devices to create the impression that they were willing and eager to assimilate. Their rituals at banquets and other public occasions “set the stage”, so to speak, for the next century's generation of immigrant Irish who also found it necessary to articulate publicly their claim to an ethnic American identity. Theatrical venues and staged performances served the Famine Irish well in this endeavour.     

The weird tales,spicy detectives,and startling stories of Irish-America: Irish characters in American pulp magazines

The pulp magazines that dominated early twentieth-century American popular culture helped shape popular understandings of Irish-American identity. Several notable types of pulp hero (cowboy, detective, G-Man, masked hero) were defined in part by Irish stereotypes and counter-stereotypes. They played upon notions of the Irish as figures straddling the border between civilisation and savagery to evoke an image of a new kind of American who was well equipped for the rapidly changing and chaotic American century. Irish-American pulp stories often lack explicitly Irish cultural or historical references and instead focus on describing Irishness as a more generic Americanness. Similarly, the Irish-American character moved further from ethnic stereotype to become a generic masculine ideal. In several ways, the pulp magazines chronicle the formation of an assimilated Irish identity in the USA.     

Heritage and ethnic identity: preserving Chinese cemeteries in the United States

This paper critically examines the role of ethnic community in the process of heritage management and preservation. Drawing on two heritage projects dedicated to historic Chinese American cemeteries – the nineteenth-century Chinese Memorial Shrine in Los Angeles, California and Concordia Chinese Cemetery located in El Paso, Texas – this study examines how heritage serves as a central referent in constructing a collective identity that gives continuity and political unity to an ethnic community. Heritage preservation, as a practice connecting the past and present, provides us with insight not only into the historic meanings attached to heritage, but also the contemporary values and ideologies of communities with regard to their efforts in interpreting the past. This paper highlights the relationship between identity politics and heritage, suggesting that heritage becomes a vital means of identity formation which helps articulate cultural traditions in the face of a dominant national culture that essentialises ethnic pasts.     

What can and cannot be willed: how politicians talk about national identity and immigrants

The ethnic‐civic framework remains widely used in nationalism research. However, in the context of European immigrant integration politics, where almost all ‘nation talk’ is occurring in civic and liberal registers, the framework has a hard time identifying how conceptions of national identity brought forth in political debate differ in their exclusionary potential. This leads some to the conclusion that national identity is losing explanatory power. Building on the insights of Oliver Zimmer, I argue that we may find a different picture if we treat cultural content and logic of boundary construction – two parameters conflated in the ethnic‐civic framework – as two distinct analytical levels. The framework I propose focuses on an individual and collective dimension of logic of boundary construction that together constitute the inclusionary/exclusionary core of national identity. The framework is tested on the political debate on immigrant integration in Denmark and Norway in selected years. Indeed, the framework enables us to move beyond the widespread idea that Danish politicians subscribe to an ethnic conception of the nation, while Norwegian political thought is somewhere in between an ethnic and civic conception. The true difference is that Danish politicians, unlike their Norwegian counterparts, do not acknowledge the collective self‐understanding as an object of political action.     

A Review of “The Line Through the Heart: Natural Law as Fact,Theory, and Sign of Contradiction”

Abstract

Responding to Samuel Huntington's argument in Who Are We? The Challenges to America's National Identity, this article explores the problematic character of American national identity. While Huntington presents himself as trying to conserve a traditional American identity based on both political creed and Anglo-Protestant culture, I contend that America's founding political theory and its philosophic sources are ambiguous on the question of culture and national identity. The Declaration of Independence and the social contract theories that helped inform it seem to invite a kind of cosmopolitan commitment to a creedal identity while at the same time leaving open the possibility of a more exclusive cultural identity. In the end, this ambiguity works to undermine a public sense that the political order should try to conserve a particular culture, a tendency that is furthered by a democratic regime's natural inclinations toward universalism and egalitarianism. It seems, then, that the problem of the preservation of American cultural identity is rooted in the very culture that Huntington wishes to preserve.     

美籍华裔杰出科技人才成才机制研究*A

论文从创造教育学视角就美籍华裔杰出科技人才成才机制进行了分析探讨,认为世界上有2000多个民族、五大文化圈和众多的亚文化圈,不同民族和文化圈的科技发展水平差异甚大,杰出科技人才在不同民族和文化圈中所占比例亦有重大差距。即使在同一文化圈中,不同民族的科技发展水平和杰出科技人才所占比例差距也不小,而同一民族在不同文化圈中也有不同表现。美籍华裔科技人才是直接或间接受东亚文化圈影响的杰出华人科技人才,他们的成才机制必然有科技人才成才的共性逻辑,但也与其种族和文化有些许相关。美籍华裔科技人才成才机制受社会文化和个体素质内外因素的相互影响,一流科学家群落是美籍华裔科技人才成才的适宜组织环境;文化基因匹配是科技人才成才的精神土壤;优秀天赋是科技人才成才的物质基础;创新素质是科技人才成才的内在动力。     

Not just civic or ethnic,but mostly cultural: Conceptions of national identity and opinions about immigration in Quebec

It is well documented that individuals' conceptions of national identity influence their opinions about immigration. The most well-known ideal types to capture conceptions of national identity are the civic and ethnic conceptions. Yet, this dichotomy does not reflect contemporary debates about immigration, which are framed in cultural terms. Scholars have thus proposed a cultural conception of national identity. The relationship between this conception and immigration, however, remains contested. Using an innovative approach to studying public opinion, this research analyses qualitative interviews conducted with individuals from the general public to investigate how each conception of national identity influences opinions about immigration in the context of Quebec, Canada. It shows that the cultural conception of national identity is related to both positive and negative opinions about immigration. This is explained by an evaluation mechanism whereby individuals evaluate if immigrants are included or excluded from the national group based on their (non)conformity to specific markers of identity. This evaluation is subjective and is often informed and substantiated by mediatised information about immigration-related issues.     

城市少数民族社区地方认同的消解与重构

在城市空间生产与再生产过程中,城市少数民族社区空间形态及功能的重大改变,需通过地方重构以维系少数民族地方特色及文化传承。开封善义堂回族社区案例研究发现,城市少数民族社区的地方形成以及地方认同建构,依赖于自身独特的居住环境及文化传统。少数民族社区由聚居转变为散居的地方变迁,对居民的地方感知及地方归属感具有重要影响。集中代表地方意义的独特空间,有助于地方及认同的重构。城市少数民族社区中被赋予特殊意义的空间,对地方的建构及文化的传承具有关键作用。     

Deterritorialising the nation? Internet and the politics of the Greek‐American diaspora

In this article, analysis focuses on the websites of Greek‐American diaspora organisations. The aim is to study these media outlets on two levels: (1) with regard to their communication function(s), in order to understand the spectrum of usages they offer to their visitors; and (2) with regard to the way they signify identity specificity at the crossroads of a parallel ethnic or national adherence. The low interactivity constitutes one of the general features of the media analysed. The persistence of the nation as the framework to apprehend collective belonging and the interaction with the ‘other’ is another recurrent and important element. The ‘identity specificity’ of the Greek diaspora community is not presented in articulation to the host society, but in terms of a continuous attachment to a ‘mother‐nation’, as a historic and cultural entity. The nationhood claimed and promoted in this manner is ethnic and cultural, and it espouses the form of an ecumenical and transcendent Hellenism.     

THE MEANING OF CULTURAL FESTIVALS

Cultural festivals and events are increasingly becoming arenas of discourse enabling people to express their views on wider cultural, social and political issues. Often the debates polarise into those advocating change and those wishing to preserve “traditional” or “local” culture in the face of modernisation and globalisation. This article analyses the discourse on cultural festivals from the perspective of stakeholders involved in traditional and popular culture events in Catalunya. There is generally a high level of agreement about the aims of cultural events and the cultural content that is appropriate for them. In particular, the importance of cultural events in underpinning Catalan identity is seen as being important. However, stakeholders tend to differ more in the meanings attached to concepts such as identity, with policy makers exhibiting a greater emphasis on economic and political issues, whereas cultural producers are more concerned with social aspects of identity. However, the general consensus on the social role of cultural events between the different stakeholders may be one explanation for the relatively vibrant festival culture in Catalunya.     

Diverse unity: creole contributions to interethnic integration in Guinea‐Bissau

The paper explores how creole categories of people who have constituted a small but influential minority in Guinea‐Bissau for centuries contributed to a countrywide, integrated national culture since the eve of independence in 1974. Since independence, several cultural representations previously exclusive to creole communities have been – driven by the nationalist independence movement and the early postcolonial state – transformed into representations of a new national culture, crossing ethnic and religious boundaries. The fact that creole identity and culture had been transethnic – i.e. creole identity brings together individuals of heterogeneous cultural, ethnic and geographic descent – during the colonial period, has fostered in postcolonial times the countrywide spread of previously exclusively creole cultural features. I argue that this ‘transethnicisation’ of creole cultural representations has unified Bissau‐Guineans across ethnic lines, causing a strong commitment with their nation ‘from below’.     

Culture,emotional transnationalism and mental distress: family relations and well-being among Taiwanese immigrant women

Immigrant women's vulnerability to mental distress has been recognized in the literature and yet the socio-cultural causes of their distress have rarely been explored. On the basis of a case study of Taiwanese immigrants residing in Chicago, this article illustrates the dynamic contexts within which Taiwanese immigrant women's distress is produced at home and explains the social and cultural factors that engender the women's distress. In this article I argue that Taiwanese immigrant women frequently shift back and forth between Taiwanese and American cultural norms in an effort to apply effective behavioral guidance and justifications to interactions with their spouses, children and in-laws. The term ‘emotional transnationalism’ is used to describe the psychological experience associated with transnational cultural practices. Distress is often generated as these women struggle with feelings of ambivalence and contradictions that confront them in their search for cultural identities. The severity of distress is largely determined by the power hierarchies between women and those with whom they interact. Married women's status as subordinate to their in-laws creates more negative experiences than any other status.     

HISTORICAL PRESERVATION AND IDENTITY: THE ALAMO AND THE PRODUCTION OF A CONSUMER LANDSCAPE

Historical preservation often reveals more about contemporary culture than about history. The Alamo in San Antonio, Texas, is just such a case. No other large US city is so dominated by a single historical event, and the Alamo plays a central role as a cultural icon for regional Anglo identity, a symbol of the Anglo-dominated social hierarchy. Its preservation and restoration have coincided with modern identity formation contextualized by commodities. Thus, a critical part of this project is the development of a consumer landscape as an economic extension of the Alamo that promotes consumption by harmonizing with prevailing Anglo conceptions of ethnic identities; not simply a strategically located commercial zone, but an integral part of the pilgrimage to the monument, providing a mechanism for socialization, including "racialization", contextualized by commodities.     

Myths of descent: Views of the remote past,as reflected in school textbooks in contemporary Russia

Abstract

A view of the past has proved to be a valuable aspect of ethnic identity in the contemporary world. It also plays a crucial role in contemporary struggles for political, financial, territorial and cultural resources. This struggle is especially intense in unstable political environments, as various ethnic elites compete to upgrade their political status and to gain desirable benefits. In the post-Soviet world, where ethnicity is still highly politicised, myths of the remote past and glorious ancestors are often forged and disseminated as important aspects of ethno-nationalist ideologies. Instead of appreciating cultural diversity, this trend introduces new models of social division, dominance and discrimination legitimised by a ‘distinct culture’ and ‘cultural roots’. An image of the enemy is an integral element of the ideologies in question, which have explicit or implicit xenophobic connotations. The place of this type of myth and ideology in the contemporary Russian education system is analysed here.