A ‘European Migrant Crisis’? Some Thoughts on Mediterranean Borders

By Annalisa Lendaro

Volume 16, Issue 1, pages 148-157

Abstract

This paper addresses the ongoing ‘European Migrant Crisis’ by, first, discussing the return of internal borders within the European Union as zones for controlling and sorting migrants, and then both internal and external borders as areas in which policing and national policy choices deeply challenge international law, which was designed to protect all human beings regardless of their country of departure. The primary argument developed here is that some EU countries neglect to abide by the European and international regulations on migration, asylum seekers, and human rights, with unprecedented consequences. Border policies are presented here as paradoxical governmental tools, which are not applied equally and uniformly. The main consequence is the growing gap between rights guaranteed under the law and their selective application within a border management where the state of exception is increasingly visible.

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The Case of the Sri Lankan Tamil Diaspora and Homeland: A Shared Ethnic Identity?

By Kalyani Thurairajah

Volume 17, Issue 1, pages 115-132

Abstract

The conceptualization of an ethnic identity is complicated when one considers how this identity is understood by the diasporic community and by the homeland community. This article argues that the second-generation Sri Lankan Tamil diasporic community in Toronto conceptualize their Tamil ethnic identity in a manner that supports their right to engage in homeland politics. However, not all Tamils in Sri Lanka share this understanding. Drawing on over one hundred interviews conducted among second-generation Tamils in Toronto and their age-cohort in Sri Lanka, this article argues that the very premise upon which the diasporic population base their right to engage in homeland politics and their right to claim membership of a shared ethnic identity may not be justified by those in the homeland. These diverging perspectives of ethnic identity challenge the role of the diasporic community in homeland affairs.

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The Identity Construction of Nationally Mixed People: The Impact of Parental Transmission and Socialization Outside the Family

By Anne Unterreiner

Volume 17, Issue 1, pages 25-43

Abstract

A nationally mixed person, defined as an individual whose parents were born in different countries, may have plural socialization and identify with different nations. Studying this population allows us thus to investigate the process of national identification. From ninety-seven qualitative interviews of mixed people living in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, we learn that parental transmission and socialization outside the family interact in the production of the national identification of mixed people. The intermingling of these dimensions leads the national identity of mixed people to turn towards four identity poles: a rooted identity, a mixed identity based on heritage, a foreigner identity, or an identity other than national. Analysing national self-identification through identity poles has important theoretical implications. First, it shows that national belonging is characterized by fluidity and plurality throughout the entire life course of the respondents. Second, the definition of these different poles of identification highlights the determinants of national self-identification.

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Reconfigurations in the Discourse of Nationalism and National Identity: Turkey at the Turn of the Twenty-first Century

By Tuba Kanci

Volume 9, Issue 3, pages 359-376

Abstract

Throughout recent decades, the processes of globalisation and Europeanisation have been influential in Turkey, bringing various changes to the economic, cultural and political spheres. Within the context of these processes, this article analyses the changes and continuities in the discourse of nationalism and national identity in Turkey through their reflections on school textbooks and curricula. On the one hand, the globalisation process has brought calls for democratisation, as well as citizenship and identity claims, from the societal actors in Turkey. On the other hand, it has given rise to concerns about preserving the status quo, which have then been channelled into the language of nationalism. The Europeanisation process has also fed these projects and discourses. Its effects, in moments of close interrelations between Turkey and the European Union, have consisted of bringing positive reinforcements for the decoupling of security concerns and nationalism, the formation of a new and democratic understanding of citizenship and the realisation of ambitions for democratisation in Turkey; however, in other times, backlashes have occurred.

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Elite Strategies in a Global World: A Typology of Polish Patriots

By Joanna Kaftan

Volume 11, Issue 2, pages 194-213

Abstract

This study focuses on how Polish elites view the relationship between Polish identity and Poland’s place in the world. Samples of priests, politicians, and intellectuals were interviewed in 1999 and 2009. A typology of four ideal types is proposed: ideological nationals, pragmatic nationals, pragmatic transnationals, and ideological transnationals. This typology can be viewed as a continuum of elite emphasis ranging between national and transnational themes. This continuum of emphasis can be seen when examining elite responses to questions concerning NATO membership, EU membership, Polish identity, and Polish democracy. This study finds that while the majority of Polish priests and politicians wished to emphasise national over transnational themes, intellectuals stressed transnational themes. Nevertheless, most acknowledged the inseparable nature of these themes when they talked about the contemporary Polish nation.

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