Featured weekly article: Ethnicity of Fear? Islamic Migration and the Ethnicization of Islam in Europe

Ethnicity of Fear? Islamic Migration and the Ethnicization of Islam in Europe

Bassam Tibi

Volume 10, Issue 1, pages 126-157, April 2010

 

Abstract

This feature article acknowledges the fact that neither Islam, understood as the umma community, nor the modern civic European nations, are ethnic identities. Why then are both related to the notion of ‘ethnicity’ in the present article? Why does the analysis of the Muslim diaspora in Europe prompt an alert of an ‘ethnicity of fear’? In order to answer these questions the analysis departs from the supposition of an ongoing ethnicization process that results in an ethnic conflict. The question and the supposition furnish the subject matter of the present study.

 

Read the full article here.

Featured weekly article: Boundaries in Shaping the Rohingya Identity and the Shifting Context of Borderland Politics

Boundaries in Shaping the Rohingya Identity and the Shifting Context of Borderland Politics

Kazi Fahmida Farzana

Volume 15, Issue 2, pages 292-314, October 2015

 

Abstract

In recent years, new waves of ethnic violence in the Arakan (Rakhine) state of Burma (Myanmar) have resulted in increased internal displacement and the continued exodus of the Rohingya people to neighbouring countries. At the heart of this problem is the fact that Burma (which the Rohingyas claim as their ancestral land) and Bangladesh (where many Rohingyas are unwelcome and/or undocumented refugees) continue to deny the Rohingyas their political identity, each insisting that the displaced Rohingyas are the responsibility of the other. This study examines the history of the region to explore how political identities are shaped (generally) and how Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, living along the borders, identify themselves in the midst of political sovereignty claims and a social space that exists across artificially drawn borders (specifically). This article argues that the true political identity of the displaced Rohingya refugees can be located in their social memory and their life-politics in the borderlands. In this social memory, the Rohingyas’ beliefs in ethnicity, identity, and belongingness play an important role in shaping their current identity. Their production of cultural artefacts while in exile suggests a non-conventional resistance, and the close proximity of the refugees to their homeland creates a completely different psychology of attachment and alienation, which needs further attention in refugee studies. Such an understanding of life-politics along the border may challenge our current understanding of borderland conflicts within the framework of state-imposed boundaries. The boundaries of identity may go beyond traditional notions of national borders and the identity of the state.

Read the full article here.

Featured weekly article: Contesting Ethnicity: Emerging Regional Identity in Vojvodina

Contesting Ethnicity: Emerging Regional Identity in Vojvodina

Mila Dragojević

Volume 8, Issue 2, pages 290-316, September 2008

 

Abstract

This case study of the northern Serbian Province of Vojvodina explores the basis of regional shared group understandings in the absence of ethnic difference between the majority in the region and the center. It addresses the question of whether there is an emerging regional identity in Vojvodina within the political elite discourse at the time of the passage of the Omnibus Law in 2002, which devolved part of autonomy that the Province had lost following the 1991 Constitution. The method of content analysis was employed to uncover the collective sense of social purpose (i.e. desire for greater autonomy) and the shared views toward groups perceived as ‘others’. The findings show that the principal supporters of autonomy are the center-based civic-oriented parties, as well as the regional parties. On the other hand, the opposition to autonomy comes from the center-based nationalist parties.

 

Read the full article here: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1754-9469.2008.00016.x/abstract.

Call for Applications: Book Reviews Editor

Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism (SEN) is a fully peer-reviewed journal, published by Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of the Association of Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism (ASEN). SEN publishes three issues per year on the themes of ethnicity, nationalism and identity, and encourages innovative submissions from a broad range of disciplines and regions with particular attention to up-and-coming scholars, postdoctoral fellows and graduate students working in the field.
SEN is currently looking for two new book reviews editors to join our book reviews team. Your responsibilities will include the soliciting, organizing and editing of book reviews and general office support.
Applicants should have excellent time management skills (including the ability to work to deadlines and respond to e-mails on a timely basis) and a commitment to the themes of the journal. A background in academic writing and research is desirable but we are also happy to consider those with non-academic backgrounds. Applicants must be able to commit at least two years when assuming the position. Applications from PhD students that reside in London and can easily reach our premises at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) are particularly welcome.
These positions are unpaid but represent an invaluable opportunity for PhD candidates and anyone looking to have a career in publishing or journalism or who is simply interested in learning more about the interdisciplinary field of nationalism and ethnicity. Typically, these positions do not require more than 4-5  hours per week although this may vary somewhat depending on the stage in the publication cycle.
For further information on the role, please email our Book Review Editor Filippo Menga at filippo.menga@manchester.ac.uk. To apply, please email a letter of interest and your CV to the Editors: Dina Mansour-Ille (dmansour@aucegypt.edu) or Anastasia Voronkova (a.voronkova@lse.ac.uk) by 31 March 2016.
For queries or further information on SEN’s publications and activities, please refer to the SEN websites: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/%28ISSN%291754-9469 and http://senjournal.co.uk/ or contact the Editors.

Call for papers: Beyond Nationalism: Clashing Identities between Islamism and Authoritarianism in the Post-Arab Spring

Following what was once hailed as an Arab ‘Spring’ or ‘Arab Awakening’, the Arab region has been plagued with violence, socio-political clashes and rising poverty. From a brutal civil war in Libya, Syria and Iraq to a clash between Islamist groups and the military in Egypt and rise of the so-called jihadist group IS (Islamic State), events in the region remain fluid and unpredictable. What is prevalent, however, is a conflict over identity, religion and social boundaries in the post-Arab Spring.

Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism (SEN) would like to invite contributions to a panel at the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) conference taking place on November 17-20, 2016, in Boston. Accepted participants will be invited to submit their full articles for consideration for a special issue on the SEN-MESA panel. Submissions should tackle questions related to emerging identities and social boundaries in the post-Arab Spring. What were the key events, discourses, ideologies, and (re)allocations of power rooted in the Arab Spring that encouraged the establishment of some social boundaries over others? Possible topics include but are not restricted to the following:

  • Social and political conflicts over identity in the Arab region following the Arab ‘Spring’.
  • Existing and potential conflicts over religion between secularism, political and militant Islam, including the rise of militant groups such as ISIS.
  • Human rights, particularly of minority groups, in the region following the Arab ‘Spring’.
  • Where does the question of nationalism in the Arab region stand today.
  • The relationship between identity politics and socio-economic policies following the Arab ‘Spring’.

Panel organizers welcome submissions of work in progress as well as contributions from established scholars, research students, post-doctoral fellows and lecturers in the early stages of their career. We invite scholars to submit an abstract between 250-500 words on the topic for consideration. If accepted, authors will be asked to edit their abstracts according to the submission guidelines of MESA for a collective panel submission before February 16, 2016.

 

Deadline for submission: February 09, 2016

 

Please send an abstract and a short bio (not exceeding 200 words) to dmansour@aucegypt.edu for consideration. Authors will be notified on the status of their submission on February 12, 2016.