Around the Bloc: Gay and Lesbian Partnerships in the Czech Republic Can Now Adopt
The Czech Constitutional Court has ruled that individuals in same-sex partnerships can now adopt, although not as a couple.
More...We kindly inform you that, as long as the subject affiliation of our 300.000+ articles is in progress, you might get unsufficient or no results on your third level or second level search. In this case, please broaden your search criteria.
The Czech Constitutional Court has ruled that individuals in same-sex partnerships can now adopt, although not as a couple.
More...
‘How do you Say “Stop that!” in Slovakian’: A8 Immigration and Scotland’s Race and Ethnic Diversity Narrative. In 2004 8 Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries (Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia) joined the EU in an expansion popularly known as the Accession, or A8. As part of this arrangement the Slovakian Roma community settled in Govanhill, a neighborhood in the South-Side of Glasgow, Scotland. Immediately, there was widespread outcry, followed by public debate, on the numbers involved and the impact on local services. One of the claims made was that, because of a ‘unique’ history of ‘self-isolation’, the Roma had altered local policing needs. There were widespread media anecdotes of anti-social behavior but also racist victimization. Using material available post-A8 Govanhill, this synthesizes the debate on Roma settlement against the wider canvass of Scottish reception and assimilation of immigrants. I claim that post-A8 phobia of the Roma is part of an unsustainable ideology of Scotland as a post-racial ‘welcoming country’ which has occluded a nuanced interrogation of the capacity of the country to welcome and successfully integrate immigrants.
More...
Ethnic relations and ethnic conflicts influence the stability and security of many states and regions in the world to a great extent. They influence the image of the current international system and therefore it is very important to discuss the following: how to ensure and implement individual and collective rights of ethnic minorities and, by doing so, accomplish the security for every state? In their efforts to find the answer to this question, institutions of international community are beginning to realize that the rights of ethnic minorities have become a very important segment of human rights, and as such, a prerequsit for security and stability of many states and regions in the world. The issue of ethnic relations and their influence on security is especially important in the context of Western Balkans. States of this region, which is burdened with troubled past and ethnic conflicts, in order to achieve security and stability, have to pay greater attention to the regulation of ethnic relations within their societies and between each other. Achieving full integration within the EU is in the function of accomplishing this goal. Indeed, the desire to join the integration processes, especially with the EU, has encuoraged the regulatiWestern Balkans; national minorities; ethnic relations; ethnicon of ethnic relations, which resulted in more thorough normative framework and better implementation of minority rights.
More...
Republic of Macedonia is an entity described as cultural mosaic, with strong multiethnic and multi-confessional basis, it is a point where East and West meet, it is well-known for the system of Macedonian salad. But, this society even after 25 year of social transition and 2001 Ohrid Agreement did not achieve to find the way of conclusive peace, stability and social eudemonia. The diversity is issue that from time to time produces turbulences, especially at the line of two main identity groups Macedonians-Christian Orthodox and Albanians-Muslim community. Quantitative data in this study were obtained on a sample of 219 young adults from Skopje (95 of Macedonian and 17 of Albanian ethnicity) and Tetovo (76 of Albanian and 31 of Macedonian ethnicity), aged from 18 to 35 years (M = 24.85, SD = 3.2). Main research question is that if there exist differences between young Macedonians and Albanians in their ethnic, religious and national identity? The objective of this paper is to give a scientific picture how categories as gender, marriage, family, ethnicity, religion, living place, Balkan, Europe are perceived by the youth, all this in favour of using them in producing affirmative actions, more productive societal policies and constructive society-building. Multiple social identities: their complexity and inclusiveness, the correlation of identity variables with SII and SIC are among issues analyzed in this paper. National dominance was more frequent among Macedonians. Our findings demonstrate that Albanian participants expressed strong social identity, as Albanians and as being Muslims. Only social identity inclusiveness is significantly related to societal and political attitudes, but ethnicity should be taken into consideration when this relationship is explored.
More...
In the Ottoman province of Serbia (initially the Belgrade Pashalik), the Roma had the same legal status as elsewhere in the Empire: they paid a special, Gypsy poll tax (Gypsy cizye; in Serbian: ciganski harač) and were subject to the personal jurisdiction of the Gypsy poll tax collector (Gypsy cizyedar; ciganski haračlija). After a successful uprising in 1815, the Serbs acquired a degree of autonomy, gradually broadened and formalized through a series of sultanic decrees, to culminate in a Constitution granted to Serbia by the Sultan in 1838. The Serbs progressively expanded their jurisdiction at the expense of the Ottoman authorities in every respect, including the powers over the Roma. Starting in 1818, the Serbian Prince began to collect the Gypsy tax in the name and on behalf of the Ottoman authorities; in 1826, he leased it from them, and by 1830 it was included in the lump annual tribute paid by Serbia to the Porte. The Ottomans thereby lost all jurisdiction over the Roma, excepting a small number of those employed as servants in the Turkish garrisons. Although Serbian authorities otherwise consistently endeavoured to replace the inherited Ottoman laws and customs with legislation modelled on that of West European Christian states, in respect to the Roma no attempt was made to alter the Ottoman system of special jurisdiction and taxation. In fact, the first changes in this system were consistent with the contemporary reforms proclaimed by the Porte: those nomadic Roma who wished to settle were to be given free land and to pay ordinary taxes. The same policy was proclaimed in Serbia in 1839, when the already sedentary Roma were entered into general tax registers, but no success was achieved in settling the nomads (a majority were eventually settled in the decade between mid-1860s and mid-1870s). The Gypsy tax collector (haračlija) was transformed into an institution (haračluk), with its own budget and staff, retaining personal jurisdiction over the nomadic Roma. This jurisdiction was progressively narrowed, to be abolished in 1853, together with the haračluk. However, the nomads remained subject to the poll tax, now collected by regular authorities. In consequence, they were also disenfranchised, as (since 1869) only the adult males who paid property and/or income (but not poll) tax had a right to vote. (Disenfranchisement, on the same grounds, affected other, non-Roma, categories, such as servants.) In 1884 the poll tax was abolished and the Roma achieved the same legal status as other Serbian citizens.
More...
Events of 2014 in Ukraine shown that radical nationalism can be a significant force effecting Euromajdan. Some years ago president Juszczenko put back UPA and Stepan Bandera to national identity and political struggle. In Ukraine grew up a whole generation of people who openly support the influence of nationalist ideas based on the cult of Stepan Bandera, the Ukrainian hero who build a state based on the genocide of Russians and Poles. Polish authorities in the beginning was opposed, later neglect in the end surprisingly support that movement.
More...
This paper analyzes ethnically mixed marriages contracted in the territory of Vojvodina, Serbia, between 1956 and 2004. Acculturation is examined based on heterogeneous marria-ges between Serbs, Hungarians, Slovaks, Romanians, Montenegrins and Croats. The paper consists of two parts, the first using statistical data to analyze ethnic homogamy in Vojvo-dina, and the second examining ethnic heterogamy ih the same region by means of associa-tion index.
More...
Distinguished readers, the text before you has two major goals. The first one is to inform you on motives which determined my interest to deal with questions of ethnic identity of Vojvodina Germans in this period of my research and scientific activity. The other is to briefly present results of my current research of ethnic identity of German national minority in Vojvodina, concisely display the most important directions which defined its theoretical and methodological frame, and put forward the basic course of collection of empirical data in the field.
More...
Romanies in Turkey constitute one of the minority groups most exposed to hate speech because of their ethnic origins and cultural identities. The purpose of this research is to reveal how the hate speech that against Romanies is perceived by Romanies in Turkey and to determine what elements of this hate speech are produced. As a research method a focus group study was conducted with Romany university students. The data obtained from this study were categorized and evaluated under the six different headings identified the elements of hate speech produced against Romanies. The result of this evaluation is revealed that Romanies in Turkey are exposed to hate speech, it is produced from different elements and its scope is quite wide. In addition, it has been determined that whether in social life, education or working life, novels have stigmatization, discrimination and social exclusion in all areas of society, besides media with the contents about Romanies plays a reinforcing role in the hate speech of the society.
More...
The Ottoman administration of minorities which was sometime called “the millet system” had successfully been applied towards the non-Muslim subjects of the Empire for centuries before it became unsatisfactory to the non-Muslims in modern times. Growing insufficiency in the “millet system” was mainly caused by developing western civilization and big state interests. While the growing western civilization increasingly valued freedom in the line of human rights, equality before the law, individualism, liberty, and nationalism, the great state interests worked relentlessly to make good use of problems of weak states in their own political and economic benefits. Both of these inspired and helped minorities to revolt against the mother country. Being aware of the situation, the Ottomans, in order to gain loyalty of the minorities, reformed and introduced new political changes including degrees of the Tanzimat and Islahat and the first Ottoman constitution, Kanun-u Esasi. However, historical perceptions and motivations of the minorities and weak results of Ottoman reforms failed to stop disintegration of the Balkans. First autonomies granted to the minorities were enlarged in time, and finally turned to full independences with the help of the Big Powers. For the newly created states gaining freedom was not enough. They wanted more lands and more spaces either against each other or usually against the Ottoman Empire. This paper will focus on the Ottoman way in ruling minorities, disintegration process and causes of minority uprisings in the Balkans. Relations of minorities to the Ottoman State, Big State politics in the region and handicaps of the Ottoman rule in the Balkans will be discussed.
More...I.
The end of World War II did not bring peace to the Hungarians in Slovakia: they, being labelled "war criminals", were subjected to repression for a further three years, one of which meant deportation to the Czech lands and forced labour.
More...
Enes S. Omerović. National minorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1918–1941). Sarajevo: Institut za istoriju Univerziteta u Sarajevu, 2019, 424.
More...
In my paper I present the Real Csíki Beer Manufacture, established in Csíkszentsimon in 2014, and based on my ongoing local field research I focus on how the economic branding connected to Szekler minority identity-symbols and the local product consumption bears significant social and political content in the framework of a ruling state nation. Both the production and the characteristics and communication of the product are adjusted to the Szekler ethnical group, it stresses certain characteristics in the name of the local tradition, which draws on the remembrance of the cultural heritage as a symbol system from the past. They invented a tradition underpinned with historical factors which they connected to the already existing minority nation concept.Globalisation, mobility and the multiculturalism lead to increasingly incorporate ethnicity and identity in the social, political, cultural relationships. In this increasing nation-consciousness, in the process of the strengthening of identity-policies, Csíki Beer as a par excellence national product functions as political and economical tool as well, in brief it visualizes a kind of patriotism. The aim of the paper is to describe the discourses and knowledge of the “bottom”, that is the community of Csíkszentsimon.
More...
Syria’s civil war, started in 2011, has caused over 6 million people flee abroad. This process forced around 3,6 million refugees to live in Turkey, leading significant changes in Turkish legal structure. The EU-Turkey Readmission Agreement and the Law on Foreigners and International Protection that is added into domestic law as a result of this agreement, are two main legislations in this regard. Such legal norms can be evaluated around the framework on social change as well as in accordance with concepts such as “subject”, “discrimination” and “exclusion”. This article, discusses these two legislations based on Giorgio Agamben’s thought, who has succeeded in putting these concepts at the center of political theory. The article argues that, this Italian political theorist well-known with his catogeries of “homo sacer”, “state of exception” and “bare life”, provides significant opportunities in interpreting the goals of contemporary legal regimes.
More...
This paper focusses on the concepts of sense of community and the valorisation of cultural heritage through the example of one Croatian municipality. This municipality is multi-ethnic, it deals with developmental challenges, and has a famous cultural heritage of significant artistic, historical and symbolic value beyond the local level. The paper aimed at exploring how these concepts differ regarding the socio-demographic characteristics of its habitants, and how they correlate with each other.The sense of community is an important element in community processes, being a prerequisite of social capital, community attachment and constructed local identity. The phrase “sense of community” is used according to McMillan and Chavis (1986) and their definition which includes four elements: membership (feeling of belonging or sharing personal relatedness), influence (the sense that the group matters to the individual and vice versa), integration and fulfilment of needs (living in a community means benefits with regard to living standards and that habitants value reciprocity) and shared emotional connections (members believe that they share history, experiences, common symbols). Research on the sense of community suggests that it derives both from individual and contextual factors. Members with a higher sense of community are older residents, those who have lived in the community for a longer period of time, retired people, residents with secondary education, residents with children and those who live with a partner, as well as members who are active in local groups, spend more time in outdoor community space, those more willing to have active social relationships with their neighbours and informal social control, and those with a stronger place attachment. A higher sense of community is also found in residents that envision their community as broader than a street/block, those that believe that a community can achieve goals and that community, as a value, is important to them. Contextual predictors of a sense of community are collective efficacy, citizens’ participation, place attachment. A higher sense of community exists in rural communities and communities with a lower population density. Ethnic heterogeneity is usually connected with a lower sense of community. However, some authors find that ethnic heterogeneity is indirectly connected with the sense of community through lower income, which is often the case in multi-ethnic communities. A sense of community has many positive individual and collective effects, e.g. higher level of interpersonal trust, wellbeing, quality of life, mental and physical health, willingness to remain a part of the community, stronger social capital.Cultural heritage enables community connections with the past and the present while community identity is negotiated between present needs and viewpoints and what is considered important for the past of the community. Cultural heritage archives collective memory and often becomes important when group relations should be redefined. Thus, heritage can be a factor of cohesion, confidence, provide legitimacy for community interests, but it can also become a point of dispute, a source of political and social conflict. Residents’ connection to their heritage plays a crucial role in this dynamic between heritage and identity, specifically how they value and think of heritage on an emotional and behavioural level.This paper is focussed specifically on the heritage of the Petrova gora area in Vojnić municipality, with the two most prominent heritage sites being the monument dedicated to antifascist struggles and partisans by sculptor Vojin Bakić and the Partizan hospital.Three research problems are formulated:a) To explore the sense of community and differences in the sense of community, taking into account socio-demographic characteristics.b) To explore the valorisation of cultural heritage in Petrova gora and the differences, taking into account socio-demographic characteristics.c) To assess the correlation between the sense of community and the valorisation of cultural heritage.Convenience sample of 100 residents of Vojnić municipality participated in this quantitative survey, with an approximately equal share of men and women as well as an equal share of Croats (mostly immigrants) and Serbs (mostly domiciliary). The majority of participants have secondary level education, the average age is 36 and they have lived in the community for 25 years on average. The Sense of community index 2 was used based on McMillan and Chavis’s theory, and an instrument for cultural heritage valorisation was constructed with additional questions regarding the practical usage of heritage. On the sense of community scale, we found 5 factors (the original instrument is validated with a four-factor structure): emotional significance of community attachment, recognised community identity, community influence on individuals and the surroundings, community leadership and problem-solving, contacts with community members. The instrument for the valorisation of cultural heritage has a four-factor structure: personal emotional relation towards heritage, behavioural component of valorisation, having an interest toward heritage and the significance of heritage for the citizens. Due to a lower Cronbach’s alpha reliability, the third and fourth factors are not included in the analysis.Regarding sense of community, the results showed the following:- On average, participants show a low sense of community. The higher results were identified for the “community contacts” factor, somewhat lower regarding the emotional significance of community attachment and recognised community identity. The lowest assessments are for community influence on individuals and the surroundings and community leadership and problem-solving.- There are no differences for any dimension of the sense of community between men and women.- Younger residents have higher assessments of community leadership and problem solving, while more educated residents have higher assessments of community influence on individuals and surrounding. Other differences in connection to age and education are not found.- There are no statistically significant differences concerning how long someone has lived in the community.- Croats, in comparison to Serbs, have higher average assessments of recognised community identity and community influence on individuals and the surroundings, while also having less contact with other community members.- Immigrant residents (mostly Croats), in comparison to the domiciliary population, on average, have a higher sense of community, have a higher appreciation for community identity, are more positive towards community influence as well as its leadership and problem-solving.Regarding valorisation of cultural heritage, the results are as follows:- On average, the residents have a high valorisation of heritage and an even higher emotional relation towards heritage, and a bit lower (but still solid) behavioural component of valorisation. They recognise the possibilities for its usage in art work, tourism, sports and recreation, but not for political purposes (it is seen as somewhat of a taboo).- Women on average visit heritage sites more often than men.- There are no statistically significant differences in valorisation regarding age nor length of residence in the community.- More educated participants see more possibilities for the use of heritage in political activities.- Serbs, in comparison to Croats, have higher average assessments of heritage valorisation both in the emotional and behavioural component and perceive more possibilities in art and tourism.- Domiciliary residents, in comparison to immigrants, have higher average assessments of heritage valorisation both in the emotional and behavioural component, and perceive more possibilities for their usage in general.The results show a statistically significant correlation between heritage valorisation and sense of community as greater emotional significance of community attachment and more contacts with community members correlate with higher total scores in valorisation and particularly the behavioural component. Heritage sites are more often visited by those with more contacts with others in the community. There is no significant correlation between the sense of community and the possibilities for practical usage of heritage.To conclude, some unexpected results were found indicating that sense of community is not related to what is usually considered its predictor: domiciliary status, the length of residing in a community and belonging to majority ethnic groups at the local level. Contrary to that, immigrant residents, mostly Croats, that have lived in the community for shorter periods than the domiciliary population express an even higher sense of community in some dimensions (except contacts with community members). We can assume that their sense of community is empowered by the fact that Croats are the majority at the national level and ethnic relations are reflected at the local level regardless of the actual ethnic ratio.On the other side, the domiciliary residents (mostly Serbs) that have lived in the community for a longer period have a higher valorisation of the heritage of Petrova gora, which is one of the most famous symbols of the community. Regardless of ethnicity, both groups have higher heritage valorisation than their sense of community. This indicates that heritage valorisation is still disintegrated from the local identity, but local identity can be reconstructed by using heritage as a component of its empowerment.Local identity is both a process and an outcome of community dynamics, and heritage could be an integral part of it or strengthen it if people were more educated (particularly those with secondary education and young people) and if they had more direct experiences with the heritage through cultural activities. Heritage valorisation and sense of community could be mutually strengthened, and, if strengthened, could contribute to community development in the future.
More...The Unspeakable Racism of Spanish Gadjo Feminism
The Spanish state advertises itself internationally as a leading example of “Roma inclusion” and takes particular pride in its policy towards women from the Kalé minority, the main Romani group in Spain. This is reflected in a carefully deployed political communication that centres on the trope of the “empowered Gypsy woman” who will soon reach emancipation thanks to state-funded programmes. On the ground, however, Kalé women’s persistent social marginalisation is imputed on them, while antigypsyism remains unaddressed by institutions.This paper investigates the discursive strategies mobilised by institutional actors in order to rule out discussions on racism. Based on eight months of ethnographic observations as well as semi-structured interviews with professionals in Madrid, I argue that this occurs through a translation of feminist agendas,particularly on intimate partner violence (IPV), into discourses that stigmatise Kalé “culture” as intrinsically patriarchal while promoting a gadjo (non-Romani) norm. This phenomenon, which I refer to as “gadjo feminism,” manifests itself within the justice system, where professionals disproportionately resortto culturalist representations of IPV in Kalé communities, and also within NGO-piloted empowerment programmes for Kalé women which rely upon racial hierarchies while systematically dismissing women’s experiences of institutional racism.
More...
This article first aims to establish a genealogy of critical stances on knowledge construction on, about, and from Romani groups in academia. It focuses on critical perspectives that have challenged Eurocentric binary categorizations. Such categories have resulted in the historical perception of a universal “Gypsy”/“non-Gypsy” divide despite the diverse contexts in which Romani identities are negotiated in daily life. The text addresses the writings of authors who have been critical of how central this divide has been to the constitution of Romani Studies as a field, most of whom have relied on insights from Edward Said´s Orientalism (2003 [1978])and other postcolonial theorizations. The theoretical insights brought into conversation come from ethnographic work with Romani individuals and groups whose mobilities exceed imagined European borders. Based on this work, the second part of the article gives an example of the consequences of Eurocentric categorizations: a review of how Romani transatlantic migration and presence in the Americas has been conceived in academic texts. To conclude, the author puts forward engagements with Romani transatlantic passages as one of the ways in which postcolonial stances can actually be operationalized in academic practice. Throughout the argument, transatlantic experiences become not only an epistemic tool but also a case study for a refined understanding of Romani life worlds.
More...
Both across Europe and India many mobile groups frequently are labeled as “Gypsy” and often are referred to as “criminals.” Employing a critical approach, this article unveils how the intersection of nomadism, the “Gypsy” label, and criminality was not a “natural” occurrence, but one that came about through legal and literary discourses that have been used systematically since the seventeenth century. The connection between nomadism and criminality has been investigated both in Europe (Mayall 1988; Lucassen 1997; Lucassen and Willems 2003; Bardi 2006; Nord 2008) and in India (Radhakrishna 2001, 2009; Piliavsky 2015). These bodies of work are valuable as they examine how the criminalization of groups took place. This article builds on this existing scholarship and focuses its comparative investigation on several of the dominant discourses in England and India from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. However, it is different from previous work on three accounts. First, it engages critically with the “Gypsy” label and details how this categorization became connected both with nomadism and criminality. Second, it claims that the criminalization of those who move in India preceded British colonial rule. Thus, it highlights how similar forms of community criminalization took place both in England and India. Third, this article argues that both legal and literary discourses are techniques through which power operates, and therefore analyzes the development of nomadism, criminality, and the “Gypsy” label within these interconnected mediums.
More...
Prefaced with a brief discussion of representation and cultural appropriation, this article examines how the fashion industry recycles and revamps hackneyed tropes that cast Roma into narratives of wanderlust, mystique, and transgression. Such tropes perpetuate epistemic injustice, compromise understandings ofRoma and their culture(s) within non-member groups, and curtail Roma designers’ rhetorical agency. I flesh out the discussion with the case of Mexican American designer Rio Uribe and his line Gypsy Sport and argue that, despite Uribe’s investment in social justice and much touted effort toward inclusiveness, he fails to acknowledge the unethical and harmful dimensions of his work. I turn to the fashion studio Romani Design (founded by Hungarian Roma designers Erika and Helena Varga) as an example of Roma initiatives that counter appropriative practices through reclaiming the heritage for self-representation and empowerment, then envision ways of intervening in the fashion industry’s co-option and misuse of Roma’s cultural heritage.
More...
Intensive migrations during the last years of the 20th century and in the beginning of the 21st century are an important part of modern societies which are becoming multicultural. While information, ideas and people cross countries’ borders all the time, and term „nation“ is becoming outdated in new communication universe, the foundations of identity are becoming weak, unstable and subject to change. In crisis, media reporting about groups which are not culturally close to the native population significantly influences the public opinion creating, since direct contacts with such groups are limited and rare. Besides, the question arises to what extent such reporting is subject to the ethical codes. In this paper, media reporting about recent European migrant and refugee crisis was analyzed. The paper is primarily focused on media representation of migrants and refugees which was analyzed through several aspects: frequency of texts about migrants and refugees, the analysis of genres, titles, visual presentation, respect of journalistic ethics as well as examination of rhetorical, stylistic and manipulative means that were used. All texts about migrant and refugee crisis published over a period of two weeks on three informative web-portals – „Blic“, „Kurir“ and „Politika“ were analyzed. The first analyzed week was from June 1st to September 7th, 2015, while the second week was from March 1st to March 7th, 2017. The goal of this comparative analysis of media texts was to determine possible differences in the way migrants and refugees are portrayed in media texts. The main goal was to determine diferences between three informative portals in terms of emphasis certain aspects of migrant and refugee crisis as well as in terms of emphasis certain characteristics of this social group.
More...