Negotiating queer and religious identities in higher education: queering ‘progression’ in the ‘university experience’

This article addresses the negotiation of ‘queer religious’ student identities in UK higher education. The ‘university experience’ has generally been characterised as a period of intense transformation and self-exploration, with complex and overlapping personal and social influences significantly shaping educational spaces, subjects and subjectivities. Engaging with ideas about progressive tolerance and becoming, often contrasted against ‘backwards’ religious homophobia as a sentiment/space/subject ‘outside’ education, this article follows the experiences and expectations of queer Christian students. In asking whether notions of ‘queering higher education’ (Rumens 2014 Rumens, N. 2014. “Queer Business: Towards Queering the Purpose of the Business School.” In The Entrepreneurial University: Public Engagements, Intersecting Impacts, edited by Y. Taylor, 82–104. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.) ‘fit’ with queer-identifying religious youth, the article explores how educational experiences are narrated and made sense of as ‘progressive’. Educational transitions allow (some) sexual-religious subjects to negotiate identities more freely, albeit with ongoing constraints. Yet perceptions of what, where and who is deemed ‘progressive’ and ‘backwards’ with regard to sexuality and religion need to be met with caution, where the ‘university experience’ can shape and shake sexual-religious identity.

Media diversity as a guarantee to cultural diversity: the promotion of identities from an international law approach

This article deals with several international instruments which provide legal guarantees for media diversity, which is essential for the promotion of cultural diversity. Based on several articles of the Convention of cultural diversity, the General Comment of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights No. 21 on the right to take part in cultural life, as well as the work of the UN Independent Expert on Cultural Rights, this article aims to identify legal tools for the establishing of measures promoting cultural diversity in the media. This article looks at the case study of Honduran Garifuna community radios. It emphasizes the importance of taking into account the economic aspects of cultural and communicational rights.

From labelling to social aid for immigrants in the 21st Century

Migration is as old as humanity, but since the 1990s migration flows in Western Europe have led to societies that are not just multicultural but so-called «super-diverse». As a result, Western towns now have very complex social structures, with amongst others large amounts of small immigrant communities that are in constant change. In this paper we argue that for social workers to be able to offer adequate professional help to non-native residents in town, they will need balanced view of ‘culture’ and of the role culture plays in social aid. Culture is never static, but is continually changing. By teaching social workers about how to look at cultural backgrounds of immigrant groups and about the limitations of then role that culture plays in communication, they will be better equipped to provide adequate aid and will contribute to making various groups grow towards each other and to avoid people thinking in terms of ‘out-group-homogeneity’. Nowadays, inclusion is a priority in social work that almost every social worker supports. Social workers should have an open attitude to allow them to approach every individual as a unique person. They will see the other person as the person they are, and not as a part of a specific cultural group. Knowledge about the others makes them see the cultural heterogeneity in every group. The social sector, though, must be aware not to fall into the trap of the ‘inclusion mania’! This will cause the social deprivation of a particular group to be forgotten. An inclusive policy requires an inclusive society. Otherwise, this could result in even more deprivation of other groups, already discriminated against. Emancipation of deprived people demands a certain target-group policymaking. Categorized aid will raise efficiency of working with immigrants and of acknowledging the cultural identity of the non-natives group. It will also create the possibility to work on fighting social deprivation, in which most immigrants can be found.

Return Migration in the Ecuadorian and Bolivian population: motivations, strategies and discourses

This article analyses the motivations for return migration among the Ecuadorians and Bolivians who, after living in Spain, returned to their countries of origin during the economic crisis that started in 2008. From the analysis of 22 interviews in-depth which took place in Ecuador and 38 in Bolivia to women, men and young people from migrant families, this decision-making process is shown to be embedded into a gendered dynamics of relationships. Particular detail is given to affective and economic elements that had an influence on the decision to return, as well as to the strategies deployed to project their readjustment back in origin. Males and females occupy differential positions within the family, work and social circle, their expectations being built in a gendered manner. Despite the fact migration has brought women greater economic power within the family group, their reintegration upon return redefines their role as main managers in the household and the dynamics that allow their social reproduction. Men, for their part, aspire to refresh their role as providers in spite of their frail labour position upon return. Social mobility for females is passed on through generations by a strong investment on education for their daughters and sons, while for males this mobility revolves around setting up family businesses and around their demonstrative abilities.

Understandings of transnational families in debates on Migration and development

International migration sets in motion a range of significant transnational processes that connect countries and people. How migration interacts with development and how policies might promote and enhance such interactions have, since the turn of the millennium, gained attention on the international agenda. The recognition that transnational practices connect migrants and their families across sending and receiving societies forms part of this debate. The ways in which policy debate employs and understands transnational family ties nevertheless remain underexplored. This article sets out to discern the understandings of the family in two (often intermingled) debates concerned with transnational interactions: The largely state and policydriven discourse on the potential benefits of migration on economic development, and the largely academic transnational family literature focusing on issues of care and the micro-politics of gender and generation. Emphasizing the relation between diverse migration-development dynamics and specific family positions, we ask whether an analytical point of departure in respective transnational motherhood, fatherhood or childhood is linked to emphasizing certain outcomes. We conclude by sketching important strands of inclusions and exclusions of family matters in policy discourse and suggest ways to better integrate a transnational family perspective in global migration-development policy.

Los emigrantes en las áreas mineras y las ciudades de Hispania: religión, identidades y difusión cultural

En el presente artículo analizamos los desplazamientos de cultos indígenas hispanos desde distintas áreas de la Península Ibérica hacia los principales lugares de inmigración en Hispania: las áreas mineras y las ciudades. Proponemos que estos grupos de emigrantes rendían culto en su nueva residencia a las deidades que veneraban en sus regiones de procedencia como un medio de preservar su cohesión social y su identidad cultural. La dureza de la vida laboral en las áreas mineras reforzaba la necesidad de fortalecer los lazos culturales.

On a first-name basis: Englishization and naming in Flanders

Following and contributing to the ongoing shift from more structuralist, system-oriented to more pragmatic, socio-cultural oriented anglicism research, this paper verifies to what extent the global spread of English affects naming patterns in Flanders. To this end, a diachronic database of first names is constructed, containing the top 75 most popular boy and girl names from 2005 until 2014. In a first step, the etymological background of these names is documented and the evolution in popularity of the English names in the database is tracked. Results reveal no notable surge in the preference for English names. This paper complements these database-driven results with an experimental study, aiming to show how associations through referents are in this case more telling than associations through phonological form (here based on etymology). Focusing on the socio-cultural background of first names in general and of Anglo-American pop culture in particular, the second part of the study specifically reports on results from a survey where participants are asked to name the first three celebrities that leap to mind when hearing a certain first name (e.g. Lana, triggering the response Del Rey). Very clear associations are found between certain first names and specific celebrities from Anglo-American pop culture. Linking back to marketing research and the social turn in onomastics, we will discuss how these celebrities might function as referees, and how social stereotypes surrounding these referees are metonymically attached to their first names. Similar to the country-of-origin-effect in marketing, these metonymical links could very well be the reason why parents select specific “celebrity names”. Although further attitudinal research is needed, this paper supports the importance of including socio-cultural parameters when conducting onomastic research.

Dealing with the Legacy of Ethnic Conflict: Confronting ‘Othering’ through Transformative Adult Education—A Northern Ireland Case Study

Despite its peace process, Northern Ireland remains a deeply divided society. The legacy of a 30-year conflict has ensured that the state continues to be prone to outbreaks of violence over contentious issues such as Orange Order parading and the flying of national flags. This paper argues that in order to address this legacy, there is a need to confront the Othering processes that have helped to generate and sustain division. It will argue that programmes of adult education can play an important role in helping the conflicting groups to reimagine their ‘exclusive’ notions of the nation to one capable of incorporating the Other.

Migrant identities in a new immigrant destination: revealing the limitations of the ‘hard working’ migrant identity

Migrant labour has transformed local economies in many places, often helping to reverse long-term decline. The emergence of new immigrant destinations (NID) globally brings mixed opportunities for the individuals involved. This article uses empirical evidence, focusing on the workplace, to show the performance, construction and significance of migrant identity. By using social identity theory to examine what it means to be a ‘migrant’, it follows from Goffman’s overarching concern with social interactions and his promotion of microanalysis as analytical lenses.
The article reveals the ambiguity of the label ‘migrant’. It shows how the external application or internal enactment of migrant identities bestow particular status that represents an asset or an obstacle to integration. It can mean ‘hard working’, ‘less deserving’ and ‘exploitable’ and it also denotes ‘lazy’ and individuals. While some individuals assume the hard working migrant and ‘exploitable’ identity in certain circumstances because of the benefits that it brings, this status can also cause high levels of dissatisfaction and distress among migrants. The research shows how the creation of a migrant identity limits the structures and networks from which migrants may draw resources and in so doing curtails the possibilities for social change due to migration.

‘New’ migrant identities: unravelling opportunities and restrictions

Labour and capital mobility from globalisation has given rise to significant increases in the reliance of migrant labour in established gateways, but also in new migration destinations. Many aspects of migrant incorporation in new migration destinations have received some attention, not least regarding employer and employee relations. Less attention has been focused on the construction of migrant as a marker of identification, although identities, particularly regarding gender and ethnicity, in the workplace have received considerable attention. This article aims to illuminate knowledge on how migration produces social change thereby responding to a call from Batnitzky et al. (2009, p. 1290) for additional attention on what ‘the practical and symbolic effects of migration are as people move across different structures and institutions of social control….’ Mindful of Goffman’s (1969, 1983) emphasis on individual interactions and experiences, it examines what it means to be a migrant in terms of everyday encounters and experiences. It investigates the array and interplay of internal and external processes that create migrant identities and the implications of this for social integration.

The paper argues that one of the paradoxes of globalisation, and of the associated increased levels of migrant labour, is the construction of the migrant identity that ultimately impedes social integration. It shows how the application of migrant identity (internally and externally) bestows a particular status that affects (options for) individual behaviour and subsequent actions and outcomes. The paper argues that while migrants value the migrant identity status because of the benefits that it brings, this status can also cause high levels of dissatisfaction among migrants and it can exclude migrants from wider benefits of full citizenship. Migrants have individual identification processes, but external forces, including social structures and institutions, also affect migrant identity. These forces help to shape individual expectations and standards, contributing to identity interruption and dissonance.

The paper is structured as follows: it uses social identity theory as a means of understanding what it is to be a ‘migrant’ in a new destination, while simultaneously recognising the inevitability of this generic label - migrants are an extremely heterogeneous group, made up of individuals with different experiences, values and so forth. The analysis considers the significance of context and of social interactions, thus paying attention to how identity is constructed and performed by the individual and also assigned by others. Empirical evidence is used to examine how having a migrant status affects individual prospects. The paper evaluates the extent to which patterns and processes of migration present an opportunity for social change, positive or negative.

Narratively framing emergent identities in post-agreement societies: patterns of the Northern Irish identity within the provincial media

The research analyses ‘Northern Irish’ identity narratives post-agreement, and examines the configuration of frame agendas in terms of individual narrative components. A content analysis utilised news published through 1997–2014 within Northern Ireland daily newspapers – the Belfast Telegraph, the Irish News and the News Letter. A process of manifest coding produced an emergent coding scheme displaying the relative stability of media frames surrounding the Northern Irish identity as broadly partisan; however, there is also a subtle narrative shift of Northern Irish identity across the time periods; and findings of a dominant framing paradigm of political and social conceptions of identification post-agreement.