Collective Participation Impacts Social Identity::A Longitudinal Study with Control Data

How does participation in collective activity affect our social identifications and behavior? We investigate this question in a longitudinal questionnaire study conducted at one of the world’s largest collective events – the Magh Mela (a month-long Hindu religious festival in north India). Data gathered from pilgrims and comparable others who did not attend the event show that one month after this mass gathering was over, those who had participated (but not controls) exhibited a heightened social identification as Hindu and increased levels of religious activity (e.g., performing prayer rituals). Additional data gathered from the pilgrim respondents during the festival show that the pilgrims’ perceptions of sharing a common identity with other pilgrims, and of being able to enact their social identity in this event, predicted these outcomes.

Descripción del desarrollo organizacional y curricular de diferentes tipos de centro y etapas educativas

[Es] Esta aportación sintetiza el estudio que están desarrollando profesores del Área de Didáctica y Organización escolar de la UPV y de la UAB (2005-06). Su contenido aborda las relaciones entre los estadios de desarrollo organizativo y curricular y los resultados escolares. Los primeros datos sugieren que hay una mayor cohesión y coherencia en los centros pequeños, de titularidad pública y de un solo modelo lingüístico. Curiosamente, esta aparente identidad común se apoya más en la estructura participativa y en los sistemas de aprendizaje organizacional y no tanto en la cultura institucional y la cultura colaborativa. Estas últimas dependen más del tamaño del centro y del modelo lingüístico que de la titularidad. Llama la atención que el liderazgo transformacional se vincula más a la titularidad pública y a los centros de secundaria, no relacionándose significativamente con el tamaño del centro, el modelo lingüístico o los años vinculados al ejercicio de cargos.

¿Vascos o euskaldunak?: una aproximación al papel del Euskara en la conformación de las Colectividades vascas de América, siglo XIX

[ES] El artículo se centra en el papel jugado por la lengua vasca, el euskara,en el proceso de creación e institucionalización de las colectividades vascas creadas a lo largo del siglo XIX y comienzos del XX en diversos países americanos a los que se dirigieron preferentemente los emigrantes vascos. En todos los casos, las colectividades vascas que se crearon integraban a originarios de todos los territorios tradicionales de Euskal Herria, tanto de las actuales Comunidades autónomas vasca y navarra en España, como del País Vasco-francés. En este proceso el euskara jugó un doble papel,práctico y simbólico, que posibilitó la asunción por parte de los emigrantes vascos,y de la sociedad que los acogió, de una identidad común por encima de otras divisiones basadas en la nacionalidad política o la diversidad ideológica.

Wspólnota z przypadku. Studium tożsamości mieszkańców Naddniestrza

Wydział Historyczny

Estratégias de comunicação interna

Dissertação apresentada ao Instituto Superior de Contabilidade e Administração do Porto para obtenção do Grau de Mestre em Assessoria de Administração Orientada pela professora Arminda Sá Sequeira

L’accommodement raisonnable, outil d’égalité face à la diversité religieuse et culturelle au Québec

L’accommodement raisonnable, perçu de manière erronée comme un outil octroyant des privilèges particuliers aux communautés ethno religieuses, fût la source d’une atmosphère de malaise social au sein de la communauté québécoise. Face à une immigration récente non occidentale, ayant fortement contribué à la modification du paysage sociétal québécois, un désarroi populaire transformé en « la crise des accommodements » (2006-2007), s’est emparée soudainement d’une partie de la population canadienne – française. Plusieurs questions fondamentales relatives au droit à l’égalité se posent : comment préserver l’identité québécoise si chacun veut faire valoir sa propre culture et religion ? Mais aussi, n’avons-nous pas lutté pour que les droits fondamentaux soient assurés pour tous ? Ce mémoire montre que l’accommodement raisonnable, loin de privilégier les minorités religieuses, est un moyen juridique permettant à tous les citoyens d’accéder à l’égalité et de vivre sans subir de discrimination. La liberté de religion faisant partie des droits fondamentaux garantis par les chartes canadienne et québécoise, doit être protégée en tant que telle. L’accommodement raisonnable révèle une autre dimension de sa fonction : une contribution fondamentale à la réflexion collective sur le vivre - ensemble social, vecteur de l’évolution sociétale. Un équilibre peut être atteint entre les exigences d’un État neutre et le respect des libertés individuelles fondamentales. Ainsi, les choix de la laïcité ouverte et de l’interculturalisme s’inscrivent harmonieusement dans l’esprit des autres valeurs de la société québécoise, laquelle est marquée de part son histoire par des valeurs laïques respectueuses de la diversité culturelle et religieuse.

Stratégies de reproduction et de transmission de l’identité autochtone au Mexique : le cas des migrants nahuas à Cuernavaca

La ville mexicaine de Cuernavaca, dans l’État de Morelos, a vu arriver depuis 1970 de nombreux migrants autochtones nahuas originaires de l’État voisin du Guerrero. Les migrants, qui ont élu domicile dans un même quartier résidentiel, subsistent grâce à la vente d’artisanat et partagent le nahuatl comme langue maternelle. Cette recherche s’intéresse aux stratégies mises en oeuvre par les migrants dans la reproduction de l’identité nahua et dans sa transmission aux nouvelles générations. La pratique artisanale et le maintien des relations sociales avec les villages du Guerrero se retrouvent au centre des stratégies identitaires nahuas : en plus d’assurer la transmission de l’héritage culturel nahua aux jeunes nés à Cuernavaca, ils facilitent la participation des migrants à la vie sociale villageoise. Au fil des décennies, les migrants ont ainsi favorisé le maintien de l’identité nahua et assuré la cohésion de la communauté sur la base du partage d’une identité commune.

New governance approaches to environmental regulation: an example of the Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH)

Environmental policy in the United Kingdom (UK) is witnessing a shift from command-and-control approaches towards more innovation-orientated environmental governance arrangements. These governance approaches are required which create institutions which support actors within a domain for learning not only about policy options, but also about their own interests and preferences. The need for construction actors to understand, engage and influence this process is critical to establishing policies which support innovation that satisfies each constituent’s needs. This capacity is particularly salient in an era where the expanding raft of environmental regulation is ushering in system-wide innovation in the construction sector. In this paper, the Code for Sustainable Homes (the Code) in the UK is used to demonstrate the emergence and operation of these new governance arrangements. The Code sets out a significant innovation challenge for the house-building sector with, for example, a requirement that all new houses must be zero-carbon by 2016. Drawing upon boundary organisation theory, the journey from the Code as a government aspiration, to the Code as a catalyst for the formation of the Zero Carbon Hub, a new institution, is traced and discussed. The case study reveals that the ZCH has demonstrated boundary organisation properties in its ability to be flexible to the needs and constraints of its constituent actors, yet robust enough to maintain and promote a common identity across regulation and industry boundaries.

As maras e pandillas no Triângulo Norte da América Central e a atuação dos Estados Unidos em seu combate

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Community

The term community in the English language can be traced back to the 14th century and originates from the French word comuneté and the Latin word communitatem. In English the term initially came to denote five distinct senses. Community served as a distinction of the common people from those of rank (1), as a denotation of a state or organized society (2), the people of a district (3), as a designation for the community of shared interests (4) and as a sense of common identity and characteristics (5). In these early meanings of the term it is important to note the distinction between the designation of actual social groups on the one hand and the indication of a particular relational quality on the other.

Educational and Anthropological Perspectives: An Italian View on Migration in Multi-cultural Urban Spaces

In contemporary societies there are different ways to perceive the relation between identity and alterity and to describe the difference between “us” and “them”, residents and foreigners. Anthropologist Sandra Wallman sustains that in multi-cultural urban spaces the frontiers of diversity are not only burdensome markers of identity, but rather they could also represent new chances to define “identity” and “alterity”. These frontiers, in fact, can work like interfaces through which to build time after time, in a creative way, a relationship with the other. From this point of view, the concept of boundary can offer many opportunities to creatively define the relation with the other and to sign new options for cognitive and physical movement. On the other side, in many cases we have a plenty of mechanisms of exclusion that transforms a purely empirical distinction between “us” and “them” in an ontological contrast, as in the case when the immigrant undergoes hostilities through discriminatory language. Even though these forms of racism are undoubtedly objectionable from a theoretical point of view, they are anyway socially “real”, in the sense that they are perpetually reaffirmed and strengthened in public opinion. They are in fact implicit “truths”, realities that are considered objective, common opinions that are part of day-to-day existence. That is the reason why an anthropological prospective including the study of “common sense” should be adopted in our present day studies on migration, as pointed out by American anthropologist Michael Herzfeld. My primary goal is to analyze with such a critical approach same pre-conditions of racism and exclusion in contemporary multi-cultural urban spaces. On the other hand, this essay would also investigate positive strategies of comparing, interchanging, and negotiating alterity in social work. I suggest that this approach can offer positive solutions in coping with “diversity” and in working out policies for recognizing a common identity which, at the same time, do not throw away the relevance of political and economic power.

Das radikale Milieu im vorrevolutionären Russland

This article traces the networks in the Russian revolutionary underground from the 1860s untill 1917 and subsumes them under the term radical milieu. Though there existed ideological differences all Russian radicals shared a common identity as „anti-society“ against the tsarist regime. In the radical milieu with its own values the participants tried to create their own reality, where all members regardless of their social origin or sex were seen as equal. The radical milieu was backed by a sphere of sympathisers that constituted the main source of material support and the main recruiting field. But the radicals were very careful when selecting new members for their underground world. Applicants had to fulfil defined criteria. The radical milieu in Russia was in a permanent danger to be infiltrated by the secret police. This situation between fear and hope was the background where ideas of solidarity but also visions of violence and revenge against the “traitors” were ripening and then became realised.

Elections to the European Parliament and the trouble with vox populi. EPIN Commentary No. 12, 22 August 2013

Declining support for the European Union in many member states is causing some disquiet about the possibility of an even lower voter turnout in the upcoming European Parliament (EP) elections to be held next May. This discontent might well be exploited by populist anti-European parties and boost protest-vote participation, cautions Sonia Piedrafita in this EPIN Commentary, and this would pose a serious risk for EU decision-making and undermine the sense of common identity and any plans for further integration. This Commentary, which looks at the elections from an EU perspective, is the first in a series of Commentaries by EPIN (European Policy Institutes Network) that will examine the outlook for the European Parliament elections in various member states.

The Dangers and Inanity of (Euro-) Nationalism: From Communitarianism to Cosmopolitanism. Egmont Paper No. 77, April 2015

INTRODUCTION In the current times of multifaceted crisis, nationalism looks, more than ever, like a positive and necessary feeling. It seems both natural and indispensable if we are to have viable political and social institutions that meet the needs and preferences of all citizens. The following paper contests this vision. Its criticism of nationalism is directed not only at its national forms, but also at any defence of collective identity based on the same model, such as the various forms of European nationalism. Furthermore, the same overriding criticism can be made of different kinds of nationalism, regardless of their more or less open and progressive political content. In order to ground our argument theoretically and practically, we will try to show that nationalism is always potentially harmful to individual rights, and unnecessary for the maintenance of a just social and political system. We will thus oppose any acritical defence of the intrinsic value of a specific community and the belief in its artificial homogeneity. The historical construction of a supposedly homogeneous community, and the insistence on its values, which are perceived as superior and binding, facilitate the absorption of the individual into the collective. As we will explain further in more details, this holistic approach is typical of communitarian approaches. In that respect, it does not really matter whether they appeal to passion or to reason, to some irrational binding features of the community or to more rational political aspects of a common identity. The main problem in nationalism is not the emotion it can trigger, it is not even its reliance on particular values. What makes nationalism problematic is, firstly, that it tends to overlook the intrinsically divisive and contradictory nature of individual and collective interests in unjust societies; secondly, that it attributes an intrinsic superiority to a particular community over others; and thirdly, that it sees politics as a means to promote the interests, values or identity of that community. As an alternative, we will very briefly advocate a cosmopolitan approach that grounds political legitimacy in a demanding approach to individual freedom, rather than in a shared collective identity. However, even if only briefly, we will also carefully distinguish our own vision of cosmopolitanism from those commonly put forward. Frequently, cosmopolitan perspectives entangle their identity frameworks with concrete political projects, without clearly explaining how the latter derive from the former. Our approach to cosmopolitanism, on the other hand, is, first and foremost, a critical vision of all communitarian postulates according to which politics should be based on some form of collective identity. Thus, we insist on the conceptual distinction between a general stance on identity issues and the more practical political ideology one stands for. In a subsequent step, we link this cosmopolitan framework with a progressive approach to individual rights. Because of our demanding approach to individual freedom, our cosmopolitanism goes hand in hand with a revival of identity-free sovereignty. It is therefore distinct from the severe condemnation of sovereignty often found in most mainstream cosmopolitan positions. Finally, instead of the frequent confusion found in public discourses and in the literature between ideals and reality, our position acknowledges the deep gulf separating these two dimensions. It therefore sketches out very general strategic principles to bring normative ideals closer to political reality.

Pytanie o pamięć. Relacje autobiograficzne więźniów obozów koncentracyjnych

This book consists of two main parts. The first part offers a basic methodological introduction, presenting a concise but multifaceted overview of current problems of collective memory. The second part contains a set of interviews with former prisoners of concentration camps carried out by the authors. The research was conducted by Paweł Greń and Łukasz Posłuszny and focuses on issues of collective and cultural memory illustrated by individual life experiences of concentration camps prisoners. The field of oral history serves as the framework of analysis and narrative inquiry as its research tool. Interviews and additional research materials were collected by the authors and are not available in previous publications, making this work a precious supplement to the current scholarly body of knowledge and achievements in the discipline of memory studies. According to the authors, current historical and literary publications provide an incomplete picture of the WWII and its aftermaths for survivors, because descriptions of the war and imprisonment in the camp play still a dominate role in narratives. The importance of these issues in autobiographies is unquestionable and highly needed to create a common identity among generation of prisoners, though authors often wanted to perceive the fate of individuals in a broader perspective – including the periods before and after the war. Hence, interviews stressed personal experiences and their understanding over time by former prisoners. The interviews covered many topics on life before, during and after the camp – among them daily and neutral routines, but also difficult matters. The latter were connected on the one hand with traumatic events or harsh memories and emotions, and on the other hand with less extensively highlighted threads of prisoners’ lives - such as issues of the body and sexuality – and their dependence on particular representation or narrative. The authors are convinced that the book serves not only as a record of past remembered by eyewitnesses, but it also depicts their accounts in wider contexts and discourses, which expose specific dimensions of told and written stories. In the book Questions for Memory one examine the approach proposed by young scholars. Interviews were conducted from 2009-2011, seventy years after the end of the second world war, and this initiative was the result of questions and doubts of the authors from the existing literature. They also wanted to use the unique opportunity to meet with eyewitnesses and record their stories, because when they pass away we will irretrievably lose the possibility to listen to them and to pose sensitive questions. The majority of the interviewees were prisoners of KL Auschwitz-Birkenau, and their experiences differed greatly from each other based on social background and specific experience in the camps as well as their post-camp and postwar life. Aside from persons whose stories are already well known and open, readers will hear the stories of those who spoke only reluctantly and very rarely, or who had remained silent until the present author’s research. Qualitative differences between interviews occurred on the level of established relationship and atmosphere of trust, which varied according to circumstances and individual character and personality. For P. Greń and Ł. Posłuszny, each interviewed person is equally and highly valued due to the collected material and the personal experience of the meetings. Among the ten interviews placed in the book, seven of them are the stories told by women. Their testimonies exemplify realities of everyday prisoners’ existence and gravitate towards mirroring specifically feminine perspectives of imprisonment. For women, crucial problems stemmed from experiences of body that intertwine with suffering, feeling of shame and humiliation. Early discussions on holocaust literature and issues of representation that shaped the Polish narrative and collective memory imposed imperatives of silence on certain topics. A solution for reconciling heroic and inhuman deeds in stories with completely human physiology was impossible and improper for many years. There were also questions about life after, ways of dealing with a trauma or reflections on the present time. During conversations the authors attempted to come closer to something distant and incomprehensible for their generation and for people who did not experience the camps. Despite the fact that there have been seventy years of dealing with these events in literature, art, drama, film, memoirs and scientific works, the past still breeds more questions than answers. The book Questions for Memory serves as an example of this phenomenon.