Ethnicity and Identity Politics

The dislocated, deterritorialized discourse produced by repatriates from formerly European colonies has remained overlooked in academic scholarship. One such group is the Eurasian “Indo” community that has its roots in the former Dutch East Indies, today’s Indonesia. This article focuses on Tjalie Robinson, the intellectual leader of this community from the 1950s to the mid-1970s. The son of a Dutch father and a British-Javanese mother, Robinson became the leading voice of the diasporic Indo community in the Netherlands and later also in the United States. His engagement resulted in the foundation of the Indo magazine Tong Tong and the annual Pasar Malam Besar, what was to become the world’s biggest Eurasian festival. Robinson played an essential role in the cultural awareness and self-pride of the eventually global Indo community through his elaboration of a hybrid and transnational identity concept. By placing his focus “tussen twee werelden” (in-between two worlds) and identifying “mixties-schap” (mestizaje) as the essential characteristic of Indo identity, Robinson anticipated debates on hybridity, transnationalism, and creolism that only much later would draw attention from scholars in the field of postcolonial studies. This article highlights Robinson’s pioneering role in framing a deterritorialized hybrid alternative to nationalist essentialism in the postcolonial era.

“Power is war, the continuation of war by other means”: Foucault’s reversal of Clausewitz’s formula has become a staple of critical theory — but it remains highly problematic on a conceptual level. Elaborated during Foucault’s 1976 lectures (“Society Must Be Defended”), this work-hypothesis theorises “basic warfare” [la guerre fondamentale] as the teleological horizon of socio-political relations. Following Boulainvilliers, Foucault champions this polemological approach, conceived as a purely descriptive discourse on “real” politics and war, against the philosophico-juridical conceptuality attached to liberal society (Hobbes’s Leviathan being here the prime example).
However, in doing so, Foucault did not interrogate the conceptual validity of notions such as power and war, therefore interlinking them without questioning their ontological status. This problematic conflation was partly rectified in 1982, as Foucault proposed a more dynamic definition of power relations: “actions over potential actions”.
I argue, somewhat polemically, that Foucault’s hermeneutics of power still involves a teleological violence, dependent on a polemological representation of human relations as essentially instrumental: this resembles what Derrida names, in “Heidegger’s Ear”, an “anthropolemology”. However, I show that all conceptualisation of power implies its self-deconstruction. This self-deconstructive (or autoimmune) structure supposes an archi-originary unpower prior to power: power presupposes an excess within power, an excessive force, another violence making it both possible and impossible. There is something within power located “beyond the power principle” (Derrida). This (self-)excess signifies a limitless resistantiality co-extensive with power-relationality. It also allows the reversal of pólemos into its opposite, as unpower opens politics and warfare to the messianic call of a pre-political, pre-ontological disruption: the archi-originary force of différance. This force, unconditional, challenges Foucault’s conceptualisations of power, suggesting an originary performativity located before or beyond hermeneutics of power-knowledge, disrupting theoreticity as well as empiricity by pointing to their ontological complicity.
The bulk of this essay is dedicated to sketching the theoretical implications of this deconstructive reading of Foucault with respect to the methodology and conceptuality of political science and social theory.

Le concept de nation chez M. Mauss comparé à la question actuelle des identités nationales et culturelles en Europe. À partir d'études de cas de l'histoire politique contemporaine, aussi différents l'un de l'autre que la formation des nations balkaniques, au tournant du dernier siècle, et la situation des immigrés en France ou des migrants en Europe, j'essaie de montrer que les concepts de 'nation', 'nationalisme' et 'citoyenneté' doivent être appréhendés autant comme des constructions identitaires que politiques et juridiques. Il importe donc de concilier les approches historique, sociopolitique et anthropologique de l'idée de nation et essayer de comprendre la construction des identités, des relations interethniques et des valeurs interculturelles dans le monde actuel, que ce soit en Europe, en ex-Yougoslavie ou au Maghreb.

This essay looks at post 2005 restitution exhibitions of art believed or known to be owned by Jews stolen during National Socialist times in order to examine complex questions and layered relationships involving private property, public institutions and museum display.

Представленные в книге очерки посвящены выяснению истории постижения человеческого разнообразия СССР, в ходе которого оно анализировалось, формулировались идеи, формировались на их основе представления и политические символы, разделявшиеся исследователями, а затем политиками, публицистами, посредством которых СССР репрезентировался его гражданам и внешнему миру.

The goal of the current study is to examine the impact of students’ social economic status, ethnicity, and discipline infractions on their standardized test scores in Indiana, the USA. Data from this study extracted from Indiana Department of Education. ISTEP is a criterion-referenced standardized test. It consists of items that assess a student’s performance with respect to particular criteria that was established by the Indiana State Board of Education. Criterion-referenced test scores help us to understand where a student stands in relation to the cut scores based Indiana Academic Standards in English/Language Arts and Mathematics. In fact, the application of ISTEP might be helpful for schools to identify their students’ strengths and weaknesses in these content areas. By doing so, they take necessary steps to plan appropriate instruction for students’ academic development. However, the Indiana Department of Education’s statistical data show that there was a statistically significant achievement gap between students. Accordingly, the current study findings point out that the effects of SES and Race varied among groups. Specifically, African-American students with low SES status had lower scores on ISTEP than their white peers did. In addition, a chi-square analysis showed that disproportionality among African American students appeared to be striking. Findings and educational implications are discussed.

This newspaper column from 2003 examines how Indians in Trinidad and Tobago are misled, guided by so many fears, the encouragement of feelings of victimhood, and smallness of vision. There is an important contribution for Indians to make to the building of this New World civilisation, which is still in its infancy and only half-made. What is needed is a vision, mission and leadership not griping about “discrimination”, but looking fearlessly to the future.

This paper examines the degree to which work is becoming de-ethnicised in the Malaysian tourism industry sector. This so-called de-ethnicisation of work is formulated in the Malaysian Government’s 10th Malaysia Plan (2011–2015) as an indicator of Malaysian society’s entry into modernity, the overall yardstick being Malaysia’s progression to a high-income nation by 2020. Empirical research was conducted among employees of 10 ‘Western’ luxury five-star hotels in the greater Kuala Lumpur. The degree of association of occupation with ethnicity was tested through a quantitative survey of 786 respondents from a representative sample of the parent population in 2010. Contrary to the Government’s de-ethnicisation agenda, findings show a continuing strong correlation between ethnicity and occupation, reinforced by qualitative research conducted between 2010 and 2011, which reveals specific ethno-marketing practices and an ‘ethnic groupism’ phenomenon as plausible explanations, among other causal factors.

FULL-TEXT VERSION AVAILABLE AT:
https://doi.org/10.12797/9788381382069



Współczesne Włochy to przykład państwa, w którym zróżnicowanie – etniczne, narodowościowe, językowe, religijne – przybiera odmienne formy i przejawia się na wielu różnych poziomach. Ugruntowane przez wieki rozczłonkowanie Półwyspu Apenińskiego, silne regionalizmy oraz tendencje autonomiczne (a w przeszłości także separatystyczne) regionów przygranicznych i wyspiarskich współgrają z nowymi rodzajami wielokulturowości i międzykulturowości, powodowanej przez liczne społeczności imigranckie (… ).

Już od czasów włoskiego zjednoczenia (Risorgimenta) funkcjonowało – we Włoszech i poza ich granicami – silne przekonanie o podziale na „dwie Italie”, północną i południową. Ten popularny schemat, choć po części znajdował uzasadnienie w rozbieżnościach między dwiema częściami Półwyspu, przesłaniał wiele innych, nakładających się na siebie podziałów. Przyglądając się współcześnie tej mozaice kulturowej (etnicznej, językowej, mentalnościowej), jaką współtworzą tak odmienne od siebie regiony Półwyspu Apenińskiego, coraz trudniej zgodzić się z tego rodzaju upraszczającą dychotomią. Włosi od wieków dzielili się przecież na wiele grup, dla których punktem odniesienia były odmienna historia oraz lokalne tradycje i zwyczaje obecne w życiu codziennym mieszkańców różnych regionów. Bogactwo językowo-dialektalne i wielość wariantów włoskiego także dzisiaj powodują, że osoby pochodzące z różnych części kraju mogą mieć trudności z komunikacją, o ile nie zdecydują się na użycie standardowego italiano. To wielowiekowe obcowanie z odmiennością i przyzwyczajenie do kulturowej różnorodności może, choć nie musi, być czynnikiem ułatwiającym Włochom akceptację przybyszów z innych części Europy i świata oraz integrowanie się z nimi. Nie oznacza to jednak, że nie pojawiają się konflikty, napięcia, próby chronienia własnej tożsamości. Poszerzanie definicji „włoskości” o elementy innych kultur, które przynoszą osiadający we Włoszech migranci, nie przychodzi z łatwością, ale jak każdy proces wymaga czasu i wzajemnego poznania. Obecni imigranci bywają postrzegani jako „Inni”, tak samo jak w przeszłości wewnętrzni imigranci ciągnący z Południa Italii ku bogatszej Północy w poszukiwaniu pracy i z nadzieją na lepsze życie.

z Wprowadzenia

The early ethnological works of Alfred Métraux are analysed bearing in mind his first fieldwork trip to the Chiriguano, in 1929. The paper discusses personal, academic and professional features of Métraux’s ethnological experience, the nature of the 1929 trip and his concrete relationships with the Chiriguano groups and individuals. Next, we analyse his ideas on material culture as a privileged means of understanding the synthesis of Andean, Chaco and Amazonian cultural influences. Finally, the dilemmas and limitations of his analytical approach regarding Créole cultural influence and social and cultural change are discussed. [Key words: Alfred Métraux, Chané, Chiriguano, material culture, change.]
Se analiza la etnología temprana de Alfred Métraux a la luz de su primer viaje de campo a los chiriguanos, en 1929. Se discute el perfil personal, académico y profesional de Métraux, las peculiaridades de su trabajo de campo en 1929 y sus relaciones concretas con los indígenas chiriguanos en el terreno. Se examinan luego sus ideas sobre la cultura material como campo experimental privilegiado para rastrear procesos de síntesis de influencias culturales andinas, chaqueñas y amazónicas, así también sus dilemas y límites a la hora de interpretar el factor de la influencia criolla y el proceso de cambio social y cultural en un sentido amplio. [Palabras clave: Alfred Métraux, Chané, Chiriguano, cultura material, cambio.]

Based on eight in-depth interviews, this article analyses the quandary faced by liberal mainland Chinese student migrants in Hong Kong. On the one hand, the liberal pro-democracy movements in Hong Kong are deeply intertwined with the rise of localism, which is based on a dichotomy between Hong Kong and mainland China. On the other hand, a rising, development-centric nationalism in mainland China reduces Hong Kong protesters to unemancipated British colonial subjects. However, in the context of this "double marginalisation," liberal Mainland students guard a form of liberalism that transcends both Hong Kong localism and Chinese nationalism. They debunk the stereotype of mainland Chinese students being apolitical and therefore provide an alternative definition of being Chinese. They challenge the view that mainland Chinese can only be emancipated outside mainland China to destabilise a Fukuyamian linear interpretation of history. They use four tactics to cope with double marginalisation: understanding localists, befriending expatriates, assuming professionalism, and becoming apolitical.

Mixing facts and fiction, Hollywood screen biographies have told the lives of popular music icons at least since The Jazz Singer (1927). However, biopics construct narratives that deal problematically with issues of race. This article aims to describe how representations of African American musicians have changed from 1970s ‘black jazz biopics’ (Gabbard 1996) to more recent films on rock, hip hop and rhythm ’n’ blues acts. On one hand, I analyse the way 1970s music biopics constructed a peculiar new narrative about race and popularity. On the other hand, I show the extent to which films such as Tina (1993), Ray (2004) and Notorious (2009) have subtly modified the racialized distinctions of former biopics, placing black musicians within a cinematic mythology which historically had been reserved to white subjects. The shift from jazz to other music genres, thus, is related to significant changes in biopics’ narratives and visual strategies. However, I argue that music biopics still deal with a distinctive notion of ‘the popular’ (Williams 1983), which frames blackness as otherness and whiteness (Dyer 1997) as just ‘human nature’.

(first publication by Jazz Research Journal and Equinox)

Is it possible to construct unity in a prefabricated state? What is the best way to bring together people of different cultures under one flag? In 2010, Kenya decided to take a 180-degree turn in its path to achieve unity. Until then, it had focused on a centralized state with all the powers, aiming to eliminate differences and forge unity from the capital, Nairobi. But the 2007 post-electoral violence showed the reality of a washed-up state incapable of bringing together its differences.

An Experiment in Devolution: National Unity and the Deconstruction of the Kenyan State is a review of the new path Kenya has taken for the last ten years. Back then, Kenya decided to adopt a new Constitution that involved, for the first time, decentralization of powers. In 2013, the 47 new county governments were effectively set in place after the first local elections. The book reviews Kenya’s progress on the nine objectives of devolution set in Article 174 of the Constitution.

The apparitions in Medjugorje are an extremely complex phenomenon that produces different interpretations and evaluations. In this paper I will focus solely on the perspective of those who recognize the apparitions of Mary as a symbol of resistance. This Mary's role I will analyse in the context of the Medjugorje apparitions in a time of socio-political crisis in communist Yugoslavia, primarily generated by the death of its president Josip Broz Tito and demonstrations in Kosovo.
In that period Medjugorje apparitions have disturbed the spirits, not only within the communist authorities of Yugoslavia, but also within the Church. National authorities characterize the apparitions of Medjugorje as fiction of local Franciscans – "clerical nationalists", in the words of one of communist officials – with the aim of bringing down the constitutional order of the communist Yugoslavia. At the same time, the alleged apparitions in Medjugorje have deeply shaken the Church of this area and intensified the centuries-old conflict between diocesan and Franciscan priests of the Mostar-Duvno Diocese, where Medjugorje belongs.

This book explores the causes and dynamics of ethnic conflict and civil war, distinguishing between onset-based and process-based theories. He introduces a scheme of periodization which links the phase of low-scale inter-ethnic violence with the phase of sustainable organized violence, asserting the crucial importance of elites and their use of opportunity in power asymmetry as a key factor in instigating full-scale civil war.

This book also examines the relevance of major theoretical and methodological approaches currently dominating the field of ethnic conflict and civil war research, testing their efficacy by applying them to three major South Caucasus conflicts of the late 1980s and early 1990s.

As a merger of theoretical and empiricist approaches, this book focuses on the case-specific contextual richness of the local conflicts in Karabakh, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia to draw solid theoretical conclusions as well as providing suggestions for the improvement of current theories.

While much of the existing academic scholarship on Japan-Korea relations has focused on the ongoing political and historical disputes related to World War II, this paper analyzes the experience of ethnic Koreans living in Japan on a microeconomic and sociological level. Zainichi Koreans and the ongoing structural societal and economic challenges they face in Japanese society are analyzed from a historical perspective throughout this paper. Through a comparative historical analysis of the experience of Koreans from the point when Japan annexed the Korean Peninsula in 1910 until liberalizing reforms of the twenty-first century, this paper shows that the social rights, civil rights, and economic opportunities of Zainichi Koreans have remained fluid throughout much of the twentieth century. While the challenges faced by Japan's Korean population have marginally improved since liberalizing reforms in the 1990s, this paper demonstrates that ongoing scapegoating on the part of politicians and negative public perceptions of Zainichi Koreans continue to pose challenges to Japan's sizeable Korean minority population.

Este texto debió haberse publicado dentro de una antología que conmemoraría los 10 años de existencia de la compañía teatral Seña y Verbo. Tal fue su propósito original, por lo que agradezco la generosidad de Seña y Verbo, pues se me ha permitido reproducir y publicar este texto tanto como lo desee. El libro hubiera incluido las colaboraciones de quienes se enumeran a continuación. Prólogo de Enrique Singer, director de la Compañia Nacional de Teatro del INBA. Primera sección: En torno de la Lengua de Señas Mexicana, la cultura y la educación de los sordos de México. Eileen Arzani, especialista en educación especial. Boris Fridman, lingüista. Paola Torres, etnóloga. Ixchel Solís, artista visual. Segunda sección. En torno del quehacer teatral de Seña y Vebro: Alberto Lomnitz, director. Eduardo Domínguez, actor sordo. Lupe Vergara, actriz sorda. Lucila Olalde, actriz sorda. Carlos Corona, director escénico. Hernán del Riego, actor. Hugo Hiriart, dramaturgo. Taniel Morales, Músico. Adrian Blue, director escénico sordo. Everardo Trejo, programación de eventos de Seña y Verbo.

In Ernest Gellner's words, nationalism is understood as an ideology requiring that the state and national borders must be identical. However, if nationalism can boost in the era of new media, including internet, which creates mostly spatially unlimited social networks, is Gellner's requirement still valid? And what that means to us? As nationalism is very much increasing in contemporary world, we should question what its role really is. Can nationalism be understood as international, interconnecting and global or as national, dividing and local? The paper focuses on how nationalism uses the internet to enhance its impact, how this utilization of internet makes local and global glocal, and whether these processes leads to interconnectivity among nationalisms.

With the dawn of democracy in South Africa in 1994, the struggle of indigenous Griqua for land has gained new momentum. Having lost most of their ancestral land in the 19th century due to colonialism, Griqua people are now using new legal opportunities to reclaim land. On their reobtained land Griqua people dwell, farm, celebrate indigenous festivals and create cultural villages for tourists. In doing so, Griqua people are currently contributing to the making of Ethnicity, Inc., the double process of commodification of culture and creation of ethnic businesses.
The pdf is an excerpt of the book which comprises the contents, the introduction, chapter 4 and 9.

Firstly, the Roman Catholic «prehistory» of contact between the Panoan groups of Bolivian Amazonia and Jesuit, Franciscan and lay clergy missionaries is described. The paper then analyses the continuity of the evangelization process by diverse evangelical denominations, describing three missionary experiences with the Chacobo since 1955 to the present day. Finally, general insights are proposed relating the anthropological problem of religious conversion.

The latest Bond flick No Time To Die was certainly a rollercoaster ride of exciting action scenes and great special effects, yet contained more than a quantum of longueurs. With a running time of 163 minutes it certainly tries the patience and the bladders of its audiences (who I saw popping out of the cinema throughout the film). Personally, I think 90 minutes is enough for any film, especially since the disappearance of the intermission and ice-cream selling of yore. In this case, the increased length seems to have been to incorporate backstories of some of the individuals involved. The effect of this is to attenuate Bond's appearances in the film, while adding very little to the story (hence the longueurs). By Official James Bond 007 Website One effect of this narrative style is to put more emphasis on the story of Bond and less on the usual geopolitics and action we associate with Bond films. Now this is very interesting considering that if one was to ask oneself: which country would be the most likely target and villain of the latest Bond film as a cultural representative of the world's imperialist and neocolonial powers? It would have to be: China.

Politics in Ghana's fourth republic is an interesting phenomenon. The intricacies in Ghanaian politics is one that requires constant analysis. In this paper, we examine some of these intricacies-the question and role of identity in politics in Ghana. We particularly analyse how ethnicity and religion influence elections in one of Africa's promising democracies. The analysis is based primarily on the scrutiny of official reports and detailed review of published works. The paper concludes that the tendencies to engage in over ethnicization and excessive religious undercurrent in Ghana's fourth republic, if not properly managed, can lead to ethnic and religious clashes, especially during electioneering periods. It is in view of this that we recommend that religious and traditional leaders make conscious efforts to promote peaceful and decorous campaigns. Moreover, there is the need for political leaders to avoid inciting ethnic groups against one another, even as societal groups embark on educating and sensitizing the general population.

Kwame Anthony Appiah (London, 1954) is one of the most renowned philosophers of contemporary thought. His work in the field of ethics and moral reach diverse subjects as sexual orientation, nationalism, social discrimination on ethnic or religious reasons and responsibility of governments and international organizations in development and poverty eradication.

Durch das Jüdische Jahr" führt Monat für Monat durch den jüdischen Jahreskreis. Rabbinerin Dalia Marx stellt den Charakter, die Feste und Gedenktage jedes Monats vor, beschreibt wenig bekannte religiöse Traditionen, Gebete und häusliche Bräuche und fragt, welche Bedeutung sie für unser modernes, durch eine Vielfalt von Kulturen und Identitäten geprägtes Leben haben können. Perspektiven aus Geschichte und Gegenwart, aus West und Ost, Israel und der Welt verflechten sich zu einem vielfarbigen Gewebe jüdischen Lebens und eröffnen einen eigenen Zugang zum Reichtum religiöser Traditionen.
Aus dem Hebräischen übersetzt und bearbeitet von Rabbinerin Ulrike Offenberg.
https://www.hentrichhentrich.de/book-durch-das-juedische-jahr.html

This paper presents a comparative approach to the study of majority (community of Palaichori) and minority (community of Cypriot Maronites) cemeteries and their ‘death-related’ practices in Cyprus. This study challenges the arguments of historians Laqueur and Ariès regarding death in modern western societies, in which the transition from the religious churchyard to the ‘cosmopolitan’ and secular cemetery in the modern west, meant the separation of the church from the cemetery. It showcases how in the communities examined in Cyprus (20th - 21st century), the transition from the churchyard to the cemetery did not entail a shift in secularity and inclusiveness, but rather a simulation of the churchyard that included only Christians.

In Cyprus, despite what many sociologists posited about the decline of religion and the triumph of rationality in modern societies, in the communities mentioned above, death-related practices are directly shaped by Catholic and Orthodox Christian dogmas. Moreover, the violent past of Cyprus (anti-colonial struggle, coup & invasion) that led to the division of the island has significantly affected the landscape of the cemeteries differently in each community as they were in different ways involved in the historical events. This article will analyse the context in which the Maronite community accords respect to their religious and political leaders, while in the community of Palaichori to their ‘national heroes’. Notably, the emergence of the death-industry from the late 20th century and its influence over the cemetery management from community authorities, led to different levels of organization and transparency in the cemeteries of Palaichori and the Maronite community.

Academic discussions of nationalism have been flourishing to such an extent that after 1980 some
scholars began to publish important analyses of its various aspects from new perspectives. Still, topics such
as culture, politics, ethnicity and race have not been focused on in terms of these two concepts. This article
focuses on the relationship among “history,” “the past” and nationalism in the works of Eric J. Hobsbawm
(1917-2012) and Anthony D. Smith (1939-2016) and the roles they attribute to them. I have selected these two
scholars for the first one is a spokesman for modernism, whereas the second one supports ethno-symbolism. In
addition, they are currently the most controversial names in the field. My main goal is to prove the existence of
either “history” or “the past” in the frequently used ancient-modern contrast as regards discussions on nationalism, its justifications and related topics.

"The death, destruction and sacrilege caused during Operation Bluestar pierced the heart not only of the Sikhs but also of many Punjabi Hindus. The devastation it caused in the personal lives of so many millions has still not been fully recorded and acknowledged because the political divide over the attitudes towards Operation Bluestar has overshadowed the human stories...
"In the Sikhs’ collective memory of 1984, the deaths by army action in June and those by genocidal mob violence in November constitute two ends of the same arc of killings. The two cannot be separated and, therefore, remain indelibly linked to the memory of Operation Bluestar, which is seen as the trigger both for the killings and for later disappearances, killings in custody and deaths by ‘encounters’ during the military operations against the armed Sikh opposition movement after the events of 1984...
"Of many doctoral dissertations I have evaluated as an external examiner, one by Shruti Devgun of Rutgers University, USA on ‘Re-Presenting Pasts: Sikh Diasporic and Digital Memories of 1984’ stands out for its subject and methodology. Her thesis focuses on the work of an intergenerational cohort of Sikhs in the diaspora (in the US and Canada) who are trying to piece together the fragments of painful pasts ‘to give cultural meaning and shape to broken traumatic experiences’.
"Through their work, they are puncturing, and perhaps demolishing, the Indian State’s narratives of Operation Bluestar. This painful ‘memory work’ is creating new spaces for them to understand and connect with the pain of the victims of many other genocides e.g., the Jews, the Palestinians, the Armenians and the Rwandan Tutsis."

Local baskets play an important role in the Bontok's identity, particularly for women who are married. They must possess sets of baskets that are valued by their community to establish themselves as married women. These have resonance in their life as primary rice farmers and their relationship with their environment. In instances of drought brought on by the El Niño, the disappearance of the basketweaving materials signals the lack of food harvests that are contained within those baskets.Such symbolic occurrences have implications on how they will manage food security for their community.

Two Open-fronted structures associated with minor numbers of Chichén Slatewares have been found at the minor site of Nohcacab in Quintana Roo. These could potentially be interpreted as either conquest by Chichén Itzá, the spread of a “Quetzalcoatl cult”, trade, or “diffusion”. Such interpretations necessarily touch upon the idea of ethnicity. However, the evidence for ethnic groups from material remains is problematic for several reasons. The major obstacle is the tendency among archaeologists to attribute to materiality, what is not there, such as quasi-objects. Such quasi-objects are believed to be shared among past humans, and materialities are forced to fit these quasi-objects. Ethnicity and culture are such quasi-objects, external to the materialities.

These “traditional” quasi-objects are rejected as levels of analysis and a Polyagentive approach is proposed that break with Culture-history and social constructivism. Here, social groups are first replaced by series and focus is laid upon the nodes around which series form: the materiality of actants. However, these are just actualisations or becomings of a virtual multiplicity that always is in change, free of essences and externalities. Becomings are what make materialities form the trajectories of human action through their causative capabilities, or polyagency. These processes are exemplified by the materialities at Nohcacab and the causeways of nearby Ichmul.

What factors drive people to choose nonviolent
civil resistance to achieve human rights,
peace, and justice? This Special Report offers
ground-breaking knowledge about the link of
colonialism, the Cold War, and the War on Terror
with Talibanization, oppression, and human
rights violations in the northwestern tribal
areas of Pakistan. This knowledge is drawn from
three years of in-depth field work studying the
nonviolent resistance of the Pashtun Protection
Movement in Pakistan. The report provides
key takeaways to civil resistance scholars,
policymakers, civil society, and activists who are
confronting colonial phenomena and its remnants
in the form of minority suppression, violence,
exclusion, and injustice.

In unserem Beitrag möchten wir uns mit einigen Problemen auseinandersetzen, welche mit dem Thema der kulturellen Identität der Individuen verbunden sind. Eine Interpretation der kulturellen Identität, welche die Identität als etwas Absolutes, Statisches, Eindimensionales, Starres erachtet, wird analysiert werden. Wir werden zeigen, dass diese Auffassung der kulturellen Identität das Ziel verfolgt, Menschen und Gruppen als isolierte Systeme zu erzeugen. Für die Kritik jeder eindimensionalen Interpretation der kulturellen Identität werden wir uns auf die Studie von Amartya Sen "Die Identitätsfalle. Warum es keinen Krieg der Kulturen gibt" (Originalausgabe "Identity and Violence. The Illusion of Destiny") stützen.