Politics of Identity

The 2nd Global African Indigenous and Derived Religions Conference provided a platform for scholars of African Indigenous Religions and African-derived religions to critically appraise the status, nature and role of global African Indigenous and Derived Religions, bringing together academics, practitioners and 'activists' in civil society, from Africa and the Afro-American diaspora with special emphasis on Brazil, as one of the major countries of African culture. This aimed to provide a forum for trans-Atlantic exchange, also in the southern hemisphere, which is very neccesary. The conference encouraged research and explored avenues for the documentation and preservation of African indigenous and derived religions, both as a matter of intrinsic value as with regard to their lasting influence on Christianity, Islam and on Esotericism in the 'West'. The special importance of the study of Africa Indigenous Religion - in the forms it has developed in Africa and in the Americas - for the affirmation and further development of African and Afro-Descendant identities, in terms of politics of identity in many fields has been recognized.

“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.

This chapter draws a trajectory from the "end of history" triumphalism to a global trend of democratic backsliding, culminating with a wave of nationalist populism that has swept across Europe and the United States. Fukuyama's evolving insights into the functioning and malfunctioning of liberal democracy are used as an analytical framework to study the Polish society's turn towards illiberal democracy. The specific interest is in the relationship between lack of recognition and political radicalization highlighted in Fukuyama's latest book Identity: Contemporary Identity Politics and the Struggle for Recognition (2018). If recognition drives democratic processes, but can easily become democracy's undoing, how can liberal democracy defend its bedrock ideals when faced with the inevitability of identities in politics?

A pesquisa procurou demonstrar, inicialmente, os limites do uso do lugar de fala e, posteriormente, como esse uso e esses limites afetam a atuação política da esquerda, dos movimentos sociais de esquerda. O caráter do trabalho é teórico, fazendo uma extensa revisão bibliográfica e tendo como base a Teoria Crítica. No primeiro capitulo faz-se
um apontamento histórico, político e teórico referente ao sujeito que fala, a ação política de um sujeito entendida pelas variadas visões dentro do pensamento de esquerda. O capitulo dois trata da aporia do atual sentido empregado ao lugar de fala, qual seja: uma ênfase liberal da política nos indivíduos, estes tidos como uma categoria ideológica, o lugar de fala como um individualismo por via obliqua. Por fim, conclui-se que a política identitária contemporânea, representada pelo uso do lugar de fala, deslocou o eixo de atuação da esquerda da coletividade para o indivíduo.

In the present thesis, I approach some aspects of the History of Goa, since the Constitutional Monarchy until the foundation of “Estado Novo”, viewed by its intellectual elites. The paths and standings of these elites were built in the crossroads produced by the construction of the post-Enlightenment currents of thought and of political and cultural practices, by the affirmation of contemporary colonialism and its questioning by the anticolonial nationalist movements, as well as by the evaluation of local, national and international contexts in which they were inscribed. In these crossroads, these elites contributed to the construction of the Goan currents of political and cultural thought and to the edification of its modernity, in a period marked by the growing discussion of the relations between politics and culture. Within these frames, they thought about the Goan condition, the Goan identity and about the local, Portuguese and Indian future in a continuously changing world. Constituting an approach of local history, this thesis represents an effort to contribute to contemporary Goan reflection, but also represents the intention to underline how contemporary history, in a permanent dialog between theory and practice, edified itself in an unstable balance between ideals and principles of universal aspiration and the impulse to distinguish inheritances, constrains and individual goals of particular societies. As such, this local was also assumed as a relevant perspective in the debate around the construction of contemporary thought and political action in general and Portuguese in particular, having specially in mind the discussion of liberalism and democracy, in face of the colonial question and in face of the imposition of modernity as the proper temporality to evaluate societies and peoples and to project their futures.


Nesta tese abordo alguns aspectos da história de Goa, desde a Monarquia Constitucional até à fundação do Estado Novo, perspectivados pelas suas elites intelectuais. Os percursos e posicionamentos destas elites edificaram-se nas encruzilhadas geradas pela construção das correntes de pensamento e das práticas políticas e culturais pós-iluministas, pela afirmação do colonialismo contemporâneo e pelo seu questionamento pelos movimentos nacionalistas anticoloniais, e, ainda, pela avaliação dos contextos locais, nacionais e internacionais em que se inscreveram. Nestas encruzilhadas estas elites foram contribuindo para a construção das correntes de pensamento político e cultural goesas e para a edificação da sua modernidade, numa época marcada pela crescente problematização das relações entre política e cultura. Dentro destas balizas problematizaram a condição goesa, a identidade goesa e o futuro local, português e indiano num mundo marcado pelo signo da mudança. Constituindo uma abordagem de história local, representa um esforço de contribuir para a reflexão goesa contemporânea, mas representa igualmente um sublinhar de como a história contemporânea, num diálogo permanente entre teoria e prática, se edificou num balanceamento instável entre princípios e ideais de aspiração universal e o impulso de distinção de heranças, condicionalismos ou desígnios próprios das sociedades particulares. Como tal, este local foi também pensado como perspectiva relevante na problematização da construção do pensamento e da acção política contemporâneos em geral e portugueses em particular, sobretudo do liberalismo e da democracia, em face da questão colonial e em face da imposição da modernidade como temporalidade própria para avaliar as sociedades e os povos e projectar o seu futuro.

Thailand adalah sebuah negara monarki di Mainland Asia berpenduduk mayoritas etnis Thai beragama Budha dan sebagian kecil etnis Melayu beragama Islam. Pada umumnya, Melayu Muslim di Thailand tinggal di wilayah selatan atau eks Kesultanan Patani Raya. Sebagai kelompok minoritas, Melayu Muslim di Thailand dalam catatan sejarahnya kerap mendapatkan diskriminasi di berbagai aspek. Salah satu bentuk diskriminasi terberat adalah kebijakan asimilasi budaya yang diterapkan secara paksa sejak rezim Jenderal Phibul Songkhram, dimana dalam kebijakan tersebut Thai Budha ditetapkan sebagai budaya dan identitas tunggal. Kebijakan tersebut membawa konsekwensi berupa larangan penggunaan nama, bahasa, dan identitas Melayu lainnya. Bahkan Bahasa Melayu dilarang digunakan terutama di sektor formal seperti bahasa pengantar sekolah dan instansi pemerintah. Kondisi tersebut mengakibatkan masyarakat Melayu Muslim melakukan perlawanan sosial yang kemudian direspon secara represif oleh pemerintah hingga menimbulkan konflik berkepanjangan. Situasi tersebut tak berubah hingga rezim Perdana Menteri Thaksin Shinawatra yang juga mengeluarkan statement menyudutkan penggunaan bahasa Melayu. Dalam konflik tersebut, Melayu Muslim bukan hanya menggunakan bahasa sebagai sarana perlawanan sosial, namun juga sebagai simbol politik identitas untuk menunjukkan eksistensi bahwa mereka tetap mampu bertahan di tengah berbagai tekanan.

Bu makalede yazarın 1960’larda Ankara’da geçen çocukluk yıllarındaki gözlemlerinden hareketle Türkiye modernleşmesinin o yıllardaki siyasi, kültürel ve toplumsal cinsiyet boyutları incelenerek, bu dönüşümün ürünü olan yaşam biçimlerinin daha sonra AKP tarafından köksüzlükle, taklitçilikle, yabancılıkla suçlanarak “Beyaz Türk” olarak ötekileştirilmesine eleştirel bir yaklaşım geliştirilmekte ve Beyaz-Zenci Türk kategorilerinin gerçekliğe tekabül etmeyen kurgu ve sahte kimlikler olduğu iddia edilmektedir. Yazar, AKP iktidarının kendi siyasetini ve otoritesini meşrulaştırmak amacıyla siyasi kimliğini ve vizyonunu Kemalist modernleşme projesinin topluma yabancı, yerli olmayan, “reklam arası” niteliği taşıyan, yapay ve tüm bu nedenlerle geçici ve durdurulması, hatta yok edilmesi gereken bir proje olduğu iddiası üzerine kurduğunu ifade etmektedir. Yazara göre AKP bu amaçla toplumda laik-Müslüman şeklinde suni bir fay hattı yaratarak, bu hat etrafında Beyaz-Zenci Türk gibi kimlikler ortaya sürüp bunları kendi söylemini ve iktidarını pekiştirecek ve meşrulaştıracak şekilde tanımlamıştır. Makalede AKP’nin iktidarını kurma ve meşrulaştırma çabalarının bir ürünü olan “Beyaz Türk” kategorisinin içi gerçek kişilerle doldurulması mümkün olmayan, boş ve bu anlamda kâğıttan-bebek olarak nitelenebilecek sahte bir kimlik olduğu ileri sürülmektedir. Bu kimlikle hedef alınan yaşam biçimlerinin, Türkiye modernleşmesinin geçirdiği değişik evrelerden farklı biçimlerde etkilenerek değişik nitelikler kazanmasıyla geniş bir yelpazeye yayılmış olan ve tek bir tanım altında toplanması mümkün olmayan zengin bir çeşitlilik içerdiği iddia edilmektedir. Makalenin ana argümanı, Türkiye modernleşmesinin sadece kentli üst ve orta sınıflarla sınırlı kalmış olan bir proje değil, istenen ve istenmeyen bütün sonuçlarıyla birlikte bir bütün olarak yurt dışından gelen etkilerin de zamanla yerli biçimler aldığı, heterojen, zaman zaman birbiriyle çelişen farklı unsurlar üretmiş, zengin bir çeşitlilik içeren ve eninde sonunda kalıcılaşan her şeyin yerlileştiği büyük bir dönüşüm olarak ele alınması gerektiğidir.
© Bu eser ancak referans verilerek kullanılabilir ve izin almaksızın çoğaltılamaz.

At the heart of the debates surrounding Irish and Welsh nationalism and national self-determination are essential questions on the respective Irish and Welsh national identities, on what really sets Ireland and Wales apart from their neighbours. These national identities have been irrevocably shaped by the colonial and postcolonial experiences of the Irish and Welsh people. In their search for a revitalised understanding of themselves in light of the modern world have brought the memories of their pasts together with the realities of their presents, forming two distinct national identities, each with their own language. While still minorities in their own countries, both the Irish and Welsh languages, and their speakers have made great progress in recent decades with the introduction of independence in the Republic of Ireland and devolution in Wales as distinct sociopolitical entities from the long shadow of the British Empire.

Los estudios poscoloniales de origen anglófono y el pensamiento decolonial de origen latinoamericano, en sus convergencias y diferencias, han provisto recursos para la renovación de la teoría crítica con horizontes emancipadores, al poner en evidencia los impensados eurocéntricos del pensamiento crítico tradicional y pluralizar su concepción de la dominación como de la emancipación. No obstante, algunos usos de las referencias decoloniales y poscoloniales paradójicamente pueden cerrar otra vez y demasiado rápido lo que así fue abierto. El riesgo consiste entonces en dos modalidades: 1) volver a focalizar el pensamiento crítico y emancipador alrededor de un eje principal, constituido ahora por el eje poscolonial o decolonial, siguiendo de esta manera una tentación existente en los marxismos más tradicionales acerca de la contradicción capital/trabajo (para la crítica social) y la salida de la explotación capitalista (para la emancipación), en vez de enfrentar el desafío de la pluralidad –sin tampoco dejarse llevar por la diseminación “posmoderna” del sentido; 2) volver a esencializar de manera paradójica las identidades después de haber deconstruido el esencialismo colonial, contribuyendo así a alimentar la importancia actual de los identitarismos en la escena internacional, entendidos como las tendencias a privilegiar una identidad principal cerrada en su aproximación de las personas y los grupos.
Frente a tal perspectiva, este texto propondrá tres esclarecimientos complementarios: 1) un interrogante acerca de los usos de la referencia decolonial en el contexto francés por parte del Partido de los Indígenas de la República (PIR); 2) una puesta en evidencia de los límites del tópico poscolonial del “esencialismo estratégico” en la obra de Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, gracias al análisis de una serie televisiva: American Crime; y, 3) una crítica ampliada de los identitarismos en el actual contexto político internacional.

This is the second of a two-part Opinion Piece/article I published in Indonesia's leading English-language daily, The Jakarta Post (TJP), to celebrate Indonesia's National Awakening Day (Hari Kebangkitan Nasional) on 21 May last. It was inspired by the essay "A Split Heart of Incompleteness" Ukrainian poet, Andrij Bondar, published in Ukrainian philosopher, Volodymyr Yermolenko's, collection of writings on Ukraine, "Ukraine in Histories and Stories: Essays by Ukrainian Intellectuals (Ukrainian Voices)" (Stuttgart: ibidem press, 2019), pages104-16. One of my Indonesian readers from Malang wrote: "I really like your writing, although I still need to read it several times because my English isn't fluent. You are like dancing above the puzzles of Indonesian and world history. You have made a smart connection with Ukraine and a reflection for Indonesians, including me."

Bu makalede, Gezi Parkı olayları sırasında ve sonrasında Türkiye’deki performatif protesto eylemleri ve bu bağlamda performans sanatçılarının rolü üzerinde duracağım. Butler’ın “performativite” anlayışı aracılığıyla, Gezi’nin “performatif” protesto eylemlerinden bazılarının, yeni tiyatro oyunlarında da devamını gördüğümüz daha geniş çaplı bir kültürel dönüşüme nasıl tanıklık ettiğini açıklayacağım. Performans sanatçılarının bir dizi performatif eylem yoluyla Gezi’nin “taktiksel repertuarları”nın yanı sıra (Tilly, 1978), bir “duygu yapısı” (Williams, 1977) olarak Türkiye’deki protesto kültürünün ayrılmaz parçası haline gelmiş olan  ‘yeni’ bir performativite anlayışı aracılığıyla da Gezi’nin simgesel siyasetine (Sears, 1993) katkılarının yadsınamaz olduğu kanısındayım. Özellikle önemli bir performatif taktiği Peggy Phelan’ın “etkin gözden kayboluş” kavramına başvurarak açıklayacağım. Duran Adama tekrar dönerek ve bu eylemi Judith Butler’ın (2011) yorumladığı biçimiyle Hannah Arendt’in “görünüş alanı” kavramına bağlayarak da, fark edilmemiş kalmak ile tanınmamış kimliklere alan açma talep etmek arasında, şimdiye kadar dile getirilmemiş ancak  önemli bir ilişkiyi çözümlemeyi amaçlıyorum. Bunu yaparak, performatif protesto hareketlerini Türkiye'deki maddi muhalif kültürün ayrılmaz bir parçası olarak ele almanın yanı sıra, performatif protesto eylemlerini simgesel olarak okurken bunların kendine has toplumsal ve siyasi yönlerini göz ardı eden son dönem Tiyatro ve Performans Çalışmalarının da bir eleştirisini yapmayı amaçlıyorum.

ABSTRACT

Within the scope of this thesis, it was questioned whether the Labor and Justice Platform, conceptualized as Muslim-Left, adopted a politics beyond the politics of identity. In this context, first of all, it was emphasized that Islamist and leftist movements in Turkey were different from those in other Muslim-majority countries, and reasons about that were presented. By reviewing the political history of Turkey on the basis of the state-society relationship, it has been observed that the expression of right-left political distinctions on the basis of identities rather than socio-economic foundations is an important reason. In this context, the positioning of Islamists and leftists as the other to each other prevented Islamists and leftists from acting on a common ground in Turkey until the 2000s. Secondly, a historical and conceptual analysis of Islamist movements in Turkey has been made and classified according to the distinction between protest and emancipatory movements / identity movements. Radical Islamist movements from the late 1960s to the 1990s have been classified as both protest and emancipatory movements and identity movements. The moderate Islamist movement represented by the National Outlook Movement and its parties has been classified as an identity movement. For the Justice and Development Party, the concepts of post-Islamism before 2011 and Muslimism (Muslim Nationalism) after 2011 were used and the Islamist movement it represented was classified as an identity movement.

Organizations such as the New Politics Initiative and People’s Voice Party that brought together Islamists and leftists in the 2000s, and the Labor and Justice Platform and Anti-Capitalist Muslims that emerged in the early 2010s were conceptualized as Muslim-Left. After that, the Labor and Justice Platform, which was established in 2011 to bring Islamists and leftists together on a common ground, was examined. There is a website that contains a regular archive of discussions, explanations, actions, news and comments about the Platform. For this reason, the website of the Platform was analyzed qualitatively by thematic content analysis method. In this context, the contents shared by the Platform members and the Platform’s statements were divided into thematic issues in order to understand the Platform’s political thought and attitude. As a result, it has been revealed that the Labor and Justice Platform, as a Muslim-Left movement, goes beyond the politics of identity for two reasons. First, the Labor and Justice Platform has been evaluated in the context of protest and emancipatory Islamist movements, with its structure prioritizing class politics. Secondly, although the Platform prioritizes class politics, it does not subordinate identity politics, adopting the principle of “the identity of the oppressed is not asked”. Therefore, they embrace the struggle for justice for all, being aware of the fact that there are those who suffer injustice and discrimination because of their ethnic and religious identities and gender. The attitude of the Platform on this issue has been examined through its approaches, actions, discourses and discussions on the Kurdish issue and gender equality.

Key Words: Muslim-Left, Labor and Justice Platform, Islamism, Politics of Identity


ÖZET

Bu tez çalışması kapsamında, Müslüman-Sol olarak kavramsallaştırılan Emek ve Adalet Platformu’nun, kimlik siyasetinin ötesinde bir siyaset benimseyip benimsemediği sorgulanmıştır. Bu bağlamda, öncelikle Türkiye’deki İslamcı ve solcu hareketlerin Müslüman çoğunluk diğer ülkelerde ortaya çıkan hareketlerden farklı olduğu vurgulanmış ve sebepleri ortaya konmuştur. Türkiye’nin siyasi tarihi devlet-toplum ilişkisi temelinde incelenerek, sağ-sol siyasal ayrımlarının sosyo-ekonomik temellerden ziyade kimlikler temelinde ifade edilmesinin önemli bir neden olduğu görülmüştür. Bu kapsamda, İslamcı ve solcuların birbirlerine öteki olarak konumlanması, Türkiye'de 2000’li yıllara kadar İslamcı ve solcuların ortak bir zeminde hareket etmesini engellemiştir. İkinci olarak, Türkiye’deki İslamcı hareketlerin tarihsel ve kavramsal incelemesi yapılmış ve protesto ve özgürleştirici hareketler / kimlik hareketleri ayrımına göre sınıflandırılmıştır. 1960’ların sonlarından, 1990’lara kadar varlık gösteren radikal İslamcı hareketler hem protesto ve özgürleştirici hareket hem de kimlik hareketi olarak sınıflandırılmıştır. Milli Görüş Hareketi ve onun partileri tarafından temsil edilen ılımlı İslamcı hareket, kimlik hareketi olarak sınıflandırılmıştır. Adalet ve Kalkınma Partisi için, 2011 öncesinde post-İslamcılık, 2011 sonrasında Müslümancılık (Müslüman Milliyetçiliği) kavramları kullanılmış ve temsil ettiği İslamcı hareket kimlik hareketi olarak sınıflandırılmıştır.

2000’li yıllarda İslamcı ve solcuları bir araya getiren Yeni Siyaset Girişimi ve Halkın Sesi Partisi gibi oluşumlar ile 2010’lu yılların başlarında ortaya çıkan Emek ve Adalet Platformu ve Anti-Kapitalist Müslümanlar Müslüman-Sol olarak kavramsallaştırılmıştır. Bunun ardından 2011 yılında İslamcı ve solcuları ortak bir zeminde buluşturmak amacıyla kurulan Emek ve Adalet Platformu incelenmiştir. Platform’a ait tartışmaların, açıklamaların, eylemlerin, haber-yorumların yer aldığı düzenli bir arşivi içeren web sitesi bulunmaktadır. Bu nedenle Platform’un web sitesi nitel olarak tematik içerik analizi yöntemiyle incelenmiştir. Bu bağlamda Platform üyeleri tarafından paylaşılan içerikler ile Platform’un açıklamaları, Platform’un siyasi düşüncesini ve tutumunu anlamak için tematik konulara bölünmüştür. Sonuç olarak, Emek ve Adalet Platformu’nun, Müslüman-Sol bir hareket olarak iki nedenle kimlik siyasetinin ötesine geçtiği ortaya konmuştur. Birincisi, Emek ve Adalet Platformu, sınıf siyasetini önceleyen yapısıyla protesto ve özgürleştirici İslamcı hareketler bağlamında değerlendirilmiştir. İkincisi, Platform sınıf siyasetini öncelese de kimlik siyasetini ikincilleştirmemektedir ve “mazluma kimliği sorulmaz” ilkesini benimsemektedir. Dolayısıyla, etnik ve dini kimlikleri ile cinsiyetleri nedeniyle adaletsizlik ve ayrımcılığa uğrayanların olduğunun farkında olarak, herkes için adalet mücadelesini benimsemektedirler. Platform’un bu husustaki tutumu, Kürt meselesi ve toplumsal cinsiyet eşitliğine yaklaşımları, eylemleri, söylemleri ve tartışmaları üzerinden incelenmiştir.

Anahtar Kelimeler: Müslüman-Sol, Emek ve Adalet Platformu, İslamcılık, Kimlik Siyaseti

This article discusses how identity is narrated in the arena of power struggles in the context of electoral democracy. Narration of identity tends to be strenghten in various political events, including elections of regional heads. To uncover the narrative, this article uses populism as a conceptual framework. By conducting a critical literature review of the conceptualization of populism as identity politics, this article finds that identity is transformed into a form of nativism that is an expression of a majority group who feels marginalized. Politicization of identity through this populist narrative eventually tends to racist practices, and in the end would undermine the democratic order itself. The strengthening of populism which is signed by  politicization of identity is a warning that needs to be responded by the change of political domination of the elite, who structurally taking advantage from the formal arrangement of liberal democracy. The electoral process needs to be balanced with the substantive change of power relation.

Keywords 
Identity, Populism, Electoral Democracy

ABSTRAK 
Tulisan ini membahas bagaimana identitas dinarasikan dalam arena pertarungan kuasa yang berlangsung dalam konteks demokrasi elektoral. Narasi tentang identitas cenderung menguat dalam berbagai event politik, termasuk pemilihan kepala daerah. Untuk  mengungkap narasi tersebut, tulisan ini menggunakan populisme sebagai kerangka konseptual. Dengan melakukan kajian literatur terhadap konseptualisasi populisme sebagai politik identitas, tulisan ini menemukan bahwa telah terjadi pergeseran politik identitas dalam konteks populisme. Identitas dinarasikan sebagai bentuk nativisme yang merupakan ekspresi dari kelompok yang secara demografis mayoritas tapi merasa termarjinalkan. Politisasi identitas melalui narasi populis ini dalam jangka panjang beresiko mengarahkan demokrasi populer ke dalam praktik-praktik yang cenderung rasis, yang pada gilirannya melemahkan tatanan demokrasi itu sendiri. Menguatnya populisme yang ditandai dengan politisasi identitas merupakan peringatan yang perlu direspon dengan mengubah dominasi politik elit yang secara struktural diuntungkan oleh pola pengaturan formal demokrasi liberal, sehingga proses elektoral perlu diimbangi dengan perubahan relasi kekuasaan secara substantif.

Keywords 
Identitas, Populisme, Demokrasi Elektoral

Germany is home to the largest community of Anatolian Alevis outside of Turkey. Alevis migrated to Germany first as laborers and later also as political refugees. In the late 1980s, around the same time as Alevis in Turkey, they started to form their organizations and to demand recognition from their societies. Three decades later, legal recognition has been achieved in Germany. What is interesting is that while the claim for recognition was initially voiced mainly as the demand to acknowledge the Alevi culture, Alevis ended up being recognized in Germany as a religious community. The most significant symbol of recognition as a religious community is obtaining the right to teach Alevi religious classes in schools. Employing the concepts of "opportunity structures" and "regimes of incorporation," the chapter analyzes the shift from "culture" to "religion" in a crucial phase of organized Alevism in Germany.

Eyes Re-Cast is a catalogue essay that accompanied Savi Sawarkar's solo exhibition at Rabindra Bhawan, Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi in 2008. It takes up the politics of representation in Savi's paintings and the manner in which he foregrounded his identity as India's first Dalit artist. The essay critically engages with the question of caste and specially untouchability as addressed by the artist.

20. yüzyılın başlarında ulusçu düşüncenin eyleme dönüşmesiyle yeni bir dünya düzeni kurulmuştur. Bu yeni düzende, tarihe şekil veren büyük imparatorluklar yerlerini kendi içlerinden çıkan ulus-devletlere bırakmak zorunda kalmıştır. Yüzyıl başındaki bu değişim Rusya halkları için sadece yönetim biçimiyle sınırlı kalan bir başkalaşımdan ibaret olmuştur. Nitekim imparatorluk ortadan kaldırılmış, fakat beklenen ulus-devletler ortaya çıkmamış, daha doğrusu Bolşevikler böyle bir duruma müsaade etmemiştir. Bu halklar ancak yüzyılın sonunda Sovyetler Birliği'nin dağılmasıyla bağımsızlıklarını elde edebilmişlerdir. Sovyet halkları arasında yer alan Türkdilli halklar geç elde ettikleri bu bağımsızlıklarının meşruiyetini pekiştirmek amacıyla ulusun ve devletin biricikliğine atıfta bulunan toprak, bayrak, dil, tarih ve benzeri objeleri ulusçuluk temelinde yeniden dizayn etmişlerdir. Bu çerçevede siyasal tercihini ulus-devlet anlayışından yana yapan Azerbaycan, ulusçu bir anlayışla tarihine ve kimliğine yeni bir şekil vermeye başlamıştır. Fakat bu süreç bağımsızlık sonrasının siyasi çalkantılarına paralel olarak geliştiğinden Azerbaycan ulusal tarih yazımı kalıcı bir biçim alamamıştır.
Anahtar Kelimeler: Azerbaycan, ulus-devlet, tarih yazımı, ulusal tarih, ulusal kimlik.

At the beginning of the 20 th century, as the nationalist thinking turned into action a new world order emerged. In this new world order, great empires had to leave their autonomy to the nation-states, which arose within those empires. This conversion taking place at the beginning of the century was only a rebellion for Russian nations, which is limited to a change of regime. As a matter of fact the empires were destroyed, but the expected nation states did not emerge, or more precisely the Bolsheviks did not allow them to do so. These nations could only gain their independence after the dissolution of the Soviet Union at the end of the century. In order to consolidate the legitimacy of their delayed independence, the Turkish speaking nations among the Soviet communities redesigned the concepts of land, flag, language, history and similar elements that refer to the uniqueness of the nation and the state, on the basis of nationalism. In this respect, Azerbaijan, which made its political choice in favor of being a nation-state, started to redesign its history and identity with a national perspective. However, since this process developed in line with political upheaval, the national historiography of Azerbaijan could not adopt a permanent shape.

Brazil experienced, in June of 2013, the largest popular demonstrations in its recent history —an event that has been called the June Journeys. In this paper, we briefly address briefly the processes of spatial diffusion and dispersion observed during these journeys. We then reflect on how these processes relate to a politics of identity, and the strategies used by protesters to differentiate themselves from other groups, and by the State to classify the protesters in order to guide the use of police repression. Identity can, therefore, group individuals around a common struggle using as reference the location of the demonstration as ‘spaces of identity reference’, but can also play an important role in the reproduction of dominant power relations by creating mechanisms with which to legitimate punitive action. The ‘vandal’ is, then, understood as the identity constructed to allow the transition from an indirect regulation to a mode of violent intervention. We conclude the paper by emphasising how both of these processes highlight the role of the politics of identity on this recent series of demonstrations in Brazil.

A Third Culture Kid (TCK) is a person who has spent a significant part of his or her developmental years outside the parents’ culture. Although elements from each culture are assimilated into the TCK’s life experience, the sense of belonging is in relationship to others of similar background. As a TCK, the author has allowed her familiarity with the subject to lead the semi-formal conversations that conformed the ethnographic data. In an effort to develop some concepts that will permit a productive analysis of the TCK ‘community in limbo’, some intersecting points are identified at which ambiguities necessarily arise: notions of place, ‘home’, belonging, and identity. The interpretation of the ethnographic data is thus largely couched in the discourse on personal narrative, focusing on how the informants accommodate conceptualizations of such analytical nodes.

Fruits d’une ethnographie de cinq mois réalisée en collaboration avec des organismes inuit et autochtones de la ville d’Ottawa, cette thèse de maîtrise s’attache à analyser la diversité et la complexité des expériences urbaines telles que vécues et racontées par dix-neuf jeunes Inuit, âgés de dix-huit à trente-cinq ans, habitant Ottawa. Cette étude révèle que la majorité des jeunes interrogés et côtoyés se positionnent et négocient, de manière transversale à leur parcours urbain, leurs interactions d’après leur relationalité (Wilson 2008), c’est-à-dire selon les relations dans lesquelles ils s’insèrent et qu’ils entretiennent avec différents agents ― humains et non humains ― au sein des mondes réels et spirituels qui sont en présence à Ottawa. En vue de leur maintien et de l’atteinte d’un équilibre, ces relations sont en constante négociation au fil de leurs expériences personnelles et collectives. Cette relationalité influence l’agentivité (Poirier 2008, 2009) de ces jeunes faisant ainsi en sorte qu’ils soient à la fois attentifs à leurs pensées, à leurs attitudes et à leurs actions quotidiennes compte tenu de leurs interconnexions.

Dans cette thèse, plusieurs dimensions de leurs parcours sont abordées et mises en relation. L’aisance des jeunes au sein de la ville est d’abord étudiée. Leurs témoignages soulignent les difficultés expérimentées au plan relationnel au fil de leur parcours à Ottawa ― allant de leur arrivée en ville à leur vie quotidienne, en passant par leur installation ―, et ce selon leurs expériences migratoires, urbaines et nordiques précédentes, de même que les ressources auxquelles ils ont accès. En vue de contrer leurs sentiments de « déconnexion » et de malaise, l’agentivité de ces jeunes est apparue orientée vers la création et l’entretien de relations leur étant significatives. Pour ce faire, les jeunes découvrent leur quartier, construisent des histoires avec de nouveaux espaces, lieux et personnes, se rassemblent avec des personnes partageant leur compréhension du monde et au sein de lieux reflétant cette compréhension. Cela s’effectue plus précisément par l’aménagement de zones de confort mobiles ― des amis inuit et autochtones fournissant à leurs explorations un cadre familier ― et par leur participation à des interactions et activités à l’intérieur d’espaces de convergence inuit et autochtones, leur procurant les bases nécessaires pour s’engager et s’affirmer avec aisance au sein de mondes leur paraissant préalablement étrangers.

Les objectifs associés à leur présence à Ottawa sont ensuite analysés. Ces motifs, enchâssés à des dimensions à la fois personnelles et collectives, guident les jeunes au fil de leur parcours urbain. D’une part, les jeunes interrogés disent profiter de leur présence à Ottawa pour mieux se positionner au sein de mondes inuit en (re)trouvant un certain bien-être personnel, c’est-à-dire qu’une majorité y saisit l’occasion d’affirmer leurs préférences personnelles ou orientations sexuelles, d’abandonner des dépendances, de se renouveler ou encore de se responsabiliser et de gagner en autonomie. D’autre part, se retrouver à Ottawa est aussi pour plusieurs l’opportunité d’acquérir, autant par l’entremise de centres inuit que d’institutions postsecondaires, des outils et des connaissances qu’ils pourront mettre à profit au sein de leur famille, de leur communauté et de leur peuple dont ils sont mandataires et redevables; que ce soit pour combler des besoins quotidiens ou atteindre des aspirations collectives. Ces démarches aboutissent pour certains en une plus grande cohérence entre leur identité et leur personne grâce à la force de caractère (inuusiqattiarniq) qu’ils y gagnent.

Les relations entretenues par dix-sept de ces jeunes au sein des mondes inuit selon les rôles de leaders qu’ils occupent sont finalement étudiées. D’un côté, on y comprend comment ils sont amenés à devenir des leaders à travers leurs expériences postsecondaires par les critiques sociales et politiques qu’ils y formulent et par l’entremise des réseaux inuit et autochtones militants qu’ils créent et intègrent, ce qui les motive à s’engager, de différentes formes, à Ottawa pour la défense et la résurgence du peuple inuit. D’un autre côté, on saisit comment ces jeunes s’affairent, non sans contradictions ni tensions, à correspondre à l’idéal du leader attendu de leur communauté : être des personnes exemplaires. En ce qui les concerne, il s’agit autant de faire preuve de sobriété et d’avoir des relations saines que de maîtriser leur langue, leur histoire et d’être attentifs aux critiques exprimées à leur égard par des membres de leur collectivité.

Auf Basis jüngster Forschungen untersucht das Tel Aviver Jahrbuch die Kontexte und Beweggründe, die unterschiedliche Gruppen von Deutschen zu verschiedenen Zeiten nach Palästina und Israel brachten. Die Autoren analysieren zu diesem Zweck die vielfältigen Wege, durch die deutsches Kulturgut in die hebräische Kultur aufgenommen wurde: von den Kochbüchern für Jeckes bis hin zu ihren religiösen Ritualen. Zudem wird das gegenwärtige Deutschlandbild der Israelis mit dem Israelbild der Deutschen verglichen.

The solemn presentation by Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople of the so-called tomos, or a decree of autocephaly, for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to newly elected Ukrainian primate Metropolitan Epiphanius in Istanbul on January 7, 2019, marked the break of yet another link between Ukraine and Russia. This important ecclesiastical and geopolitical goal was achieved in spite of fierce resistance from Russia’s Orthodox Church and state authorities. It was widely regarded as an impressive victory for Kyiv in its ongoing confrontation with Moscow that began in earnest five years ago with Russia’s military intervention in Crimea and the Donbas. In a desperate attempt to stop the emancipation of Ukrainian Orthodoxy from its centuries-long subordination to Moscow, the Russian Orthodox Church broke communion with Constantinople, thus exacerbating the global conflict in Orthodoxy as well as Russia’s alienation from the West. While his obvious role in this important achievement is likel...

Critical theory with emancipatory aims today to find a source of regeneration in ordinary cultures, and in particular, in TV series. Certain series can play a role in reinventing critical theories, drawing on the tradition of the Frankfurt School but shifting some of that School’s formulations through contact with current forms of interpretive sociology and pragmatic sociology. This requires a cross-border dialogue between the “language game” of TV series and the “knowledge game” of political theory, to use concepts inspired by Ludwig Wittgenstein. In this article, I will focus on four series: seasons 1 of American Crime (2015) and The Sinner (2017); Sharp Objects (2018); and Unorthodox (2020). The resources provided by these cultural works can help us formulate a critical decoding of important aspects of the current ideological context, in particular, the intersecting identitarian and ultra-conservative tendencies we find in France, Europe, the United States, and Brazil. These critical resources bear affinities to a political philosophy of the opening of being inspired by the ethical reflections of Emmanuel Levinas.

1
A Book by Another Name Would Also be Legible:
the Limits of the Bibliography of African American Cookbooks The Book Club of California Quarterly, editor, Antiquarian book scholar, Donald Lindgren —Winter 2020
Scott Alves Barton, PhD
In the first week of October 2020, Barbara Kirschenblatt-Gimlett [BKG] gave an online presentation for Muzeum Historii Źydów Polskich, the Museum for the History of Polish Jews, as an aspect of the annual Polish Food Festival. She discussed cookbooks and collecting, and specifically addressed how she used Jewish cookbooks written in Yiddish as an organizing tool when she began her own collecting. For context, cookbooks and romance novels occupy the largest portion and greatest revenue stream of all published books. To collect requires a disciplined focus in a niche category. The focus endeavors to be as specific as possible in order to not solely collect or hoard, but to enable critical thinking and present a visionary scope of the significance of your niche within the larger arc of cookbooks and the history of cooking. BKG’s public lecture demonstrated how much an apparently quotidian topic—cooking—and a material product—cookbooks—can provide a means to access cultural aspects of a set of people and their culinary traditions, commensal behaviors, celebrations and prohibitions, beliefs about abundance and lack, and their methodological epistemologies. The cultural importance of food, foodways, and the material objects associated with cookery is rationale enough for scholarship and inclusion in the archive.

This paper focuses on the socio-political and economic issues involved in the production of oil producing and non-oil producing communities as categories of identification in Nigeria. Using Ilaje people of Ondo State as a case, this paper, through qualitative methods of study, examines the factors of history, elite politics, and the state in identity formulation and the effects which the construction of the “other” among a supposed homogeneous group has on the existing forms of social relationship. It is established from the study that though the advantage of the oil producing community identity is utilized to attain political and economic height, the identity remains subordinate to a much larger and inclusive Ilaje identity. Generally, this paper is a reflection on how identity is manipulated even in the local context to suit competition for resources. It discusses the cultural creation of space and its hegemonisation in the quest for an exclusive advantage over resource in a space. The paper concludes that even when the spatial differentiation is yet to generate any remarkable conflict, the feelings of “oneness” appears to have been sufficiently weakened.

Keywords: Nigeria, oil producing community, identity manipulation, resource competition, Ilaje

This essay focuses on political implications of Derrida’s messianicité as a form of Marrano messianism: a universal vision of community “out of joints” which, despite its disjointedness and inner separation, nonetheless addresses itself as “we” (although always in inverted commas). By referring to the generalized “Marrano experience” – the
fate of those Sephardic Jews who were forced to convert to Christianity and, in consequence, became neither Jewish nor Christian – Derrida takes the Marrano as his paradigmatic political figure of a “rogue” (voyou) who escapes every identity politics. In Derrida’s project of “living together” (vivre ensemble), the Marrano stands for the non-participatory remnant of otherness which is not just the other of this or that particular tradition, but becomes a bearer of a new universalism, based not on the abstract notion of human nature but on the non-identity, a distance-from-identity or what Yirmijahu Yovel calls the “non-integral identity.”

What do Malaysians understand by the term, "intellectual"? Is the intellectual in the Malaysian context undefined, or insignificant? Do Malaysians see the need for intellec-tuals? Answers to these questions reflect the extant to which Malaysia has advanced in her post-colonial development. Amidst the race towards IR 4.0 and Society 5.0, Malaysia's education system lags behind and leaders continue to be embroiled in identity politics. Syed Hussein Alatas, a world-renowned Malaysian intellectual, raised these questions in the 1950s. His writings focus on social change, corruption, and intellectual captivity. Even though his writings are easily accessible, his ideas have not been widely assimilated by Malaysia's ruling elite, as part of the reform agenda. This article highlights the relevance of Alatas's ideas in Malaysia's current socio-political transformation. It concludes that leadership's failure to identify relevant problems is because they have neglected the vital role of intellectuals, such as the critical ideas of Syed Hussein Alatas.

A short paper, from a feminist perspective, covering the production of representational narrative space in Daphne Marlatt's novel, Ana Historic. Exploring space (both narrative and physical) in relation to the female body, identity, and subjectivity, this paper argues that the novel's narrator is able to re-member a forgotten woman from the obscurity of Vancouver's historical archives by imagining her the space within her narrative to exist and become.

A presente Tese de Doutorado investiga algumas das relações entre arte, política e movimentos sociais que permeiam nosso presente, partindo de uma constelação insurgente composta por exposições, ações, trabalhos de arte e de ativismo ocorridos no Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo e Pernambuco, circunscritos no período entre 2004 e 2018. Em uma abordagem transversal de arte e política, cada um dos seis capítulos coloca um determinado elemento estético em cena: duas ações do coletivo Frente Três de Fevereiro (1) e uma do Política do Impossível (2); o coletivismo artístico em torno da ocupação Prestes Maia (3) e seu desdobramento na exposição Zona de Poesia Árida e no suporte instalativo Poética do Dissenso (4); duas performances de Elilson (5); dois trabalhos de Bárbara Wagner em colaboração com grupos de evangélicos neopentecostais (6). Partindo desta constelação, discutimos problemas como a poética da política, uma educação pelo silêncio, a crítica institucional e a institucionalidade crítica, uma política do luto e da memória, além de questões relativas a coletivos, minorias, alteridades, identidades e lugares de fala. Nos baseamos especialmente no pensamento de Jacques Rancière, amparado por autores como Bruno Latour, Walter Benjamin, Roland Barthes, Michel Foucault, Judith Butler e Suely Rolnik. Assumimos uma abordagem fragmentária, que tangencia o método cartográfico de Suely Rolnik; as constelações benjaminianas; as cenas rancierianas; os traços barthesianos; e o composicionismo de Bruno Latour. Esta estratégia absorve certos modos de inteligibilidade comuns aos procedimentos de curadoria ou de montagem, em que a reunião de uma série de imagens singulares pode agenciar múltiplas possibilidades de sentido. Na presente Tese, ela permite a emergência de um presente composto enquanto um campo irresoluto de vibração dissensual.

This presentation provides the rationale for and an overview of an exploratory guide, in which there is a discussion of specific post-disciplinary perspectives for (un)thinking current modes of research into praxes that co-construct a pluriversal world of knowledges. The guide is one important example of the Crossroads Asia network’s efforts to rethink Area Studies and the disciplines, at the level of concepts, methods and researcher reflexivity. Consequently, the guide is situated within current debates that recognize the need for renewed approaches to scientific research; that is, approaches that are multiple, intersectional and transgressive. More specifically, the purpose of the guide is to highlight the significant added value of post-disciplinary approaches to research for better understanding various figurations of human inter-actions (and their dynamics) within and beyond geographic locations. This is done by taking into account the many ground-breaking perspectives that have been developed as a consequence of key turns (i.e., linguistic, cultural, translational, spatial, mobility, non-human, indigenous, and epistemic decolonial). It also provides insights into the kinds of critical pedagogy necessary for learning (and teaching) how to (un)think research, not only as a response to the more dynamic, complex, chaotic and uncertain nature of contemporary phenomena, but also as a concerted effort to transform existing power-knowledge hegemonies by providing multiple epistemic, ontological and philosophical accounts of (and for) existence.

The presentation not only serves to give a general picture of the guide, but will also focus on key perspectives provided through the indigenous and decolonial turns. This includes a discussion on the contradictions inherent in trying to achieve a decolonial project within a westernized university; thus, including the paradox in writing an exploratory guide in order to promote a pluriversal world of knowledges. More specifically, the tensions embedded in the following questions will be contemplated:
1) How might one end up re-colonizing indigenous “relational epistemologies”, or embodied modes of learning, as a result of utilizing “logocentric and librocentric” (Burman, 2012) modes of instruction?
2) What are the dangers inherent in trying to “publish our way out of modernity” or “read our way out of epistemological hegemony” (Burman, 2012)?
3) How does one’s positionality prevent recognizing—or acting on—ideas such as there is an entanglement of the knower with the yet to be known (Burman, 2012), “entangled forms of knowledge” (Morreira, 2015), or “entangled systems of multiple hierarchies” (Grosfoguel, 2011)?
4) What are the obstacles to becoming a “critical border thinker” (Mignolo & Tlostanova, 2006), especially when socialized into specific schools of thought on which academic careers and funding lines depend?
5) How might we use the fact that “our academic privilege is our loss” (Spivak, 1995), as an enabling source of power for enacting a truly decolonial option on knowledge production?


References:
Burman, A. (2012). Places To Think With, Books To Think About: Words, Experience and the Decolonization of Knowledge in the Bolivian Andes. Human Architecture: Journal of the Sociology of Self-Knowledge 10 (1), 101-119.
Grosfoguel, R. (2011). Decolonizing Post-Colonial Studies and Paradigms of Political Economy: Transmodernity, Decolonial Thinking, and Global Coloniality. Transmodernity: Journal of Peripheral Cultural Production of the Luso-Hispanic World 1 (1), 1-37.
Mignolo, W. D. & Tlostanova, M. V. (2006). Theorizing from the borders: Shifting to geo- and body-politics of knowledge. European Journal of Social Theory 9 (2), 205-221.
Morreira, S. (2015). Steps Towards Decolonial Higher Educatzion in South Africa? Epistemic Disobedience in the Humanities. Journal of Asian and African Studies [online], 1-15.
Spivak, G. (1995). Can the Subaltern Speak? In B. Ashcroft, G. Griffiths & H. Tiffin (Eds.). The Post-Colonial Studies Reader (pp. 24-28). New York: Routledge.

Minangk@u is wide& knownfor its matrilineal system. One of the matrili11wl values is the man (sumando;l'uhat positioned as marginal. Sumando is a stranger in his wife's family, as shown in the traditional proverb saying like ushes on the stump (seperti abu di atas tunggul). This position is not profitable, so they hare to mgotiate with the woman as a "ruler" to strengthen their "maseullne idenrity". This d e argues that pig hunting is a media of the identity politics of Minawobrro's men in establishing and strengthening their identity in the domination matriarchal of the Minangka$au.

This essay provides a detailed and critical analysis of Rawls' notions of respect and self-respect from the vantage point of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It demonstrates that Rawls' empirical and normative claims concerning respect and self-respect are pivotal to his theorizing on psychology and politics. It considers the extent to which processes and developments in Israeli-Palestinian relations can be said to be compatible with – or even corroborate – some of Rawls' empirical hypotheses concerning the interdependence of respect and self-respect. It establishes where the values entailed in Rawls' perspective on respect and self-respect would place a Rawlsian vis-à-vis some aspects of the Israeli-Palestinian question.

This essay critiques the postcolonial posture towards human rights and queer activism and the failure of postcolonial studies in recognizing the essential work done towards social freedom and emancipation by the human rights movement in Egypt since the 1980s. The essay points out to the deep contradictions this posture resulted in-- an alliance between postcolonial intellectuals and outrageously conservative and violent Islamic revival movements. The dilemma resulted in wholesale condemnation of human rights discourse and its much-needed interventions, and a failure to articulate an alternative discourse that it takes into account the social and political violence that continues to this day.

جنگ سرد فقط رقابت، تنش و کشمکش‌های سیاسی و ژئوپلیتیکی بین بلوک شرق (اتحاد جماهیر شوروی و دولت‌های اقماری‌اش) و بلوک غرب (ایالات متحده و متحدان ناتو) بعد از جنگ جهانی دوم در اروپا نبود؛ خاورمیانه یکی از میدان‌ها بود. صهیونیسم به سازمانی جهانی بدل شد تا اسرائیل را برسازد. شوروی، پس از تسخیر قفقاز در جنگ جهانی اول، نقشۀ ضمیمه‌کردن آذربایجان را با تنش‌های غائلۀ آذربایجان عملی ساخت. نمونه‌ای از آن: حرکت بعدی شوروی‌ در سال ۱۹۴۵ بود و آن حملۀ نیروهای کمونیست شوروی به یک مرکز کشاورزی در میانه بود. شوروی‌ در آنجا سربازان ایرانی را خلع سلاح کرد. پس از آن، شوروی‌ همین کار را در دیگر نقاط آذربایجان نیز ادامه داد.

Thailand adalah sebuah negara monarki di Mainland Asia berpenduduk mayoritas etnis Thai beragama Budha dan sebagian kecil etnis Melayu beragama Islam. Pada umumnya, Melayu Muslim di Thailand tinggal di wilayah selatan atau eks Kesultanan Patani Raya. Sebagai kelompok minoritas, Melayu Muslim di Thailand dalam catatan sejarahnya kerap mendapatkan diskriminasi di berbagai aspek. Salah satu bentuk diskriminasi terberat adalah kebijakan asimilasi budaya yang diterapkan secara paksa sejak rezim Jenderal Phibul Songkhram, dimana dalam kebijakan tersebut Thai Budha ditetapkan sebagai budaya dan identitas tunggal. Kebijakan tersebut membawa konsekwensi berupa larangan penggunaan nama, bahasa, dan identitas Melayu lainnya. Bahkan Bahasa Melayu dilarang digunakan terutama di sektor formal seperti bahasa pengantar sekolah dan instansi pemerintah. Kondisi tersebut mengakibatkan masyarakat Melayu Muslim melakukan perlawanan sosial yang kemudian direspon secara represif oleh pemerintah hingga menimbulkan konflik berkepanjangan. Situasi tersebut tak berubah hingga rezim Perdana Menteri Thaksin Shinawatra yang juga mengeluarkan statement menyudutkan penggunaan bahasa Melayu. Dalam konflik tersebut, Melayu Muslim bukan hanya menggunakan bahasa sebagai sarana perlawanan sosial, namun juga sebagai simbol politik identitas untuk menunjukkan eksistensi bahwa mereka tetap mampu bertahan di tengah berbagai tekanan.

The study gives an overview of the constructions of Transylvania and their relations during the interwar period. It presents the distance as well as the closeness to Transylvania and the process of establishing the boundaries of Transylvania, where the boundaries are not only meant in a geographical sense. Its point of view is distinctly Transylvanian, and it looks at how the various Transylvanian actors of history, from everyday people to the political elite, tried to find a place for themselves and their region in the world; where they drew the dividing line between ‘us’ and ‘them’; and what were the differences, which were present in the social space and simultaneously forming identity discourses or even rooting in them, and the experiences relating to them. In order to capture this process, the study amplifies Rogers Brubaker’s triadic system of correlation into a quadrangle by mentioning the regional elite of the majority as a separate actor.
This system of correlations is dynamic, in which the various forms and practices of separation and identification might be present depending on the circumstances. The various groups might merge creating an opposition against someone or they might be separated from each other according to their characteristics or interests. Their boundaries can be crossed or they can be completely impenetrable; the main idea is that they identify themselves as a group standing against another group and they assign that particular group certain common characteristics. This can be true for both the cases of everyday encounters and the discourses of the political elite. Within the framework of these relations and system of relations the regional elites wanted to turn around the hierarchy within the nation and they considered their own regional group as the authentic representative of the nation. This was reinforced by the everyday encounters as well. However, against the other nation the support of the centre was needed. But since both the regionalist discourse and the encounters ethnicised the differences between the groups of Hungarians and the groups of Romanians, the question arises whether this proves the potential of separate nation-buildings.