Location via proxy:   [ UP ]  
[Report a bug]   [Manage cookies]                
SlideShare a Scribd company logo

Ethnic minorities

•Download as DOC, PDF•
•
D
Dr. Dan EKONGWE

This document discusses the formation of ethnic minorities and identities of immigrants. It argues that the identities of both immigrants and native populations are malleable and can evolve over time and through contact with each other. The openness of the host country's people to new cultures, and their laws and treatment of immigrants, play a major role in how immigrants view their own identities and relationship to their home country. Negative stereotypes of immigrants are often inaccurate and overlook their contributions, but public perceptions can still influence government policies on immigration.

1 of 5
Dr Daniel EKONGWE 30 October 2019 How is the formation of ethnic minorities depended on the migrant community and the government of the host country? INTRODUCTION In the Western world, multiculturalism has become the way to view and form “nationhood,” igniting the interest to understand and model identity. The complexity of identity formation, however, has been firm and ethnic and national identities have been deviating more and more. To respond to the question above, seek the nature, role and relationships between ethnic and national identities by using migrants as the natural innovators. The arrival of immigrants can amplify social challenges and both natives and immigrants can see their identities altering and evolving. Individuals in a country can be patriotic, nationalistic, indifferent, apathetic, or subvert and undermining. The openness of the people in the host country, their embracing of new cultures and their respect towards newcomers can play a major role in how immigrants react and how close they remain with the country of origin. The laws of the host country together with the ideals, the self- understanding way of life and the foundation of the sovereign nation can also affect the identities of immigrants and natives at the individual level and at the nation-building level. THE CONCEPT OF IDENTITY The concept of identity and its importance for many aspects of life as well as in the political, social and psychological realm science have been studied by fellow social scientists for a long time. Racial and ethnic relations vary by culture, meaning that while you’re abroad, you may be part of an ethnic minority or majority for the first time in your life or have to think about your identity in a new way. Sociologists, anthropologist as well remember Herskovits social psychologists, political scientists, anthropologists and human geographers have developed theories about the identity of individuals and created surveys to test them empirically. Indeed, they have found that identity is a significant characteristic and a distinguishing attribute that affects many facets and phases of the individual’s, the group’s and the society’s sphere. Following the neoclassical economic theory, economists have been reluctant to delve into “exotic” questions such as how does the identity of an individual affect his or her utility function, his or her demand and supply of goods and services, or his or her demand and supply of labour; tackling the fundamental economic question of how limited resources are distributed among the different ethnicities or minorities in the host country is another question that has not been looked at. THE FORMATION OF ETHNIC MINORITIES The importance of ethnicity has become more visible also in other parts of the world. By the end of the 20th century it was hard to find “homogeneous Korea, Japan countries in terms of culture, religion, ethnicity, and race. Multiculturalism became the way to view and form “nationhood” in the Western world, as it was manifested in the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, and Britain. In the early 2000s with “9/11” (2001) in the U.S. and the bombings in London (July 7, 2005) and Madrid
(March 11, 2004) economists more from historical sociology than economist for policy on immigration......the economics of migration has been the principal focus of immigration study...until the early 90s described as the age of migration by Stephen and Castle in their work ‘The Age of Migration: International Population Movement in the 2oth Century’ and Sociologist, Historians, Geographers have gained saliency in migration studies. started paying attention to less observable but more salient characteristics of the immigrants’ “being” such as ethnic identity and national identity. An individual’s identification with a certain group, ethnicity, or religion can be paramount in how this individual behaves in the host country and especially towards this country’s labour market. One can have multiple identities such as one can be a mother, a nurse, a soccer fan, a punk, an immigrant, and a naturalized citizen. These identities can be compatible and reinforcing, but they can also be conflicting. Moreover, one can identify with different ethnicities and be a cosmopolitan. However, this does not necessarily mean that one does not have a national identity or one does not pledge allegiance to the host country. In the wide gamut of ethnic and national identities, it is possible that individuals can be patriotic, nationalistic, indifferent, apathetic, or subvert and undermining the host country. Identity formation and preservation is, however, a two-way street. Perceptions and attitudes are central to the identity process. THE IMAGE OF IMIGRANTS IN THEIR HOME COUNTRIES In the home society, there are two principal issues which influence the image of migrants. The first is the widely accepted perception that migration of skilled professionals has a negative net effect for the home country. In reality, this assumption has yet to be properly tested. In many instances, when balanced against the financial return through migrant remittances and return investment, as well as decreased unemployment through recruitment from the local labour market, the result may be more balanced need scientific study and proper research for this....see my work: Remittances as an Emerging Economic Force in Africa PAID Journal ‘INNOVATION, 2013. Your argument finds scientific knowledge when you link brain drain to Brain Gain... The second key issue is that of reintegration, and the mixed images of diasporas and return migrants. Migrants are great sources of richness and development, through the remittances they send, the investments they make, the skills they bring, and the innovation they provide. (The Syrian Government refers to its diasporas as “our best ambassadors”.) Increasingly, labour migrants are being viewed by many countries of origin as potential agents for development, especially in terms of their potential for remitting funds, transferring know-how and creating businesses and trade networks. There is growing evidence of the benefits migrants can bring to their countries of origin. Some research has shown that public opinion towards migrants is directly related to the extent of the migrant community abroad. The larger the migrant community abroad the more favourable public opinion is in the home country towards those migrants. However, returning migrants often face hostility as having abandoned their home countries, and are seen as “less” of a national than those who remained. This assumption is frequently accompanied by a sense that returning migrants feel they are better than or superior to their compatriots who remained at home. They may have become accustomed to a different standard of living, absorbed different social traits or values, and may experience a sense of no longer fitting in. Occasionally returning migrants are seen as failures that could not make it abroad. Their return may be viewed as a result of an inability to get ahead in the host country.
THE IMAGE OF THE MIGRANT IN THE HOST COUNTRIES As migration increases, and migration policy has become a top policy priority of governments worldwide good, public perception of migrants has a direct impact on the policy direction of governments on migration. While there is growing recognition of the opportunities that migration offers for economic growth, development and stability in host and home countries, perceptions of migrants have not kept pace with changed policy understanding. Permanent immigrants are particularly challenged; they face the pressure to replace the national identity of the country of origin by that of the country of immigration. Their ethnic identities may be preserved or adapted to the native the use of word native is too remote in time and space....no longer usage in academia ...the word is perjorative ethnic identities of the host countries. The openness of the people in the new country, their embracing of new culture and their respect towards the newcomers can play a major role in how immigrants react and how close they remain with the country of origin. The arrival of immigrants in a country is bound to bring about social changes. As identities are malleable and evolve through time and space, it is very possible that the identities of the natives or autochthones will alter and normalize after they come in contact with immigrants. Today, the image of migrants is less balanced. Indeed, the public perception of migrants seems to be overwhelmingly negative. In reality, migrants of all skill levels contribute a great deal to societies. To paraphrase Wall Street Journal writer G. Pascal Zachary, migrants spawn creativity, nourish the human spirit, spur economic growth, and empower nations. Migrants bring diversity, provide innovation and are an antidote to stagnation. However despite this reality, powerful misinformed assumptions and negative stereotypes of migrants prevail. With the growing incidence of irregular migration, migration is increasingly associated in the public mind with illegality – crossing borders illegally and working illegally. Worse, the notion of “migrant” today frequently evokes an image of “asylum seeker” which in turn too often has come to be seen as someone coming to abuse the system. Lower skilled migrants, in particular, are often seen as displacing local workers and abusing social welfare systems and become scapegoats for economic insecurity. Powerful religious and cultural stereotypes exist as well. In the extreme, migrants of Muslim origin and practice, in particular, are seen in many Western countries as potential threats to local values and identity as well as security risks linked to terrorism. Finally, the laws of the host country together with the ideals, the self-understanding and the foundation of the sovereign nation can also affect the identities of immigrants and natives at the individual level and at the nation-building level. The impact of government policies and foreign relations on ethnic minorities In the politics of some countries, a "minority" is an ethnic group that is recognized as such by respective laws of its country Canada and therefore has some rights that other groups lack. Speakers of a legally recognized minority language, for instance, might have the right to education or communication with the government in their mother tongue. Countries that have special provisions
for minorities include Canada, China, Ethiopia, Germany, India, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, Croatia, and the United Kingdom. Differing minority groups often are not given identical treatment. Some groups are too small or too indistinct compared to the majority, that they either identify as part of the same nation as the members of the majority, or they identify as a separate nation but are ignored by the majority because of the costs or some other aspect of providing preferences. For example, a member of a particularly small ethnic group might be forced to check "Other" on a checklist of different backgrounds, and consequently might receive fewer privileges than a member of a more defined group. Many contemporary governments prefer to assume the people they rule all belong to the same nationality rather than separate ones based on ethnicity. The United States asks for race and ethnicity on its official census forms, which thus breaks up and organizes its population into different sub-groups, but primarily on racial origin rather than national one. Spain does not divide its nationals by ethnic group, although it does maintain an official notion of minority languages. Today most governments receiving migrants are facing increasingly sensitive questions about the value of diversity, migration, security and regionalism is a European Dilema...what do you make of the Brexit ....multiple identities and how government policies and public perception can be adapted to build unity and social cohesion, and respect difference. For traditional countries of immigration such as the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, migrants have been responsible for their very formation and will continue to be crucial for their global competitiveness. Nations can preserve their traditions while embracing change, and the question for them is not whether to embrace diversity, but how. 5 However, even traditional immigration countries are facing growing challenges on how to manage public perception regarding the image of migrants in society. These same issues are being faced on a rapidly increasing scale by countries all over the globe as international migration grows truly “global”. Particularly in areas of dense migrant populations, migrants are viewed by some as threatening to national values and national identity. The importance of public perception in these debates is key. Research has shown that the populations in urban centres, where larger numbers of migrants settle, are more tolerant than in rural settings. However, intolerance arises more often when migrant communities are created within a community that tends to segregate migrants from the rest of the population. Public perception often sees a causal relationship between immigration and high unemployment/economic insecurity, growing public health concerns and increasing demand on social welfare systems, despite evidence to the contrary that migrants in many host societies take jobs that would otherwise remain unfilled, are not public health risks, and contribute considerably more in taxes than they consume in services. Again, this is most in evidence in areas with a high concentration of migrant populations. 6 10. Lack of active promotion of tolerance and understanding in a diverse community can lead to discrimination and social exclusion of migrants. In turn, socio-economic and political frustration and alienation among migrant communities can create conditions which could trigger potentially harmful situations. It is critical that managing the image of migrants be incorporated directly into policies and activities of the various partners involved in managing migration. In modern societies, it is efficiency and success that is sought after and not conformity or filial piety. Remarkably, as Park (1950) reflects, even though natives as a whole may appear conspicuously uniform – at least to the eyes of the immigrants – they are also individuals and can
have very different opinions and beliefs from each other. Yet they all unite when it comes to their national identity, allegiance and creed. The idea of “nation building,” that is, applying policies that encourage and reinforce a national identity, has been advanced as a means for peaceful integration and conflict reduction in countries with high levels of ethnic diversity or fractionalization. The U.S. is the country that is the closest in achieving this reconciliation. While Americans are from all corners of the world with different cultures, maternal tongues, and ethnic self-identification they all say “I am an American first” and pledge allegiance to the United States of America. The following section provides examples and findings about the balancing of ethnic and national identities for the United States of America and other countries. 1. Books to be read not just online resources...there are lots of publications on Contemporary Migration.John Rex 2. Stephen Castle and Miller 3. Hakim Adi 4. International Organization for Migration IOM References  http://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/31243/INTERACT_RR_2014_02.pdf?sequence =1  http://isdp.eu/content/uploads/images/stories/isdp-main-pdf/2014-amer-ethnic-minorities- government-policies-and-foreign-relations.pdf  http://ftp.iza.org/dp7020.pdf  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minority_group#Minorities_in_law_and_government

More Related Content

Ethnic minorities

  • 1. Dr Daniel EKONGWE 30 October 2019 How is the formation of ethnic minorities depended on the migrant community and the government of the host country? INTRODUCTION In the Western world, multiculturalism has become the way to view and form “nationhood,” igniting the interest to understand and model identity. The complexity of identity formation, however, has been firm and ethnic and national identities have been deviating more and more. To respond to the question above, seek the nature, role and relationships between ethnic and national identities by using migrants as the natural innovators. The arrival of immigrants can amplify social challenges and both natives and immigrants can see their identities altering and evolving. Individuals in a country can be patriotic, nationalistic, indifferent, apathetic, or subvert and undermining. The openness of the people in the host country, their embracing of new cultures and their respect towards newcomers can play a major role in how immigrants react and how close they remain with the country of origin. The laws of the host country together with the ideals, the self- understanding way of life and the foundation of the sovereign nation can also affect the identities of immigrants and natives at the individual level and at the nation-building level. THE CONCEPT OF IDENTITY The concept of identity and its importance for many aspects of life as well as in the political, social and psychological realm science have been studied by fellow social scientists for a long time. Racial and ethnic relations vary by culture, meaning that while you’re abroad, you may be part of an ethnic minority or majority for the first time in your life or have to think about your identity in a new way. Sociologists, anthropologist as well remember Herskovits social psychologists, political scientists, anthropologists and human geographers have developed theories about the identity of individuals and created surveys to test them empirically. Indeed, they have found that identity is a significant characteristic and a distinguishing attribute that affects many facets and phases of the individual’s, the group’s and the society’s sphere. Following the neoclassical economic theory, economists have been reluctant to delve into “exotic” questions such as how does the identity of an individual affect his or her utility function, his or her demand and supply of goods and services, or his or her demand and supply of labour; tackling the fundamental economic question of how limited resources are distributed among the different ethnicities or minorities in the host country is another question that has not been looked at. THE FORMATION OF ETHNIC MINORITIES The importance of ethnicity has become more visible also in other parts of the world. By the end of the 20th century it was hard to find “homogeneous Korea, Japan countries in terms of culture, religion, ethnicity, and race. Multiculturalism became the way to view and form “nationhood” in the Western world, as it was manifested in the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, and Britain. In the early 2000s with “9/11” (2001) in the U.S. and the bombings in London (July 7, 2005) and Madrid
  • 2. (March 11, 2004) economists more from historical sociology than economist for policy on immigration......the economics of migration has been the principal focus of immigration study...until the early 90s described as the age of migration by Stephen and Castle in their work ‘The Age of Migration: International Population Movement in the 2oth Century’ and Sociologist, Historians, Geographers have gained saliency in migration studies. started paying attention to less observable but more salient characteristics of the immigrants’ “being” such as ethnic identity and national identity. An individual’s identification with a certain group, ethnicity, or religion can be paramount in how this individual behaves in the host country and especially towards this country’s labour market. One can have multiple identities such as one can be a mother, a nurse, a soccer fan, a punk, an immigrant, and a naturalized citizen. These identities can be compatible and reinforcing, but they can also be conflicting. Moreover, one can identify with different ethnicities and be a cosmopolitan. However, this does not necessarily mean that one does not have a national identity or one does not pledge allegiance to the host country. In the wide gamut of ethnic and national identities, it is possible that individuals can be patriotic, nationalistic, indifferent, apathetic, or subvert and undermining the host country. Identity formation and preservation is, however, a two-way street. Perceptions and attitudes are central to the identity process. THE IMAGE OF IMIGRANTS IN THEIR HOME COUNTRIES In the home society, there are two principal issues which influence the image of migrants. The first is the widely accepted perception that migration of skilled professionals has a negative net effect for the home country. In reality, this assumption has yet to be properly tested. In many instances, when balanced against the financial return through migrant remittances and return investment, as well as decreased unemployment through recruitment from the local labour market, the result may be more balanced need scientific study and proper research for this....see my work: Remittances as an Emerging Economic Force in Africa PAID Journal ‘INNOVATION, 2013. Your argument finds scientific knowledge when you link brain drain to Brain Gain... The second key issue is that of reintegration, and the mixed images of diasporas and return migrants. Migrants are great sources of richness and development, through the remittances they send, the investments they make, the skills they bring, and the innovation they provide. (The Syrian Government refers to its diasporas as “our best ambassadors”.) Increasingly, labour migrants are being viewed by many countries of origin as potential agents for development, especially in terms of their potential for remitting funds, transferring know-how and creating businesses and trade networks. There is growing evidence of the benefits migrants can bring to their countries of origin. Some research has shown that public opinion towards migrants is directly related to the extent of the migrant community abroad. The larger the migrant community abroad the more favourable public opinion is in the home country towards those migrants. However, returning migrants often face hostility as having abandoned their home countries, and are seen as “less” of a national than those who remained. This assumption is frequently accompanied by a sense that returning migrants feel they are better than or superior to their compatriots who remained at home. They may have become accustomed to a different standard of living, absorbed different social traits or values, and may experience a sense of no longer fitting in. Occasionally returning migrants are seen as failures that could not make it abroad. Their return may be viewed as a result of an inability to get ahead in the host country.
  • 3. THE IMAGE OF THE MIGRANT IN THE HOST COUNTRIES As migration increases, and migration policy has become a top policy priority of governments worldwide good, public perception of migrants has a direct impact on the policy direction of governments on migration. While there is growing recognition of the opportunities that migration offers for economic growth, development and stability in host and home countries, perceptions of migrants have not kept pace with changed policy understanding. Permanent immigrants are particularly challenged; they face the pressure to replace the national identity of the country of origin by that of the country of immigration. Their ethnic identities may be preserved or adapted to the native the use of word native is too remote in time and space....no longer usage in academia ...the word is perjorative ethnic identities of the host countries. The openness of the people in the new country, their embracing of new culture and their respect towards the newcomers can play a major role in how immigrants react and how close they remain with the country of origin. The arrival of immigrants in a country is bound to bring about social changes. As identities are malleable and evolve through time and space, it is very possible that the identities of the natives or autochthones will alter and normalize after they come in contact with immigrants. Today, the image of migrants is less balanced. Indeed, the public perception of migrants seems to be overwhelmingly negative. In reality, migrants of all skill levels contribute a great deal to societies. To paraphrase Wall Street Journal writer G. Pascal Zachary, migrants spawn creativity, nourish the human spirit, spur economic growth, and empower nations. Migrants bring diversity, provide innovation and are an antidote to stagnation. However despite this reality, powerful misinformed assumptions and negative stereotypes of migrants prevail. With the growing incidence of irregular migration, migration is increasingly associated in the public mind with illegality – crossing borders illegally and working illegally. Worse, the notion of “migrant” today frequently evokes an image of “asylum seeker” which in turn too often has come to be seen as someone coming to abuse the system. Lower skilled migrants, in particular, are often seen as displacing local workers and abusing social welfare systems and become scapegoats for economic insecurity. Powerful religious and cultural stereotypes exist as well. In the extreme, migrants of Muslim origin and practice, in particular, are seen in many Western countries as potential threats to local values and identity as well as security risks linked to terrorism. Finally, the laws of the host country together with the ideals, the self-understanding and the foundation of the sovereign nation can also affect the identities of immigrants and natives at the individual level and at the nation-building level. The impact of government policies and foreign relations on ethnic minorities In the politics of some countries, a "minority" is an ethnic group that is recognized as such by respective laws of its country Canada and therefore has some rights that other groups lack. Speakers of a legally recognized minority language, for instance, might have the right to education or communication with the government in their mother tongue. Countries that have special provisions
  • 4. for minorities include Canada, China, Ethiopia, Germany, India, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Russia, Croatia, and the United Kingdom. Differing minority groups often are not given identical treatment. Some groups are too small or too indistinct compared to the majority, that they either identify as part of the same nation as the members of the majority, or they identify as a separate nation but are ignored by the majority because of the costs or some other aspect of providing preferences. For example, a member of a particularly small ethnic group might be forced to check "Other" on a checklist of different backgrounds, and consequently might receive fewer privileges than a member of a more defined group. Many contemporary governments prefer to assume the people they rule all belong to the same nationality rather than separate ones based on ethnicity. The United States asks for race and ethnicity on its official census forms, which thus breaks up and organizes its population into different sub-groups, but primarily on racial origin rather than national one. Spain does not divide its nationals by ethnic group, although it does maintain an official notion of minority languages. Today most governments receiving migrants are facing increasingly sensitive questions about the value of diversity, migration, security and regionalism is a European Dilema...what do you make of the Brexit ....multiple identities and how government policies and public perception can be adapted to build unity and social cohesion, and respect difference. For traditional countries of immigration such as the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia, migrants have been responsible for their very formation and will continue to be crucial for their global competitiveness. Nations can preserve their traditions while embracing change, and the question for them is not whether to embrace diversity, but how. 5 However, even traditional immigration countries are facing growing challenges on how to manage public perception regarding the image of migrants in society. These same issues are being faced on a rapidly increasing scale by countries all over the globe as international migration grows truly “global”. Particularly in areas of dense migrant populations, migrants are viewed by some as threatening to national values and national identity. The importance of public perception in these debates is key. Research has shown that the populations in urban centres, where larger numbers of migrants settle, are more tolerant than in rural settings. However, intolerance arises more often when migrant communities are created within a community that tends to segregate migrants from the rest of the population. Public perception often sees a causal relationship between immigration and high unemployment/economic insecurity, growing public health concerns and increasing demand on social welfare systems, despite evidence to the contrary that migrants in many host societies take jobs that would otherwise remain unfilled, are not public health risks, and contribute considerably more in taxes than they consume in services. Again, this is most in evidence in areas with a high concentration of migrant populations. 6 10. Lack of active promotion of tolerance and understanding in a diverse community can lead to discrimination and social exclusion of migrants. In turn, socio-economic and political frustration and alienation among migrant communities can create conditions which could trigger potentially harmful situations. It is critical that managing the image of migrants be incorporated directly into policies and activities of the various partners involved in managing migration. In modern societies, it is efficiency and success that is sought after and not conformity or filial piety. Remarkably, as Park (1950) reflects, even though natives as a whole may appear conspicuously uniform – at least to the eyes of the immigrants – they are also individuals and can
  • 5. have very different opinions and beliefs from each other. Yet they all unite when it comes to their national identity, allegiance and creed. The idea of “nation building,” that is, applying policies that encourage and reinforce a national identity, has been advanced as a means for peaceful integration and conflict reduction in countries with high levels of ethnic diversity or fractionalization. The U.S. is the country that is the closest in achieving this reconciliation. While Americans are from all corners of the world with different cultures, maternal tongues, and ethnic self-identification they all say “I am an American first” and pledge allegiance to the United States of America. The following section provides examples and findings about the balancing of ethnic and national identities for the United States of America and other countries. 1. Books to be read not just online resources...there are lots of publications on Contemporary Migration.John Rex 2. Stephen Castle and Miller 3. Hakim Adi 4. International Organization for Migration IOM References  http://cadmus.eui.eu/bitstream/handle/1814/31243/INTERACT_RR_2014_02.pdf?sequence =1  http://isdp.eu/content/uploads/images/stories/isdp-main-pdf/2014-amer-ethnic-minorities- government-policies-and-foreign-relations.pdf  http://ftp.iza.org/dp7020.pdf  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minority_group#Minorities_in_law_and_government