Ethnic Identities Research Papers - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

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... more

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.

במאמר זה מוצג מחקר הבוחן את תפיסותיהם של יהודים עולים מצפון הקווקז ומזרחו (היהודים ההרריים) בנוגע למקומם ומעמדם בחברה הישראלית. עלייה ותהליכי השתלבות של עולים במדינה חדשה מלווים בקשיים הנובעים מהבדלי תרבות ומנטליות. מצב זה יכול להביא... more

במאמר זה מוצג מחקר הבוחן את תפיסותיהם של יהודים עולים מצפון הקווקז ומזרחו (היהודים ההרריים) בנוגע למקומם ומעמדם בחברה הישראלית. עלייה ותהליכי השתלבות של עולים במדינה חדשה מלווים בקשיים הנובעים מהבדלי תרבות ומנטליות. מצב זה יכול להביא לתהליכים נמרצים במערך מאפייני הזהות של המהגרים הנדרשים להתאים את עצמם לחברה החדשה. עיקר חידושו של המחקר הוא בחשיפת ההתנגשות המתקיימת בין מאפייני זהות שונים שהתגלו במעבר מתרבות לתרבות ובחינת ההשלכות של מפגש הזהויות של בני העדה עם החברה הקולטת על הדימוי הקבוצתי והמעמד החברתי. המחקר נסמך על 30 ראיונות עומק עם בני העדה שהגיעו לישראל עם גלי העלייה של שנות התשעים. הממצאים מצביעים על קונפליקט תרבותי וחברתי בולט בקרב צעירים מהדור וחצי והדור השני, הנובע משלילתה ומאי- שילובה של תרבותם מהקווקז בחברה הישראלית. כמו כן עולים הבדלים בין מבוגרים מהדור הראשון לצעירים מהדור וחצי והדור השני ביחס לשיח הזהויות וההשתלבות החברתית- התרבותית בחברה הישראלית.

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... more

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.]

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... more

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 fifth-century BC played a crucial role in the formation of Greek identity, during which the Greeks developed both a unified and a divided Hellenic consciousness. The Persian Wars (490-479 BC) encouraged the formation of a Pan-Hellenic... more

The fifth-century BC played a crucial role in the formation of Greek identity, during which the Greeks developed both a unified and a divided Hellenic consciousness. The Persian Wars (490-479 BC) encouraged the formation of a Pan-Hellenic identity while the Peloponnesian War (431-411 BC) between Athens and Sparta fractured the unity of Greek identity. During both wars, the Greeks used wine as a marker of their collective and individual identities. The Greeks identified the Persians as “barbarians” because they did not consume wine. The Peloponnesian War revealed divisions within Hellenic identity, as shown in the Athenian attitude toward Spartan drinking practices. Examining both Greek writings and material culture reveals that wine played an important part in Greek society. Herodotus’ Histories and Thucydides’ The History of the Peloponnesian War shed light on these two major fifth-century BC conflicts. Athenaeus’ Deipnosophists, from the second-century AD, possesses an assortment of cultural details about the Greeks and “barbarians.” Ancient Greek historians, such as Athenaeus, described the practices and social rules regarding wine consumption. The numerous discoveries of wine paraphernalia demonstrate the spread of wine and wine culture throughout the Greek world. Dionysus, the god wine in Greek mythology, reveals the cultural importance of wine and its relation to the East. Modern scholarship of the fifth-century BC has neglected to make an explicit connection between Greek attitudes toward wine and the formation of their multi-layered identities.

In many Southeast Asian‟s plural societies, long-term and constant interethnic interactions subsequently produce subethnic groups via assimilation process. In Malaysia, one such sub ethnic group is Peranakan, whether that be Peranakan... more

In many Southeast Asian‟s plural societies, long-term and constant interethnic interactions subsequently produce subethnic groups via assimilation process. In Malaysia, one such sub ethnic group is Peranakan, whether that be Peranakan Jawi, Peranakan Sikh or Peranakan Chinese. They are included under four umbrella ethnic categories (Malay, Chinese, Indian, and Others). Generalisation, stereotype and ignorance have resulted in „default‟ homogeneous ethnic identity associated with each ethnic group, thus suppressing distinguishable uniqueness of subethnic groups. Consequently, subethnic groups‟ identity markers may mistakenly be associated with other ethnic categories instead. Has an issue such as mistaken identity any affect on members of sub ethnic groups psychologically? If so, is there any mechanism employed in coping with such problem. This paper attempts to take a closer look at embodied ethnic identity as experienced by Peranakan Chinese of Kelantan (here onwards PCK). First part of the paper explains what embodied ethnic identity is. Second part discusses introductory historical background of PCK. Third part focuses on PCK embodied ethnic identity vis-à-vis „default‟ Chinese identity. Finally, coping mechanisms used by PCK will be discussed.

This is a review of an exhibit that is currently being shown (July 28, 2018 to October 2019) at the the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian [NMAI) on the so-called "Taino" Indians of the Caribbean. The focus of the exhibit is on the... more

This is a review of an exhibit that is currently being shown (July 28, 2018 to October 2019) at the the Smithsonian Museum of the American Indian [NMAI) on the so-called "Taino" Indians of the Caribbean. The focus of the exhibit is on the pre-Columbian Caribbean indigenous and also on those who claim indigenous or Taino identity and pedigree at the present time.

Certain proponents of slavery in the Islamic world assert that slaves exported from East Africa to the Arabian Peninsula or areas under Arabian domain within Africa were in fact acquired not for agricultural economic purposes but rather... more

Certain proponents of slavery in the Islamic world assert that slaves exported from East Africa to the Arabian Peninsula or areas under Arabian domain within Africa were in fact acquired not for agricultural economic purposes but rather for domestic labor. According to some scholars, this facilitated the integration of former slaves more thoroughly into Islamic communities than into the Atlantic slaveholding communities. However, while the theory of integration may hold true, at least in part, historical evidence suggests this may not be true in the case of the Bantu/Jareer1 population in the Horn of Africa, the main focus of this paper. Therefore, using the Bantu/Jareer
population of southern Somalia as a case study, this paper explores the contradictions prevalent in integration theory, the impact of slavery as a social institution, and the economic functions the slaves performed in Islamic countries.

Until the conclusion of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, there were roughly 750,000 Jews living in Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen, Algeria and Palestine/Israel. A comparative electronic survey of some 900 journals... more

Until the conclusion of the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, there were roughly 750,000 Jews living in Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen, Algeria and Palestine/Israel. A comparative electronic survey of some 900 journals reveals that when scholars referred to these individuals collectively during the last 200 years they employed some twenty different signifiers. The question I address is simple yet potentially foundational: which collective signifier can define and capture most productively, inclusively and comprehensively the socio-political and cultural experiences of those who comprised the Arab Middle East's ten indigenous Jewish minority communities prior to their dispersal (in the post-1949 armistice period)? I propose that the signifier ‘Arabized-Jews’ exhibits explanatory properties that outweigh those of its alternatives both quantitatively and qualitatively. As such, ‘Arabized-Jews’ denotes Jews who were culturally and/or linguistically Arab yet who did not self-define primarily as Arab, let alone in political terms. In exploring the dialectic interface between ethno-politics, terminological formations and the production of meaning, this article suggests that it makes sense for contemporary scholars to employ ‘Arabized-Jews’ to refer collectively to Jews across the modern Arab Middle East.

La leyenda apapocúva-guaraní de la “Tierra Sin Mal” irrumpe en la literatura americanista de la mano de Curt U. Nimuendajú en 1914. Este texto sugiere una conexión significativa entre un contenido de creencia particular y determinados... more

La leyenda apapocúva-guaraní de la “Tierra Sin Mal” irrumpe en la literatura americanista de la mano de Curt U. Nimuendajú en 1914. Este texto sugiere una conexión significativa entre un contenido de creencia particular y determinados hechos más generales como las migraciones tupí-guaraní, el factor étnico, la pulsión mesiánica, la religiosidad profética, la ritualidad exuberante o las representaciones escatológicas; todos estos ingredientes serán luego retomados –dosificados e interpretados de manera diferente– por cada uno de los autores que a la vera de Alfred Métraux utilizaron el tema como hilo conductor de sus investigaciones. Mito apapocúva, mito tupí-guaraní, mito amerindio, leyenda cultural o meta explícita de la nueva constitución política del Estado Plurinacional de Bolivia, la exégesis misma de la “Tierra Sin Mal” no deja de ser una variación más sujeta al proceso mitopoiético, y su misma trayectoria puede ser por tanto analizada en clave de una mito-lógica. Palabras clave: Guaraní; Tierra Sin Mal; Mito-lógica.

On the ninth of February 2017 erotic video platform ManyVids caused a scandal among their members on Twitter when a “racist woman” was given the MV Social Media Slayer of the Year. This caused a public outrage over racist content. A day... more

On the ninth of February 2017 erotic video platform ManyVids caused a scandal among their members on Twitter when a “racist woman” was given the MV Social Media Slayer of the Year. This caused a public outrage over racist content. A day later, the ManyVids removed all ‘raceplay’ video’s on the site, with a public statement that conflated race play and racism. The result was again a heated discussion on Twitter about personal rights, racism and discrimination against specific fetishes. Race play – which is a sexual practice where the either imagined or real racial background of one or more of the participants is used to create a BDSM-scene (Bondage, Dominance/Discipline, Submission/Sadism and Masochism) – lies on the intersection between highly contested racial and sexual minorities, which allows for valuable investigations into the ways we negotiate these concepts. However, in academic research this phenomenon has mainly been overlooked.
This article uses the ManyVids incident as a starting point to use phenomenological investigations and discourse analysis to show how the phenomenon of race play can offer new insights into the relationship between collective identities and personal agency. For people from racial minorities, their choosing to engage in and even their enjoyment of these practices is often justified by pointing out that the race play scene is a site of fantasy and therefore accepting race play is different from accepting (institutionalized forms of) racism. However, looking at the ManyVids controversy we see the argument is not convincing to everyone. Interestingly, as some people in the Twitter discussion pointed out, the media platform did not decide to take down clips in which rape and incest are simulated. Apparently, with these categories of porn, the fantasy/reality distinctions are grounds for acceptance of these practices whereas the same cannot be said for race play videos.
The person of Mollena Williams will also be brought into the discussion. This prominent educator and agent of BDSM and race play has argued in both interviews and performances that for her BDSM scenes in which she re-enacts the experience of her ancestors as African American slaves, are a way to access and process her own cultural trauma. She has even expressed that her ability to do so is empowering to her as an African American woman. This also sheds light on another tension: though most would agree that a person should have the right to choose how to deal with their own traumas, would we also want to be accepting towards people who actively go searching for pornographic video’s where racist slurs and symbols are being used as an erotic device?
With porn we see a distinction between fantasy and reality, but not when it comes to race. To what extent is the distinction clear, how can it be that racialized content makes this boundary disappear? I argue that it is the aforementioned tension between representationalism and personal agency that is at the core of this issue and that we will have to see the controversies about race play, and with it the ManyVids incident, in this context. Even though this apparent tension between individual agency and representationalism is most clearly visible when we look at race play, I argue that it is actually present in most dealings with minorities and can be a problematic and unintended outcome of the ways we think about and try to protect these groups.

In this chapter, stereotypes associated with seven ethnic categories are reconstructed from scenes and characterisations on Singapore film and television. These stereotypes are mainly described as inadequate representations for... more

In this chapter, stereotypes associated with seven ethnic categories
are reconstructed from scenes and characterisations on Singapore film and television. These stereotypes are mainly described as inadequate representations for understanding the ethnic Other in multiethnic Singapore. The persistence of these stereotypes in spite of Singapore’s multicultural aspirations can be attributed to their commercial value, particularly in the context of audience demand for light entertainment that is immediately gratifying at least with respect to multiethnic insecurities. However, given their resilience and commercial value, stereotypes can be harnessed in ways that jolt audiences out of the comfort of their taken-for-granted and easy-to-manage world of ethnic caricatures. This would require the kind of technical, social, and artistic knowledge and skill that any “renaissance city” should aim to nurture and promote among its citizenry. In fact, this is the kind of social and cultural vibrancy that, set up in dialectical relationship with the official policy-making and
institution-building efforts of officialdom, is necessary for giving
substance, depth, and critical relevance to the mostly emblematic and loudly celebratory, but correspondingly abstract and hollow, principle of multiracialism in Singapore."

Somalia is generally thought of as a homogenous society, with a common Arabic ancestry, a shared culture of nomadism and one Somali mother tongue. This study challenges this myth. Using the Jareer/Bantu as a case study, the book shows how... more

Somalia is generally thought of as a homogenous society, with a common Arabic ancestry, a shared culture of nomadism and one Somali mother tongue. This study challenges this myth. Using the Jareer/Bantu as a case study, the book shows how the Negroid physical features of this ethnic group has become the basis for ethnic marginalization, stigma, social exclusion and apartheid in Somalia. The book is another contribution to the recent deconstruction of the perceived Somali homogeneity and self-same assertions. It argues that the Somalis, just like most societies, employ multiple levels of social and ethnic distinctions, one of which is the Jareer versus Jileec divide. Dr. Eno successfully portrays another Somalia, in which a mythical homogeneity masks the oppression and social exclusion suffered by some ethnic groups in the country

This paper explores the social structures of late medieval Vlachs - particularly the ones inhabiting the Western Balkans (the Dinaric Alps) - in order to determine how collective identities were shaped and reproduced in medieval oral... more

This paper explores the social structures of late medieval Vlachs - particularly the ones inhabiting the Western Balkans (the Dinaric Alps) - in order to determine how collective identities were shaped and reproduced in medieval oral cultures. Southeast European historiographies have often portrayed the Balkan Vlachs as a unitary group and the label "Vlach" as representing a single, homogenous social entity during most of the Middle Ages. Still, social groups cannot exist and function without regular communication-oral or written-between their members. Oral cultures are based on verbal communication and are therefore bound by its specific nature, given that it requires continuous personal contact and oral transfer of information for communication and society to function properly. Literate cultures on the other hand tend to rely on written communication to a considerable extent and given that it allows for information to be conveyed impersonally (by text) its range is (at least in theory) almost limitless-as it is the level of (il)literacy that represents the main communicative and social limit in literate societies. Having in mind the abovementioned communicative and social limits of orality and the fact that it was the predominant if not exclusive form of communication among transhumant pastoralists such as the medieval Balkan Vlachs this paper argues that the range/scope of their group identities and collective identifications was rather limited. Furthermore, this paper discusses the types of collective identities utilized by Vlachs, questioning whether they ever shared a common "Vlach identity" given the fact that the social identity of the medieval people known as "the Vlachs" was primarily shaped and defined from the "outside" and "above"-by state intervention and a legal frame that was forced upon them. The Vlachs in the Medieval Balkans, and particularly in its western part, generally did not possess political authority and power, nor did they have the material resources and literary traditions allowing them to form more complex and enduring communication networks that would in turn have resulted in group identity formation on a larger scale. During the Early Middle Ages the Vlachs were "Vlachs" primarily because they were labelled as such and considered to be a distinct category of population by their Slavic (and later Byzantine) neighbours and overlords, and not necessarily because they originally defined themselves as such. This is not to say that gradually, during the course of the Middle Ages, the bearers of the "Vlach" name could not have started to identify themselves as "Vlachs" by accepting this foreign name (xenonym) as their preferred group name (autonym). Still, when this finally did happen it did not imply a "universal" Vlach identity in the medieval Balkans. Given the communicative limits of oral cultures as well as the Vlachs' position as legal and political "objects" rather than "subjects" it seems most likely that the medieval Balkans witnessed a simultaneous existence of a multitude of "Vlachnesses" which were usually unrelated and unaware of each other.

There are two objectives behind this article. First, it seeks to trace down the pedigree of a theory described in scholarly discourse as the 'ethnogenesis model'. As is often believed, the theory originally was, essentially, an innovative... more

There are two objectives behind this article. First, it seeks to trace down the pedigree of a theory described in scholarly discourse as the 'ethnogenesis model'. As is often believed, the theory originally was, essentially, an innovative concept proposed by Reinhard Wenskus, the German researcher. My article puts forth the idea whereby it was Walter Schlesinger who had laid the foundations for the theory, whose concept was further developed by Wenskus. My other purpose was to verify the basics of the theory itself, based on relevant empirical material; specifi cally, I mainly deal with original sources reporting on the ethnic composition and history of the Vandal people.

The article discusses the problems of constructing the Kurdish and Yezidi national identities among the Kurmanji-speaking population of the Republic of Armenia (RA) in the post-Soviet period, marked by the intensification of... more

The article discusses the problems of constructing the Kurdish and Yezidi national identities among the Kurmanji-speaking population of the Republic of Armenia (RA) in the post-Soviet period, marked by the intensification of ethno-confessional processes throughout the territory of the former Soviet Union. The term “Kurmanji-speaking population” derives from the Kurmanji language spoken by Kurds and Yezidis and relates to those citizens of the Republic of Armenia, who consider the Kurmanji language as their mother tongue or the language of their ancestors. To a certain extent, this term may offend the majority of our informants, as, according to the 2001 census, most of the Kurmanji-speaking population of the Republic of Armenia consider themselves Yezidis (40.620 persons). However, others (1.519 persons) prefer to be called Kurds, although they speak the same language and profess the same religion – Yezidism. Thus, for the purposes of this article, the use of the term “Kurmanji-speaking population” will replace the differing, often contradictory endonyms of this particular community.

In ethnically non-neutral states, why do some disadvantaged minorities protest their status, while others acquiesce? Given the difficult circumstances in many cases, why do they not protest more than they do, or turn to violence? This... more

In ethnically non-neutral states, why do some disadvantaged
minorities protest their status, while others acquiesce? Given the difficult circumstances in many cases, why do they not protest more than they do, or turn to violence? This article argues that the key to ethnic protest is the identity that one holds: state-bound identities weaken the grievance–protest relationship. The closer one identifies with the state, the less likely one is to protest, even when significant grievances exist. The case of Israel and its Arab citizens is used to illustrate this relationship. When Arabs identify themselves as more “Israeli,” they are less protest-prone than other Arabs with more anti-establishment identities. This article provides empirical evidence that fostering state-friendly identities may be a desirable goal for many ethnically tense states.

How do “Latinos” or “Hispanics” fit in the country’s “white racial frame”? Are they a “race” – or more precisely, a racialized category? If so, how and when did that happen? Does not the U.S. Census Bureau insist (or has since the 1970s)... more

How do “Latinos” or “Hispanics” fit in the country’s “white racial frame”? Are they a “race” – or more precisely, a racialized category? If so, how and when did that happen? Does not the U.S. Census Bureau insist (or has since the 1970s) on putting an asterisk next to the label – uniquely among official categories – indicating that “Hispanics may be of any race”? Is it a post-1960s, post-Civil Rights-era term, not fraught with the racial freight of a past in which for more than a century, in Texas since 1836 and the rest of the Southwest after 1848, “Mexican” was disparaged as a subordinate caste by most “Anglos”? The use of the label “Latino” or “Hispanic” is itself an act of homogenization, lumping diverse peoples together into a Procrustean aggregate. But are they even a “they”? Is there a “Latino” or “Hispanic” ethnic group, cohesive and self-conscious, sharing a sense of peoplehood in the same way that there is an “African American” people in the United States? Or is it mainly an administrative shorthand devised for statistical purposes, a one-size-fits-all label that subsumes diverse peoples and identities? Is the focus on “Hispanics” or “Latinos” as a catchall category (let alone “the browning of America”) misleading, since it conceals the enormous diversity of contemporary immigrants from Spanish-speaking Latin America, obliterating the substantial generational and class differences among the groups so labeled, and their distinct histories and ancestries? How do the labeled label themselves? What racial meaning does the pan-ethnic label have for the labeled, and how has this label been internalized, and with what consequences? This chapter considers these questions, focusing primarily on official or state definitions and on the way such categories are incorporated by those so classified.

Ο Στέφανος Σαχλίκης (π. 1331-πριν το 1403) αναγνωρίζεται εδώ και πολλά χρόνια ως «πατέρας της κρητικής λογοτεχνίας». Σπάνια όμως αναφέρεται ως πρώτος επώνυμος συγγραφέας της νεοελληνικής λογοτεχνίας, παρόλο που είναι ο πρώτος επώνυμος... more

Ο Στέφανος Σαχλίκης (π. 1331-πριν το 1403) αναγνωρίζεται εδώ και πολλά χρόνια ως «πατέρας της κρητικής λογοτεχνίας». Σπάνια όμως αναφέρεται ως πρώτος επώνυμος συγγραφέας της νεοελληνικής λογοτεχνίας, παρόλο που είναι ο πρώτος επώνυμος ποιητής που όχι μόνο δεν έχει σχέση ούτε με το Βυζάντιο ούτε με το Μεσαίωνα, αλλά είναι επιπλέον εισηγητής της ομοιοκαταληξίας στη νεοελληνική ποίηση, σύγχρονος του Βοκάκιου και μια γενιά νεότερος από τον Πετράρχη, και μεταφέρει με ποικίλους τρόπους την Αναγέννηση στα νεοελληνικά γράμματα. Στο πρώτο μέρος της ανακοίνωσης θα παρουσιαστούν συνοπτικά οι καινοτομίες της ποίησης του Σαχλίκη σε διάφορα επίπεδα: α. γλωσσικό (χρήση νεοελληνικής με διαλεκτικά στοιχεία, φαινόμενο της «πολυγλωσσίας»), β. μορφολογικό (διάφορα ομοιοκαταληκτικά και μετρικά σχήματα, κυρίως frottola rima και ομοιοκατάληκτο δίστιχο) και γ. θεματικό-ειδολογικό (διάφορα σκαμπρόζικα σατιρικά στιχουργήματα με ηρωίδες τις πόρνες του Χάντακα, ποιήματα της φυλακής, ποιήματα για τη φιλία και τους φίλους, πρώτη γνωστή ποιητική αυτοβιογραφία). Η παρουσίαση θα καταδείξει ότι, αν η Αναγέννηση είναι η πρώτη περίοδος των νεότερων ευρωπαϊκών λογοτεχνιών, τότε αναγκαστικά, στη νεοελληνική περίπτωση, εγκαινιάζεται με την ποίηση του Σαχλίκη. Στο δεύτερο μέρος, αξιοποιώντας τα πορίσματα της σύγχρονης, κοινωνιολογικής και ανθρωπολογικής κυρίως, έρευνας σχετικά με τη φύση και τους όρους διαμόρφωσης της εθνοτικής ταυτότητας, θα αναζητηθούν στα κείμενα του Σαχλίκη στοιχεία αυτοπροσδιορισμού και ετεροκαθορισμού. Παρόλο που οι πολιτισμικοί δείκτες διαφοράς ανάμεσα στο «εμείς» και στο «αυτοί» στην ποίηση του Σαχλίκη δεν περιορίζονται σε εθνοτικό επίπεδο (τα κείμενά του αποτελούν πλούσια πηγή για τη διαμόρφωση τόσο των ταξικών και των έμφυλων ταυτοτήτων όσο και για την έννοια του κοινωνικού περιθωρίου), η ανακοίνωση θα περιοριστεί σε εθνοτικές διαφορές και αναφορές (Ρωμανία, Έλληνες, Λουμπάρδοι, Τουδέσκοι, Εβραίοι). Ιδιαίτερη έμφαση θα δοθεί σε ένα συγκεκριμένο επεισόδιο όπου ο Σαχλίκης, υποχρεωνόμενος να βρεθεί ομοτράπεζος με το βενετσιάνο φύλακά του και τους «λουμπάρδους και τουδέσκους» φίλους του, αναδεικνύει διάφορα στοιχεία της εθνοτικής και ταξικής ταυτότητάς του, επιβεβαιώνοντας σύγχρονές μας θεωρίες (Nash) και αφήνοντας ελάχιστα περιθώρια αμφιβολίας για το πώς αντιλαμβάνεται το «εμείς» και το «αυτοί». Τέλος, λαμβάνοντας υπόψη και τις ιστορικές, κοινωνικές και πολιτικές συνθήκες μέσα στις οποίες ζει (θανατικό του 1348, Αποστασία του Αγίου Τίτου, συντελεσμένη ήδη από τον προηγούμενο αιώνα μετάβαση από την αυτοκρατορική ιδεολογία στην εθνοτική ταυτότητα), θα υποστηριχτεί ότι, αν πρέπει να επιλεγεί ένας από τους, ούτως ή άλλως ψευδώνυμους, αλλά λειτουργικούς, χαρακτηρισμούς που χρησιμοποιούμε («βυζαντινός», «μεσαιωνικός», «νεοελληνικός») για να περιγραφεί ο Σαχλίκης και το έργο του, τότε αυτός δεν μπορεί παρά να είναι ο «νεοελληνικός».

A discussion of Philip K. Dick's most famous novel based on the issues of ethnicity and racial discrimination.

This article builds on two previous works by the same author about the study of „identities“ and identifications in the past - and represents a supplement to the ideas presented in those previous works. It is divided into three sections... more

This article builds on two previous works by the same author about the study of „identities“ and identifications in the past - and represents a supplement to the ideas presented in those previous works. It is divided into three sections in which discusses specific topics in the field of history of identities/identifications. The first part of the paper deals with the problem of language and language identification, as well as its possible reach in the past. The author discusses several aspects of these issues: from the question of naming the language to the question of when and why the need for language labeling occurs and what type of situations cause the emergence of some type of „language awareness“. The second part of the paper discusses the problems of terminology and categorical apparatus in history and sociology, using the example of the concept of „clan-society“ or „tribal-society“. The author points to the deficiencies of that concept, as well as the fact that many of the „tribal“ or „clanish“ elements survive in societies that are not usually considered to be organized on “tribal” principles - which is why the author points out that it is questionable whether these „tribal“ or „clanish“ elements of societies ever cease to exist. Even contemporary communities, often known as „peoples“ or simpy „ethnic groups“, are in fact “tribal-like” and “clan-like” constructs given that „ethnic groups“ are social units formed on the basis of (the idea of) a shared descent and consanguinity of the group members. And given that clans, tribes, and similar social units are essentially considered to be groups of blood related individuals, one must ask what purpose does exactly the concept of „tribal society“ serve, and what its scopes and limits are. The third and largest part of this article focuses on some of the problematic elements of population genetics. The author discusses the applicability of genetic research in historical science and the problems occur as a result of these attempts. Apart from discussing terminological and methodological problems that occur when attempting to apply genetic research and its results in the study of history, the author also discusses the problems arising from the use of small numbers of DNA samples when researching human genetic material. Finally the paper addresses the occasional manipulation and sensationalism in articles that are trying to connect genetics and history, especially when this is being done by insufficiently educated authors.

Die (Re-)Konstruktion und räumliche Situierung kollektiver Identitäten stellt einen zentralen Bestand­teil altertumswissenschaftlicher Praxis dar. Doch obwohl Karten als Analyseinstrument und Darstel­lungsmethode eine wesentliche Rolle... more

Die (Re-)Konstruktion und räumliche Situierung kollektiver Identitäten stellt einen zentralen Bestand­teil altertumswissenschaftlicher Praxis dar. Doch obwohl Karten als Analyseinstrument und Darstel­lungsmethode eine wesentliche Rolle spielen, sind ihre Implikationen und Effekte bislang nur unzurei­chend vergleichend untersucht. Dabei hat man in den Altertumswissenschaften nicht nur immer wieder versucht, geographische Informationen über die Herkunft und Verbreitung von Sprachen, Artefakten, Völkern oder Kulturen narrativ darzustellen, sondern eben auch karto­gra-phisch zu fixieren. Solche kartographischen Identitätskonstruktionen können als direkte oder auch indizielle Erfassung historischer Handlungsträger verstanden werden. So gibt es Karten, auf denen etwa Völker oder Sprachgruppen unmittelbar geographisch situiert werden; andere Karten geben lediglich die geographische Verteilung bestimmter Merkmale (linguistische Charakteristika, materielle Objekte etc.) wieder, die als Hinweis auf die Präsenz oder gar Handlungen kollektiver Identitäten angesehen werden. In diesem Sammelband werden Kartierungspraktiken aus unter­schied­lichen fachlichen Perspektiven in ihren verschiedenen Ausprägungen und Transformationen kritisch beleuchtet.