Arabic Community in Poland – Facts and Myths.

Author(s): Mustafa Switat / Language(s): English Issue: 19/2016

Refugee/immigrant crisis in Europe is connected mostly with Arab or Muslim minorities. Negative perceiving of those groups in Poland is often based on stereotypes, myths and exaggerated facts. In this paper was made an attempt to confront the image ofthe Arab community living in Poland, which is functioning among Poles with the ownimage of the group, reconstructed on the basis of interviews and surveys conducted with representatives of the Arab community and Poles in the research field. Most frequently repeated myths about Arabs occurring among Polish respondents also was and the most popular stereotypes relating to the tested group. Myths and stereotypes have been confronted with the results of Author’s own research, which undermine their legitimacy.

Демографске карактеристике Словенаца у Војводини на почетку XXI века

Author(s): Aleksandar Knežević / Language(s): English Issue: 148/2014

According to the results from the 2011 Census, in Autonomous Province of Vojvodina (hereinafter referred to as ’Vojvodina’) there were 1,815 Slovenians, or 45% of the total number of Slovenians in the Republic of Serbia. Slovenians make up only 0.09% of the total population in Vojvodina. All demographic indicators show a profound demographic decline in the population based on biological depopulation that began in the late 1960s. Furthermore, a negative trend in natural increase was further strengthened by inverse migrations that started several years after they had colonized Vojvodina, especially south Banat. Slovenians in Vojvodina, at an average age of 52.1 years, were ranked second place in the rank of ethnicity by age, which clearly indicates to intense process of population ageing and inability to achieve positive effects of natural movement. Although this population is statistically small in number, this paper clarifies the underlying causes of extremely unfavorable demographic trends that characterized Slovenian population in Vojvodina over the last several decades.

Organizirano masovno prisilno iseljavanje Srba iz Hrvatske 1941. godine

Author(s): Filip Škiljan / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 2/2012

Paper brings forth a range of information on forced migration of the Serb population from the Croatian part of the Independent State of Croatia in 1941 (NDH). Almost one third of the population were Serbs in the NDH. One of the methods of solving “the Serbia issue” in the NDH was migrating the Serbs into Serbia. The other methods were forced conversions of the Serbian population, namely physical killings. The adopted legal provisions made the terror policy over Serbian population legitimate. A conference was held on June 4th in the German legation in Zagreb. At the meeting it was agreed that Slovenians from Styria were to be moved to NDH, and Serbs from the NDH to Serbia. Deportation was to be carried out in three waves. The first wave was to last from June 7th to July 5th and 5000 Slovenian intellectuals from Lower Styria were to be deported directly to Serbia, except for catholic priests who were to be deported to the NDH. Orthodox priests from the NDH were to be deported to Serbia together with their families. In the second wave, lasting from June 10th to August 30th, 25,000 Slovenians from Slovenia were to be deported to the NDH and NDH was to deport just as many Serbs. In the last wave (from September 15th to October 31st), 65,000 Slovenian peasants from the Gorenjska region (Upper Carniola region) were to be deported to the NDH, and NDH was to migrate just as many Serbs to Serbia, as well as 30,000 Serbs whose citizenship was not acknowledged by the NDH. The government of the NDH founded an office for this purpose under the name State Directorate for Renewal. The migration of the Serbs from NDH began in June of 1941. Volunteers from the Salonika Front were then moved from their properties in Slavonia and Srem. Their total number was about 28,000. Then the Orthodox priests were migrated. According to the lists made by the NDH authorities, 327 of them were migrated from the NDH. 104 priests from the Croatian part of NDH were moved away in an organized manner. One part of them managed to escape before they were arrested. The migration of priests was carried out through transit camps in Caprag and Požega. Massive deportations of the Serbian population through transit camps in Caprag, Bjelovar and Požega began with the arresting of Serbs in Zagreb in the first half of July 1941, and then continued in other districts of northern Croatia and Bosnia. The total number of migrations in an organized manner from the Croatian part of the NDH up to the beginning of September 1941, according to the name list drawn up in 2012, amounted to 9875 Serbs, although that number was not final since there were greater disparities for certain districts. By the end of September 1941, the Ustashas migrated 14,733 Serbs out of the NDH in a legal way. Croatians from Dalmatia, Herzegovina and the Croatian Zagorje as well as displaced Slovenians primarily originally from Styria, moved into their houses. The authorities of NDH confiscated the property of the forced out Serbs. Other forms of the Ustasha terror, like massive killings, caused intensive illegal emigration of Serbs from NDH to Serbia, which, according to German data, had already increased to around 180,000 relocated Serbs by the end of July, although it seems this number exceeded 200,000 by the end of September. Organized migration was ceased in October 1941 after the German authorities in Serbia forbid further immigration of Serbs from the NDH mainly because of the uprising in western Serbia. Part of the banished Serbs from the Požega concentration camp were returned home to the districts of Osijek, Garešnica, Križevac, Virovitica and Ludbreg. However, from the documentation of the Commissariat for Refugees in Belgrade, it is evident that the research on the migration of Serbs from Croatia and the whole of NDH was not finished in 1941, so the number of 200,000 relocatees who have left is not final.

The Impact of Ethnomarketing Elements on Consumer Purchase Decisions in the Balkans: The Case of Macedonia

Author(s): Jusuf Zekiri / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2017

Ethnomarketing defined as marketing segmentation approach that clusters consumers on the basis of ethnicity is slowing gaining traction in marketing in multicultural environments, particularly in countries or regions inhabited by consumers from different ethnic backgrounds, who though live together, still communicate in different languages. This study aims to find whether such marketing practice has any effect on consumers’ purchase decisions in the Balkans. It focuses on consumers in Macedonia with the understanding that this is a preliminary exploratory study whose results will form basis for a large study on the Balkan region. The study used a structured questionnaire with the Likert Scale and the sample selection was done non randomly. One hundred, forty-eight responses were received and analyzed using the SPSS statistical software. The results of the analysis show that Albanian consumers in Macedonia agree that ethnomarketing is important and ethnomarketing elements such as a company’s advertisement and promotion in their ethnic language instead of a national language are taken into consideration when they make their purchase decisions. Furthermore, results reveal that symbols, cultural elements as well as the information dissemination inside the stores and outside seem to be very important for consumers. On the basis of this study, a larger study that covers the different countries in the Balkan region to determine how consumers in the different countries in the region relate to ethnomarketing is strongly recommended.

Nitko ne želi biti izbjeglica

Author(s): Seyla Benhabib,Sławomir Sierakowski / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 22/2017

Slawomir Sierakowski's interview with Seyla Benhabib.

Лична имена припадника националних мањина и њихово службено признавање

Author(s): Vladimir Đurić / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 149/2014

This paper deals with the regulation of the use and official recognition of names of persons belonging to national minorities in the minority languages in international and Serbian law. The official recognition of names in the minority languages could be faced with three types of challenges that require legal interpretation and resolution: the way in which the name from a minority language and script should be transcribed in the language and script which is officially used, the possibility of dual use of the name and the feasibility of changing the name and the legal legitimacy of such a request, in cases in which such names have been forcibly changed. The laws and state practices, the attitudes of international bodies, the theoretical interpretations and the perception of the European Court of Human Rights in connection with the above issues are different. The Republic of Serbia has opted for the model of dual use of names which allows the official recognition of the names in minority languages. On the other hand, the legal provisions on the right to change the name and practice of its implementation do not prevent the abuse of this right. The concept of minority self-rule which is exercised by minority national councils, among others, in the field of the official usage of the language and script also implies the question whether it could be possible, by reference to the minority languages rules as determined by the national council, to require a change of all national minority member names that end with Slavic suffixes “ić” and “vić”, as it was in the case at hand. The conclusion is that such attempts would not be allowed in terms of human rights.

О ПРАВНОЈ ПРИРОДИ НАЦИОНАЛНИХ САВЕТА НАЦИОНАЛНИХ МАЊИНА

Author(s): Miodrag Jovanović / Language(s): Serbian Issue: 2/2013

Да би се ушло у расправу о уставности појединих решења из Закона о националним саветима националних мањина (Службени гласник РС, бр. 72/09), чини се упутним да се у претходном кораку размотри њихова правна природа. Најпре је могуће приметити да је ово тело основано на основу уставне одредбе члана 75 тачније, након навођења у ставу 1 да се припадницима националних мањина јемче и „додатна, индивидуална или колективна права“, те да се она прва остварују појединачно, а ова потоња „у заједници са другима“, у ставу 2 се каже да се поједина колективна права мањина могу вршити како непосредно, тако и преко „представника“.

CRNOGORSKI MUSLIMANI U CRNOGORSKOJ VOJSCI TOKOM PRVOG SVJETSKOG RATA (1914-1916)

Author(s): Milan Šćekić / Language(s): English Issue: 2/2017

Participation of Montenegro in the First World War has been the subject to scientific examination for more than half of the century. Actuality of this issue and continuous interest of the examiners for the war activities, contributed to that nowadays Montenegrin historiography dispose with enviable resources of scientific works, mostly related to war operations and background political activities that resulted with disappearance of Montenegrin state. However, there are also numerous unexplored topics in relation to which exist abundance of material in Montenegrin archives. One of such topics is participation of Muslims in the First World War. The title can bring the conclusion that subject of the article is participation of one religious community in Montenegrin military activities during the First World War and their formational organisation, engagement in war actions as well as their political ideas. Nevertheless, in order to completely understand examinational attractiveness of this topic it is necessary to deliver several clarifications.

Romowie – wszędzie obcy. Przykład Francji i innych krajów Europejskich

Author(s): Adam Pomieciński,Agnieszka Chwiediuk / Language(s): Polish Issue: 49/2017

Why Europe treats Roma as “others” and why Europe is “foreign” to Roma? The starting point is the relationship of domination of one collective entity – European countries which are affiliated to the EU on the other countries (groups having the status of minorities, the most marginalized and discriminated). This dependence describes the category of foreign, developed by Marc Augé as a concept “close-another”. Following this concept, the authors of the article distinguish four criteria of analysis: endoetnonim, language, habits (routine practices) and a place for life, which show the mechanism of differentiation and domination, present in most collective entities. The proposed approach has been applied to some European countries, in particular to France, which policy of domination / discrimination against Roma provides many wondering examples, which are still worth a fundamental rethinking of the theoretical plane.

Соблюдение прав национальных меньшинств: система гарантий в Статуте Лиги Наций

Author(s): N.G. Nougaeva,Ju.S. Ovchinnikova / Language(s): Russian Issue: 2/2017

The relevance of this paper stems from the fact that today, as we are approaching the 100 year anniversary of the creation of the League of Nations, a new vision is increasingly required in assessment of its legacy through the prism of modern international law. Further study in this field is necessary considering that the history of the League of Nations still remains a source of legal and political experience for the modern United Nations. The paper analyzes the stages of creation of a system for guarantees protecting the rights of national minorities within the framework of the League of Nations. Although this system was clearly very politicized in its nature, its novelty and integration of new elements of better quality for protection of minority rights cannot be denied. The primary goal of the paper is to reveal the reasons for the ultimate weakening of the League of Nations procedure for addressing petitions concerning violations of minority rights. In order to achieve this goal, the author uses the methods of objective, historical, and scientific analysis.

Párhuzamos különidejűségek? Faluvalóság és irodalom Erdélyben

Author(s): Sándor Oláh / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 4/2017

In the past few decades the village as subject has been fading away from Hungarian Transylvanian literature. Since large-scale changes have occurred in society, especially in rural communities, this article focuses on comparing images of the village as seen by both sociology and literature of the past few decades. The article examines the following four titles: Gondos Atyafiság (Caring kin) by Gyula Szabó (1930–2004), Egyidejűségek. Rendhagyó falumonográfia évszakokban (Parallel times: Unusual village monography through seasons) by Attila Mózes (1952–2017), Pusztulás (Decay) by György Lőrincz (1946–) Katonabogár (Armybug) by Zoltán Czegő (1938–). Szabó’s historical novel evokes a lost world of a village under communism. Mózes creates a peasant reality through the eyes of the main character, a new teacher who has a hard time adapting to his new place. Lőrincz focuses on avillage at the turn of the 20–21st century, and the growing social inequalities that are changing the village. Czegő creates an entirely fictional village composed of fragments of 20th century village life reality and of ideal, probably never existing, relationships between villagers.

Önként vállalt sors? Szórványok a Bánságban

Author(s): Barna Bodó / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 04/2018

Tények és értelmezések között

Author(s): Zoltán Bíró A. / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 04/2018

The public representation of demographic researches is an important but sensible subject, which can stir up passionate reactions. This is particularly so in a minority situation, when the demographic data reflect negative trends. This study investigates the nonprofessional interpretations generated by prodfessional studies and makes recommendations for widening the professional discussions.

Imereti – In between Georgian centralism and local Identity in Language

Author(s): Timo Schmitz / Language(s): English Issue: 02/2017

Imereti (or Imeretia) is a province in Georgia in the South Caucasus. It lies in the center of the country and has an important knot with its center – Kutaissi. Imeretians traditionally speak their own dialect of Georgian, however, in a certain aspect, Imeretian serves the cause of a language. As such, it is an important part of the Imeretian heritage and identity. Imereti had its own kingdom which existed form the 13th till the 19th century and was sometimes part of Georgia, Russia and the Ottomans, and therefore had a lot of different influences shaping their identity. The author of this paper informally questioned people from Georgia about their views on the Imeretian language and its perspective and therefore all the accounts given here are first-hand accounts. Imeretian is quite understandable for people all over Georgia and has a rather dialectal character. As such, Georgians see Imereti dialect downgraded and for many it does not sound educated.

Ernő Kállai & László Kovács (ed.) (2009): Getting to know and accepting. Pedagogic challenges and gypsy communities in 21st century schools. Open book workshop, Budapest.

Author(s): Anita Csokai / Language(s): English Issue: 4/2017

A cigányság középosztályosodása

Author(s): Katalin R. Forray / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 4/2017

Romani population is considered traditionally as one of the most disadvantaged group in the society that needs a great amount of economic, social and cultural support. The author takes the opposite approach describing an emerging middle class in the Romani population in Hungary. It is a long lasting process that begun centuries ago according to the literature, though could not be monitored, since those who entered to the middle class left their Romani identities. A new phenomenon can be detected in this process during the recent years: the new Romani middle class members keep their original Romani names and identities. The schooling levels of the new Romani age groups are raising dramatically. Education research which traditionally dealt with the elementary schooling of this ethnic group is mainly concentrating to secondary and higher education today. A new actor entered in the supportive forces of Romani development, they are the traditional (Christian) churches. The author presents some life careers of Romani university students and their families to illustrate the cooperation of the major social institutions (school, university, church, civic organisation) in the emergence of a Romani middle class.

A vajdasági magyarok politikai eszmetörténete és önszerveződése (1989-1999)

Author(s): Péter Vataščin / Language(s): Hungarian Issue: 2/2018

This unusual, gap filling scientific conference put forward a rather diverse, eclectic but rich and substantiated issue. “The nineties”, in connection with the entire Western Balkans, have become a concept of an enormous significance, as it encapsulates an extremely complicated and long-lasting series of conflicts with massive social impacts. Numerous ethnic groups (in the case of Vojvodina, all significant non-Serb ethnicities apart from the Croats) were specifically affected by these processes, although they—considering their self-concept—have not been involved in the fight of “nations” for their own country. It is thus clear that, in many respects, useful lessons could be drawn from the examination of a certain ethnic group, not only in relation to better understanding of the given ethnicity but also of the whole context´s interpretation.

The representation of post-conflict gender violence in Iraqi Kurdish novelistic discourse in Bahdinan

Author(s): Lolav M. Hassan Alhamid / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2018

This article explores the processes of finding a voice, learning to speak, and breaking silence around gender violence for a Kurdish woman endeavouring to resist oppression and destroy forced negative images and identities. It examines the ways in which she struggles to break imposed silences through resisting gender discrimination and telling stories of violence and exploitation, as represented in the Kurdish novelistic discourse in Bahdinan. Studying Sabri Silevani’s Mariama: Kiçe-Jinek ji Zemanek Di (Mariama: A Woman from Another Time, 2007), the article examines the various forms and layers of violence imposed on Kurdish women by the tribal and patriarchal norms and the social and political structures within the post-conflict Kurdish society in Iraqi Kurdistan. The three-fold typological model of violence developed by the political scientist Johan Galtung is adopted in the article to explore the ways in which the personal characteristics of individuals and the political, economic, and cultural structures of society are viewed as factors affecting the generation of gendered aggression. Most importantly, for the purpose of this article, is the significant utilisation of the association of Galtung’s typology with feminist studies of violence in the exploration of Kurdish women’s attempt to resist marginalisation and their struggle for recognition. Moreover, Rita Felski’s description and study of modern writing by women as a medium through which female political identities and collective consciousness are constructed and represented are adopted to discuss the structural and thematic properties of the text.

Book Reviews

Author(s): Martin van Bruinessen,Michiel Leezenberg,Heleen Murre-van den Berg,Jacob A. Crusinberry / Language(s): English Issue: 1/2018

Khanna Omarkhali, The Yezidi Religious Textual Tradition: From Oral to Written. Categories, Transmission, Scripturalisation and Canonisation of the Yezidi Oral Religious Texts, Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2017, 625 pp. (ISBN 9783447108560). Parvin Mahmoudveysi, Denise Bailey, Ludwig Paul, and Geoffrey Haig, The Gorani Language of Gawraǰū, a Village of West Iran: Texts, Grammar, and Lexicon, 2012, Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag, 276 pp., (ISBN: 9783895008559). Mahmoudveysi, Parvin, and Denise Bailey. The Gorani Language of Zarda, a Village of West Iran: Texts, Grammar, and Lexicon, 2013, Wiesbaden: Reichert Verlag, 240 pp., (ISBN: 9783895009525). David Gaunt, Naures Atto, and Soner O. Barthoma, Let Them Not Return: Sayfo – The Genocide against the Assyrian, Syriac and Chaldean Christians in the Ottoman Empire, New York, Oxford: Berghahn Books, 2017, 274 pp., (ISBN: 97817853349869). Ahmed Fawaz, Opportunity, Identity, and Resources in Ethnic Mobilization: The Iraqi Kurds and the Abkhaz of Georgia, Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2017, 229 pp., (ISBN: 9781498534000). Michael M. Gunter (ed.), Kurdish Issues: Essays in Honor of Robert Olson, 2016, Costa Mesa, CA: Mazda Publishing, (ISBN: 9781568593104).

Islam w Europie czy „europejski islam”? Wybrane aspekty obecności muzułmanów w Europie

Author(s): Anna Zasuń / Language(s): Polish Issue: 43/2018

The author presented selected aspects of Muslim presence in European countries, taking into account historical factors related to the effects of the colonization process, as well as socio-political aspects affecting the form of assimilation of Muslims in Europe. The article discusses the relationship between the processes of integration of the Muslim minority with the regulations of relationship between religion and policy that prevail in European countries. It discusses the specificity of Muslim minorities conditioned by historical colonies. The author also took into account the dichotomous vision of the world present in Islam (dar al-islam and dar al-harb), which, in connection with the particularly large Sunni community in Europe associated with the ideas of Salafism, arouses special interest on the ground of the security.