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Territorially scattered or dispersed minorities have been representing certain realities of political geography, therefore the risk of ethnic or religious conflicts due to rapid globalization and cosmopolitanism tendencies demands a search for new conflict-reducing mechanisms. The Old Believers’ community of Latvia, an ethnic-denominational group within the Russian ethnos, presents a sustainable form of the country’s political, ethnic, cultural, and religious landscape. Latgale, the south-eastern part of Latvia, has the greatest Old Believers’ group residing outside Russia. The aim of the research is to investigate the Old Believers’ community in Latgale region as a model for settling ethnic conflicts, focusing on the exploration of their life experience and oral testimonies by applying cultural-historical, biographical, descriptive methods and qualitative data analysis.
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Postmodernism ignited a rapid growth in oppositional cultures in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. Among these oppositions are feminism, animal right movements and queer culture. The oppositional forces, silenced by the power, discourse, and knowledge of dominant cultures, countercultures strive to speak for themselves and resist all forms of subjugation and marginalization. In the West, oppositional cultures have been able to create a queer cinema of resistance. African queer cinematic engagement came late with Mohammed Camara’s 1997 film-Dakan, believed to be the first film to focus primarily on LGBTQIA+ themes from West Africa. Ever since the above film pushed the queer sexual orientation into the center of discourse in Africa, film industries such as Nigeria’s Nollywood and Ghana’s Ghollywood and the South African film enterprise have followed suit. The questions that emanate in this study are, do these narratives on new sexual identities-LGBTQIA truly reflect indigenous African ethos? Is queer cinema germane in creating spaces for new sexual identities in Africa? Against this backdrop, this study examines African queer cinema as a struggle against heteronormative and oppressive tendencies. Employing Michel Foucault’s perspective on knowledge, power and discourse as theory, this study uses content analysis to interrogate selected African queer cinematic narratives. Among other findings, I argue that African queer cinema resists heteronormativity and other sexually oppressive categories and that this enterprise is geared towards creating a voice for the LGBTQIA+ community across the African continent.
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This article elaborates upon elements of discrimination against the students of high-schools in Bosnian and Herzegovinian Entity-Republic of Srpska. The educational system of this B&H Entity violates the documents of international, European and the state law which are designed to protect human rights and freedoms. Students of Bosniac and Croatian nationality are subjected to assimilation in primary and high-schools in this B&H Entity, and this is particularly the case in schools which do not meet the requirements for separate studying of the “national group of subjects”. These students are not granted their legal rights to study the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina, their national history, nor to be introduced to the literature created in their own language by Bosniak or Croatian authors in the region. With the purpose of presenting a full insight into the subject-matter we here present the results of an analysis of the educational contents given in the high-school textbooks of History and Serbian language and literature which have been approved by the Ministry of Education and Culture of Republic of Srpska for the academic 2017/18 and 2018/19 years. The empirical portion of the article presents the attitudes and opinions of high-school students of Bosniak and Croat nationality in Bosnian and Herzegovinian Entity RS.
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The current paper addresses the population of youngsters that listen to music labeled as “alternative”, analyzing a possible link between them and specific risk behaviors such as: drug consumption and self-harm, also taking into consideration aspects of their social life. Even if we assumed that there should be a correlation between our respondents and some risk behaviors, we suspect that this connection is in fact a consequence of the lifestyle they already have, rather than the music they are listening to. In support to our hypothesis, a quantitative study was conducted that addresses 171 respondents, all of them identified as “alternative music” listeners. As expected, the results show that there is indeed a correlation between some of the musical genres analyzed and specific risk behaviors, but we also discover various problems in their social life, suggesting that music is not the only factor behind their behavior.
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This is the second part of a paper that contributes to knowledge about the relationship between Brod and the people of Brod and Archbishop Josip Stadler. Through his example it is possible to acquire a clear view of how politics dictates and forms the consciousness of citizens towards their fellow citizens, even those whom may be ranked among the most prominent. The political struggle at the national level was also reflected at the local level. Stadler was a great opponent of the Yugoslav option and the entry into a joint state with Serbia. His political option was Western, “trialistic” with a reliance on the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy; in social matters his option was Christian-social with a distinct feeling for the poorest citizens, regardless of religious affiliation. “Materinska riječ - The mother tongue” as the newspaper of the Croatian-Serbian coalition (whose leader was Dr. Vatroslav Brlić) and “Posavska Hrvatska-Posavina Croatia” as the rightwing newspaper of Frank’s side, are two papers that take a completely opposite position towards Stadler. For the Materinska riječ, Stadler is a “dangerous man” because of his opposition to their political program of “one nation with two names” and a common state with Serbia. As most of the newspapers published in Brod between the two wars represented Yugoslav ideology, Stadler was rarely mentioned and practically forgotten in them. His values for Croatian people were temporarily recognized during the Independent State of Croatia. After the advent of the communist dictatorship, primarily in the newspaper Brodski list, he was not even mentioned. With the collapse of the dictatorship, Brod and the people of Brod got to know their great fellow citizen. The biggest credit for this goes first of all to the Sisters of the Servant of the Infant Jesus, a religious community founded by Archbishop Stadler.
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The need and willingness to change motivates decision-makers and practitioners in the UK to take decisive integration-oriented measures. The country has never succeeded in developing its own original policy in this area. The first steps were taken in 2004 with the publication of the Indicators of Integration, but it was only in recent years that work on integration management has been intensified. There is a clear departure from focusing on individual aspects of integration and implementing a problem management system in a broader context. This is reflected in the publication of the Home Office Indicators for Integration framework (2019). The document is based on the 2004 version, but presents it in terms of the Theory of Change, which was adopted as the basis for designing and verifying the integration process in the UK. The aim of the paper is to compare the Integration Indicators of 2004 with the new version in order to identify the progress of work on the integration system and the change in the approach to the problem.
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The article examines the position of Muslims in Slovenia, with a particular focus on the articulation of the needs of an Islamic way of life as conveyed by the Muslims themselves. Using new empirical material, I draw on interviews with representatives of the Muslim community. The Slovenian Muslims find themselves in a peculiar situation of, on the one hand, being tolerated, particularly on account of sharing historical South Slavic bonds with the majority Catholic population; yet, they are at the same time faced with discrimination and prejudice. The research shows that – as Islam remains for the most part secluded from public discourse and thus prone to stereotypical representations pregnant with misconceptions and prejudice – the Muslims in Slovenia experience prejudice, and are exposed to particular discrimination in terms of practicing their religion.
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У раду се даје приказ кључних одредница националног идентитета и утицаја на колективно понашање нације, као и појединаца који припадају тој нацији. Такођер се, анализира значај религије за национални идентитет и интернационалнy комуникацију. У раду ће се покушати дати одговор на сљедећа питања: "Да ли је национални идентитет општеприсутан?; Да ли се мијења током времена? У којој мјери је субјективан? Постоји ли научно утемељење за факторе утицаја националног идентитета? И колико је то политички инструмент манипулације, а колико стварна потреба за неким заједничким обиљежјима и пропадношћу?"
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What is the prevailing concept of Lithuanian identity and the importance of different criteria used to define it? How do they fit in with the newly constructed European identity? Based on the data of the European Values Survey, the article analyzes the dominant notion of Lithuanian identity in our society, the importance of criteria used to define it, and the dynamics of evaluations of the importance of these criteria in the period from 2008 to 2017, revealing essential sociodemographic and other differentiation factors. The problem of the complex interrelationship between a Lithuanian and European identity is also examined, denying the myths of their inevitable contradiction.
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Review of: Askar Mambetaliev - LANGUAGE AND CULTURE ON THE MARGINS: GLOBAL/LOCAL INTERACTIONS. Kroon, & J. Swanenberg (Eds.) (2019). Routledge
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In today's world, when the global movement occurs, there are more and more mixed families interacting in two or more languages. Children born in such families have the opportunity to learn the mother tongues of both parents and become bilingual or multilingual. Whether this can work often depends on the family language policy. The latter is often influenced by a variety of factors, therefore its success depends not only on internal choices, but also partly on external factors. This article provides an overview of research by various authors, which present family language policy strategies. The aim of the study is to find the factors that determine the choice of those strategies and their success. The study revealed that family language policies are influenced both by the family's internal choices, for example, the desire that the children would know the language of one parent or both parents, that they would talk to relatives, would know parents' culture through language, and by external factors, such as the norms of the society in which they live, integration processes or the conditions for learning the language. A key element in determining the success of family language policy is the consistent adherence to one or more of the strategies chosen.
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This article seeks to clarify the heuristic possibilities of studying the socio-political identity of young people by using autobiographical material. The main source of data are Komsomol autobiographies, prepared in 1922 in connection with ongoing revisions of the composition of active members of the Russian Communist Youth Union in the Omsk province. These materials reflect not only the individual experiences of people living in a particular historical epoch, but also as one means of constructing collective identity and social memory. Young people chose different strategies for describing their lives. In preparing their autobiographies, boys and girls intuitively focused on those events that allowed them to demonstrate their commitment to communist ideals and proximity to Soviet power. Despite qualitative differences, a comparison of autobiographies identifies several recurring themes and motifs: childhood, education, family relationships, and memories of the revolution and the Civil War. In an effort to meet social and political demands, young people did not hide their shortcomings. Non-proletarian origin, received education, and religious education turned into a peculiar mechanism of justification and self-criticism. Thus was formed the positive image of a person who rejects his former life and its values. The preparation of autobiographies served an important socio-political function of legitimizing the personality and its status in the communist youth union.
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Review: The Past for the Present: Historical Memory and Narratives of National Identity: A Collective Monograph. Repina L.P. (Ed.). Moscow, Akvilon, 2020. 464 p. (In Russian) / Рец. на кн.: Прошлое для настоящего: История-память и нарративы национальной идентичности: коллективная монография / Под общ. ред. Л.П. Репиной. – М.: Аквилон, 2020. – 464 с.
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The article is devoted to the study of national identity and ethnic minority – kin-nation relations, examined through the subjective lens of the Slovak minority youth from Hungary studying in the kin-state. Slovakia offers a government-funded scholarship programme for trans-border Slovak diasporas and autochthonous minorities, as part of the Slovak state policies towards Slovaks living abroad. The scholarship programme provides a framework in which ethnic minority – kin-nation relations are analysed, at an inter-personal and inter-group level. This framework has been chosen as a subject of study for 3 main reasons: 1) the field of education is considered by the Slovak government as one of the most prominent areas of kin-state engagement, 2) the Slovak community in Hungary relies heavily on the Slovak scholarship programme in developing the students’ language competencies and professional skills, especially in the field of Humanities, i.e. in Pedagogy, especially, 3) the scholarship programme is also seen as an instrument facilitating a stronger connection to the Slovak nation and commitment towards Slovak identity; as a result of which students may consequently display a greater interest and engagement in the life of Slovaks in Hungary. The main objective of the research is to uncover the minority students’ personal narratives and interpretations about their experience of encountering the kin-nation, and their reflections on their own national identity. The empirical research, furthermore, focused on analysing perceived group-belonging, and the connection points between the members of the Slovak minority in Hungary and the Slovaks in Slovakia. The research was carried out through 11 in-depth interviews with the scholarship recipients, studying in Slovakia in the period of 2016 – 2019, over at least 6 months. The research findings – according to which students reported hybrid [Slovak-Hungarian] national identity – show that respondents do not see nationality as a bounded, one dimensional category; their answers represented a wide variety of identification patterns, including the following combinations: ethnic Slovak+civic Hungarian, hybrid Local+civic Hungarian, civic Hungarian+European, ethnic Slovak+European, hybrid Local+European. Despite their multidimensional identity, minority students perceived that their environment often pressures them to choose between one of the two seemingly mutually exclusive national categories: being Slovak or Hungarian, in all social environments; in interactions with Slovaks from Slovakia, Hungarians from Slovakia, as well as Hungarians from Hungary. Although the length of the scholarship programme would provide space for the incorporation of various nationbuilding and community-building practices, these aspects of the programme until now are largely underdeveloped. Slovak minority students from Hungary upon their arrival to the kin-state realize that Slovaks in Slovakia have little knowledge about the existence of Slovak autochthonous minorities, which are generally not seen by their peers as integral parts of the Slovak nation. The perception of the Slovak students from Hungary becomes even more complex, as they are often mistaken to be ethnic Hungarians from Slovakia, and their minority situation is compared to them. The lack of knowledge about Slovaks in Hungary from the kin-nationals, however, did not result in the devaluation of the students’ minority identity, but conversely, it led to a strengthened appreciation of the distinctiveness of the minority culture’s features. In the case of Slovak youth from Hungary, connection points with Slovaks from the kin-state are not found in the contemporary Slovak culture, but primarily in attributes they experienced as part of the traditional Slovak culture in Hungary. The main boundaries between groups as perceived by the students were language usage/competence and ethnic prejudice. The scholarship programme had positive outcomes concerning the connectedness between the Slovaks from Hungary and Slovaks from Slovakia on the individual level, and it contributed to a deeper knowledge about the Slovak state and the Slovak (modern) culture among minority students, as well as highly improving the students’ language skills. Yet, as a group, the Slovak minority in Hungary generally remains unknown among their Slovak peers, and the programme carries untapped potential, especially in the areas of community building between the members of external minorities and the kin-nationals. As reported by the research participants, higher initial Slovak language competency, more familiarity with contemporary Slovak culture, politics, and art among minority students, and higher awareness about the situation and history of the Slovak minority in Hungary among kin-national peers would improve their experience.
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Tesavvuf je u okviru islamskog učenja odnjegovao zaseben pogled na svijet kroz ljubav prema Stvoritelju svega u kosmosu, Allahu, dž.š., ističući kao primaran cilj jačanje spoznaje Uzvišenoga Gospodara te kroz tarikat razvio praktičnu metodologiju približavanja Njemu Veličanstvenom odgovarajući tako na svrhu stvaranja čovjeka. Tesavvuf i tarikat su sastavni dijelovi islama pa ih tako treba i prihvatiti i njegovati.
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Aim. The subject of our interest is to research the forms of prejudice about Christians among university students. Part of the research focuses on the question of the forms of prejudices of the research group in relation to religious classmates – peers and part of on significant influence of media on the negative perception of Christianity in the society. The reflection of the findings is a consideration of the decline in social cohesion due to (1) the existence of prejudices in the university environment in Slovakia, and (2) the often negative media presentation of Christian religion in the Slovak media. Concept. The starting point of the issue is the research into the forms of prejudice and the potential for social exclusion of young people due to the existence of prejudice in the university environment. The need for this kind of research and reasoning arises from growing fears and the strengthening of phobias that accumulate within the groups we observe. Results and conclusion. The reflection of the findings is a consideration of the decline in social cohesion due to (1) the existence of prejudices in the university environment in Slovakia, and (2) the often negative media presentation of Christian religion in the Slovak media. Cognitive value. Qualitative statements confirm the decline in social cohesion among peers due to religious diversity. We consider the presence of religious prejudices as an urgent call for such forms of education that would effectively contribute to the acceptance of cultural and religious diversity in society and to the promotion of social cohesion in the university environment.
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Kosovo has ultimately been a subject to an informatics war aimed at showing that most holy shrines of the Serbian nation make an integral part of Albanian culture and tradition. However, Serbian scientific community and educational system take an attitude, by certain routine and without any bad intention inaccurate and not fully scientifically precise – which greatly greets the Albanian falsifyingof *Kosovo history. A Serbian textbook named „Elementary school sixth grade history“, written by a Serbian academic Rade Mihaljčić and published by „Textbook bureau“ from Belgrade, in chapter „South Slavs and autochthonous people“ points out: „On the other hand, autochthonous people who lived together and whose settlements were groupped together in larger groups were not Slavicized. The Albanians were the ones who preserved a language, ethnical customs and other traits. A part of Slavs who settled here adopted the language and customs of Albanians and merged with them“, as well as: „In eastern Alps and in Balkans Slavs encountered autochthonous people, who started to haul in hardly accessible mountain regions or hided themselves in fortified coastal cities. Part of the autochthonous people merged up with the Slavs. People who preserved it’s ethnic customs and other ethnic traits were Albanians.“ However, this explanation doesn’t correspond to historical facts, for Albanians originated from non-Romanized Dacians which only after Slavs have migrated to the area of nowadays central Albania mingled with non-Romanized Illyrians. At the same time they absorbed the Roman and Slavic language vocabulary forming thus so called Albanian nation and Albanian language in VIII century. The name Albanian originates from the old Roman word for the antique town of Albanum. The Albanians afterwards expanded by albanizing previously settled Slavs and the Roman population, but also by extruding the Slavs and Serbians. Serbs make for a predominant population until XVIII century in Kosovo and Metochia and in XVIII, XIX and particularly XX century Albanians from northern Albania ever more numerously migrated to Kosovo and Metochia, ever more albanizing and extruding the Serbs. All above indicated facts are based on arguments originating from independent scientific literature. Therefore we suggest that the above mentioned statements from Serbian „Elementary school sixth grade history“ textbook, written by Serbian academic Rade Mihaljčić and published by „Textbook bureau“ from Belgrade, in chapter „South Slavs and autochthonous people“, undergo modification so as to be as follows (emendations are bolded): „On the other hand, autochthonous people who lived together and whose settlements were grouped together in larger groups were not Slavicized. People who preserved it’s ethnic customs and other ethnic traits are nomadic Dacians, Illyrians and the Roman population. Nomadic Dacians, having mingled with autochtonous Illyrians emerged the Albanians and their language in VIII century. Afterwards Albanians expanded by Albanizing the Roman population and previously settled Slavs, but also by extruding the Slavs and Serbians. Serbs make for a predominant population in Kosovo and Metochia until XVIII century, from which time Albanians from northern Albania ever more numerously settled down to Kosovo and Metochia, ever more albanizing and extruding the Serbs“. There should be as well written: „In eastern Alps and in Balkans Slavs encountered autochtonous people, the Roman population, who begun to haul in less accessible mountain regions or hide themselves in fortified coastal cities. Part of those autochthonous people merged with the Slavs. People who preserved it’s ethnic customs and other ethnical traits are nomadic Dacians, Illyrians and Roman population. Nomadic Dacians, being mingled with autochtonous Illyrians emerged the Albanians having their own language in VIII century. Albanians afterwards expanded by trying to albanize the Roman population and previously settled Slavs, but also by extruding the Slavs and Serbs. Serbs make for a predominant population in Kosovo and Metochia until XVIII century, from which time Albanians from northern Albania ever more numerously settled down to Kosovo and Metochia, ever more albanizing and extruding the Serbs.“
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The organization that enabled women to independently politically organize and mobilize as many women as possible was the Women’s Anti-Fascist Front of Yugoslavia (AFŽJ). The First National Conference of AFŽJ was held in Bosanski Petrovac in 1942. The Women’s Anti-Fascist Front of Yugoslavia continued its activities in the postwar period. Its basic goals, as defined at the First Congress held in Belgrade from 16 to 19 of June 1945, were reconstruction of the war-torn country and humanitarian activities. However, the activities of AFŽ greatly depended on the instructions of the Communist Party and the People’s Front. The Second Congress, held from 25 to 27 in January 1948, was a great incentive for its work. A high level of Party mobilization was seen at the Congress motivated by the launching of the first five year plan. The Third Congress of this organization, held in Zagreb from the 28th to 29th October 1950, raised the issue of merging AFŽ with the People’s Front. The Fourth Congress dissolved AFŽ on the basis of the arguments presented by the speakers and simultaneously established the Association of Women’s Societies that in its form and activities differed from AFŽ and as such never managed to have the same impact on society as AFŽ undoubtedly had.
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The first part of this paper describes the ideas of the members of the Serbian Government commission assembled in 2001 in order to create a proposal of the new State holiday at the begging of the new millennia, which has seen major political changes in the country. One of the ideas brought forward by the committee members was to make the new State holiday acceptable to united Europe. This paper analyses the attitudes of the informants – what did we express to the world by celebrating Sretenje – Statehood day – on the sample of 604 of respondents. The research data was collected in three stages: between 2004 and 2007, between 2008 and 2011, and between 2018 and 2020. The aim of the analysis is to reveal whether the ideas of the transmitters of the messages have reached their goal
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