Te Tiriti in Conversation: A Qualitative Approach to Biculturalism and Multiculturalism in Aotearoa

<p>Aotearoa is a unique context with complex relationships between many cultural groups. As a result, there are various perspectives on whether society in Aotearoa should adopt biculturalism or multiculturalism to ensure cultural cohesion. This thesis examines the perspectives of two minority groups on this issue by discussing these two cultural approaches with indigenous Māori and migrant groups. Focus groups were held with ten Māori and twelve migrant participants. Participants were asked questions about what biculturalism and multiculturalism mean, how these systems operate in participants lives, and how Aotearoa should develop in regard to these systems. Thematic analysis was used to analyse and pool responses, with five themes identified: biculturalism, multiculturalism, generational changes, sustainability, and identity. Using these themes to help unpack how participants navigate life in Aotearoa, I conclude by discussing whether Aotearoa should be formally identifying as bicultural or multicultural, what a “New Zealand” national identity is to minority citizens, and how immigration policy could be shaped to better fit the ideals of our indigenous and “newest” New Zealanders.</p>

Te Tiriti in Conversation: A Qualitative Approach to Biculturalism and Multiculturalism in Aotearoa

<p>Aotearoa is a unique context with complex relationships between many cultural groups. As a result, there are various perspectives on whether society in Aotearoa should adopt biculturalism or multiculturalism to ensure cultural cohesion. This thesis examines the perspectives of two minority groups on this issue by discussing these two cultural approaches with indigenous Māori and migrant groups. Focus groups were held with ten Māori and twelve migrant participants. Participants were asked questions about what biculturalism and multiculturalism mean, how these systems operate in participants lives, and how Aotearoa should develop in regard to these systems. Thematic analysis was used to analyse and pool responses, with five themes identified: biculturalism, multiculturalism, generational changes, sustainability, and identity. Using these themes to help unpack how participants navigate life in Aotearoa, I conclude by discussing whether Aotearoa should be formally identifying as bicultural or multicultural, what a “New Zealand” national identity is to minority citizens, and how immigration policy could be shaped to better fit the ideals of our indigenous and “newest” New Zealanders.</p>

MIGRANTS AS BROKERS OF FOOD HERITAGE MAKING: A CASE STUDY OF THE BARIO FOOD AND CULTURAL FESTIVAL IN BORNEO, SARAWAK, MALAYSIA

The communities’ ability to control heritage has been questioned and analysed in a broader perspective of socio-cultural cohesion and power. However, a research gap exists regarding the capabilities developed by the indigenous communities to collectively empower themselves by appropriating external resources such as research and development projects. To address this gap, we investigate the Kelabit socio-political configuration related to food heritage through the lens of the anthropology of brokers. The empirical basis of this contribution includes participant observation of the 11th edition of the Bario Food and Cultural Festival (Borneo, Sarawak, Malaysia) as well as semi-structured interviews with the Kelabit community members – local, diaspora and counter diaspora – and representatives of tourism and heritage. Overall, our findings unveil networked food heritage practices with outside agents and notably national and global academic institutions. Consequently, the analysis reveals the trans-identity capabilities of the Kelabit migrants in interfacing the local community with a range of stakeholders - and more specifically research networks – thereby adopting the role of cultural brokers. In doing so, the Kelabit people contribute to the intricate co-production of the definition of the Kelabit food heritage.

“What Is Truth?” Negotiating Christian Convert Asylum Seekers’ Credibility

The arrival of more than five million refugees in Europe since 2015 has led to increasing investigations into Europe’s management of multiculturalism and religious pluralism. Studies to date have chiefly focused on the integration of the cultural and religious “other,” but we take a different approach by analyzing asylum proceedings in Germany, based on conversions from Islam to Christianity. Negotiations of credibility of newly converted Christian asylum seekers help to show how European legal authorities conceive of their own historically Christian identity and their expectations of newcomers. We show how these negotiations are influenced by the power dynamics in the courts, understandings of cultural and religious contexts, and assumptions about conversion and Christianity. Our interdisciplinary approach provides insights into how European legal authorities navigate the challenge of cultural and religious others to Europe’s cultural cohesion, “values,” and secularism.

Devaluation of Cultural Life: A Study of Reconstruction-Resilience Practices of an Earthquake Displaced Community

This article investigates how earthquake reconstruction was practiced without considering socio-cultural values in the dislocated community after the 2015 earthquake. The process of disaster resilience tended to focus only on technical structures like the number of houses and school buildings as the main indicators of recovery from earthquake. The resilience programs conducted by the government and NGOs did not pay due attention to caste/ethnic tensions, religious division, political clash, and cultural loss among the villagers. In this study I thus wanted to know what were the meanings/ interpretations of reconstruction and community resilience; how reconstruction programs considered socio-cultural resilience; what socio-cultural aspects in practices of reconstruction were missing, and what were the challenges of cultural resilience among the displaced communities. The study was done at Kunchok-Nabalpur of Sidhupalchok. Local people’s perspectives of reconstruction, values, cultural life (ethnographic study) and narratives were collected by using observation, interview, case study and field visit methods. The study found that caste/ethnic, religious and cultural cohesion had not been reinstalled. Socio-cultural diversity and diverse social needs of displaced people were ignored by the resilience programs of the government. This shows how technocratic reconstruction programs were not as effective as expected due to the devaluation of socio-cultural life of the disaster displaced people who otherwise could contribute to the policy and programs of sustainable and inclusive development of the society.

Stirring the Pot of Haitian History

Stirring the Pot of Haitian History is an original translation of Ti difé boulé sou istoua Ayiti (1977), the first book written by Haitian anthropologist Michel-Rolph Trouillot. Challenging understandings of Haitian history, Trouillot analyzes the pivotal role of self-emancipated revolutionaries in the Haitian Revolution and War of Independence (1791-1804), a generation of people who founded the modern Haitian state and advanced Haiti’s vibrant contemporary cultures. This book confronts the problems of self-serving politicians and the racial mythologizing of historical figures like Jean-Jacques Dessalines, Toussaint Louverture and André Rigaud. The author denounces corruption and racism as hereditary maladies received from the hyper-racist slave society of the French colony of Saint-Domingue. Trouillot also examines the socio-economic and political contradictions and inequalities of Saint-Domingue, traces the unravelling of the colony’s racist economic system after the revolts of 1791, and argues that Haitian Creole language and Haitian Vodou religion provided the bedrock cultural cohesion needed to fuel the resistance, revolt and warfare that led to Haitian independence on January 1, 1804. Trouillot blends Marxist criticism, deep readings in Haitian historiography, anthropological insights, and skilful handling of Haiti's rich oral traditions of storytelling, proverbs and wisdom sayings to provide a sharp and earthy account of Haitian social and political thought rooted in the style and culture of Haitian Creole speakers. Each chapter opens with a line of verse, song or a proverb that pulls readers into a historical oral performance. Haitian oral tradition from popular culture and Vodou religion mingle with explorations of complex social and political realities and historical hypotheses. Although the Haitian Creole majority language still plays second fiddle to French in government and education, Ti difé boulé sou istoua Ayiti is a major contribution in the effort to demonstrate the power of Haitian Creole scholarship. Stirring the Pot of Haitian History holds a preeminent place in the expanding canon of Haitian Creole and Caribbean literature, especially as it shows how historical problems continue to insinuate themselves within the contemporary moment.

The role of Islamic Educational Institutions in Achieving Intellectual Unity among Muslims in Cameroon: دور المؤسسات التربوية الإسلامية في تحقيق الوحدة الفكرية بين المسلمين في الكاميرون

Unity is one of the fundamental tools for social security in human life and Islamic Educational institutions in Cameroon are not excluded. The present study aimed at identifying the main roles and Educational needs of Islamic Educational institutions in Cameroon in bringing about Intellectual unity. The descriptive analytical approach was used as a research methodology. The research has come up with the following findings: The spread of misconceptions among individuals is the main cause of weak and limited results of educational work. Due to this, the relationship between those institutions and the society in its formal framework remains negative. The Islamic Educational institutions in Cameroon have been playing an important role in the service of religion and society in order to preserve peace and unity, but despite its tangible achievements they still face challenges in some aspect, such as academic challenges, scientific developments, and Educational supervision, which were identified as obstacle to functional integration. In conclusion, it is recommended to develop a strategic and effective programs in which all the Islamic Educational institutions of Cameroon are involved in order to erase the misconceptions causing intellectual disunity. These should involve dissemination of pure Islamic values, modern technical and professional educational courses, besides promoting solidarity, religious and cultural cohesion in order to address the diverse challenges of the enemies of religion and society.

Politics of Ethnic Identity in China

The People’s Republic of China (PRC), in the eyes of its leadership, has been perceived as a unitary multiethnic state (duo minzu guojia), comprised of the Han majority and fifty-five ethnic minorities. State propaganda routinely emphasizes the inseparability of the Han from other ethnic groups that have seamlessly cohered into one harmonious whole in the course of five thousand years of history. The “ethnic minorities” (shaoshu minzu) concept attained its meaning during the minority identification project (minzu shibie) of the mid-1950s shortly after the establishment of the PRC. Yet, the ideas and principles of the Chinese national model formalized through the ethnic identification project are informed by the centuries of the Chinese central state’s expansion and absorption of new territories and people into its domain. The articulation of the Chinese territorial and cultural borders went hand in hand with the development of new forms of categorization and demarcation of difference encountered as Chinese borders expanded. Prior to the Republican period (1911–1949), to be Chinese was a matter of accepting and converting into Confucian norms. According to the rules of the governing order of imperial China, tianxia, practicing the Confucian ritual and ethical principles was sufficient to become Chinese (huaren). In the period of China’s forced opening-up to the outside world in the mid- to late 1800s, the formulation of national principles was part of the process of negotiating what constituted China and who the Chinese people were. The concepts of ethnicity and nation developed at the intersections between Chinese state’s relations with its domestic Others and its turbulent interactions with the outside world. The themes of national survival, territorial unity, cultural cohesion, stability of borders, and the development of the Chinese nation into a strong modern state are closely related to the formation of the politics of ethnic and national identity.