scholarly journals Auto-Ethnography in a Kabyle Landscape

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Si Belkacem Taieb

<p>In this auto-ethnography, as an indigenous man in a Kabyle landscape, I take into account the relational experience that involves the development of a Kabyle identity. The indigenous cultures in North of Africa all come from the same family called the Imazighen (free men). Kabyle live in the North East of Algeria but there are other Imazighen living in the diaspora all over North Africa, from Morocco to Egypt, like Touaregs or Mozabites. My inquiry narrates my personal experience as a Kabyle man born of Kabyle parents in France. In this auto-ethnography I return to my father’s village to understand and access my heritage. I hope that this narrative helps my readers to reflect on the effects of globalization on the transmission of indigenous cultures. I portray Algeria, a North African Muslim country in 2010. I draw on critical pedagogy, socio-constructivism and indigenous knowledge and experiences. Looking to Algeria with the perspective of an indigenous person, I explore the social organization in my village and the way values and relationship shape the traditional education of a Kabyle man. My experiences and research in my ancestral village show that the war Kabyle people have fought against France has not resulted in independence. Rather, in my case, decolonization made me twice stranger to myself as Kabyle in an Arabic dominated country but also as an immigrant in France, the old colonial country, and Canada. However, my spiritual and sacred heritage is still alive in me, shaped by both my own experiences and the teachings of other members of my culture, and I have expressed this heritage throughout this narrative.</p>

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Si Belkacem Taieb

<p>In this auto-ethnography, as an indigenous man in a Kabyle landscape, I take into account the relational experience that involves the development of a Kabyle identity. The indigenous cultures in North of Africa all come from the same family called the Imazighen (free men). Kabyle live in the North East of Algeria but there are other Imazighen living in the diaspora all over North Africa, from Morocco to Egypt, like Touaregs or Mozabites. My inquiry narrates my personal experience as a Kabyle man born of Kabyle parents in France. In this auto-ethnography I return to my father’s village to understand and access my heritage. I hope that this narrative helps my readers to reflect on the effects of globalization on the transmission of indigenous cultures. I portray Algeria, a North African Muslim country in 2010. I draw on critical pedagogy, socio-constructivism and indigenous knowledge and experiences. Looking to Algeria with the perspective of an indigenous person, I explore the social organization in my village and the way values and relationship shape the traditional education of a Kabyle man. My experiences and research in my ancestral village show that the war Kabyle people have fought against France has not resulted in independence. Rather, in my case, decolonization made me twice stranger to myself as Kabyle in an Arabic dominated country but also as an immigrant in France, the old colonial country, and Canada. However, my spiritual and sacred heritage is still alive in me, shaped by both my own experiences and the teachings of other members of my culture, and I have expressed this heritage throughout this narrative.</p>


2021 ◽  
pp. 102452942110113
Author(s):  
Luke Telford

Based on 52 qualitative interviews with working-class individuals, this paper explores the social and economic decline of a coastal locale referred to as High Town in Teesside in the North East of England. First, the paper outlines how the locality expanded as a popular seaside resort under capitalism’s post-war period. It then assesses how the seaside existed together with industrial work, offering stable employment opportunities, economic security and a sense of community. Next, the article documents the shift to neoliberalism in the 1980s, specifically the decline of High Town’s seaside resort, the deindustrialization process and therefore the 2015 closure of High Town’s steelworks. It explicates how this exacerbated the locale’s economic decline through the loss of industrial work’s ‘job for life’, its diminishing popularity as a coastal area and the further deterioration of the town centre. The paper concludes by suggesting that High Town has lost its raison d’être under neoliberalism and faces difficulties in revival.


Author(s):  
A. Volodin

The present article focuses on the entity of middle classes in non-Western societies. The social formation of this kind is a relatively new phenomenon. As far as the modern Western societies are concerned, the social and political “materialization” of the above-mentioned entity has covered the period of no less than five centuries. The middle class in modern transitional societies began to emerge quite recently, with a few notable exceptions, after gaining sovereignty. That is one of the reasons why political systems in the non-Western world are mostly fragile and susceptible to instability of different kinds and origins. The so called “Arab awakening” gives a vivid example for the “underdevelopment” of indigenous middle classes. Whilst in the advanced industrial societies middle classes were (and are) the building blocks of social structure, economic and political development, elite recruitment, etc., among the non-Western societies (with the salient exception of the North-East Asia) the process of the middle class institutionalization as well as its economic and political self-assertion is still under way, somewhere at the initial stage of development. Comparing various non-Western societies from the middle class inner dynamics as well as self-assertion perspective, the author concludes that in the ultimate analysis, the maturity of this process is dependent on the pro-active and creative role of the State. The latter serves as the main driving force of the middle class consolidation and the instrument of political and economic systems for increasing and advancing development. The cases of India, on one hand, and Indonesia, on the other, demonstrate convincingly that the State remains the leading institution of the society able to accelerate economic growth and development, but also to stimulate the emergence and socio-political assertion of the middle class in contemporary non-Western world.


Author(s):  
Tanja Bueltmann ◽  
Donald M. MacRaild

Chapter 1 frames the following discussion of English associations and ethnic activities by charting English migration to North America from the mid-1700s. The earlier emigrants carried with them cultural characteristics, habits and customs that were critical in shaping the social and civic life that marked the English as foundational and invisible within America society. We problematize existing scholarship and challenge the assumption that the hegemony of the English language and the early immigrants’ foundational context provided all subsequent English migrants with a permanent and unchanging advantage over other migrant groups by default. Ordinary English migrants faced the same challenges and hardships as any other group; working-class immigrants in particular dealt with many common economic pressures regardless of their origins. Ultimately, the English had much in common with those of other backgrounds. The English settled in all colonies, counties and states; they were loaded towards the urban and industrial areas, but the focus upon the north-east—in both the colonial and early Republican period, as well as north of the border in what was to become Canada—gradually gave way to greater diffusion: a diffusion in line with the spread of ethnic associations. In the nineteenth century, English-born immigrants—the mainstay of English ethnic associations—came to be hugely out-numbered by several immigrant groups, most notably the Irish, with whom innate tensions were reprised in the new country. Chapter 1 explores such factors as a frame for the study that follows.


Author(s):  
Kaholi Zhimomi

The north-east has a distinct regional identity, as the land of seven sisters, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim; and yet, has been absorbed into the social, cultural and political scheme of the secular nation since independence. The identity politics resulted in dissatisfaction on the part of the indigenous people, which generated long-term military violence in Northeast India. Today, disempowerment among indigenous groups is enormous. For early missionaries, conversion to Christianity also entailed adoption of the Western way of life. Most of the missionaries in Northeast India were American or Welsh among the Protestants and German, Spanish or Italian among the Catholics. Despite exploitation by colonialists that attempted to replace indigenous customs, revivals paved the way for renaissance for those customs. Today, Christianity is the major religion in the states of Nagaland, Mizoram and Meghalaya, with significant growth of indigenous leaders, both secular and religious. Furthermore, there is a rapid growth of educated young tribals who are qualified administrators, educators, academicians, politicians and theologians. With the effects of globalization and modernisation, Christianity must not be assumed to be an agent of acculturation but an agent that helped in the metamorphosis of indigenous norms into authentic tradition.


2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 291-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arne De Boeck ◽  
Stefaan Pleysier ◽  
Johan Put

In this study, we investigate gender differences in adolescents’ anticipated feelings of guilt and shame for engaging in shoplifting and retaliatory violence. More specifically, we examine the extent to which interpersonal relations with parents and teachers, perceived peer delinquency and traditional gender role beliefs have different effects on levels of shame-guilt among males and females, and to what extent these variables mediate gender differences in shame-guilt. We use data collected in a sample of 852 adolescents in Genk, a multi-ethnic city in the north-east of Belgium. Our findings confirm those of earlier research indicating that females experience a considerably higher threat of shame-guilt for engaging in delinquency than males. Factors explaining males’ and females’ anticipated shame-guilt feelings are similar in the case of shoplifting, but different in the case of violence. Differential exposure to peer delinquency and parental follow-up partially mediate the effect of gender on shame-guilt for engaging in shoplifting. Among males, endorsement of traditional masculinity predicts lower levels of shame-guilt for engaging in shoplifting and violence. Among females, endorsement of traditional femininity predicts lower levels of shame-guilt for engaging in shoplifting, but has no effect on shame-guilt for engaging in violence. We discuss the implications of our findings for understanding the contribution of shame-guilt to the social control of delinquency across gender.


1967 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 279-279
Author(s):  
I. M. Lewis

This seminar was held at the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, under the general chairmanship of Dr I. M. Lewis of University College, London. It was organised by Dr Richard Pankhurst and ProfessorJ. Comhaire, with financial assistance from the British Ministry of Overseas Development. The seminar was attended by anthropologists currently engaged in field-work and by members of the Haile Selassie I University's Faculties of Arts, Law, Medicine, Business Administration, and the Institute of Ethiopian Studies, as well as staff of the Ministry of Community Development and Public Health. A number of visiting scholars, including Professor V. L. Grottanelli, participated in the meeting. Reports were received on field-work in Somalia and the Sudan as well as in Ethiopia: and the following papers were given: Dr D. Hecht on ‘Sacred Kingship in Africa’Fekadu Gedamu on ‘The Social Organisation of the Kistane Gurage’; J. Stauder on ‘The Social Organisation of the Mahangir’Dr. M. Lewis on ‘Possession Cults in Northern Somalia’A. Orent on ‘The Doce Cult in Kaffa’Virginia Luling on ‘Spirit-possession Cults in Mogadiscio’Terefe Walde Tsadik on ‘The Muyat Cult in Shoa’R. Hallpike on ‘Status of Craftsmen among the Konso’M. Cittadini on ‘Kunama Marriage’and J. Lisowski on ‘Biometrics of N.E. African Migrations’. Development papers were given by P. Sand on ‘Law as a Factor of Social Change’G. Savard on ‘Social Factors in Development’M. de Young on ‘Markets in Ethiopia’S. Messing on ‘Medical Attitudes and Practices in Ethiopia’and R. Bahar on ‘Rural Housing in Ethiopia’.


Arts ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 55
Author(s):  
Ignacio Gil Crespo ◽  
Miguel Bru Castro ◽  
David Gallego Valle

Spanish Islamic military architecture shows an attempt at the systematization of works, techniques, and defensive elements, commencing in the era of the Umayyad Emirate and Caliphate up to the North African Empires (Almoravids and Almohads). This article presents an analysis of the constructive techniques and systems employed in the fortified architecture in al-Ṭagr al-Awsaṯ; that is, the Medium Frontier Territory of al-Andalus, called Marca Media, between the 8th and 13th centuries. The fortification of the borders was an objective of the Umayyad Emirate and Caliphate, as well as of the new kingdoms of Taifas and the Almoravid and Almohad Empires. The buildings were designed not only to defend a territory but also as a way of demonstrating the political power, and thus they were used as “state propaganda”. The triumph of the Islamic State over different groups, the advance of the Christian conquest, the decline of the Caliphate, and the invasion of the Almoravids and Almohads were situations that modified the definition of borders, the strategies of defense, and the organization of cities and territories. Therefore, the construction of fortifications acted as a mirror reflecting the social, political, and economic circumstances, whose changes depended on the real possibilities, knowledge, celerity, or technological evolution of the time. As such, these constructions permit an analysis of not only the building techniques, but also the people who carried them out, showing in their remains the social implications and organization of work from the master builders down to the quarry workers. This article presents the organization and technical knowledge of construction through a selection of cases studies, including watchtowers, castles, city walls, and fortresses.


2015 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-55
Author(s):  
Stephen Frederic Dale

These three books, written by sociologist Syed Farid Alatas and historian Allen James Fromherz, represent the continued academic fascination with the Muqaddimah, the work of the North African Arab Muslim historical theorist Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406). The Muqaddimah has been the subject of an entire library of articles and books since it was first published and translated in Europe in the mid-nineteenth century. Written mainly by Westerners and Western-educated Middle Easterners, most of these publications have studied one or another aspect of Ibn Khaldun's dialectical model of tribal state formation, which constitutes the intellectual core of the Muqaddimah. Many authors of these works have also noticed and commented on the similarity of Ibn Khaldun's historical model to Western sociological theory. Relatively few scholars have written about Ibn Khaldun himself. Most but not all of these scholars agree that Ibn Khaldun was a brilliantly original intellectual, but many express different views about the genesis and nature of his ideas and their significance. Alatas and Fromherz provide two contrasting studies. Alatas's two books are closely related sequential studies, devoted to explaining Ibn Khaldun's model and relating it to the social sciences. Fromherz's work is biographical, although he also discusses Ibn Khaldun's theories. Both authors make significant contributions to the understanding of the man and his ideas, while also implicitly demonstrating why Ibn Khaldun and the Muqaddimah will continue to be subjects of research and controversy.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2020 (12-1) ◽  
pp. 201-217
Author(s):  
Pavel Grebenyuk

The article explores the main changes in the development of the social sphere of the Magadan region in 1954-1957, with focus on the demographic situation, social groups and employment of the population. The features of the implementation of state policy was accompanied by the transition to free labor at the Dalstroy enterprises, increased attention to the development of public health and ensuring public safety of the population arriving in the North-East of the USSR.


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