scholarly journals Debating (Post-)Coloniality in Southeast Europe: A Minority Oriented Perspective in Bulgaria

Acta Humana ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-103
Author(s):  
Francesco Trupia
Keyword(s):  
Critical Angle ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Eastern Bloc ◽  
Southeast Europe ◽  
Historical Experience ◽  
Muslim Minority ◽  
Collapse Of Communism ◽  
Post Colonialism ◽  
Political Ground

Despite the fact that its scholarly application has been considered highly problematic in the former Eastern Bloc and barely employed due to the Marxist background, post-colonialism has been recently introduced by a large number of scholars and academics. Yet, theoretical experiments, research, and projection of post-colonialism in Central and Eastern Europe have come to compose an abundant field of reference. Drawing on this theoretical approach, this paper aims to debate the category of post-coloniality in postcommunist Bulgaria in order to better venture the parapet of the post-1989 transition. Employing a ‘minority perspective’, which will reveal minority positionality in the contemporary Bulgarian cultural and political ground, this paper traces potential power actions of (dis)possession of knowledge among subaltern groups, which actions continue to negate, disavow, distort, and deny access to different forms of minority cultures and life visions represented by non-majoritarian segments of the Bulgarian society. In general, this paper digs into the historical experience of the ethnic Turks and Muslim minority groups in Bulgaria prior to the communist experience, throughout and after the collapse of communism, and in the contemporary Republic of Bulgaria. In particular, post-coloniality – understood in terms of ‘coloniality of being’ – shall offer a better and critical angle of investigation over the issues of human marginalisation, cultural subordination, and knowledge exploitation in Bulgaria and Southeast Europe.

scholarly journals Analysis of the Digital Divide Using Fuzzy Forecasting

Symmetry ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 166 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paweł Ziemba ◽  
Jarosław Becker
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Information And Communication Technologies ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Eastern Bloc ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Context Analysis ◽  
Technological Gap ◽  
Composite Indices ◽  
Promethee Method ◽  
Ict Development

In the countries of the former Eastern Bloc (Central and Eastern Europe) belonging to the European Union, a gradual elimination of the technological gap, greater expenditures, competitiveness and productivity can be noticed. In this context, analysis and forecast of the level of accessibility and use of ICT (information and communication technologies) by households in these countries has become interesting. It allows for the selection of digitally excluded regions, or those threatened with this phenomenon in the coming years (2018–2020). To carry out the analysis, a framework based on fuzzy numbers and the NEAT F-PROMETHEE (New Easy Approach To Fuzzy-PROMETHEE) method was developed. The potential of the fuzzy outranking approach taking into account the uncertainty of input data (criteria and preferences) has been demonstrated as an alternative to the IDI (ICT Development Index) methodology widely used in research on regional ICT development based on composite indices. Research has shown that Estonia is the leader in the area of ICT expansion among households, and in the next three years will definitely maintain its dominant position. Slovenia follows shortly after, followed by Latvia. At the end of the ranking were the countries with the largest percentage in Central and Eastern Europe of population excluded digitally or threatened with this phenomenon; these are: Poland, Slovakia, Bulgaria and, in last place, Romania. Within this framework, the robustness of the obtained rankings to change in the degree of uncertainty of preferences was also examined. It turned out that eliminating the uncertainty of preferences resulted in an increase in the uncertainty of the aggregate, fuzzy grades obtained at the output.

Meanings of Independence and Manifestations of Neoliberal Nationalism during the ‘Refugee Crisis’ in Central and Eastern Europe

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 89-100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aija Lulle
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Political Process ◽  
Eastern Bloc ◽  
Eastern European ◽  
Human Suffering ◽  
Refugee Crisis ◽  
Social Transformations ◽  
Almost All ◽  
The Eu

The Eastern European political and para-political responses to the ‘refugee crisis’ demonstrate a schism between the ‘old’ and the ‘new Europe’. Hostile attitudes reveal how unresolved post-imperial pasts currently manifest themselves in a seeming inability to show solidarity and empathy for the human suffering of others. To address this question critically, I utilize the notion of ‘independence’ to disentangle the specific neoliberal political mentality that has developed in the Central and Eastern European region, along with a variety of ethno-nationalisms which relive their own past wounds. In countries which have wiped away almost all reminders of their socialist past, solidarity and collectivity are not widely subscribed-to values. Apart from the immediate need to act alongside other European countries and help to accommodate current refugee flows, the Eastern Bloc has a long and necessary journey ahead. This is to negotiate and address their own social and cultural pluralities, which have been deliberately ignored in the rush to join the club of the worlds’ wealthiest democracies in the EU. During this formally accelerated political process, insufficient attention has been paid to social transformations in these new EU countries, including their reluctance to take in and accommodate new migrants and refugees.

scholarly journals Dual Identity Development and Adjustment in Muslim Minority Adolescents

2019 ◽  
Vol 48 (10) ◽  
pp. 1924-1937 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivia Spiegler ◽  
Ralf Wölfer ◽  
Miles Hewstone
Keyword(s):  
Identity Development ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Developmental Process ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Cultural Adjustment ◽  
Growth Mixture Model ◽  
Dual Identity ◽  
Minority Adolescents ◽  
Muslim Minority

Abstract Dual identity (e.g., strong ethnic and national identity) is a psychological resource for minority groups, but how it develops during adolescence is less clear. In this 3-wave longitudinal study, a person-oriented approach was used to examine dual identity development in a sample of 2145 Muslim adolescents (MT1 = 15 years, 51% female) in four Western European countries. The results of a growth-mixture model pointed toward four distinct developmental Classes: (1) “Dual identity”, (2) “Separation to dual identity”, (3) “Assimilation to dual identity”, and (4) “Separation”. Multiple group comparisons further showed that adolescents in Class 1 were well adjusted, but well-being (e.g., internalizing problems, life satisfaction) and health were even higher among adolescents in Class 2. Adolescents in Class 3 had consistently lower levels of well-being, and adolescents in Class 4 had lower levels of socio-cultural adjustment (e.g., problem behaviour at school, delinquent behaviour, and lack of intergroup contact). The findings underscore that most Muslim minority adolescents in Western Europe develop a dual identity, and that the developmental process, not simply the outcome, matters for adjustment.

scholarly journals Educational policies in Central and Eastern Europe: legacies of state socialism, modernization aspirations and challenges of semi-peripheral contexts

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 385-397
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Gawlicz ◽  
Marcin Starnawski
Keyword(s):  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Educational Policies ◽  
Educational Systems ◽  
State Socialism ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Education Policies ◽  
Historical Experience ◽  
International Assessment ◽  
East West

The article introduces a special issue of Policy Futures in Education on changes and challenges in educational policies and systems of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). The countries in the region share some characteristics, such as their historical experience with the authoritarian–socialist or communist rule and its impact on education policies, as well as their long-lasting economic semi-peripherality. Differences within the region are also discussed in the article: from macro-level economic gaps to relative dissimilarities of education systems’ structures, as well as international assessment benchmarks. The articles in this issue present analyses of educational policies in Belarus, Croatia, Hungary, Poland, Russia and Ukraine. A theme that emerges most clearly across these texts is the complexity of East–West relationships. Read together, the contributions serve as a call for a more nuanced and contextualized look at CEE. Transformation of educational systems that entails the interplay of past legacies and borrowed policies can bring about troubling outcomes, exacerbated by the entanglement of education in a wider agenda.

Muslim Minority Groups in American Islam

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad ◽  
Jane I. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Minority Groups ◽  
Islamic History ◽  
Islam In America ◽  
Current Configuration ◽  
Important Concern ◽  
Muslim Minority ◽  
Christian Missionary ◽  
The Right ◽  
Historical Controversies

Throughout Islamic history the issue of leadership of the community has been of primary importance. The Sunni majority has identified Muslims who did not give allegiance to the Caliph as shiʿa, or sectarians. Two of the groups discussed in this chapter are part of the historical controversies over community leadership, and for all of them leadership remains a very important concern. Both the Nizari Ismaʿilis, led by Imam Aga Khan, and the Druze are offshoots of the Fatimid countercaliphate, which flourished for two centuries. The other two groups are more modern. The Ahmadiyya developed in the context of European occupation of Islamic lands and the reaction to Christian missionary activity and modernization. The Qur'anists, sometimes referred to as the Ahl al-Qur'an, share the beliefs of the United Submitters International regarding the Qur'an as the sole foundation of Islam. With long-term roots in attempts to understand the “right” way to live Islamically, they are more recent as an identified school of thought. All of these groups maintain a presence in the current configuration of Islam in America.

The Collapse of East European Communism and the Repercussions within the Soviet Union (Part 1)

2003 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 178-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Kramer
Keyword(s):  
Soviet Union ◽  
Eastern Europe ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Eastern Bloc ◽  
Mikhail Gorbachev ◽  
Coup D'etat ◽  
East European ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Soviet Foreign Policy ◽  
Collapse Of Communism

The largely peaceful collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe in 1989 reflected the profound changes that Mikhail Gorbachev had carried out in Soviet foreign policy. Successful though the process was in Eastern Europe, it had destabilizing repercussions within the Soviet Union. The effects were both direct and indirect. The first part of this two-part article looks at Gorbachev's policy toward Eastern Europe, the collapse of Communism in the region, and the direct “spillover” from Eastern Europe into the Soviet Union. The second part of the article, to be published in the next issue of the journal, discusses the indirect spillover into the Soviet Union and the fierce debate that emerged within the Soviet political elite about the “loss” of the Eastern bloc—a debate that helped spur the leaders of the attempted hardline coup d'état in August 1991.

scholarly journals Imigranci a przemiany społeczno-kulturowe w społeczeństwie współczesnej Szwajcarii niemieckojęzycznej

2015 ◽  
pp. 169-195
Author(s):  
Lesław Tobiasz
Keyword(s):  
Central And Eastern Europe ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Immigrant Communities ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Complex Interactions ◽  
Historical Processes ◽  
German Speaking ◽  
Swiss Confederation ◽  
Collapse Of Communism ◽  
Effective Integration

The author analyses the problems of socio-cultural changes in the German-speaking population of Switzerland. In particular, he focuses on the processes that result from the presence of numerous immigrant communities. The analysis relates mainly to the period a er the collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe. At the same time, the transformations in the German-speaking population of Switzerland are shown on the background of historical processes that have shaped the Swiss multiculturalism and multilingualism. The analysis takes into account the complex interactions between different multilingual areas of the country and external impacts resulting from socio-cultural processes outside its borders, especially in Germany. The German-speaking part of the multicultural Swiss Confederation is currently experiencing a period of rapid social changes. These changes relate to the sphere of culture, language, economy and politics. The German-speaking Swiss are trying to redefine their identity and role in the world, full of different challenges and threats. One of them is the approach to immigrants and the culture they represent. It can be assumed that in the next few years, the Swiss – in fear of the inflow of other cultures – will seek to limit immigration processes, while strengthening the processes for the effective integration of newcomers in the multicultural society.

scholarly journals Challenges of Dissemination of Islam-related Information for Chinese Muslims in China

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Ting Ma ◽  
Romlah Ramli ◽  
Nik Adzrieman Abdul Rahman
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
New Media ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Technological Development ◽  
Islamic Education ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Future Studies ◽  
Related Information ◽  
Muslim Minority ◽  
Chinese Muslims

<p><em><span lang="EN-US">This </span><span>a</span><span lang="EN-US">rticle provided a historical background of the challenges faced in the course of Islamic education of Chinese Muslims in the context of social change. The researcher historically evaluated how social change reshaped the Islamic education of Chinese Muslims, and highlighted the influence of technical development</span><span lang="EN-US">on</span><span lang="EN-US">Islamic education in contemporary China. The available research indicated that</span><span lang="EN-US">since the 1980s, the challenges faced in the course of Islamic education of Chinese Muslims have gradually shifted from political repercussions to technological development. Due to the limited literature, the researcher called for more research on new media development, especially social media</span><span lang="EN-US">and Muslim minority groups in China. The researcher also proposed a research agenda for future studies</span></em><span lang="EN-US">.</span></p>

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