THE STATE OF CULTURAL FOUNDATIONS OF THE NATION-BUILDING IN MODERN KAZAKHSTAN

The article examines nation-building in Kazakhstan from the point of view of the relationship between its homogeneous and heterogeneous cultural foundations. The article shows that the cultural and linguistic heterogeneity of the entire multiethnic society in Kazakhstan is inextricably linked with the Kazakh-Russian heterogeneity of the titular nation. The consequence of the heterogeneity of the titular nation is the three-element social structure of society in Kazakhstan: 1) Kazakh-speaking Kazakhs, 2) Russian-speaking Kazakhs, and 3) Russians and other nationalities. Due to the linguistic heterogeneity of the Kazakhs as the nuclear state-forming nation, such a transition is seriously hampered today in the nation-building in Kazakhstan. The results of the opinion poll demonstrate a different level of support for heterogeneity among different ethnocultural groups. The tendency to support cultural titular homogeneity among Kazakhs is significantly higher than among other ethnocultural groups.

A History of Chilean Literature

This book covers the full range and diversity of Chilean literature from the times of the Spanish conquest to the present. By emphasizing transnational, hemispheric, and global approaches to Chilean literature, it reflects the relevance of themes such as neoliberalism, migration and exile, as well as subfields like ethnic studies, and gender and sexuality studies. It showcases the diversity of Chilean literature throughout all periods, regions, ethnocultural groups and social classes, all the while foregrounding its regional variations. Unlike previous literary histories, it maps a rich heterogeneity by including works by Chileans of indigenous, African, Jewish, Arab, Asian, and Croatian ancestries, as well as studies of literature by LGTBQ authors and Chilean Americans. Ambitious and authoritative, this book is essential reading for scholars of Chilean Literature, Latin American Literature, the Global South, and World Literature.

Limitations in representative sampling of unpaid caregivers from minority ethnocultural backgrounds in a population-based survey

Objective Historically, persons from minority ethnic, religious and linguistic backgrounds have been un- or under-represented in population-based research studies. Emerging scholarship suggests challenges in representative sampling, particularly of minority ethnocultural groups, has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. This research note offers additional insights concerning these challenges in the context of a population-based survey of unpaid caregivers conducted in Ontario, Canada, between August and December, 2020, the analysis of which is currently underway. Results Beyond limitations intrinsic to study design, including time and budget constraints, the study sample underrepresents unpaid caregivers from minority ethnocultural backgrounds due to differences in conceptions of caregiving across minority cultures, the time-consuming nature of caregiving that disproportionately affects minority groups, and a propensity to avoid research which is rooted in tokenism. These hypotheses are non-exhaustive, speculative and warrant further empirical investigation.

Development and Validation of the Revised Multicultural Ideology Scale in Germany and Luxembourg

A revised version of the Multicultural Ideology Scale (rMCI) is currently being developed to measure endorsement of multiculturalism in different cultural contexts. This study, which is part of a wider cross-cultural research project, presents the first assessment of the rMCI scale in the German language. The measure aims to cover several attitudinal dimensions of multiculturalism, relevant to the integration of different ethnocultural groups: Cultural Maintenance, Equity/Inclusion, Social interaction, Essentialistic Boundaries, Extent of Differences, and Consequences of Diversity. Two independent datasets were acquired from Germany ( N = 382) and Luxembourg ( N = 148) to estimate the factor structure of the rMCI using different confirmatory factor analysis techniques. The findings suggest that a four-factor solution, including Cultural Maintenance, Equity/Inclusion, Social interaction, and Consequences of Diversity, was the best fit for the data. Most of these subscales demonstrated adequate psychometric properties (internal consistency, convergent, and discriminant validity). The four-factor model of the rMCI was partially invariant across the two ethnic groups and full measurement invariance was established across gender.

Functional Features of the Cultural Memory of Students in the Multicultural Educational Space of a Modern Russian University

This study examines the problem of the development of students’ universal competencies at Russian universities related to the diversity of cultures and the ability to enhance intercultural communication in professional field and everyday communication. The development of this competency is significantly influenced by the content of the cultural memory of students. Modern universities are a multicultural space where various persons and communities with different collective cultural memory interact. The objective of the study is to identify the functional features of the students’ cultural memory at Russian universities that are historically characterised as a multicultural space. The main method involved focus groups and a theoretical interpretation of the data obtained. The results obtained from two focus groups of students from several universities located in the Krasnoyarsk Territory are presented. The total number of focus group participants was 14 bachelor’s and master’s degree students. The focus groups consisted of students belonging to the first- and second-generation migrants from among ethnocultural groups with high ethnodemographic dynamics in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. The study showed the need for special programme activities for adaptation and integration of students belonging to the second-generation of migrants into the multicultural university community

Medieval clayware as a determiner of the ethnocultural composition of the population

This article examines the medieval utensils found on the territory of the medieval towns of Volga, Bulgaria. Statistical analysis, technical and technological analysis is carried out. Based on the analysis of material materials, ethnocultural groups are linked, their interaction, and their influence on the local Bulgarian population. Volga Bulgaria is a major state transformation on the territory of medieval Eastern Europe, which included a large number of immigrants, one of which, in this case, the Ugric component, will be considered in the article.

A Taxonomy of Intergroup Ideologies

This paper provides an analysis and a general taxonomy of intergroup ideologies, and presents a list of their indicators. This taxonomy is related to the eight ideologies that were originally outlined in the early works. These ideologies were created on the basis of three dimensions of intercultural relations: cultural maintenance; social participation; and relative power. The taxonomy of intergroup ideologies proposed here follows these three dimensions, which are related to two issues: (i) attitudes towards cultural diversity; and (ii) forms of inclusion of ethnocultural groups in the larger society (including the issue about the hierarchy among groups). It is possible to assess how these issues are solved using four indicators: (1) celebrating differences, (2) status of groups, (3) opportunity for social interaction, and (4) way to ensure the unity of society. Orientations to these indicators make it possible to understand what kind of intergroup ideologies covering intercultural attitudes and intergroup relations exist in countries and describe them.

«They drank tea, they struck spoons...»: ethnocultural identity in the tea drinking practices of Russian Siberians in the 19th — early 20th century

On the basis of original field materials, the author set a goal to reveal the identifying functions of the food cul-ture, particularly, of such a characteristic component of the Northern Eurasian population as hot drinks (teas), in different ethnocultural groups of Siberia: descendants of the old settlers and later Russian migrants, old-believers and followers of the official church. The practices of Siberian tea-drinking have been studied from the perspective of ethnocultural identity within the framework of the mundanity theory. It is the folk customs and beliefs related to the consumption of decoctions of local herbs and later of Chinese leaves (tea) that provide opportunity to infer the place of hot drinks in people’s culture. The author reports interesting facts about the traditions of Siberian tea-drinking and table etiquette in the countryside. Chinese tea-drinking from samovars (table boiling tanks) was not embraced by the old-believers and by some Russian migrants in the late 19th — early 20th c. (South-Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians), where the former refrain due to “suspicious glare” of the surface resembling snake-skin, while the latter by the slimy samovars. In Siberia, the spread of the tea-drinking with Chinese leaf coincided with formation of local old-settler population in the 17th—18th centuries and therefore it can be regarded as an old custom for the service-class people and Cossacks. The fact that the Chinese tea was relatively a novation in the culture of the Siberian population is evidence by that it was not part of the ceremonial practices (e.g., family), in contrast to various herbal brews and kisels (jellies). Siberian tea-drinking traditions of the old-settlers (apart from the old-believers) had strong influence on formation of the regional and ethnocultural identity of the Siberians, in the wide sense of the term as Siberia locals. The established traditions can be considered as a consequence of integration processes amongst the Slavic people in Siberia. The tea-drinking traditions support the conjecture that the differentiation process (comparative evaluation) was accompanied by another process — cultural interference and is inextricably linked to the cognitive process — collective identification, which inhibits non-critical adoption of ‘extraneous’ traditions.

Institutionalization of Ethnocultural Diversity and the Representation of European Muslims

We seek to explain variation in the descriptive representation of Muslim minorities in national legislatures, relying on an original data set that includes 635 seats filled by Muslim-origin MPs in the lower chambers of national parliaments of twenty-six European polities in three legislative cycles between 2007 and 2018. We argue that the image of a polity as a union of multiple ethnocultural groups, reflected in concrete state policies and institutional arrangements, may be conducive to better descriptive representation of Muslim minorities, who were not originally envisioned as one of the communities constituting the nation. The results of multivariate regression analysis provide support for our hypothesis that the extent to which ethnocultural diversity is recognized and institutionalized helps explain variation in the levels of descriptive representation of European Muslims. We supplement our findings with congruence testing in four brief case studies: Belgium, France, the Netherlands, and Bulgaria.

Attitudes towards Multiculturalism in Luxembourg: Measurement Invariance and Factor Structure of the Multicultural Ideology Scale

The present study examined the dimensionality and the measurement invariance of the Multicultural Ideology Scale (MCI; Berry & Kalin, 1995), and mean differences across different cultural groups within the multilingual, multicultural context of Luxembourg. Luxembourg is a unique context to study attitudes towards diversity because 47% of the citizens are non-nationals, and minority and majority are increasingly difficult to define. Our sample included 1,488 participants from diverse ethnic backgrounds who completed the survey in German, French or English. In contrast to previous findings, our analyses on responses to the MCI scale revealed a two-dimensional structure, distinguishing between positive and negative attitudes towards multiculturalism. The factor structure was partially invariant across ethnocultural groups: Configural and metric invariance were established across natives and non-natives and different language versions. Scalar invariance was only established across gender groups. Natives and male participants reported more negative attitudes towards multiculturalism. We discuss the importance of assessing measurement invariance and provide recommendations to improve the assessment of psychological multiculturalism.