Depressive Symptomology, Identity and Religious Practices among Catholics and Evangelicals: Differences between the Mapuche and Non-Indigenous Chilean Population

Background: Chile is a highly religious country. Although a majority of the population describes itself as Catholic, there has been a substantial growth in Evangelism, especially among indigenous people. In this context, the aim of this study is to analyse the relationship between Catholic and Evangelical religiosity in terms of identity and practices and depressive symptoms in the Mapuche and non-indigenous Chilean population. Methods: The study was conducted using secondary data from the Longitudinal Intercultural Relations Study of 2017, estimating linear regressions to explain variations on the PHQ-9 scale between the adult Mapuche and non-indigenous Chilean population by first including the controls variables, followed by religious identification, churchgoing, and prayer. Results: Social support, good health, and age showed a negative association with PHQ-9 in both groups. Being a woman and not having a partner were only positively related with depression in the non-indigenous group. A negative association was found between Evangelical religious identity and depressive symptoms among the Mapuche population, while churchgoing was negatively associated and prayer was positively associated with depression in the non-indigenous group. Conclusions: The findings confirm that religiosity is a protective factor against depressive symptomology in the Chilean population. However, the analysis reveals significant ethnic differences.

Some Critical Notes on Sri Lankan Muslim Religious Identity Formation, Conservatism, and Violent Extremism

A new wave of attacks by Sinhala-Buddhist extremist elements against the Muslim community in Sri Lanka started following the brutal end of the ethnic civil war between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sinhala-Buddhist-dominated Sri Lanka security forces in 2009. Easter Sunday terrorist attacks in 2019 by some Muslims polarized Sri Lanka and contributed to the compromise of the country’s security. Sri Lankan Muslims often claim they are a peaceful community and thus have no serious interests in violent mobilization. But the evidence would basically contradict Muslims’ claim of a peace-loving community. The Easter Sunday terrorist attacks did not take place in any vacuum. This paper will situate some key developments in the violent mobilization of Sri Lanka during the war against the LTTE. The primary goal of such an attempt is to read the growing religious conservative and violent trends among Muslims between 1977 and 2009. In understanding the growing religious conservative trends, an understanding is attempted to situate a later propensity for violence within the community that would manifest itself with the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks. Interviews were conducted with members of the Islamic Dawah organizations and Muslim youth who were formerly associated with violent groups in the Eastern Province to understand the ground reality. The period of 1977–2009 is important as the rise of religious conservatist influences in Sri Lanka mirrors the global transnational influences of Iran and Middle East Petro Dollars, especially Saudi Arabia. The article draws mainly on secondary sources. But to gain a better understanding of the ground reality, we spoke to a few Eastern Muslims between July 2016 and September 2021 at regular intervals.

Education's economic return in multicultural Australia: Demographic analysis

This article focuses on the impact of education as the most important human capital endowment in the context of migration, religion, gender and ethnic identity from a demographic perspective. It presents research-based evidence to address such key research questions as whether and how significantly women's education provides equal benefit in the labour market for individuals, based on their migration status, religion, and ethnic identity. The field of this study is the multi-ethnic and multicultural context of Australia with a wide range of ethnic and religious groups of migrants from throughout the world. Preliminary results show that labour market achievement is positively and significantly associated with the educational attainment of individuals, irrespective of their migration status, religious affiliation and ethnicity. However, more comprehensive analysis from comparative perspectives reveals that the positive economic return of education is higher for natives (compared with migrants), for ethnic migrants from developed regions of origin (compared with those from less developed regions of origin) and for non-Muslims (compared with Muslims). The article provides two plausible explanations for these patterns. The first refers to the lack of recognition of overseas qualifications and to the devaluation of foreign education that particularly applies to ethnic migrants from less developed regions. The second relates to disadvantage through structural discrimination against migrants, particularly when their cultural and religious identity, such as Islamic names and dress codes, are distinctively displayed. In sum, this analysis presents further research-based evidence to go beyond the human capital theory in order to explain more appropriately the economic return of women's education in the context of religion and migration from a demographic perspective.

„Bezradność, niemożność, zdziwienie i konieczność natychmiastowego kłamstwa”. Produkty uboczne Lopeza Mausere [“Powerlessness, Impotence, Astonishment, and the Need for an Immediate Lie”: The Byproducts of Lopez Mausere]

“Powerlessness, Impotence, Astonishment, and the Need for an Immediate Lie”: The Byproducts of Lopez MausereThe article focuses on the question of national, gender, and religious identity in the poetry and other writings of Wojciech Stamm, also known as Lopez Mausere and Gertruda Jarząbek. Mausere’s affiliation with the Polish Failures Club (Club der Polnischen Versager) in Berlin and the relationships between his biography and literature are examined as well. The author contends that Mausere’s concept of poetry as a genre similar to a joke, anecdote, mistake or deliberate deception, as well as his use of low, slang or colloquial registers of language, reflect Stamm’s belief that the carnivalized upside-down world is more real than the illusion produced by social roles, norms, statuses, hierarchies, and identities. Thus, failure to perform one’s role or normative identity might ultimately prove more creative and meaningful than the proper observance of prevalent social mores. „Bezradność, niemożność, zdziwienie i konieczność natychmiastowego kłamstwa”. Produkty uboczne Lopeza MausereArtykuł koncentruje się na kwestiach tożsamości narodowej, płciowej i religijnej w poezji i innych tekstach Wojciecha Stamma, znanego też jako Lopez Mausere i Gertruda Jarząbek. Przedmiotem badania jest także uczestnictwo Mausere w Klubie Polskich Nieudaczników (Club der Polnischen Versager) w Berlinie oraz inne powiązania pomiędzy jego biografią a literaturą. Autor artykułu twierdzi, że zarówno koncepcja poezji Mausere’a, zestawiająca twórczość poetycką z następującymi gatunkami: dowcip, anegdota, pomyłka lub celowe wprowadzenie w błąd, jak i wykorzystanie niskich, żargonowych czy potocznych rejestrów języka, odzwierciedlają przekonanie pisarza, że skarnawalizowany świat na opak bywa bardziej rzeczywisty niż iluzja stwarzana przez role społeczne, normy, statusy, hierarchie i tożsamości. Stąd porażka w odgrywaniu czyjejś roli albo normatywnej tożsamości może okazać się bardziej twórcza i znacząca niż prawidłowe dostosowanie się do zestawu reguł obowiązujących w przestrzeni społecznej.

Anti-EU Backlash from Below or Above? Public Opinion in Central and Eastern Europe Prior to the 2015 Migration Crisis

Relations between Brussels and Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) worsened during and after the 2015 migration crisis. In order to see to what extent CEE citizens contributed to and/or resonated with this new state of affairs, this paper investigates public opinion before the migration crisis in seven CEE EU Member States. We inquire whether the main issues of the rift (CEE political elites’ opposition to following EU decisions and immigration and their emphasis on sovereignism, nationalism, Christian Europe and historical traumas) could also be traced to public stances towards these issues before the migration crisis. We used the ISSP National Identity module conducted in 2013 and 2014 in the Czech Republic, Estonia, Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia and Slovenia. The results show that opposition to EU supranationalism was not linked to ethnic nationalism and religious identity (except in Hungary). Contrary to political elites, who emphasised the cultural threat posed by migration, public opinion was more concerned with the economic threat. Moreover, the perception of cultural threat was not linked to opposing EU supranationalism in any of the countries. However, particularly support for sovereignism (in almost all the countries), but also pride in national history (in some countries) correlated negatively with support for EU supranationalism. The results suggest that political elites can bypass public opinion to construct an anti-EU climate, however not out of thin air. The conditions for such a process were present in Hungary with its emerging transnational cleavage, which shows the importance of cleavages in studying Euroscepticism.