The Role of Arctic Discourse in the Construction of a Northern Regional Identity

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 104-111
Author(s):  
Victoria GALYAPINA ◽  
Oksana TUCHINA ◽  
Ivan APOLLONOV

The Armenian diaspora is one of the largest in Russia and in the world. The Armenians living in the Krasnodar Territory are a large and active group, thus, an investigation into the problem of their acculturation is of scientific and practical importance. Based on the theory of social identity, the theory of acculturation, and the regional socio-cultural context, the study focused on the role of ethnic, regional and Russian national (civic) identities and diaspora activity in the acculturation of the Armenians in the Krasnodar Territory. The study used the scales from the MIRIPS project questionnaire (Mutual Intercultural Relations in Plural Societies). The sample consisted of 181 respondents. Using structural equation modeling, the ethnic and Russian national identities of the Armenians living in the Krasnodar Territory were revealed as factors that contributed to their integration, and regional identity—as factors that fostered assimilation. Diaspora activity was determined by both ethnic and regional identity and predicted the Armenians’ attitudes towards integration and separation. Also, diaspora activity of the Armenians in the Kuban region facilitated the interconnection of ethnic and regional identities with the separation strategy. In general, the study revealed that all identities (ethnic, regional and Russian national) contribute to a certain degree to the acceptance of the host society culture by the Armenians in the Krasnodar Territory. At the same time, diaspora activity can be an effective mechanism for the adaptation of migrants or a source of problems associated with increased impenetrability of diaspora’s borders, the migrants’ exclusive focus on their ethnic group and their decreased desire for sociocultural integration into the host society. It is important to take this into account when shaping the regional interethnic relations policy.


Author(s):  
Tony Langlois

This chapter looks at the role of musical genres in the borderland between Oran in Western Algeria and Oujda in Eastern Morocco – in many ways a single cultural and economic zone that is distinct from the core of each of their respective nations. Once this had been the boundary of the Ottoman Empire, but at other times a refuge for political dissidents from either side in their many anti-colonial struggles. Today the cities are economically linked by smuggling and culturally by language, common tradition and strong musical connections – the raï pop music industry is strong on both sides of the border, but as important is the local form of ‘classical’ Andalous music tarab el gharnati and Berber ‘folk’ genres. Music itself marks boundaries of taste, heritage and allegiance, and these often have a tangential relationship to those demarcated by nationalist discourses. The chapter considers the ways in which musical practices preserve a sense of regional identity and allegiance despite the formal closure of the border in 1994. It looks at the economic and cultural consequences of this relationship and at the efforts of the Algerian government to maintain formal boundaries and address the broader context of cross-border cultural flow, not only with Morocco, but, increasingly, the wider mediated world.


Author(s):  
Timothy Doyle ◽  
Dennis Rumley

The construct of the ‘Indo-Pacific’ as a new ‘regional’ identity is garnering recognition in both foreign and defence policy institutions in India. Although the Indo-Pacific concept is currently ‘in vogue’, the essential motivations behind India’s self-proclaimed—and alleged centrality—in the Asian strategic space, are not particularly new. In fact, in this chapter we posit that it is quite the opposite: the construction of the ‘region’ possesses enduring historical connections to British imperialism alongside Indian nationalism. The works of post-independence Indian strategic thinkers such as Caroe and Panikkar will be further drawn upon to illustrate how their traditional geopolitical rationales and arguments remain integral to contemporary Indian framings of the Indo-Pacific. Examples taken from current Indian government policies and projects, such as Project Mausam, will be utilized to contextualize these concepts and geopolitical imaginations.


2007 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keir Reeves ◽  
E. Rebecca Sanders ◽  
Gordon Chisholm

This article reflects the authors’ experience of undertaking an oral history project in the regional Victorian town of Rushworth. The authors of the article contend that to conduct an investigation of the natural and cultural heritage of the town and surrounding forests is also to engage in an archaeology of historical landscapes. The authors, after articulating the theoretical and methodological issues of oral history, name and trace the various historical layers of the landscape of Rushworth and the forest that surrounds the town. They argue that the use of oral history in conjunction with cultural landscape analysis enables a deeper understanding of the cultural complexity of the history of Rushworth and the surrounding region. Broader issues concerning regional identity and the role of historians in providing a greater understanding of the community in the present day are also evaluated.


2014 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 107-129 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mathew Davies

ASEAN's engagement with human rights culminated in the creation of the ASEAN Human Rights Declaration in 2012. The Declaration is fascinating in three ways: Its institutional origins are surprising, it was agreed upon by states with very different positions on the role of human rights domestically, and it both contains commitments far in advance of some members and is at the same time dangerously regressive. The three leading frameworks that currently interrogate the Declaration fail to provide convincing insights into all three of those dimensions. To correct these shortcomings, this article applies the notion of an “incompletely theorized agreement” to the study of the Declaration, arguing that member states understand the Declaration in very different ways and agreed to it for similarly diverse reasons. Further, I argue that the Declaration neither articulates a shared regional identity relating to respect for human rights, nor can it be understood as marking an early point towards the creation of this identity. Instead, the current diversity of regional opinions on human rights and democracy is perceived as legitimate and will endure. The article concludes by considering whether this denudes the Declaration of value, arguing that its importance will vary: The more progressive the member state, the more important the Declaration will be in the future.


2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 155-171 ◽  

AbstractEthnographic research in Vienna from 2009 to 2010 revealed how East Asians construct a collective regional identity by consuming Korean popular culture, known as hallyu. This paper is the first attempt at studying these immigrants as a group; scholars in Asian studies have previously focused on one nation. Unlike conventional studies of immigration, which focus largely on assimilation and integration in the new society and culture, this paper shows how immigrants construct their independent identities across national borders, and how advanced technology enables them to choose cultural content that evokes Asian values and sentiments. Hallyu thus informs their identity construction as East Asians in Europe.


2009 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
EWA OCHMAN

AbstractThis article focuses on the remembrance of the deportations of Silesians to the Soviet Union in 1945, undertaken in Upper Silesia, Poland, after the collapse of communism. It explores the relationship between local elite-sponsored official remembrance of the deportations and the formation of regional identity in the context of the Upper Silesia's borderland locality and the post-war population movement. The article also investigates the role of public commemorations of the Silesian past in the construction of a Silesian national identity undertaken by the Silesian separatist movement that gained in popularity against the backdrop of the post-1989 de-industrialisation of the region, Poland's most important centre for coal mining industry.


Author(s):  
Ludmila E. Kovaleva

The paper deals with the interrelation of regional development, regional identity and cultural policy. The points of view of domestic and foreign authors on the specified questions are cited. A role of book publishing in the course of regional identity formation is shown on the example of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area — Ugra.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document