Minority Studies

The Beneš Decrees, laws punishing the German and Hungarian communities of Czechoslovakia after the Second World War, are usually described as a historical phenomenon. This article shows that recently they have become a current legal issue after Slovak authorities have started applying the decree on confiscating property against current owners of property in Slovakia. There are several legal avenues for how confiscations can currently take place. The most famous example was exposed by the case of Bosits v. Slovakia, decided by the European Court of Human Rights in 2020. However, some other forms are more frequent and less transparent. Not only are these procedures contrary to Slovak law, but they are also taking place in a very different legal context compared to the postwar era. Slovakia as a member of the European Union is bound by the EU Treaties, and is a signatory to human rights treaties that protect the right to property and freedom from discrimination. Confiscations on the basis of ethnicity, applying the principle of collective guilt, constitute a severe violation of these norms. The Beneš Decrees affect the present not only through confiscations; they serve as the ideological basis for the current relationship between the majority and minorities in Slovakia. To overcome them, the first step should be quantifying the problems they have caused, to be able to offer specific suggestions on how these could be remedied.

The topic of the article is the role of the so-called Beneš Decrees in the formation of bilateral relations between Slovakia and Hungary, as well as between Slovakia and the members of the local Hungarian minority after 1993. In addition to traditional actors, such as, according to Rogers Brubaker, members of national minorities, their “external homeland” and the country in which they live, these relations are also influenced by integration processes and the action of international institutions, nowadays especially the EU. The EU’s current position is that it regards the resolution of past issues as an internal matter for its member states or for bilateral resolution between individual states. The article points to the fact that although the joint action of Slovakia and Hungary in the EU and in the Visegrád Group has long contributed to the diminishing relevance of controversial issues of the common past, it is the integration processes that may contribute to their re-escalation in the short term. The differentiated expectations of EU membership also affect the quality of bilateral relations of its member states. The relevance of research on post-1993 Slovak–Hungarian relations, based primarily on legal norms but also on statements by representatives of the political elites of both Slovakia and Hungary, has an increasing relevance in the context of the forthcoming further enlargement of the EU to include the states of Southeastern Europe and the former USSR.

Članak se bavi borbom Socijaldemokratske stranke Hrvatske i Slavonije za opće pravo glasa u narodnome pokretu 1903. godine. Na početku se analizira potpora koju je Stranka u to vrijeme imala među stanovništvom Banske Hrvatske i njezina stajališta prema općem pravu glasa u odnosu prema drugim strankama u zemlji. Potom se rasvjetljava uloga njezine agitacije za opće pravo glasa u skupštinskom pokretu i općem narodnom pokretu protiv bana Khuena. Završni dio članka prikazuje radikalizaciju djelovanja nekih članova Stranke u narodnome pokretu i posljedice koje su iz toga proizašle.

The paper examines the impact of the Lausanne Peace Treaty and other bilateral treaties on the protection of minority rights in the Balkans. The article provides an in-depth analysis of the recognition and protection of minority rights and the challenges faced by ethnic and religious groups in the Balkans. The current situation, historical context, and future perspectives of minority groups are assessed in the light of regional and international policies.

This article analyzes the frames of the Wadi Salib events in the postcolonial perspective. The aim of this article is to show how to take historic events and analyze them according to a new perspective in media research. The events of Wadi Salib were a series of street demonstrations and riots that took place in 1959 in the Wadi Salib neighborhood of Haifa at Israel. The events were a social revolt against ethnic and socioeconomic discrimination. This article uses the grounded theory method and the framing method in order to examine the coverage techniques used by three major newspapers-Yedioth Aharonoth, Haaretz, and Maariv. The findings show three main frames. The first was the assignment of blame. The second was the frame of ethnicity. The third framing pointed to binary oppositions. The conclusion is that these frames pointed that the demonstrators are dangerous felons with criminal records who will use any means to subvert the foundations of society, while the police and the government are the defenders of the public against those insurgents.

The present study examined the influence of perceived discrimination on the subjective well-being of Turks in Bulgaria. Based on Meyer‟s (2003) Minority Stress Model, the role of group resources namely collective self esteem, Turkish identification and Bulgarian citizen identification and the role of personal resources namely self-efficacy, optimism and social support on subjective well-being as well as the moderating effects of these variables in the perceived discrimination - well-being relationship were investigated. The data were collected from a convenience sample of Turks in Bulgaria from three different cities (N = 296) through questionnaires in Turkish. The results showed that most individual and group-level resources predict dimensions of subjective well-being in the expected directions. Considering the influence of perceived discrimination, findings showed that perceived individual v discrimination predicted an increase on negative affect while perceived group discriminati...

The book describes one of the most characteristic phenomena accompanying bilingualism – the change of language within a communication situation on the material of a particular community: the Polish language island in Siberia, the village of Vershina in the Irkutsk Oblast, founded in 1910 by voluntary settlers from Lesser Poland. The collection of rich field material allowed for a comprehensive analysis of the social and cultural determinants of code-switching and code-mixing in the conditions of contact between the Lesser Poland dialect and the Russian language in group and individual dimensions.
This publication has been prepared within the project “Code switching in the conditions of Polish-Russian bilingualism in the Polish language island in Siberia (the village of Vershina near Irkutsk)”, funded by the National Science Centre of the Republic of Poland on the basis of Decision no. DEC-2016/23/B/HS2/01200

https://wydawnictwo.umk.pl/open-access-download/82ca5d65-a4cd-4201-afa4-54fd76af084f/pdf/E-book%20Code-switching%20zmn.pdf

Batı Trakya yaklaşık 550 yıl boyunca Osmanlı Devletinin egemenliği altında kalmıştır. Asırlar boyunca her metrekarede Türklük var olmuş ve her alanda yapılan hizmetler günümüze kadar gelmiştir. Balkan Savaşları sonrasında bölgeden devlet çekilmiş ama millet kalmıştır. Özellikle Lozan Barış Antlaşması’nın ayrılmaz bir parçası olan ek protokol (Türk-Rum Nüfus Mübadelesine İlişkin Sözleşme ve Protokol Anlaşması) kapsamından muaf tutulan ve azınlık statüsü ile Yunanistan’a bırakılan Batı Trakya Türkleri Balkanlarda kalan en önemli örneklerdendir. 1923 yılından itibaren azınlık durumuna düşen Batı Trakya’da Türkler her dönem hak ihlalleri ve baskılara maruz kalmışlardır. Bunları engellemek amacıyla hem sivil toplum olarak hem de siyasi alanda örgütlenmeyi amaçlamışlardır. Tarihsel süreçte azınlık açısından verimli dönemler yaşanmış olsa da genel görünüm pek olumlu değildir. Medeniyetin beşiği olduğu iddia edilen AB üyesi Yunanistan’ın bölgede yaşayan azınlığın uluslararası metinlerle elde ettiği özerklik hakları ile en temel insan haklarını ihlal ettiği görülmektedir. Bu çalışmada Batı Trakya Türklerinin güncel sorunları genel hatlarıyla ele alınacak ve bazı çözüm önerileri de tartışılacaktır.

In this article, Kwawukumey looks at the genre of sports anthems to understand how the Chelsea anthem text conveys loyalty and fanaticism. Kwawukumey also explores how the issues of loyalty and fanaticism are part of how a particular discourse community, Chelsea supporters, illustrates their shared understanding of these concepts. Finally, considering the Chelsea anthem as a spoken genre, Kwawukumey shows how football supporters take information or messages from the anthem and how it influences and reinforces their love and support for the club. Kwawukumey uses P-CHAT terms and the concept of multimodality to do this work.

The COVID-19 pandemic abruptly interrupted the traditional education process and imposed the need to switch to online education. Children living in poverty without proper IT infrastructure have been substantially excluded from the educational pro- cess amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. During this challenging pandemic, education has been placed in quarantine. This research paper aims to qualitatively investigate the potential social exclusion and further marginalization within remote learning during the pandemic in a very particular local context, focusing on the areas of Bitola (North Macedonia) and Treviso (Italy).

Mats Ekman (1865–1934) was a Swedish-speaking songwriter living in Rickul, which today belongs to the Noarootsi/Nuckö municipality in Läänemaa county, western Estonia.1 During his lifetime, Ekman’s song poetry aroused a certain interest in Sweden among language enthusiasts, but not among those interested in the folk music of Estonia’s Swedish-speaking cultural minority (the Estonia-Swedes) like Otto Andersson (Andersson 1904) and Olof Andersson (Andersson [1945] 2003). The majority of Estonia’s Swedish-speaking population fled to Sweden during World War II, and in Sweden, the community preserved their culture in various associations. In the late 1980s and early 1990s when the group resumed contact with their former homeland, Mats Ekman’s songs were a key piece of cultural heritage for the community of Estonia-Swedes or coastal Swedes.
After World War II, major efforts were made to preserve Estonia-Swedish
culture. The Uppsala Landsmålsarkiv (ULMA) was responsible for collecting
campaigns focused on Swedish dialects, and the Estonia-Swedes’ cultural
association Svenska Odlingens Vänner (SOV) documented material
that was not of primary interest to linguists. Through the magazine Kustbon
(The Coast Dweller) and other publications, the SOV transmitted Estonia-
Swedish culture within the community. In the early 1990s, new local community associations (hembygdsföreningar in Swedish) were formed to function as representative bodies for Estonia-Swedes in Sweden and municipalities in post-occupation Estonia. Local community associations engaged in cultural activities, and it was such an association, the Rickul-Nuckö Hembygdsförening, that published Ekman’s last book of songs in 2005. A CD of these songs was recorded in 2010. In this chapter, I approach the post-Soviet period asa series of revisits to Estonia-Swedes’ former home villages and a process of memory production which began compiling a revised version of Mats Ekman’s songs. Moving beyond the post-Soviet, the memory production process becomes the cultural heritage process I document here.

En esta entrada de blog, presento el flamante libro "La autodeterminación de los pueblos: controversias en Europa y las Américas", editado por la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Aprovecho para ofrecer unas consideraciones sobre tres temas conexos: (1) teoría y práctica de la autodeterminación, (2) pueblos colonizadores y colonizados, y (3) autodeterminación interna y externa.

Der Umgang mit Menschen mit körperlichen oder geistigen Gebrechen im besetzten Luxemburg zählt zu den unbeachteten Schicksalen der NS-Zeit. Das Escher Resistenzmuseum hat sich im Rahmen der Ausstellung "Vergessene Opfer des NS-Regimes in Luxemburg" mit der Aufarbeitung ihrer Geschichte auseinandergesetzt.

Elemzésem tárgya a társadalomtudományi kutatásokhoz kapcsolódó alkalmi munkák elosztásának folyamata. Célom elsősorban e sajátos munkaerőpiac szerkezetének és működésének leírása, de — úgy vélem — levonható ebből néhány olyan következtetés, ami a munkaerőpiac más típusainak közgazdasági-szociológiai elemzéséhez is szempontokat adhat.

Por medio de un acercamiento sociológico, este ensayo demuestra cómo la trama del libro de Ester revela características propias de las relaciones entre grupos mayoritarios (i.e., ciudadanos del imperio persa) y grupos minoritarios (i.e., extranjeros/migrantes hebreos).  Por lo tanto, este libro (particularmente las experiencias de Mardoqueo, Ester y los israelitas bajo dominación persa) puede y debe ser estudiado exegética y hermenéuticamente desde la perspectiva de las típicas interacciones entre grupos dominantes y grupos dominados.

Through a sociological approach, this essay demonstrates how the plot of the book of Esther reveals characteristics of the relationships between majority groups (i.e., citizens of the Persian empire) and minority groups (i.e., foreigners/Hebrew migrants). Therefore, this book (particularly the experiences of Mordecai, Esther, and the Israelites under Persian domination) can and should be studied exegetically and hermeneutically from the perspective of typical interactions between dominant groups and dominated groups.

Bu çalışma, tarihsel süreç içerisinde Bulgaristan'daki Türk ve Müslüman nüfusun demografik değişimlerine odaklanmakta ve 2011 ile 2021 yıllarına ait nüfus sayımlarının karşılaştırmalı analizini yapmaktadır. Osmanlı-Rus Savaşı (1877-1878) ve Balkan Savaşları (1912-1913) sonrasında meydana gelen zorunlu göçler, Bulgaristan'daki Türk ve Müslüman nüfusu azınlık statüsüne getirmiştir. Bu savaşların akabinde Bulgaristan'da uygulanan asimilasyon ve göç politikaları, ülkenin etnik ve dini yapısında köklü değişikliklere yol açmıştır. 1989 Zorunlu Göçü, Soğuk Savaş sürecinde Doğu ve Batı blokları arasında yaşanan en büyük kitlesel hareketlerden biri olarak öne çıkmaktadır. Bu göç, Bulgaristan'ın demografik yapısını derinden etkilemiş ve Türk nüfusunun kayda değer bir şekilde azalmasına neden olmuştur. 2011 yılında Bulgaristan'daki Türk nüfusu 588.318 iken, 2021 yılında bu sayı 508.378'e düşmüştür. Bu azalma, özellikle Avrupa Birliği üyeliği sonrası artan göç hareketleri ve doğurganlık oranlarındaki düşüşle ilişkilendirilmektedir. Buna karşılık, 2011 ve 2021 yılları arasındaki Bulgaristan nüfus sayımlarında Müslüman nüfus %10.7 oranında artış göstermiştir. 2011 yılında 577.139 olan Müslüman nüfus, 2021 yılında 638.708 kişiye ulaşmıştır. Bu durum, on yıl içinde 61.569 kişilik bir artışa işaret etmektedir. Son on yıl içerisinde Roman nüfusunda bir artış gözlemlenirken, Pomak nüfusuna dair resmi veriler mevcut değildir. Nüfus sayımları, etnik ve dini kimliklerin gizlenmesi ve doğru beyan edilmemesi gibi sorunları ortaya koymaktadır. Komünist dönemde uygulanan asimilasyon sürecinin toplumsal etkileri devam etmektedir. Toplumsal “göç hafızası” günümüzde de bu kimliklerin beyan edilmesini zorlaştırmaktadır. 2021 Nüfus Sayımı verilerine göre, nüfusun %17.6'sı dini kimliği hakkında Devlet İstatistik Kurumuna (NSİ) bilgi vermemektedir. Bu çalışma, Bulgaristan'daki azınlıkların demografik yapısının korunmasının önemini vurgulamakta ve bu konuda yeni strateji ve politikaların geliştirilmesi gerektiğini önermektedir. Demografik değişimin ana nedeni olarak göç olgusunu öne çıkaran bu çalışma, Türk ve Müslüman azınlıkların Bulgaristan'daki tarihsel ve güncel durumlarını kapsamlı ve karşılaştırmalı bir şekilde analiz etmektedir.

Questo volume nasce da una ricerca collettiva finalizzata a elaborare strumenti analitici e operativi per la prevenzione e il contrasto dei processi di istituzionalizzazione che coinvolgono le persone con disabilità in Italia, soprattutto con l’incedere dell’età. L’Italia, infatti, nonostante si sia contraddistinta in epoca repubblicana per la critica pragmatica delle logiche di apartheid e relegazione (con l’abolizione delle classi differenziali, la soppressione del manicomio civile e la dismissione dell’ospedale psichiatrico-giudiziario), presenta ancora solidi grumi di resistenza nel superare definitivamente la cultura della segregazione. Ciò in controtendenza con la cultura giuridica che, a inizio del XXI secolo, si è cristallizzata nella Convenzione delle Nazioni Unite sui diritti delle persone con disabilità, resa possibile dalle teorie e dalle pratiche critiche elaborate negli anni dal Disability Rights Movement. Cardini di questi nuovi codici culturali e di questo nuovo ordine normativo sono il principio per cui in nessun caso la condizione di disabilità può giustificare la privazione della libertà personale e il correlato riconoscimento del diritto di vivere nella società con libertà di scelta, inclusa la possibilità di scegliere, su base di uguaglianza con gli altri, il proprio luogo di residenza e dove e con chi vivere, senza l’obbligo di vivere in una sistemazione particolare.
In un momento di fermento legislativo, questa ricerca, che è stata condotta da studiosi e professionisti provenienti da diversi campi del sapere – sociologia, social work, diritto, psichiatria, pedagogia, filosofia, antropologia –, propone allora un quadro dei modi di persistenza dei dispositivi di incapacitazione delle persone con disabilità e dello
strumentario disponibile per la loro emancipazione.

In this paper, I introduce and analyze the Hungarian Educational Act for Non-State Financed Elementary Schools enacted in 1907, also referred to as Lex Apponyi. The law, named after the then-Minister of Education, Albert Apponyi, marked a new stage in the protracted struggle between the Hungarian ruling elite and the national minorities
which strove for cultural equality and wider political opportunities in Hungary. In enacting Lex Apponyi, the originators applied a double-barreled strategy. The Hungarian state gave extraordinary financial support to the elementary school system maintained mostly by the churches and local communities. However, this positive measure came for schools with the requirement to give up their autonomy. It soon became obvious that the government’s financial help was a ‘bait’ for the national minorities’ school to enforce‘patriotic education’ and the compulsory teaching of the Hungarian language. Several sections of Lex Apponyi reduced the non-state financed schools’ autonomy in effect since 1868. In the aftermath of the Treaty of Versailles, Lex Apponyi became vigorously debated. Due to its assimilationist aims, the historians of the successor states of prewar Hungary (e. g., Romania and Czechoslovakia) criticized it intensely. Similarly, some Hungarian historiographers condemned the law on political or moral basis, while others argued that it provided a relatively flexible environment for the education of national
minorities—in comparison to the educational environments existent in the surrounding European nation-states. Applying a careful analysis of the law and its consequences on the educational system, in this paper I reevaluate the various historiographical narratives surrounding Lex Apponyi and I present new arguments in the century-long historical debate.

Výkon politík založený na dátach sa v poslednom desaťročí stáva nepopierateľnou
premisou verejnej politiky aj v kontexte Slovenskej republiky. Presné a spoľahlivé informácie a dáta sú základom pre správne rozhodnutia. Na Slovensku práve v posledných rokoch vznikol relatívne obsiahly korpus databáz založených na etnických dátach a publikácií s týmto zameraním. Tento článok má ambíciu taxatívne pomenovať tieto výskumy, predstaviť ich metodiku, obsah a limitácie, ako aj spôsoby ich využívania v prospech ďalšieho výskumu. Jednotlivé typy zisťovaní sú v texte zoradené chronologicky, podľa času zverejnenia prvotných dátových výstupov.

Knjiga Ženski identiteti u muzičkom životu austrougarskog Sarajeva prva je publikacija u oblasti muzikologije Bosne i Hercegovine u čijem fokusu je uloga i značaj žena u muzičkom životu.  Problematizirajući rodne uloge i njihov utjecaj na prisutnost žena u muzičkom životu, knjiga potiče dalja interdisciplinarna istraživanja na polju antropologije, sociologije, studija kulture i sl. Knjiga je nastala na osnovu arhivskog rada sprovedenog u institucijama relevantnim za muzikološka istraživanja (Österreichisches Staatsarchiv, Österrichische Nationalbibliothek, Wienbibliothek im Rathaus, Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien – Archiv, Arhiv Jugoslavije, Hrvatski glazbeni zavod, Državni Arhiv BiH, Historijski arhiv Sarajeva, Muzej grada Sarajeva, Zemaljski muzej BiH). Složenost teme uvjetovala je da istraživanje iskorači iz tradicionalnih muzikoloških okvira u smjeru interdisciplinarnosti, te su izvori kritički analizirani kroz društveno-sociološke kontekste s kraja 19. i početka 20. stoljeća. Temeljit pristup podrazumijevao je uvid u savremene sociološke studije, kao i studije iz oblasti istorije kulture, istorije svakodnevnog života i socijalne istorije.  Knjiga detaljno analizira društveni položaj i status žene u bosanskohercegovačkom društvu i muzici, dok se u iznošenju zaključaka ne ograničava na lokalni kontekst nego zaključke umrežava u širi evropski diskurs povezujući ih s opštim duhom vremena. Knjiga je rezultirala spoznajom da su žene predstavljale stub muzičkih dešavanja u navedenom vremenskom okviru, te potkrijepljuje tezu da su žene, odnosno identiteti koje su ispoljavale, bili pokretač integracije bosanskohercegovačkog stanovništva u tokove centralnoevropske muzičke prakse. Nositeljice „nove“ muzičke prakse bile su porijeklom iz Hrvatske, Srbije,  Mađarske, Austrije i Češke, a njihov je angažman u sferama privatnog i javnog muzičkog života doprinijeo “mirenju” razlika između tradicijskog te muzičkog izraza pristiglog sa Austro-Ugarskom monarhijom.
Knjiga Ženski identiteti u muzičkom životu austrougarskog Sarajeva doprinosi podizanju svijesti o značaju i položaju žena u umjetnosti, kulturi i muzici te otvara područja za promišljanje i izučavanje uloge žena u historiji muzike Bosne i Hercegovine.  Knjiga daje novu perspektivu o udjelu žena u oblikovanju historije muzike, ali i općenito umjetnosti i kulture na području BiH i Jugoistočne Evrope.

This report documents research findings relevant to understanding the experiences of South Asian women who have survived domestic violence and who have No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF), the “forgotten women”. This study was sponsored by Oxfam GB, with additional ...

Three years after the end of the Second Karabakh War between Armenia and Azerbaijan, the issue of refugees returning to their homes remains unresolved. Despite multiple efforts in the diplomatic arena, Armenia has been unwilling to comprehensively engage with the Azerbaijani government on the matter. The forced displacement endured by Azerbaijanis were a consequence of conflicts with Armenia and various events that unfolded during the Soviet rule.
Multiple internal and external factors are at play, impacting the dynamic of the negotiations and the general level of trust. The strategic significance of the South Caucasus as a region hints at the considerable role played by the individual interests of several major powers, with their strategies and preferences undoubtedly impacting the bilateral relationship. Equally, internal dynamics, such as Armenia’s approach to recognizing Azerbaijan’s sovereignty in its constitutional documents, raises concerns about the prospect of solving the issue at hand given its deeply emotive and even personal nature.

Dalits, aboriginals, subalterns, slaves, serviles, tribals, etc., are connected with an umbilical cord of the same section of the hapless society. Dalits and subalterns in India, aboriginals in Australia and Canada, Afro-Asians in the UK and the USA have sprouted and taken full-fledged areas of creative aesthetics in literature. A plethora of articles, books, monographs, autobiographies, memoirs, novels and poems have emerged as powerful visible forms of protest against the prolonged and chequered history of agony, anguish, exploitation, cruelty, maltreatment, malice and malevolence. Migration from one place to another has taken place to protect themselves from and protest against the sovereign/superior/colonizing and consumerist class. Earlier, misuse and mishandling of the marginalized communities became the subject matter of literary practices by few including the widely accepted 'holy trinity', M. R. Anand, R. K. Narayan and Raja Rao, who penned down and set the milestones in the literary sphere. With the passage of time, people from the beleaguered and subjugated class came forward to protest their subdued status in the society. They professed their creative articulations avowedly and started writing in the indigenous languages in several regions of India. Since they confined their writings in a particular language/dialect, the readership, therefore, was restricted to the speakers of the same language or was cramped in the same territory. Thanks to the translation studies in India which emerged from the late nineteenth century, the original texts in Hindi, Braj, Awadhi, Bhojpuri, Punjabi, Haryanvi, Rajasthani in northern India and Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam in south India received recognition by the academicians, researchers and creative writers. Thus, the need of translation came to the fore to get wider readership. When many bilingual writers began writing both in their native languages and in English, the publishers, too, came forward to encourage them. The writers, poets and playwrights-cum-activists, such as Ananthamurthy, Ramanujan, Karnad, Manoj Das, Niranjan Mohanty, and Arun Kolatkar, Kamla Das and Mamta Kalia, carried forward the legacy of bi/multilingualism of Tagore, Firaq Gorakhpuri and Bachchan. But there is a brigade of authors, poets, novelists, travel writers, especially from pre-colonial India, who originally wrote and published in their native languages. Afterwards, there emerged a line of academicians who attempted in translation to get esteemed degrees, fellowships and certificates of appreciation. Few institutions of high approbation like Sahitya Akademy, New Delhi, were founded to promote and promulgate vernacular works in translation. Some publishers, such as the Writers Workshop, Seagull Books, Samya, Zubaan, Harper Perennial, Penguin

Gençliğinde edindiği siyasi tecrübelerin ışığında her zaman doğru yerde bulunmaya gayret eden, aydın namusundan hiç taviz vermeyen ve Çanakkale muharebeleri ile ilgili çalışma yapan herkesin yardımcısı olan merhum Şahin Aldoğan’ın anısı önünde saygı ile eğiliyorum.