Ethnic Identities

"During the 2000s, the dress of Muslim women in Muslim-minority countries in Europe and elsewhere became increasingly a matter for debate and, in several instances, the subject of legislation. In France, a ban on the wearing of the headscarf
in places of education (2004) was followed in 2010 by the law criminalizing the wearing of the face-veil (usually but inaccurately referred to as the ‘burqa’) in public space. Other countries have enacted similar legislation. Muslim women’s dress has historically been a controversial matter in Muslim-majority countries, too, most recently in North Africa following the Arab Spring, but the present paper concentrates on the movement against face-veiling in Western Europe, documenting what has been happening and analysing the arguments proposed to justify criminalizing this type of garment. In doing so, the paper explores the implications for our understanding of contemporary (ethnically and religiously) diverse societies and their governance.
Is anti-veiling legislation a protest against what is interpreted as an Islamic practice unacceptable in liberal democracies, a sign of a wider discomfort with non-European otherness, or an expression of an underlying racism articulated in cultural terms?
Whatever the reason, is criminalization an appropriate response? An Appendix notes some topics for further research. "

""Contrary to the popular understanding of Iran as a Persian nation, half of the country's population consists of minorities, among whom there has been significant ethnic mobilization at crucial stages in Iranian history. One such stage is now: suppressed minority demands, identity claims, and debates on diversity have entered public discourse and politics. In 2005–2007, Iran was rocked by the most widespread ethnic unrest experienced in that country since the revolution. The same period was also marked by the re-emergence of nationalism. This interdisciplinary book takes a long-overdue step toward understanding these highly contentious issues.

REVIEWS
"Rasmus Christian Elling's wonderful book on Iran's major ethnic minorities is a unique and brilliant analysis of the changing role of these ethnic groups… The book is highly recommended for students and scholars of Iran and of ethnic and nationalist questions, and for all thoughtful Iranians."
- Nikki R. Keddie, Professor Emerita of History, UCLA, USA 

"In a challenging and well-researched book, Rasmus Christian Elling brings considerable theoretical sophistication to a subtle and acute analysis of the issue, focusing on four key minorities and their histories, particularly since the 1978-79 revolution… This important book, ground-breaking in Iranian Studies, is a major contribution to the political sociology of ethnicity, nationalism, and minority-state relations."
- Richard Tapper, Emeritus Professor, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK 

"This excellent book provides an analytically powerful yet subtle study of competing processes and discourses that shape Iranian cultural diversity. This is a highly erudite and well-written work, built on years of meticulous empirical research. Indeed, Elling has written a wonderful book that will set the standard for the future scholarship in this field."
- Siniša Malešević, Senior Lecturer, National University of Ireland, Galway, Ireland 

"Rasmus Christian Elling has addressed the thorny issues of minorities, ethnicity, and national identity in post-revolutionary Iran with such dexterity and care that from now on this book will be on the reading list of any serious scholar examining these topics." - Mehrzad Boroujerdi, Associate Professor of Political Science, Syracuse University, USA""

"INTRODUCTION
In this chapter dominant culture is conceptualized in relation to foreign and indigenous ethnic groups in the Netherlands. I will try to do this in such a way that it reflects the contemporary European context and does not violate the historical facts in the emergence of European nation-states. The data is coming from an anthropological fieldwork project in the department of clinical psychiatry of a Dutch Army Hospital.

First the vicissitudes of Mehmet are presented, a drafted soldier from a Turkish migrant family in the Dutch army. Mehmet is originally himself from a dominant culture. The Turks are proud never to have been colonized or subjected. But in the Netherlands he is member of a dependent minority group. He offers a good example to clarify and analyse the issue of balancing national (dominant group) and ethnic (dependent group) loyalties in male adolescents.

Secondly the researchproject from which the data sprang is outlined and my own epistemological position is pointed out.
This is an anthropological, that is a cross-cultural one. It means that we anthropologists look for comparative grounds with data from other (non-Western) societies to look at dominant and dependent groups. The emic-etic methodology from cultural anthropology and the established-outsider paradigm of Norbert Elias constitute the center of my epistemological position.

In the third part the concept of ethnicity in the historical context of the emergence of the Western-European nation-states is discussed. In the fieldwork project drafted soldiers from regional groups like the Frisians from the north of the Limburgians from the south had in many cases more affinity with the soldiers form migrant groups. Ethnicity form this data could in anthropological terms be conceptualized as common to every long term existing group. The core issue of ethnicity: to belong and to be different is formulated from the concepts of „synchronizing‟ from Edward Hall and 'totemism' from Claude Levi-Strauss.

In the fourth part we return to Mehmet‟s experiences in the Dutch army in order to outline the interdependence between the individual and his national, his religious, his ethnic, his local group. For adolescents finding a balance between their affinity of their own local-ethnic family and group and the national context is an intricately and vulnerable process which is still underestimated in its importance for mature citizenship ànd for an epistemological framework to analyse dominance-dependence relationships between individuals and between groups.

In the last part I look ahead to my next fieldworkreport on the connection between unequal balance of power and the loss of cultural self-reflection in the dominant group or culture.

The chapter concludes by lining up some preliminary conclusions and recommendations for contemporary problems among male adolescents in multicultural cities, like Rotterdam and Urecht in the Netherlands where the author is consulting the local government on these issues."

This ASLU volume examines the built environment and aspects of domestic material culture of the Late Byzantine/Frankish, Ottoman and Early Modern Cyclades in the Aegean (13th – 20th centuries). On the basis of primary archaeological data gathered by the Cyclades Research Project, this monograph’s aims are the reconstruction of everyday domestic life in towns and villages, the identification of socio-cultural identities that shaped or were reflected on pre-Modern material remains, and the history of island landscapes through the study of certain aspects of material culture. Aspects of ‘material culture’ analysed in this study include settlement layout (fortified settlements and undefended nucleated villages), domestic buildings (housing of urban character, peasant housing and farmsteads), ceramics (locally produced and imported glazed tableware), internal fittings (built structures and mobile fittings) and island-costumes (male and female dress codes).