Narratives of ethnicity and nationalism : a case study of Circassians in Jordan

This research is an exploration of ethnic narratives of the Circassian community in Jordan, in addition to the nationalist narratives promoted by the state of Jordan, and their reconstruction by the research participants. This research aims to understand how the research participants, as non-Arabs, understand and makes sense of the Pan-Arab ethnonational narratives promoted by the state through the ‘Jordan First’ nationalist campaign and textbooks of national and civic education. It also seeks to understand the ethnic narratives of the Circassian community. It highlights the fact that ethnic narratives are often contextualised, and come to light always in comparison to the other. It also shows how ethnic narratives are gendered, can include or exclude women, and gender relations are ethnicised, or in other words used as markers for group boundaries. The main aim of this research is to unpack the research participants’ conceptualisations of Jordan and the Pan-Arabism, and to understand the strategies they use to include themselves within these narratives. It intends to evaluate whether research participants see themselves as integrated into the Jordanian society or not. Whereas the community itself is often portrayed as integrated into the society, because many of them are in high governmental positions, and the ceremonial guards of the Royal Family are the Circassians, it is also important to examine whether they believe that they are, and how. This thesis contributes to the literature on ethnicity and nationalism based on a minority with unique profile, and also contributes to the overall body of literature on state nationalism in the Middle East. The research has been approached through the use of both qualitative and quantitative data collection methods. It is based on the analysis of textbooks of national and civic education, and the ‘Jordan First’ campaign, in addition to 13 interviews and 62 questionnaires

Ya Quds! Academic Cultural News Letter, Issue No. 2

Greetings and a warm welcome to the second issue of Ya Quds!. Ya Quds! received many good words of encouragement following the first issue. We thank all those who have expressed their views and shared their suggestions. After all, it is you, our readers, whom we care about, so your comments and suggestions are very important to us. We hope that Ya Quds! will continue to offer valuable information and stimulate productive discussion about the city of Jerusalem. In this issue, as in the first, we did not seek to focus on a particular theme but have rather left it to the individual authors to select themes of interest and importance to them. All the articles are different, yet all are united by the word “Al-Quds.” Ya Quds! is written about and for Jerusalem and its inhabitants, the stories and articles help to deconstruct the complex mystery and charm of this city. What you will find in the following pages is a collection of ten articles, five in Arabic and five in English, written by academics and researchers whose contributions we are honoured to have in Ya Quds! . The five articles in English reflect various perspectives: historical ( The Fatimids in Jerusalem ), social ( The Gypsies of Jerusalem ), political ( Mussala al-Marwani: An unrecognised Palestinian triumph? ; and On the 16th Anniversary of the Camp David Negotiations ), and urban planning ( Urban Spatial Changes during Political Uncertainty ). There are so many topics about Jerusalem on which we have yet to hear, so take hold of your pens and add your voices. We hereby send out a call for articles for the third issue of Ya Quds! . Articles may be in Arabic or English and should not exceed 1200 words. The deadline for submission is December 12, 2016. We look forward to your contributions. The Centre for Jerusalem Studies team is also working hard to prepare for the upcoming conference on Production of Inequalities: Realities and Prospects for Change in Jerusalem, to be held on December 3–5 in Jerusalem and Abu Dis. We take this opportunity to invite all those interested in the topic to join us for this event

Cigarettes' use and capabilities-opportunities-motivation-for-behavior model:a multi-country survey of adolescents and young adults

The use of cigarettes among adolescents and young adults (AYA) is an important issue. This study assessed the association between regular and electronic-cigarettes use among AYA and factors of the Capability-Motivation-Opportunity-for-Behavior-change (COM-B) model. A multi-country survey was conducted between August-2020 and January-2021, Data was collected using the Global-Youth-Tobacco-Survey and Generalized-Anxiety-Disorder-7-item-scale. Multi-level logistic-regression-models were used. Use of regular and electronic-cigarettes were dependent variables. The explanatory variables were capability-factors (COVID-19 status, general anxiety), motivation-factors (attitude score) and opportunity-factors (country-level affordability scores, tobacco promotion-bans, and smoke free-zones) controlling for age and sex. Responses of 6,989-participants from 25-countries were used. Those who reported that they were infected with COVID-19 had significantly higher odds of electronic-cigarettes use (AOR = 1.81, P = 0.02). Normal or mild levels of general anxiety and negative attitudes toward smoking were associated with significantly lower odds of using regular-cigarettes (AOR = 0.34, 0.52, and 0.75, P < 0.001) and electronic-cigarettes (AOR = 0.28, 0.45, and 0.78, P < 0.001). Higher affordability-score was associated with lower odds of using electronic-cigarettes (AOR = 0.90, P = 0.004). Country-level-smoking-control policies and regulations need to focus on reducing cigarette affordability. Capability, motivation and opportunity factors of the COM-B model were associated with using regular or electronic cigarettes

A multi-country study on the impact of sex and age on oral features of COVID-19 infection in adolescents and young adults

Background: Oral diseases are features of COVID-19 infection. There is, however, little known about oral diseases associated with COVID-19 in adolescents and young adults (AYA). Therefore, the aim of this study was to assess oral lesions’ association with COVID-19 infection in AYA; and to identify if sex and age will modify these associations. Methodology: Data was collected for this cross-sectional study between August 2020 and January 2021 from 11-to-23 years old participants in 43-countries using an electronic validated questionnaire developed in five languages. Data collected included information on the dependent variables (the presence of oral conditions- gingival inflammation, dry mouth, change in taste and oral ulcers), independent variable (COVID-19 infection) and confounders (age, sex, history of medical problems and parents’ educational level). Multilevel binary logistic regression was used for analysis. Results: Complete data were available for 7164 AYA, with 7.5% reporting a history of COVID-19 infection. A significantly higher percentage of participants with a history of COVID-19 infection than those without COVID-19 infection reported having dry mouth (10.6% vs 7.3%, AOR = 1.31) and taste changes (11.1% vs 2.7%, AOR = 4.11). There was a significant effect modification in the association between COVID-19 infection and the presence of dry mouth and change in taste by age and sex (P = 0.02 and < 0.001). Conclusion: COVID-19 infection was associated with dry mouth and change in taste among AYA and the strength of this association differed by age and sex. These oral conditions may help serve as an index for suspicion of COVID-19 infection in AYA

Oral manifestations in young adults infected with COVID-19 and impact of smoking:a multi-country cross-sectional study

Background: Oral manifestations and lesions could adversely impact the quality of people's lives. COVID-19 infection may interact with smoking and the impact on oral manifestations is yet to be discovered. Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the self-reported presence of oral lesions by COVID-19-infected young adults and the differences in the association between oral lesions and COVID-19 infection in smokers and non-smokers. Methods: This cross-sectional multi-country study recruited 18-to-23-year-old adults. A validated questionnaire was used to collect data on COVID-19-infection status, smoking and the presence of oral lesions (dry mouth, change in taste, and others) using an online platform. Multi-level logistic regression was used to assess the associations between the oral lesions and COVID-19 infection; the modifying effect of smoking on the associations. Results: Data was available from 5,342 respondents from 43 countries. Of these, 8.1% reported COVID-19-infection, 42.7% had oral manifestations and 12.3% were smokers. A significantly greater percentage of participants with COVID-19-infection reported dry mouth and change in taste than non-infected participants. Dry mouth (AOR=, 9=xxx) and changed taste (AOR=, 9=xxx) were associated with COVID-19-infection. The association between COVID-19-infection and dry mouth was stronger among smokers than non-smokers (AOR = 1.26 and 1.03, p = 0.09) while the association with change in taste was stronger among non-smokers (AOR = 1.22 and 1.13, p = 0.86). Conclusion: Dry mouth and changed taste may be used as an indicator for COVID-19 infection in low COVID-19-testing environments. Smoking may modify the association between some oral lesions and COVID-19-infection

Anxiety among adolescents and young adults during COVID-19 pandemic: A multi-country survey

(1) Background: Adolescents-and-young-adults (AYA) are prone to anxiety. This study assessed AYA's level of anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic; and determined if anxiety levels were associated with country-income and region, socio-demographic profile and medical history of individuals. (2) Methods: A survey collected data from participants in 25 countries. Dependent-variables included general-anxiety level, and independent-variables included medical problems, COVID-19 infection, age, sex, education, and country-income-level and region. A multilevel-multinomial-logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine the association between dependent, and independent-variables. (3) Results: Of the 6989 respondents, 2964 (42.4%) had normal-anxiety, and 2621 (37.5%), 900 (12.9%) and 504 (7.2%) had mild, moderate and severe-anxiety, respectively. Participants from the African region (AFR) had lower odds of mild, moderate and severe than normal-anxiety compared to those from the Eastern-Mediterranean-region (EMR). Also, participants from lower-middle-income-countries (LMICs) had higher odds of mild and moderate than normal-anxiety compared to those from low-income-countries (LICs). Females, older-adolescents, with medical-problems, suspected-but-not-tested-for-COVID-19, and those with friends/family-infected with COVID-19 had significantly greater odds of different anxiety-levels. (4) Conclusions: One-in-five AYA had moderate to severe-anxiety during the COVID-19-pandemic. There were differences in anxiety-levels among AYAs by region and income-level, emphasizing the need for targeted public health interventions based on nationally-identified priorities