Construction and Import of Ethnic Categorisations: “Allochthones” in The Netherlands and Belgium

Schematically one can distinguish two traditions related to ethnic statistics in Europe. In France, Germany and most southern European countries, the dominant statistical categorisations merely distinguish individuals on the basis of their nationality. In contrast, most northern European countries have been producing data on the ethnic and/or foreign origin of their populations. Belgium is caught somewhere in between these two traditions. The French speaking part of Belgium tends to follow the French tradition of refusing ethnic categorisation, while the Flemish (the Dutch speaking part) try to copy the Dutch model in distinguishing “allochthones” and “autochthones”. This contribution wants to offer an analysis of the construction of ethnic categories as it has been undertaken in the Dutch context. It equally wants to shed light on how the category of “allochthones” has been (partially) imported into the Belgian context and what the consequences are.Ethnic Categorisation, Statistics, “Allochthones”, the Netherlands, Belgium

Young lesbians’ narratives of disclosure : lessons for educational psychologists

Abstract : Homosexuality is a concept that has been given a significant amount of attention in recent years. In South Africa LGBT individuals are protected by the constitution and thus allowed the freedom to publicly exhibit their sexualities. Despite these strides’ lesbians are discriminated, violently attacked and even raped in the name of curing them. Society seems to sides with the compulsory heteronormative ideals and thus creates an unfavourable platform for young lesbians to disclose. This has even taken up roots in the school context where patriarch policing is done regularly to perpetuate these ideals. Existing literature has investigated to the experience of lesbians during various phases of the process of disclosure, mainly in the familial context. The present study will explore and describe the narratives of disclosure with specific reference to the school context with hopes to provide lessons for educational psychologists. Discourse analysis will be used to explore the narratives of young lesbians who had disclosed their sexual identities wile at school. Five lesbians were sourced and invited to be interviewed. Open-ended interviews were conducted requesting the participants to discuss their narratives of disclosure. The interviews were then transcribed verbatim including relevant nonverbal behaviours and analysis of the interviews followed using relevant discourse analysis criteria. The findings of the present study suggested that in the participants disclosures were often perceived as a joke and loved ones disregarded the seriousness and often attributed it to a passing phase. Furthermore, there is a notion of pathology that is seen as the antecedent to becoming lesbian. Responses from loved one to the new sexual identity, often took the form of maladaptive coping mechanisms. It was found that there was a lack of awareness surrounding sexual identities and confusion about how to navigate the new identity. In addition, some of the participants experiences psychological symptoms as a result which could have been remedied by a mental health profession. The school context can be seen as one of the primary sites involved in the process of disclosure. In this space heteronormative ideals are latently enforced, iv when one does not subscribe to such norms they are seen as defiant, for this reason the participants experienced discrimination and even violence. The participants articulated that they would have appreciated the support of a psychologist during their disclosures. As this was not available to them, those who were fortunate enough acquired lackadaisical support from loved ones. For this reason, it is important that psychological service (individual and family therapy as well as psychoeducation) is available to such populations. The present study contributes towards a South African description of the narratives of disclosure of young lesbians. Recommendations based on the conclusions of the study’s findings have been presented as well as suggestions for future research.M.Ed. (Educational Psychology

Language reform as language ideology: an examination of Israeli feminist language practice

textThis dissertation, an ethnographic and sociolinguistic case study of Israeli feminist practices, investigates the relationship between language use, language ideology, and the socio-cultural construction of gender and gender identity. Taking the definition of language use presented by McConnell-Ginet (1988) as a guide, I analyze both the linguistic behavior and the metalinguistic discourse of fifteen self-identified Israeli feminists, to determine how ideologies related to language, gender, and philosophies of social change interact with the structural and sociolinguistic facts of Modern Israeli Hebrew (MIH) to shape these women’s intentional and habitual practices of language use. I used the theoretical concepts of “indexicality” (Ochs 1992) and “community of practice” (Holmes and Meyerhoff 1999) to examine how the participants in my study used the linguistic resources in their socio-culture repertoire to negotiate a coherent social identity in both feminist and mainstream Jewish Israeli contexts. To date, most of the literature on feminist language practice has examined these issues in English or other Indo-European language speaking contexts. This dissertation contributes to the discussion on the relationship between language and gender by examining these issues in a Hebrew-speaking context. Hebrew, a root-and-pattern language, has a binary system of gender based noun classification in which agreement is marked on predicates as well as pronouns and adjectives. Thus, avoiding gender pre-specification of animate referents in language use, particularly spoken language, is extremely difficult. Furthermore, the association of cultural gender characteristics with the grammatical categories of MASCULINE and FEMININE, through the processes of iconization and erasure (Gal and Irvine 2000), has more implications for meanings of gendered forms. Feminist Hebrew is distinguished from the contemporary and the prescribed standard uses of Modern Israeli Hebrew in three specific ways: (1) the use of hyper-standardized FEMININE forms for referential and indexical marking of feminine gender in sex-specific contexts, (2) the use of FEMININE forms for ambiguous generic or definite inclusive reference, and (3) the overt double gendering of nominal or predicate forms (the Hebrew equivalent of he/she) in speaking or writing. The dissertation includes a detailed quantitative and qualitative sociolinguistic analysis of my informants’ practices to explain how they used variables from feminist and conventional varieties of MIH to express both referential and social-indexical meaning. I discuss the possible social meanings of inter-speaker and intra-speaker variation. I explore what these meanings can (or cannot) tell us about each woman’s status in the community as well as the overall relationship between language use and the constitutive nature of the Israeli feminist community. Finally, I examine the sociolinguistic strategies employed by two women, an Israeli feminist politician and a Jewish feminist activist married to an Arab man, to explore how they use the full range of their linguistic repertoires to negotiate their identities in specific socio-cultural contexts.Linguistic

Brussels youth: between diversity and adversity: survey of secondary school students in downtown Brussels

Brussels is a city which is highly segmented on both the social as the cultural level. This diversity is also reflected among the youth. In this article we present the results of a survey undertaken among the last year students of the francophone schools of the city of Brussels. The survey, which focusses on life styles, racism and insecurity, confirms the multifaceted character of the Brussels youth. Important sources of diversity and division are social background, ethnic origin and school choice. Our findings attest that the relations amongst young people are built on identities that are rooted in references to socio-economic class and ethnic origin, while their intensity varies with the type of education. The ethnicisation of the young people’s social relations seems to be very widespread. The survey attests to a paradox: racist insults are quite common, and are not only oriented towards ethnic minorities, but at the same time almost everyone supports the dominant antiracist discourse

The end of national models? Integration courses and citizenship trajectories in Europe

Several European countries have recently introduced, or are planning to introduce, citizenship trajectories (voluntary or obligatory inclusion programmes for recent immigrants) or citizen integration tests (tests one should pass to be able to acquire permanent residence or state citizenship). Authors such as Joppke claim that this is an articulation of a more general shift towards the logic of assimilation (and away from a multicultural agenda) in integration policy paradigms of European states. Integration policies would even be converging in such a fashion that it would no longer make sense to think in terms of national models for immigrant integration. The empirical fact of diffusion of civic integration policies throughout Europe cannot be denied. This paper claims that there is, however, still sufficient distinctiveness between immigrant integration policies in order to continue and use an analytical framework that distinguishes national models

Examens et professionnalisation

Les examens furent introduits dans le système éducatif anglais au milieu du XIXe siècle comme un moyen d’améliorer les niveaux d’enseignement et d’apprentissage, à l’heure où la place des femmes, et en particulier celle des femmes des classes moyennes, était limitée par des considérations sur le rôle et l’attitude qu’elles devaient tenir. Bien que nombre de jeunes femmes ne recevaient aucune formation à proprement parler, l’enseignement apparaissait comme la seule profession à laquelle celles qui devaient gagner leur vie pouvaient aspirer sans perdre leur respectabilité ni compromettre leur féminité. On montre comment l’introduction d’examens au sein des écoles de classe moyenne a, de plusieurs façons, joué un véritable rôle en permettant aux enseignantes de mener des carrières professionnelles souvent gratifiantes.Examinations were introduced into the English education system in the middle of the nineteenth century as an educational expedient to improve standards of teaching and learning, at a time when the position of women, particularly middle-class women, was constrained by considerations of appropriate roles and behaviour. Although many young women had received no formal training, teaching was seen as the one occupation that those required to earn their own living might follow, without either losing respectability or compromising their femininity. The article argues that, in three distinct ways, the introduction of examinations within middle class schools played a positive role in opening the way for female teachers to develop professional, and often prominent, careers.Examina wurden im englischen Bildungssystem um die Mitte des 19. Jahrhunderts eingeführt. Sie sollten als ein Mittel dienen, das Niveau von Lehrenden und Lernenden zu verbessern in einer Zeit, in der vor allem in den Mittelschichten die Stellung der Frauen sich ganz an Überlegungen über ihre gesellschaftliche Rolle orientierte. Obwohl zahlreiche junge Frauen keinerlei Ausbildung im eigentlichen Sinne erhielten, stellte sich der Lehrerstand als die einzige Berufsperspektive dar, die Frauen, die darauf angewiesen waren, ihren Lebensunterhalt zu verdienen, anstreben konnten, ohne befürchten zu müssen, ihren gesellschaftlichen Ruf einzubüßen oder ihre Weiblichkeit zu verletzen. Es wird gezeigt, dass die Einführung von Prüfungen in den Schulen der Mittelschicht in mehrerer Hinsicht eine bedeutende Rolle gespielt hat, indem sie es den Frauen ermöglichte, ein oft erfüllendes Berufsleben zu führen

Responses of two Sericoda Kirby, 1837 (Coleoptera: Carabidae) species to forest harvesting, wildfire, and burn severity

Forest fires are among the most important natural disturbances in the boreal region, but fire-initiated succession is increasingly often interrupted by salvage logging, i.e., post-fire removal of burned trees. Unfortunately, very little is known about the ecological effects of this practice. To address this knowledge gap and to examine other factors affecting the abundance of two fire-associated carabid species (Sericoda quadripuntata and S. bembidioides) we conducted three field studies based on pitfall trapping in recent burns in Alberta, Canada. The results suggest that the abundance of both species drastically decreased from the first to the third post-fire year and that fire severity was positively associated with abundance of both species. The combined effects of wildfire and forest harvesting were associated with higher catches of S. quadripunctata, but lower catches of S. bembidioides. We discuss these findings in the contexts of salvage logging and species ecology

Les jeunes Bruxellois, entre diversité et adversité

Bruxelles est une ville fortement segmentée socialement et culturellement. Cette diversité se retrouve particulièrement au niveau de sa jeunesse. Cet article propose l’analyse d’une enquête par questionnaire réalisée auprès de rhétoriciens des écoles francophones de la Ville de Bruxelles, de toutes les formes d’enseignement, portant sur les styles de vie, le racisme et l’insécurité. Les résultats confirment la pluralité de la jeunesse. Trois variables essentielles semblent différencier les « jeunesses bruxelloises » : l’origine sociale, l’origine ethnique et l’orientation scolaire. Les résultats attestent que les relations entre les jeunes se construisent sur des bases identitaires s’ancrant dans la référence à l’appartenance sociale et à l’origine ethnique mais dont l’intensité est variable selon la forme de l’enseignement. L’ethnicisation des rapports sociaux parmi les jeunes paraît très présente. L’enquête révèle un paradoxe : les expressions xénophobes, qui ne visent pas que les personnes d’origine étrangère, sont nombreuses dans les modes de désignation d’autrui alors même que l’adhésion au discours antiraciste semble dominante.Brussel is een sociaal en cultureel sterk gesegmenteerde stad. Die diversiteit weerspiegelt zich ook bij de jongeren. In dit artikel presenteren wij de resultaten van een schriftelijke bevraging bij de laatstejaars van de Franstalige scholen van de stad Brussel, aangaande levensstijlen, racisme en onveiligheid. Uit het onderzoek blijkt dat de Brusselse jeugd intern sterk verdeeld is naar sociale herkomst, etnische origine en schoolkeuze. Onderlinge verhoudingen zijn vaak identiteitsgeladen, waarbij sociale herkomst en etnische origine een belangrijke rol spelen. De intensiteit van identitaire spanningen is echter minder uitgesproken in het algemeen vormend onderwijs dan in het technisch en beroepsonderwijs. De etnicisering van sociale verhoudingen - het benadrukken van etnische verschillen, ten koste van gelijkenissen en verschillen op andere vlakken - lijkt onder de jongeren sterk aanwezig te zijn. Het onderzoek wijst ook op een paradox: racistische uitlatingen, die overigens niet alleen allochtonen als doelwit hebben, zijn wijdverspreid, terwijl zowat iedereen tegelijkertijd het dominante antiracistische discours onderschrijft.Brussels is a city which is highly segmented on both the social as the cultural level. This diversity is also reflected among the youth. In this article we present the results of a survey undertaken among the last year students of the francophone schools of the city of Brussels. The survey, which focusses on life styles, racism and insecurity, confirms the multifaceted character of the Brussels youth. Important sources of diversity and division are social background, ethnic origin and school choice. Our findings attest that the relations amongst young people are built on identities that are rooted in references to socio-economic class and ethnic origin, while their intensity varies with the type of education. The ethnicisation of the young people’s social relations seems to be very widespread. The survey attests to a paradox: racist insults are quite common, and are not only oriented towards ethnic minorities, but at the same time almost everyone supports the dominant antiracist discourse

Les jeunes Bruxellois, entre diversité et adversité: enquête parmi les rhétoriciens des écoles de la Ville de Bruxelles

Bruxelles est une ville fortement segmentée socialement et culturellement. Cette diversité se retrouve particulièrement au niveau de sa jeunesse. Cet article propose l'analyse d'une enquête par questionnaire réalisée auprès de rhétoriciens des écoles francophones de la Ville de Bruxelles, de toutes les formes d'enseignement, portant sur les styles de vie, le racisme et l'insécurité. Les résultats confirment la pluralité de la jeunesse. Trois variables essentielles semblent différencier les "jeunesses bruxelloises": l'origine sociale, l'origine ethnique et l'orientation scolaire. Les résultats attestent que les relations entre les jeunes se construisent sur des bases identitaires s'ancrant dans la référence à l'appartenance sociale et à l'origine ethnique mais dont l'intensité est variable selon la forme de l'enseignement. L'ethnicisation des rapports sociaux parmi les jeunes paraît très présente. L'enquête révèle un paradoxe: les expressions xénophobes, qui ne visent pas que les personnes d'origine étrangère, sont nombreuses dans les modes de désignation d'autrui alors même que l'adhésion au discours antiraciste semble dominante