Conceptualization and Construction of a People: Enacted Macedonianness in Australia

Contemporary literature widely agrees that the emic quality of distinctness of a people, in the form of a nation and/or ethnicity, is socially constructed as oppose to the descent essentialist approach rendering belonging to a people as an “immovable fact”. Nevertheless, despite the said agreement, there is paucity in literature exploring the ways in which the emic quality of distinctness of a people is constructed. The proponents of the performance/practice theory of ethnicity/ nation[alism] (Bentley 1987, 1991, Eriksen 1991, 1992, Dunn 2005, 2009) find that performance/practice is at the core of ethno-distinct collective formation. Inquiring into the dynamics of feeling and identifying as Macedonian in Australia, this paper presents the findings from the Australia-wide study conducted on ethno-Macedonians during 2006-2008. During this period five focus groups were conducted with a total number of 38 (N=38) participants and 817 (N=817) ethno-Macedonians were surveyed. The findings provided support and a further empirical ground for the proponents of the performance/practice theory of ethnicity/ nation[alism] by identifying six performance ethno-identity attributes (communal activity, Macedonian cuisine, Macedonian music, Macedonian Orthodoxy, Macedonian language, and respect and following of Macedonian traditions) and three non-performance (history, place of birth, and ancestry) of core relevance to Macedonianness in Australia. The findings also indicated that the affective and symbolic differentiation of material culture and performance as Macedonian has its roots in the shared habitus by ethno-Macedonians in Australia

Local engagements, transcultural belonging : the lived experiences of second-generation Hungarian Australian adults through the formation of a simultaneous self

This paper draws on semi-structured, in-depth interviews with second generation Hungarian Australian adults (aged 50 years and above) from Sydney, exploring and introducing the concept of a simultaneous self. The simultaneous self refers to both the tacit and intentional processes of identity construction as well as the meaning making practices the research participants have used to understand their diverse experiences and memberships across both Hungarian and non-Hungarian communities in Sydney. The paper argues that the research participants have formed a transcultural belonging through constructing this sense of self. In doing so, the paper will identify and analyse the factors which have informed these simultaneous self-identifications, including personal experiences of cultural diversity, level of Hungarian language competency, and active engagements with the Sydney Hungarian community. This paper will contribute to the transcultural critical and analytical perspective, by introducing the simultaneous self as a workable concept which illuminates the reflexive articulation processes and (re)construction practices involved in the research participants’ transcultural belonging overtime. In doing so, it will further emphasise the importance of their everyday, local experiences within their perceptions of belonging and formations of self

Identity, health and health capital : the case of Macedonians in Australia

A significant volume of academic literature explores the relations between overt ethnic violence and health; however, the relations between symbolic ethno-violence and health appear to have been overlooked by the research community. Symbolic ethno-violence, that is, the covert violence directed at a people exerted by the means of ‘[imposing] meanings ... as legitimate by concealing the power relations which are the basis of its force’ (Bourdieu and Passeron 2000 [1977]: 4), can seriously impact upon ethnocultural health attitudes amongst victim ethno-cultural communities and their ethno-specific health capital accumulation practices. The symbolic ethno-violence perpetrated against Macedonians in Australia, i.e., the non-recognition of their ethno and civic identity, has the potential to affect community health attitudes and the people’s ethno-specific health accumulation practices. More specifically, it affects them in a non-uniform manner: some have doxic experiences of health; others, who may be more reflexive, persevere with their traditional healing practices in conventional or complementary ways. While symbolic ethno-violence affects the social environment for health, Macedonians utilise their ethno-cultural capital (spiritual healing, traditional medicine, familial security, and belief in ‘God’s foreknowledge’) to maximise their health capital accumulation, rendering them proponents of a ‘people centred’ approach to health. Five focus group sessions (Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Port Kembla, and Queanbeyan), Australia-wide survey of ethno-Macedonians (N=817), and document analysis were performed to arrive at these findings. Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of fields and capital was employed: the absence of any general theoretical approach to accounting for the multiplex developments in the field of health viv-a-vis symbolic ethnoviolence against a people was noted. Bourdieu’s contribution proved useful for interpreting the tensions within the field of health (neo-liberal undertones of commercialisation of the field) and the dynamics within the ethnocultural field (the Macedonian people’s quest for showcasing Macedonian ethno and civic culture as ‘modern’, in a bid to overcome the stigmatisation of ‘primitive’). Further development in the realm of health capital (objectified, embodied and equity), which accounts for the individual ethno-cultural capital informed agency within an ethnocultural field, will also inform ethno-specific health capital accumulation practices

Embodied 'ethnicity' and informal sanctioning mechanisms : sanctioning of embodied Macedonianness in Australia

Over two decades ago, G. Carter Bentley recognised the fact that up until that time, not one of the discussions on ethno-identity had explained ‘how people come to recognise their commonalities in the first place’; that is, how ‘symbolic construal of sensations of likeness and difference’ (Bentley, 1987: 27) may be accounted for. Building on Bourdieu’s Theory of Practice (formulated in Broudieu’s Outline of a Theory of Practice (1977)), Bentley developed an approach which came to be known as the Practice Theory of Ethnicity. The proponents of this approach (Bentley 1987, 1991; Eriksen 1991, 1992, 1993; Dunn 2005, 2009) have performance (practice) at the core of the construction of collective ethno-identities in common. A recent study by Veljanova (2010), which investigated how the emic quality of Macedonianness developed in Australia, indicated the strong relevance of the practice (performance) theory of ethnicity. As Veljanova suggests, ‘practice is considered at the core of Macedonianness in Australia; in other words, it is an enacted Macedonianness’ (2010: 78). It may be argued that a long-standing challenge to the distinctness of anything imagined as ethno-Macedonian, that is, the substance of enacted and imagined Macedonian-ness, when internalised, poses a threat to a people’s collective existence; as a result, tacit and strategic ‘defensive’ mechanisms are developed and redeveloped. Drawing on the results of Veljanova’s study (Veljanova, 2006-2010), this paper focuses upon (1) whether the survey respondents (N=764 valid survey responses) believed (or did not believe) in functional informal sanctioning mechanisms; and, (2) the informal sanctioning mechanisms that operate within the Macedonian ethno-community in Australia in the ‘service’ of ethno-cultural continuity. Apropos of the former (1), the study indicated that out of 764 valid survey responses, 36.1% of interviewees believe in their existence, 30.8% do not believe in their existence, and 32.7% are undecided. As regards the latter (2), drawing on the findings of the study, and with particular focus on Macedonian cuisine as an embodied Macedonian-ness, the following informal sanctioning mechanisms will be discussed: gossip, ostracism, loss of respect, unwelcomeness and loss of support

From ethno-cultural capital to health capital : ethno-specific health capital accumulation practices amongst Macedonians in Australia

Consistent with the neo-liberal push in the global economy, the field of health has been identified as a profitable industry whereby ‘market demand’ for the ‘commodity of good health’ is constantly increasing. Under market conditions, the commodity of good health has effectively been price-tagged alongside fashion designer clothing with consequences for affordability and ‘purchasing power’. The commodification of health has been widely criticised by proponents of a ‘people-centred’ approach, which assumes that people are knowledgeable agents, that people can source strategies for health capital accumulation, and that the sourcing of those strategies is not an exclusive role of ‘medical experts’. Invoking Bourdieu’s field theory, within ethnocultural fields, individual agency is informed by individuals’ ethnocultural capital: ethnocultural capital also informs ethno-specific health capital accumulation practices. Overall, this paper will explore the degree of popularity of the ‘people-centred’ health approach amongst Macedonians in Australia. In particular, it will focus on the research findings of a national survey conducted in 2007/2008 in the interests of exploring the attitudes of Macedonians in Australia regarding Macedonian-specific health capital accumulation practices such as spiritual healing, traditional medicine, familial security, building social networks, and ‘God’s foreknowledge’. The findings of the national survey on Macedonians in Australia suggest the significant popularity of a ‘people-centred’ health approach amongst them. In addition, the findings indicate the existence of varied attitudes towards Macedonian-specific health accumulation practices

Perception, Meaning and Identity

This eBook contains a selection of papers presented at the Third Global Conference of Interculturalism, Meaning and Identity held in Salzburg, Austria, between the 10th and 12th of November 2009. The conference, which was part of The Diversity and Recognition Project by the global network for dynamic research and publishing Inter-Disciplinary.Net, facilitated a multidisciplinary dialogue between authors within and beyond Academe. Each of the participating authors provided a constructive contribution towards advancing the dialogue on interculturalism, meaning and identity. From discussions on intercultural space in multicultural environments, critical assessments of the other, discussions on collective identity constructions and projections and fragmented identities to discussions on mediation of intercultural challenges, this volume addresses a plethora of sub-themes that are inextricably related to the main conference theme

Lifestyle science : self-healing, co-production and DIY

Editoria

Raising awareness, improving victim safety : exploring the efficacy of proactive domestic and family violence prevention measures

Domestic and family violence (DFV) remains an issue of major concern for contemporary societies. DFV has been a focus of academic, political and social discourse since the initial contribution of feminist researchers, academics and activists, such as Erin Pizzey (1974, 1975), Carol Smart (1976) and Dobash and Dobash (1979), who raised the profile of DFV during the 1970s. However, DFV is now recognised as a heterogeneous social problem in which both women and men are victims (Hamel, 2005; Archer, 2006; Graham-Devan & Archer, 2008; Ireland & Birch, 2013). Preventing DFV has been at the forefront of international efforts led by global agencies such as the United Nation’s World Health Organization (WHO), as well as national governments and local police forces. This chapter therefore, adopts a gender and sexuality inclusive approach in order to examine DFV prevention approaches with a focus on proactive measures. The chapter first contexualises the problem of DFV before exploring a range of DFV proactive prevention measures, including new and innovative techniques such as infotainment. This chapter advocates that proactive prevention can be used to not only extend the practice of victim safety, but to act as an early intervention strategy through raising awareness of this form of violence