Exploring Ethnicity: Diversity in Language,

Nation, and Identity

Conference

University of Manchester, United Kingdom

School of Arts, Languages and Cultures

April 23-24 2015

Organising Team:

Kathleen Easlick, PhD Candidate in Linguistics (main organiser)

Dr. Viktor Leggio, Post-Doc Researcher in Linguistics

Dr. Ksenija Kolerovic, Russian and East European Studies

Dr. Luke Kelly, History

Alistair Dickins, PhD Candidate in Russian and East European Studies

Leonie Gaiser, MA Student in Linguistics

Conference funded by: ArtsMethods Manchester and Multilingual Manchester

CONFERENCE PROGRAMME

Thursday 23 April Ellen Wilkinson, Room C1.18 9.30-10.00am: ARRIVAL AND REGISTRATION

10.00-10.15: WELCOME

10.15-11.00: KEYNOTE SPEAKER- Dr. Jan Blommaert (Tilburg University) - Identities,

Behavioral Scripts and Realism

11.00-11.15: TEA & COFFEE BREAK

11.15-12.45: PANEL 1- Migrant Identities: Past and Present

Dr. Aleksandra Kazlowska (University of Birmingham) - Social Anchoring of Polish

Immigrants in a Super-Diverse Society

Linda Bäckman (Åbo Akademi University & University of Birmingham) - ‘Your

Finnish is Really Good’ – Identity Assumptions and the Post-Migration Generation

Ayse Ebru Akcasu (SOAS, University of London) - Journeying West: Iranians in

Hamidian Istanbul, 1876-1909

12.45-13.45: LUNCH

13.45-15.15: PANEL 2- Language and Cultural Policies: Impact on Identity

Dr. Anthony Capstick (Lancaster University) - Access and Availability of Literacy in

Pakistan and the UK: Taking a Discourse-Ethnographic Approach to Interdisciplinary

Research on Family Migration

Dr. Yuri Teper (University of Manchester) - The Representation of Crimea Annexation

on Russian TV: Officially Reformulating Russian Nationalism in Ethnic Terms?

Dr. Marcelo Cargano and Dr. Viktoriya Kim (Osaka University) - Out of Print: The

Disappearance of the Brazilian Ethnic Media in Japan

15.15-15.30: TEA AND COFFEE BREAK

15.30-17.00: PANEL 3- Power Relations and Identity (de)Construction

Dr. Reynolds J. Scott-Childress (State University of New York) - Racial Purgatory:

The American Invention of Ethnicity

Ioana-Cristina Hritcu (Babes-Bolyai University of Cluj-Napoca & Paris-Est

University) - The Social Exclusion Discourse as a Source of Political Legitimacy: Jews,

African Immigrants and the Roma - New Realities, Old Moulds?

Rachel Fox (Lancaster University) - What ‘Afghan’ Identity? Female Testimonial in

Zarghuna Kargar’s Dear Zari: Hidden Stories from Women in Afghanistan

19.00 DINNER (OPTIONAL)

Friday 24 April Ellen Wilkinson, Room C1.18

9.30-11.00: PANEL 4 –Minority and Regional Self-Identification

Patrick Sean McCrea (Tulane University) - French Regionalism: Connections to

Language and Identity

Elizabeth Burgess (University of Liverpool) - Navigating Valencian Identities in San

Vicente del Raspeig

Antonio Montañés (Complutense University of Madrid) - Gitano Minority in Spain:

Racism and Inter-Ethnic Relationships

11.00-11.15 TEA & COFFEE BREAK

11.15-13.15 WORKSHOP

Dr. Viktor Leggio & Leonie Gaiser (University of Manchester) - Analysing

Multilingualism in the Media

13.15-13.30 FAREWELL

BOOK OF ABSTRACTS

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

‘Identities, Behavioral Scripts and Realism’

Dr. Jan Blommaert (Tilburg University)

Identities are often used as a priori categorizations in research, and/or as "variables"

affecting (and thus explaining) social events. The outcomes - this has been noted frequently -

often show little direct connection with the lived experienced of respondents, and the

question addressed in this presentation is: how do we get realistic accounts of identity, in

the sense of accounts that remain close to the experienced realities of social actors. This

question, as we know, was central to the work of symbolic interactionists such as Blumer,

Becker, Cicourel and Goffman. Drawing on some of their fundamental insights as well as on

ongoing research on ethnicity in a superdiverse neighborhood in Belgium, I will propose a

tentative empirical angle on what is known as indexicality, showing how what indexicals

point to is less a "type-token" issue than a "feature-cluster" issue. Identities, in actual

accounts of social practice, often assume the shape of complex behavioral scripts that are

morally evaluated. Such moralized behavioral scripts, I would argue, constitute the

distinctions we make between actors in understanding social situations, and identity,

consequently, empirically emerges as a moral object.

PAPER PRESENTATIONS

Journeying West: Iranians in Hamidian Istanbul, 1876-1909

Ayşe Ebru Akcasu (SOAS, University of London)

This paper discusses the fluidity of nineteenth-century Iranian identities in Ottoman

Istanbul through the prism of state and self-imposed exiles. Over the course of Sultan

Abdülhamit II’s reign (1876-1909), transient Iranian observers estimated their former

compatriots to compose five percent of the imperial city’s population. Since enemies of the

Qajar state frequently chose Istanbul as destination for respite from the Shah’s persecution,

the community’s most high-profile members were political exiles. There stood much,

however, between elites whose names were inked in Sicill-i Osmani and Qajar extradition

orders, and anonymous macun vendors along the Bosporus shores—some Iranians

exhibited impressive careers of upward social mobility, others endured static and decline.

This paper analyzes the relative invisibility of Iranians in primary accounts of late-Ottoman

Istanbul. Contrasting this invisibility with their vestiges in the Ottoman archives, it attempts

to account for the discrepancy between exposure received by Iranians and other resident-

minorities. Finally, it highlights the Hamidian Istanbulite Iranian’s contribution to our

understanding of the late-Ottoman state, its social complexity, and urban life in its imperial

city.

This paper demonstrates through case studies how Iranian exiles living in Istanbul at the

end of the nineteenth century negotiated their identities in an Ottoman setting where the

state was crystalizing its proto-national self-image, and how those expatriates who opted for

Ottoman citizenship simultaneously exhibited commitment to their ethno-cultural-linguistic

and political Iranian identities through manifestations demonstrative of long-distance

nationalism. By virtue of the Iranian exile whose sentiment of belonging was shared

between the homeland and hostland, the paper analyzes the Ottoman state’s notions of

nation and belonging in conjunction with its responses to multiple allegiances at a juncture

when the empire was undergoing dramatic demographical changes due to indigenous

irredentist nationalisms and was consequently redefining its identity in response to adverse

social, political, and economic challenges.

Keywords: Exile, long-distance nationalism, citizenship, Ottoman Istanbul, identity.

‘Your Finnish is Really Good’ – Identity Assumptions and the Post-Migration Generation

Linda Bäckman (Åbo Akademi University & University of Birmingham)

With the introduction of the concept of ‘superdiversity’ (Vertovec 2006), the study of

identity has moved beyond traditional terms and come to focus on the interplay of different

elements of identity that are made relevant in specific contexts. The need to shift gaze from

conventional ‘black and white’ policies, centred on ‘ethnicity’ as the main differentiating

factor, has been voiced as a reaction to the changes in patterns of migration since the early

1990s (see e.g. Kyambi & Sriskandarajah 2005). Nevertheless, in everyday interaction,

concepts such as ‘ethnicity’ still hold considerable power, and seem to embody associations

to a number of other elements of identification, such as language. This paper presents data

from an ongoing study among adults whose parents were migrants to Finland. With a

relatively short history of international migration on a larger scale, Finland may be

considered to be at a point of ‘emerging superdiversity’. The post-migration generation born

in Finland is thus still fairly young. The focus in this paper is on accounts of situations in

which the participants have received compliments for their ‘good Finnish’. While some of

them describe themselves as ‘Finnish’, these accounts include negotiations of identity when

being positioned as ‘foreign’ by well-meaning strangers. This may be related to the

‘ethnolinguistic assumption’, an imagined and much critiqued assumed link between

particular languages and ethnicities. Using narrative analysis and positioning theory to

examine negotiation of identity in the participants’ accounts, this paper hopes to contribute

to the study of language and ethnicity in a contemporary Northern setting.

Keywords: superdiversity, generation, identity, narrative, Finland

Navigating Valencian Identities in San Vicente del Raspeig (Alicante)

Elizabeth Burgess (University of Liverpool)

In 2014, questionnaires were administered to respondents in the town of San Vicente del

Raspeig, in order to collect data about language policy (Spolsky, 2004) and to provide an

assessment of efforts to revitalise Valencian, a variety of Catalan. San Vicente del Raspeig is

located 8km from the city of Alicante and has experienced much growth and outside

influence in the last 60 years. Such developments have had a significant impact on the local

sociolinguistic situation.

An ethnographic approach to fieldwork was adopted enabling themes to emerge from the

data. One such theme was the existence of various identities within the town. Identity can

be ascribed (attributed by others) and inhabited (self-performed) (Blommaert, 2005) and

frequently fieldwork respondents described themselves or others as ‘Castilian’ or ‘Valencian’

reflecting the linguistic experiences of inhabitants. However, identity is a complex social

construct and data revealed that identities in San Vicente del Raspeig are not simply

determined by linguistic practices. Fieldwork comments frequently referenced the

expressions gent del poble (village people) and gent de fora (outsiders). Analysis suggests

that the gent del poble are an exclusive group of Valencian speakers whose identity is based

upon a shared set of essential characteristics: language; history; culture; long association

with the area. In contrast, the gent de fora are those whose families originate from

elsewhere and they tend to be Castilian speakers.

Using fieldwork data it has been possible to construct a graduation of Valencian identities

based upon these core characteristics. Moreover, data analysis has revealed that these

features are actively employed in inclusion and exclusion processes. This paper will

examine the various identities present in San Vicente del Raspeig and discuss a proposed

typology of Valencian identities.

References:

BLOMMAERT, J. 2005. Discourse: a critical introduction, Cambridge, Cambridge University

Press.

SPOLSKY, B. 2004. Language Policy, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

Keywords: Identities, Valencian, Castilian, inclusion, exclusion

Access and Availability of Literacy in Pakistan and the UK: Taking a Discourse-

Ethnographic Approach to Interdisciplinary Research on Family Migration

Dr. Tony Capstick (Lancaster University)

This paper is based on the findings from a four-year study of Mirpuri migration from

Pakistan (Azad Kashmir) to the UK (Lancashire) as seen through the lens of New Literacy

Studies combined with the Discourse Historical Approach in Critical Discourse Studies

(Wodak 2008). By taking this approach I see literacy as social practice, applied in different

contexts to meet different purposes, in this case, the purposes of migration. This focus meant

exploring many different activities involving reading and writing in the everyday lives of

multilingual family members in Pakistan and the UK and relating these to those individuals’

migrations. I did this by taking the discourse-ethnographic approach developed by

Krzyzanowski (2011) in his work on the institutional context of the European Union and

adding to this the analysis of data collected in non-institutional settings such as Facebook.

By looking at access to and availability of literacy (Kalman 2005) in Mirpur and Lancashire

for Mirpuris, I was able to establish a theoretical link between the sponsorship of literacy by

the state and literacy mediation in the reciprocal relations of kinship networks,

demonstrated in the literacy practices of migration. The paper explores the interdisciplinary

approach I took and includes excerpts from the empirical data in my study.

Keywords: multilingual literacies, migration, Pakistan, ethnography.

Out of Print: The Disappearance of the Brazilian Ethnic Media in Japan

Dr. Marcelo Cargano & Dr, Viktoriya Kim (Osaka University)

Japan has been facing various demographic issues, such as declining birth-rates, population

aging and labour force shortages. One initiative to alleviate these issues was granting

overseas-born ethnic Japanese (nikkeijin) long term visas without any working restrictions,

the assumption being that nikkeijin would integrate better into Japanese society and would

not harm the Japanese population’s homogeneity. As many as 300,000 Brazilians were living

in Japan. However, the supposed integration has failed to materialise.

This paper aims to examine how the Brazilian community in Japan was affected by the

demise of its ethnic newspapers. Past research indicates that those newspapers reduced

Brazilians’ financial and psychological costs of migration. This paper’s research questions

are: 1) have Brazilians immigrants been able to overcome the lack of newspapers in

Portuguese? 2) Does having access to other forms of support help those immigrants to better

compensate for the lack of newspapers? To answer these questions, the authors conducted

research between 2011 and 2013 in the cities of Sakai (with a smaller Brazilian community

and little institutional support) and Nagoya (with a larger Brazilian community and ample

institutional support). The study was conducted in two steps: one questionnaire survey of

157 people and in-depth interview with 20 of them.

Despite having many information sources, Brazilians face difficulty obtaining local

information about Japan and their community. The results also suggest that having more

support from local government services is key to help those migrants overcome the lack of

ethnic newspapers. Yet, structural factors (the low educational background of the Brazilians

in Japan, their work-centred lifestyle) still diminish support systems’ efficacy in helping this

group.

Keywords: Brazilians in Japan; ethnic media; migration networks; integration policies; social

capital

What ‘Afghan’ Identity? Female Testimonial in Zarghuna Kargar’s Dear Zari: Hidden

Stories from Women in Afghanistan

Rachel Fox (University of Lancaster)

There is no one single Afghan identity, nor a single Afghan (or Muslim) female identity.

With at least fourteen ethnic groups, Afghanistan’s national identity is constituted out of a

variety of diverse geographical, linguistic, religious, and cultural praxes. However, in the

aftermath of September 11, 2001, as Corinne Fowler makes note in her monograph, Chasing

Tales (2007), Afghan women’s identities were, quite literally, ‘shrouded’ by the media,

becoming nothing more than a shapeless burqa-clad figure. This facile and monolithic

reduction of the veiled Afghan woman by the media, and in political discourse, showed

nothing of the complexities of Afghan intra-national ethnic identities, nor the nuances of

these women’s personal and individual lives. As is further exemplified by the title of Steve

McCurry’s photograph, “Afghan Girl,” women in Afghanistan were provided by the media

with a single monolithic national identity; an icon, not a named individual.

In this paper I will examine the ways through which Afghan women were conceived by the

media following September 11, 2001 and will go on to assess the testimonials presented in

Zarghuna Kargar’s Dear Zari (2012) in order to avail the personal complexities and

experiences – ethnic, religious, familial – that constitute the identities of individual Afghan

women. By considering these narratives, which resemble the genre of testimonial, I argue

that these transcribed oral digressions enter into a dialogue with the monolithic

categorisations produced in media discourses. With some consideration of the translation

and reception politics involved in the delivery of these stories I examine the ways in which

these women’s testimonials serve to conceive a multi-faceted Afghan female national

identity or, perhaps, reject it altogether.

Keywords: Afghanistan, Female Identities, Ethnic Identities, Testimonio, Zarghuna Kargar

The Social Exclusion Discourse as Source of Political Legitimacy: Jews, African

Immigrants and the Roma - New Realities, Old Moulds?

Ioana Cristina Hritcu [Rus] (Babes-Bolyai University & Paris-Est University)

Since the turn of the century, a multitude of intricate mechanical and strategic factors have

brought about a violent return of security and identity-related issues to the heart of the

political debate, with ethno-populist discourses - framing immigrants and minorities as the

major cause of all national malfunctions - flourishing on both sides of the political

continuum.

Indeed, and surprisingly enough, this type of discourse is no longer restricted to right-wing

parties, as it was the case in the past: it now contaminates the left-wing as well, thus causing

the erasure of the traditional left/right divide.

If the importance granted to security and identity-related issues (mainly to immigration) is

now frequently covered in literature, it must be said that this phenomenon is not new.

Our paper will look into the historical and political dimensions of social exclusion and into

the way in which alterity has been perceived in France since the Revolution. After

reminding the major events that have determined the switch from open to close nationalism,

we will focus on the way in which social exclusion is constructed through discourse in the

case of Jews, African immigrants and the Roma.

The purpose of our presentation is to show that, in spite of the significant differences that

exist among the three groups in terms of social status, education, integration extent or

economic "usefulness", the political discursive strategy remains the same. This will further

allow us to prove that, for as long as this strategy will be rewarding in terms of votes, there

will always be a scapegoat to target.

Keywords: Identity, security, immigrants, scapegoats, political discourse

Social Anchoring of Polish Immigrants in a Super-Diverse Society

Dr. Aleksandra Kazlowska (University of Birmingham)

The paper focuses on the emergent concept of social anchoring and ways it is being

developed both theoretically and empirically. The concept represents a new approach to

analysing the notions of identity and social integration in contemporary increasingly super-

diverse and “fluid” societies.

The concept of social anchoring links the issues of identity, adaptation and integration. It

provides opportunity for overcoming ambiguities and difficulties related to the problematic

concepts of identity and integration, including their powerful influence.

The concept of anchoring focuses on the role of identity for adaptation and manners in

which migrants establish essential footholds in their lives in a complex and changeable

society. The development of this theoretical and methodological approach enables also

identification of the source(s) of socio-psychological stability of individuals in the context of

societal integration.

The concept of social anchoring is based on grounded theory and is being built through

alternate stages of theory building and field research. The inclusion of participant

perspective and the employment of a reflective approach are important parts of the

proposed approach. The concept is being developed through research with Polish

immigrants in the UK. The paper thus also analyses the examples of anchoring encountered

among Polish migrants in the UK.

Keywords: Superdiversity, Polish immigrants, ethnicity, social anchoring, adaptation

French Regionalism: Connections to Language and Identity

Patrick Seán McCrea (Tulane University)

Due to fears that globalization would create homogeneous cultures and a reduction in

languages throughout the world, local reactions, across the globe, have centered on

bolstering and/or further understanding regional and/or local identities and cultures. As

many national languages are linked to a specific territory, regions and localities have turned

to their territorial language(s) to express or to reinforce their culture and define its

uniqueness. Even in France, a highly centralized state, numerous regions have developed

social movements in an effort to try and preserve (or create) their regional identities. Before

widespread migration and globalization, the components of French identity were widely

known and accepted in France, while regional identity was neither truly defined nor

considered administratively important since “minorities” or groups have not been

recognized under French law since 1789. As a result, both French national identity and

regional identity are in debate within French society. Since identity, both national and

regional/local, in France has been defined through language since the 1789 French

Revolution, this factor has remained salient. Therefore, in the past few decades, French

regions have tapped into the local language(s) in both concrete and symbolic manners in

efforts to define and strengthen regional and/or local identity. This paper examines the links

between language and identity in France on both a national and a regional level through

French nationalism, or language ideology, and French regionalization. The regional

movements of Picardy and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (Provence) are used as case studies.

Picardy and its language, Picard, are situated in the Langues d’oïl domain of northern

France in close historical proximity to Paris and the French language, while Provence, and

its language, Provençal, are located within the Langue(s) d’oc domain of southern France,

which historically rivaled the French language within the boundaries of present-day France.

Keywords: France, Regions, Regionalization, Nationalism, Ideology, Language, Identity

Gitano Minority in Spain: Racism and Inter-ethnic relationships

Antonio Montañés (Complutense University of Madrid)

Since their arrival on the Iberian Peninsula during the beginning of the 15th century, the

Gitano/Gypsy minority is one of the most relevant “other” ethnicities in Spanish society.

According to the Gitano Secretariat Foundation, between 750,000 and 1,000,000 Spanish

Gitano/Gypsies live in Spain. The ethnic minority’s history in Spanish territory is

characterised by a singular and intense cultural integration, a course of relative ethnic

homogenisation, a sense of having a strong collective identity, and a widespread social

marginalisation. This paper analyses the relationship between the political and economic

frameworks in Spain after it became a democracy, and the context of interethnic

relationships between the Gitano/Gypsies and the majority population and the applicability

and metamorphosis of the sense of collective identity among the Spanish Gypsies in recent

years.

Two axis of analysis will be laid out;

1. In the context of intra-ethnic relationships: The fragmentation and progressive sense

of differentiation of the differentiation of identities among Spanish Gitano/Gypsies derived

from the extensive process of urbanisation and transformations of political, social, and

economic conditions after the 1970’s.

2. In the context of intra-ethnic relationships: The process of mobilisation and collective

action against the Gitano/Gypsies during the 80s and 90s and continuity of a strong sense of

ethnic boundaries during the 21st century.

Keywords: Gitano, Racism, Urbanisation, Collective Identity, Diversity

Racial Purgatory: The American Invention of Ethnicity

Dr. Reynolds J. Scott-Childress (State University of New York at New Paltz)

Americans have developed a ruinous way of thinking about race. We have created a

bifurcated vision of groupness that separates out color and ethnicity as two distinct and

virtually unrelated social formations. This paper argues that this bifurcation has not been an

eternal feature of American society, but was invented at a specific historical moment. The

paper explores how nineteenth-century Americans conceptualized themselves as a race

along the European model: all sorts of groups were deemed to be races with distinct and

immutable mentalities and physiognomies. Americans considered groups as different as the

English, Poles, Ruthenians, Jews, Scythians, Southern Italians, Anglo-Saxons, Caucasians,

and Greeks to be races. But before Americans could develop cultural institutions and social

practices to mark their racial uniqueness, they confronted two severe challenges: the

domestic immigration of free blacks from the Old World of slavery into the New World of

citizenship and the foreign immigration of masses of non-Teutonic peoples. To determine

the racial fitness of these groups, Americans determined a new measure of race: a group’s

biological capacity for “middle classness.” The paper concludes by showing how “color”

and “ethnicity,” far from having parallel histories, were in fact invented as parts of the same

ideological project and how each was essential in the articulation of the other. “Color”—

black, brown, red, yellow—became defined as a distinct, immutable condition that marked a

group’s incapacity for middle classness. Other groups, particularly non-Teutonic peoples

from Southern and Eastern Europe, that might be able to make claims to a biological

possession of middle classness—but did not seem as yet to practice such crucial middle class

values as individual autonomy, thrift, and industriousness—were put in a racial purgatory

between the American race and the “colored” races. It was these groups whom sociologists

and cultural polemicists such as Horace Kallen would come to denote as “ethnicities” in the

1920s.

Keywords: American Race, Colour, Ethnicity, Middle Classness

The Representation of Crimea Annexation on Russian TV: Officially Reformulating

Russian Nationalism in Ethnic Terms?

Dr. Yuri Teper (University of Manchester)

In the period immediately preceding the annexation of Crimea and its aftermath throughout

2014, Russian television presented an unprecedented campaign, explaining the move

predominately in terms of ethnic-Russian nationalism.

Before 2012, Russian nationalism was officially presented in rather vague terms, occasionally

mixing civic, ethnic and cultural concepts. Low- and mid-ranking sources and semi-official

propagandists flirted with ethnic-Russian nationalism, but it was never decisively presented

as the regime's official stance. On the contrary, top officials, and Putin above all, were

careful to avoid describing Russia as an ethnic-Russian nation-state. Although national

government-run TV channels started framing church-based ethnic-Russianness as the main

pillar of Russian nationhood beginning in 2012, it was still done indirectly. The Crimea

annexation and its representation in the official media was an important turning point,

signifying decisive adoption of ethnic-Russianness by officialdom.

In political TV shows, and most importantly, in the words of Vladimir Putin, that were

further disseminated by state-controlled television, the annexation of Crimea was presented

as a move toward the unification of ethnic-Russian nation, based on history, and a necessary

step to save compatriots from the dangers of suppression and even ethnic cleansing by

Ukrainian nationalists. Significantly, in sharp contrast to his previous custom, Vladimir

Putin consistently used ethnic Russian terminology when referring to the subject. Later the

same year, Putin also presented a religious reason, describing Crimea as Russian holy

ground, site of Prince Vladimir's conversion to Orthodox Christianity (Prince Vladimir

baptized the Kievan Rus tribes in the 10th century). Both the ethno-national and the ethno-

religious ideas set the tone for the official media broadcasts.

Accordingly, the Kremlin is either tilting towards a classic ethno-national vision of a Russian

state; or incorporating ethno-national appeal into an otherwise imperialist agenda, in order

to comply with the prevailing pro-ethnic public opinion.

Keywords: Crimea annexation, Russian ethnic nationalism