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published_or_final_version / English / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

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This thesis analyses the importance of race for the construction of nation and ethnicity in the Dominican Republic, a situation in which racial ancestry and spatial proximity to Haiti are paramount. Firstly, racial legacies are of primary importance among a Dominican population where cultural, linguistic and religious differences are limited. Racial differences are manipulated through the unequal standing and significance given to European, African and indigenous ancestries. European and indigenous heritages in the Dominican Republic have been celebrated at the expense of an African past. Secondly, Dominican identity is constructed vis-à-vis Haiti, most notably with respect to race and nation, and through the ancillary variables of religion and language. The importance of the Dominican Republic's shared insularity and shared history with Haiti is stressed throughout the study, though a racially-constructed fault-line has arisen from this territorial and historical association. In general terms, social geographers would describe the Dominican population as mulato/a. Dominicans, however, describe race with a plethora of colour-coded terms, ranging from coffee, chocolate, cinnamon and wheat, to the adoption of lo indio, a device which avoids using mulato/a or negro/a. The term indio/a is a key component of Dominican racial perception. It translates as 'indian', a much-used reference to the island's indigenous inhabitants before the arrival of Columbus in 1492. Negritud is associated in popular Dominican opinion with the Haitian population. Dominicanidad, on the other hand, represents a celebration of whiteness, Hispanic heritage and Catholicism. The analysis of secondary material is contextualised throughout the thesis by the results of field work undertaken during twelve months of research in the Dominican Republic, consisting of two visits between 1994 and 1995. Semi-informal interviewing of three hundred residents in three study sites focused on the issues of anti-Haitian sentiment and the bias towards a light aesthetic in Dominican society. Two survey sites were urban neighbourhoods of lower and upper-middle class status in the capital city of Santo Domingo, and the other was an area of rural settlement named Zambrana. Interviews were structured around a mixed fixed and open response survey. The first chapter introduces the outline of research and the location of survey sites. Chapter two analyses the historical basis of race in the Dominican Republic, examined in the context of relations with Haiti. The development of Dominican society from the colonial period is outlined, and the influence of anti-Haitian sentiment and the use of indio/a as an ambiguous racial term discussed with reference to contemporary opinion. The third chapter opens up the analysis of social differentiation in the Dominican Republic by considering the role of class stratification and its implication for racial identification. The development of social classes is described and the impact of race and class studied in the three survey sites. The fourth chapter addresses the role of race in popular culture, with a specific focus on the household. Racial terminology is frequently used in combination with the presuppositions inherent in a patriarchal culture. Women's roles are reviewed with particular reference to household structure, occupation and the gendered nature of race under patriarchal norms. The domestic or private sphere is a key site for the expression of patriarchy, but it is also the location for the practice of Afro-syncretic religious beliefs, which themselves are racialised and gendered. Aspects of race in everyday lives, thus, are inherently gendered, domesticated and sanctified. Chapter five expands the analysis of race to include the influence of international migration on Dominican racial identification. The Dominican Republic is a transnational society which relies on migrant remittances and commerce, in particular from the migration of Dominicans to the United States. International migration has dramatically shaped Dominican society over the last three decades. The chapter considers the effect of this two-way flow of people, capital and culture on Dominican perceptions of race. Despite the influence of transnationalism on most aspects of Dominican society, the impact of United States' race relations on migrant and non-migrant racial identity has been limited. The last two substantive chapters focus upon the specific aspects of race and nation as revealed through contemporary Dominican literature and politics. The sixth chapter reviews the importance of negritud in contemporary literature, and argues that many modern writers maintain idealised and misleading perceptions of the racial reality. Chapter seven concentrates on the impact of race during the Dominican elections in 1994 and 1996. Overt racial prejudice marked the campaigns of leading political parties, and the alleged Haitian 'threat' to Dominican sovereignty became a dominant item on the election agenda. Finally, the concluding chapter outlines existing theories of race and ethnicity, analysing their applicability to the Dominican situation and suggesting alternative viewpoints in the light of the current research. It is suggested that the promotion of a popular democratic ideology of multiculturalism could provide the basis for effective anti-racist policy in the Dominican Republic.

This essay is written with a background of interest in diversity in Swedish schools. One purpose of the study was to highlight teachers’ positions on the matter of diversity to better understand the term in their working life. The purpose was also to begin to outline the discourse on diversity that the teachers expressed verbally. A study of the Swedish school agency, Skolverket, was carried out to describe their representations of the term. Semi-structured qualitative interviews with four teachers were carried out to gather reflections and attitudes. The teachers worked at various secondary level schools with students aged 13-16. Empiric evidence was supported with sociocultural theory, postcolonial theory and dissertations from Swedish researchers. Discourse theory served as a basis for analysis. Polarizing views on the term diversity was presented as a result. The Swedish school agency emphasized its importance, while not adequately defining the word. Some interviewed teachers showed conflicting views on the word and were generally unsure about the definition. The essay lead to a number of conclusions, including a focus on the ethnic part of diversity and negative responses from the teachers. Several signs of the discourse on diversity were outlined.

The relationship between parenting and children's reports of ethnic identity was examined among 98 immigrant Chinese families in Canada. Children (average age = 12 years old, 57% girls) reported on their parents' parenting practices (i.e., warmth and inductive reasoning) and their feelings of ethnic identity. Mothers and fathers completed measures assessing their parenting cognitions (i.e., authority role beliefs, relational childrearing goals, and parenting self-efficacy). Higher levels of warmth and reasoning by mothers were associated with stronger feelings of ethnic identity among children. The results for fathers were more qualified. Fathers' warmth was related to stronger ethnic identity, but only among boys, and fathers' reasoning predicted stronger ethnic identity, but only among 1* generation children. In contrast to parenting practices, there were few relations between parenting cognitions and children's ethnic identity. Only mothers' authority beliefs were associated with reports of ethnic identity, and this was true only among first generation children. The findings are discussed in the context of culturally emphasized roles and relationships, differences in the cultural experiences of children who immigrate at younger versus older ages, and the importance of parenting relative to other factors that promote feelings of ethnic identity.

Recent changes in marital and extramarital fertility according to ethnicity in Kazakhstan Saule Dyussupova Abstract Contemporary Kazakhstan has experienced different social and political changes since being an independent country. These changes influenced demographic processes such as fertility. The number of live births per one woman has altered, but what were the changes among ethnicities and what type of fertility has changed more: marital or extramarital? To answer these questions more sizable ethnicities in Kazakhstan, which are Kazakhs, Russians, Ukrainians and Uzbeks were chosen. After examining the trends for the above mentioned ethnicities, their demographic positions in marital and extramarital fertility were explained. Meanwhile, despite the fact that the social-cultural attitudes of each ethnicity differ from each other, the tendency in marital fertility was going up among all ethnicities and in case of extramarital fertility, mostly among non and mixed traditional ethnicities was going down. Thus, based on the results of the research, the author has concluded the following: after the stabilization of economic and political conditions in the country the number of marital births increased, whereas traditional ethnicity (Uzbek) has experienced the fastest increase in the proportion of extramarital...

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / Multi-paradigmatically qualitative, and largely in the fashion of the critical theory, this study seeks to explore how a selection of Kenyans construct, manipulate and negotiate ethnic categories in a discussion of national politics on two Facebook sites over a period of fourteen and a half months, at the time of the 2013 national elections. Kenya has at least 42 ethnic communities, and has been described as a hotbed of ethnic polarisation. The study is interested in how the participants use language to position themselves and others in relation to ethnicity, as well as to draw on or make reference to notions of Kenyan nationalism. The data for this study is drawn from Facebook discussions on two different groups: one ‘open’ and one ‘closed’. The data also includes participants from different ethnic groups and political leanings. Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), Engagement and Face-work are used as theoretical frameworks to explore how participants draw on different discourses to construct their ethnicities and position themselves as Kenyan nationals. The analysis also explores how informants expand and contract the dialogic space, as well as how they perform face-work during these interactions. CDA is important since the study examines ways in which participants participate in societal struggles through discourse, as either effectively supporting, sustaining, reproducing or challenging the status quo or power imbalances, especially as members of particular ethnic groups. The theory of Engagement is also important for the study since it helps explain how participants source their value positions and align each other as they open up or close down the dialogic space in their arguments or discussions. The notion of Face-work is used as an important complement to Engagement to further explore the nature of interaction between participants. The data has been analysed in two main ways: linguistically and thematically. The linguistic analysis generally reveals that the participants in the closed group paid much more attention to face-work, and used both expansive and contractive resources of Engagement almost in equal measure, while their open group counterparts tended more towards contractive resources and paid less attention to face-work. The interactions of both groups, however, point to the existing ethno-political mobilisation and polarisation in the country. The study also teases out several extra discursive strategies which it proposes for consideration as possible add-ons to the Engagement framework. Lastly, the thematic analysis reveals new important ways through which participants conceive ethnicity, especially as constituting interethnic relations.