Search Results (91)

Higher education has long been subject to feminist critique, contesting traditional practices, with calls for transformative pedagogies that empower marginalised students, address social injustices and promote gender equality. Despite this, most classrooms in Western European universities remain largely unchanged, with educators facing the difficulty of imagining and/or enacting decolonial futures within their curricula. However, some progress has been made, particularly the inclusion of transnational scholarship in syllabi and a turn to transformative pedagogies, which allow for alternative ways of interdisciplinary knowing to enter academia. In this paper, we examine this coming together of approaches which promote dialogue and personal reflection to restructure discussions on equality, gender and knowledge production in the ‘classroom’. Using a creative critical account of feminist ethnography conducted at a Western European university, we present and discuss two illustrative vignettes about cultural mapping and critical fabulation, considering how dissonant voices have challenged Western concepts, exemplifying transformative pedagogy working in tandem with transnational thought. Key insights from the study identify approaches for facilitation of more open and richer discussions to reshape staff and student perspectives of gender, equality and knowledge production. Full article

Research on religion and migration has often focused on institutions and belief systems, while overlooking how mediation links migrants, sacred objects, rituals, and religious imaginaries. This study advances mediation as a core analytic in religion–migration studies by examining the practices of ten Thai migrant students in South Korea through semi-structured interviews on Buddhist amulets, Hindu deity pendants, Catholic rosaries, merit-making, and the elevation of sacred objects. Guided by Meyer’s religion-as-mediation framework and Taylor’s concept of the social imaginary, the analysis shows that quotidian, embodied engagements with sacred objects mediate and materialize Thai Buddhist–Animist imaginaries in Korean settings, expanding, transnationalizing, and hybridizing them through encounters with the host environment. These practices not only sustain spiritual continuity, but also generate sacred transnational social spaces that bridge both the ontological divide between the human and the transcendent and the geographical divide between Thailand and Korea. Rather than being preserved through institutional affiliation, migrant religiosity is continually reconstituted through everyday embodied practices of mediation that render the sacred experientially real in the host society. By foregrounding mediation, this study offers a reconceptualization of migrant religion as an embodied, material, and world-making process—one through which migrants actively reimagine and inhabit sacred spaces across borders. Full article

The publication of the Puhui Canon began in 1943, was interrupted in 1955, and was ultimately completed in 1998, spanning three significant historical periods: the Chinese War of Resistance Against Japan, the Chinese Civil War (1945–1949), and the early years of the People’s Republic of China. Its production was shaped by nationalism, Asian Buddhist interactions, warfare, and diplomacy. As the first Chinese Buddhist canon to incorporate Pāli texts, it reflects the legacy of Sino-Sri Lankan Buddhist exchanges since the late Qing dynasty. The Puhui Canon exemplifies a Pan-Asian vision, seeking to bridge Northern (Mahāyāna) and Southern (Theravāda) Buddhist traditions across Asia. Full article

The Catholic Church in Denmark hosts several migrant communities, with the Polish-speaking group among the largest and most visible. Institutionally, Catholic priests from Poland serve as chaplains for migrant congregations, accompanying these mobilities and providing educational practices (e.g., family guidance, biblical teaching). This paper examines how perspectives on Catholic scriptural authority differ between the Church’s institutional representatives and its members, revealing tensions between biblical authority, social accommodation, and family values in a migratory setting. Based on 20 months of fieldwork in a Polish Catholic community in Copenhagen, this paper highlights the dynamic interplay of how Church members assess scriptural authority as evaluative engagement in their transnational lives in the Danish public sphere, illustrated through interconnected ethnographic excerpts. This article illustrates how scriptural engagement offers a productive lens to explore divergent notions of Polish Catholic diasporic life and the tensions between transnational religion, national belonging, and moral navigation. Full article

Intercultural sensitivity is crucial in today’s diverse society, and accurate assessment is key to developing effective intercultural programs in educational institutions and beyond. The Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) is widely used for this purpose, yet its applicability to transnational individuals—those navigating multiple cultural and social systems—remains underexplored. This gap is important to address given the interconnected nature of our global society, where individuals frequently move across borders. To address this issue, this conceptual paper critically examines the underlying assumptions of the IDI regarding culture and identity through three interrelated frameworks: transnationalism, relational ontology, and intersectionality. Drawing on existing literature on these frameworks and the IDI, our analysis highlights how integrating these perspectives into the IDI and, by extension, other intercultural assessment tools can more accurately capture the complex, fluid, and dynamic nature of transnational experiences. This integration also shifts the discourse on intercultural assessment from a focus on individual competence to an emphasis on shared responsibility in fostering equitable, relationally grounded intercultural spaces. Implications for future research and practice are also discussed. Full article

This article focuses on the life writing narratives of diasporic writers in Europe, such as the Italian writer of Somali descent Igiaba Scego, who, through her writing and public role, manages to create powerful interventions on issues of belonging, diversity, and creativity, contributing to a renewed understanding of gender knowledge and cultures of equalities in localized as well as global contexts. This article focuses on her role as a writer as well as a postcolonial intellectual, as she is not just a spokesperson for her community, nor simply a promotor of universal values, but someone who straddles complex positionalities in their location in imperial–colonial orders. We align ourselves with the notion of postcolonial intellectuals as those who speak truth to power on issues of cultural integration and gender equalities). In her autobiographical work titled La mia casa è dove sono, published in 2010, Scego draws a subjective map of different places inhabited by her family: Somalia, Italy, and Great Britain, contributing to the understanding of unbelonging and transnationalism through topics of migration, biculturalism, gender, race, and identity. Full article

The contemporary restructuring of religion and secularism demands a departure from conventional post-secular analyses that remain confined within the epistemic and institutional frameworks of the nation-state. This paper develops the concept of post-secular cosmopolitanization to theorize the dissolution of the secular–religious binary as a regulatory mechanism of power, revealing how religion and secularism are co-constituted through global entanglements that transcend national boundaries. Unlike dominant conceptions of post-secularism, which assumes the continued dominance of secular and national institutions despite religious resurgence, post-secular cosmopolitanization captures the ways in which transnational religious movements, digital religious networks, and global governance structures are reshaping religious authority, secular regulation, and political sovereignty. It is shown that this transformation leads to three major consequences: (1) the erosion of the nation-state’s regulatory monopoly over religious life as alternative religious and transnational actors emerge as influential governance entities; (2) the deterritorialization and fragmentation of religious authority, undermining traditional clerical and institutional hierarchies; and (3) the blurring of religious and secular domains, where global economic, legal, and political structures increasingly integrate religious actors, norms, and ethical frameworks. These developments signal a paradigmatic shift beyond the secularization thesis and dominant conceptions of post-secularism, necessitating a reconsideration of how power, governance, and religious authority function in a world no longer structured by the nation-state’s exclusive claim to sovereignty. By analyzing these entanglements, this paper provides a theoretical framework to understand the reconfiguration of global secular and religious orders, challenging entrenched assumptions about the trajectory of modernity. Full article

In this article, we discuss the results of two ethnographic case studies on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on a Sunni Muslim DITIB mosque community and an Indian Hindu temple community in Hesse, Germany, conducted in the context of the ReCoVirA research project. The two cases were selected to represent established and less established religious communities. We connect our research to the RSST-Approach to understand the proactive aspect of religious communities and the concept of the refiguration of religion to describe the impacts of the shift to the digital during the pandemic on religious communities. Cultural regrouping emerges as a framework for understanding the changes to the observed socio-religious milieu and diaspora communities during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Full article

Previous researchers developed a comprehensive typology for categorizing social entrepreneurship; however, their framework does not fully address some emerging forms. This paper offers a critical addition to their model by introducing the “transnational pragmatist”, a type of social entrepreneur with a grassroots background who creates a community-centric social enterprise in a foreign context. Through insights gained from interviews with social entrepreneurs, this paper identifies and defines the transnational pragmatist as a distinct category that fills a significant gap in Abebe’s framework. Our contribution broadens the typology to better capture smaller for-profit and nonprofit ventures operating transnationally, enhancing the model’s relevance for international social entrepreneurs from humble origins. Full article

This article for the first time examines the activities of transnational information campaigns initiated by young Shiʿa Muslims across European, Russian, and Armenian cities. These campaigns aim to disseminate knowledge about Imam Hussain and his mission to non-Shiʿa audiences. The campaigns serve as vivid examples of the struggles faced by Muslims in relatively hostile contexts as they seek integration and acceptance as law-abiding and peaceful citizens. They also represent new avenues of Islamic activism, focusing on dismantling stereotypes and correcting “misunderstandings” within host societies. Drawing on semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and an analysis of campaign handouts and social media content between 2018 and 2024, this study explores how campaigners adapt the narrative of the Karbala tragedy—widely regarded as the metahistorical cornerstone of Shiʿa identity—to make it accessible and relevant to external audiences. These strategies enable campaigners to engage with out-group communities, testing and refining effective methods for presenting this pivotal historical event. The findings reveal that, through this process, the Karbala narrative undergoes both content-based and linguistic modifications, while the concept of justice—central to the commemoration of this tragedy—is reinterpreted in new contexts. This research contributes to the understanding of transnational Islamic activism and highlights the importance of strategic communication in fostering intercultural dialogue and promoting mutual understanding in diverse societies. Full article

Gender-based violence (GBV) is an age-long issue plaguing societies all over the globe. Over the years, GBV perpetrated against women has been justified and legitimized by patriarchal and hegemonic masculine structures. This study explored the role of hegemonic masculinities and transnational cultural conflicts in creating a suitable environment for GBV against women newcomers from the continent of Africa. The study gathered perspectives of African immigrants and of the service providers working in immigrant-serving organizations. The paper adopts a qualitative approach and hinges on the transnationalism framework. This framework argues that immigrants maintain connections while transitioning to their destination countries. In such processes, immigrants carry with them their beliefs about cultural norms and hegemonic masculinity, of their country of origin. A total of 13 women immigrants and 20 service providers were purposively recruited to participate in the semi-structured interview. The interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim. The data were analyzed thematically and organized using Nvivo version 12. Findings show that African immigrant women in Canada disproportionately bear the burden of GBV due to hegemonic masculinities. The construction of masculinity in immigrant populations is heavily reliant on the communities of origin. As such, the prevailing systems during and post migration such as—unstable residency status, fear of deportation, fear of social and family sanctions and stigmatization, economic dependence on their spouses, and fear of retaliation from their spouses creates an environment that supports toxic masculinity. The study recommends comprehensive and culturally sensitive programmes and services to support African immigrants affected by hegemonic masculinity and GBV. Full article

This paper explores the challenges of measuring and classifying the East African Asian population in Aotearoa New Zealand. As a particularly diverse country, New Zealand has a significant and varied population of immigrants from South Asia, including India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, along with immigrants of South Asian origin, from Fiji, Southeast Asia, the Caribbean and East Africa. New Zealand’s system of ethnic classification relies on self-identification, with a broad definition of ethnicity encompassing heritage, ancestry, culture, language and feelings of belonging. However, the collection of this information at a granularity that enables detailed analysis is constrained for the South Asian population, regardless of origin or identification. People are typically presented with the choice of selecting “Indian” ethnicity as a tick box, or providing ethnicities under “Other” as write-in descriptors, which in turn are coded to a limited set of categories within the classification being used. This practice potentially conceals a diversity of ethnicities, which can only partially be hinted at by responses to questions relating to religions, languages and birthplaces, especially for second or third-generation descendants of migrants. Ethnic classification at the highest level, moreover, includes East African Indians as Asian, rather than African, reflecting diasporic heritage as a shorthand for ancestry and overlooking the relevance of layers of identity associated with the double diaspora. Drawing on Peter J. Aspinall’s work on collective terminology in ethnic data collection and categorizing the “Asian” ethnic group in the UK, this paper looks at the overlaps and disconnects between heritage, ethnicity and national belonging in classifying less clearcut identities. We explore the strengths and limitations of New Zealand’s self-identification approach to ethnic identity, and query what exactly is being asked of groups on the margins: when self-identification does not match external perception, are we looking for geographic, cultural, or genetic origins? A focus on the East African Asian population in Aotearoa highlights the complexity of identity for diasporic groups with distant ancestral links with India, as lived experience of cultural connection extends far beyond the bounds of ethnicity, language and even ancestry. Full article

Children’s dress is a constituent element of individual and group identity as well as an indicator of social change. Exploring childhood in three Greek rural communities in Laconia, Kythera, and Crete as well as in their respective diaspora in the United States, this study aims at shedding light on the (re)presentation of children in photographic records through clothing, perceived as the material projection on the self and the group (familial, ethnic, transnational). Drawing from theoretical and methodological approaches of distinct fields, such as history, fashion, photography, material and visual studies, and social anthropology, the study explores dynamic changes and shifting meanings in the way children were perceived and projected or asserted themselves through tangible sources, namely photographs, and clothing. The time period examined spans from the 1900s to the late 1930s without rigidly defining, as shifts witnessed in this time period were occurring in the last years of the 19th century, while the aftermath of the 1930s recession years could be felt beyond the period under study. Full article

The ecumene defines a beyond-border space of strong cultural encounters, flows, and merging, grounded within the traditions of world-systems, globalization, transnationalism, and cosmopolitanism discourses. Furthermore, the ecumene links directly with international regions as core political platforms in the making. As such, there are several ecumenes on the forefront, as evidenced by the literature, which can be clustered into ideal types. Epistemologically, it is a relevant concept and tool for a science-of-the-future that focuses on conviviality and transformation for the yet-to-come. Analytically, the ecumene has a descriptive, normative, and critical dimension, and can be empirically accessed through operational concepts such as triggers, hubs, and types of beyond-border conviviality. To apply the ecumene as a research program means to detect convivial common-sense spaces within the global context. Full article

This article examines how and under what conditions Italy’s civil society organizations (CSOs) have resorted to transnational activism and to what extent these efforts translate into impactful political advocacy. The analysis focuses on the action strategies of these civil society actors that have come under considerable pressure through the resurgence of populist–nationalist actors in the domestic arena. Developing an actor-centred perspective from below, this article draws on a series of 27 interviews conducted with these organizations’ representatives working primarily on issues related to migration and refugees in Italy. The empirical study examines some key initiatives that see domestic CSOs as protagonists in the transnational realm and explicates their motivations, approaches, and experiences. Conceptually, the article distinguishes between the vertical and horizontal Europeanization of CSOs. While there are notable opportunities for CSOs to engage in Brussels-centred governance and policy making, the effectiveness of horizontal Europeanization in the form of cross-border networking is—at first sight paradoxically—limited by the EU’s system of multi-level governance. The central argument about Europeanizing civil society activism is that these processes are primarily driven by a pragmatic pursuit of solutions to concrete political challenges that could not be properly addressed in an increasingly hostile domestic environment. Full article