Finding Peace
Oxford Brookes University (Gipsy Lane Campus)
The Perennial Hyphen: Complex Identity Formation in a Case Study of African Migration and Settlement
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Selam Abebe, Mary Goitom, Nassisse Solomon
Over the last two decades, there has been a steady increase in the number of immigrants from Africa coming to Canada. Given these trends, very few studies examine the integration experiences and outcomes of African immigrants and their descendants – especially those from Ethiopia and Eritrea. This paper explores the integration experiences of second-generation Africans (Canadian-born descendants of immigrants from Ethiopia and Eritrea) in Canada. By way of 40 interviews with youth from both communities, this qualitative study engaged in a critical examination of the relationship between transnationalism, hybridity and integration. Findings suggest that participants’ experiences of a one-dimensional construction of Canadian identity through a range of sociocultural mediums (media, literature, education, sports, journalism, and ideologies) have maintained a fixed construction of Canadian identity that has demarcated the boundaries between the Canadian and the ‘ethnic’ Canadian. At the center of participants’ experiences is the unmasking of those discursive formations that stratify the experiences and identities of the ‘other’ and how these fashion notions of citizenship, belonging and civic engagement. This paper concludes with a theoretical, conceptual and critical discussion on how Canadian-born second-generation African youth actively construct their “Canadian identity” in a manner that moves traditionally othered identities to the forefront and the ways in which these shapes dynamics of citizenship, participation, and inclusion.
Animal Citizenship - Animals as Subjects of Rights: From Anthropocentrism to Biocentrism View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Diana Carolina Barreto Cardoso
Talking about animal rights generates controversy because in most legal systems animals are seen as objects and not as subjects of rights. In this paper I consider the question: In the face of this anthropocentric vision, is there the possibility of making changes towards a biocentrism where rights are included and crimes against animals and nature are punished? We are facing an era of social changes where reflections arise on our relationship as human beings in front of animals and nature. Concepts such as animal dignity, the animal person, animal citizenship or ecological citizenship are the object of study. It is necessary to analyze the positive and negative aspects of granting rights to animals and nature, to consider them in the future as subjects of rights.
Politics of Change and Corruption: A Threat to a Precarious United Nigeria View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Yakub Yahaya
Corruption promotes precarious ethnic unity and political stability in Nigeria. The growing political participation of the Nigerian youth since the #EndSars movement in 2020 has positioned itself as a threat to the existing political structure. This paper explores the latent function of corruption in a heterogeneous society like Nigeria and its current challenges, such as the precarious form of peace it faces. This study uses the social identity theory, identity theory, and self-categorization theory to explain the multiple roles played by ethnic, political, and religious leaders in establishing a precarious form of peace in Nigeria. The paper concludes that the growing political change and social movement of the youth in Nigeria have forged a new form of socio-cultural and political identity for a sustainable and united Nigeria.
