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One of the epic national narratives of modernization and development in China is the story of Beidahuang ('Great Northern Wilderness') in the country's northeast. The term 'Beidahuang' refers originally to state-sponsored campaigns, starting in the 1950s, that involved the enlistment of tens of thousands of People's Liberation Army soldiers, educated youth, and Communist Party cadres. Their task was to transform the vast northeast 'wasteland' into productive farmland that would feed the nation while securing the nation's borders with Russia. This article examines the significance of Beidahuang as a feature of the environmental discourse in China's northeast borderlands, focusing on the first decade of the twenty-first century when the Chinese state was establishing more systematic measures for addressing environmental concerns. In the context of the northeast borderland, the massive deforestation that resulted from the socialist campaigns to transform 'wasteland' into productive farmland has left a controversial legacy for regional elites grappling with the Party leadership's turn towards environmental conservation as an emerging political priority. This article suggests that the ongoing importance of the 'Great Northern Wilderness' in the Chinese cultural imagination has shaped the ways in which regional elites frame environmental issues in relation to economic development, nationalism, and border relations with Russia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Abraham Accords have presented themselves as one of the most significant geopolitical developments in the Middle East in this decade. They represent a trend in which increasingly, Arab states are seeking their own geopolitical arrangements with the State of Israel. This commentary considers the Abraham Accords from the lenses of elite preferences and nationalism-arguing that the recent politicization of the Gulf-Arab elite constitutes the nexus of the Abraham Accords. We argue that the Abraham Accords were born from a desire of bolstering regime security, regional security and extend local transformations to the international domain. Our analysis opens the literature to a wider discussion on the political capital of Gulf elites, and how increasingly their decisions impact wider Middle Eastern geopolitics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay, which is based on secondary sources and online research, examines the home dilemma experienced by many diasporic African elites during the COVID-19 crisis in 2020. It argues that despite the pervasive nationalist discourse on homeland and the official celebration of national home, many postcolonial African elites actually view their home nations as a "second chez soi" (second choice home), from which they quickly distance themselves during times of political unrest and health emergencies. This oscillation between cosmopolitanism and nationalism partly explains why many of the so-called Afropolitans started to experience anxiety after the global health pandemic forced them to lead sedentary lifestyles akin to those of their less fortunate peers. Furthermore, the essay sees the COVID-19 pandemic as a leveling and game-changing force that has significantly altered the home life and mindset of the "rooted cosmopolitan" African elites. Many of them are now neo-localists or maisonneurs (stay-at-home people) who strive to create a new sense of community in their formerly unloved African homeland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that the Kazakh–Kyrgyz relationship in many ways shaped the emergence of Soviet Kyrgyzstan. Kyrgyz elites were willing to collaborate with Kazakhs while simultaneously trying not to be marginalized by them. Kazakh elites in the Turkestan ASSR's government supported the first Kyrgyz nationalist project, the Kara-Kyrgyz Mountain Oblast (KKMO), in 1922. However, the division of Turkestan during the Central Asian national–territorial delimitation in 1924 and the increased linkage between national identity and political and cultural rights deprived the Kazakh–Kyrgyz regions of their socio-economic unity. Consequently, Kyrgyz leaders, to get their fair share of the disintegrating Central Asian economy as a separate group, had to contrast themselves to their Kazakh allies. The case of Soviet Kyrgyzstan shows that the intertwined relationship among Central Asian elites provides a more nuanced and complicated story of the formation of Soviet national republics in the region. Particularly, Central Asia's settled/nomadic dichotomy and the inter-elite relationship within each population have been more influential than scholars have acknowledged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay, which is based on secondary sources and online research, examines the home dilemma experienced by many diasporic African elites during the COVID-19 crisis in 2020. It argues that despite the pervasive nationalist discourse on homeland and the official celebration of national home, many postcolonial African elites actually view their home nations as a "second chez soi" (second choice home), from which they quickly distance themselves during times of political unrest and health emergencies. This oscillation between cosmopolitanism and nationalism partly explains why many of the so-called Afropolitans started to experience anxiety after the global health pandemic forced them to lead sedentary lifestyles akin to those of their less fortunate peers. Furthermore, the essay sees the COVID-19 pandemic as a leveling and game-changing force that has significantly altered the home life and mindset of the "rooted cosmopolitan" African elites. Many of them are now neo-localists or maisonneurs (stay-at-home people) who strive to create a new sense of community in their formerly unloved African homeland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Electronic Turkish Studies is the property of Electronic Turkish Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The study focuses on the ethical aspects of decision-making by national elites in the context of the thinking of Ján Kollár (1793–1852) and Ľudovít Štúr (1815–1856) on the issue of Slavism. Attention is paid to the issue of responsibility for preserving the greatness and unity of the nation in the context of the formation of national identity and individuality. The concepts of the mentioned authors had an impact on the cultural-civilizational orientation of Slovak elites with an emphasis on the role of moral obligations in shaping the value orientation of the nation. In this context, the analysis focuses on the works Reciprocity between the various tribes and dialects of the Slavic nation and Slavdom and the world of the future, which, at the same time, represent alternative concepts of the cultural and political orientation of the Slavs. The study simultaneously analyses these concepts as alternative programs of cultural and political development of national identity, as well as concepts aimed at humanist and political goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 1888, Norwegian newspapers eagerly announced the arrival of 'Miss Gina Oselio', who was returning to Norway 'after seven years of staying abroad'. Oselio (Ingeborg Aas (1858–1937)) had achieved tremendous success as an opera singer in Europe and her performance on the Norwegian concert stage did not disappoint. Her new popularity positioned the singer as a member of the country's cultural elite and introduced a new complexity to her operatic identity. Unlike other Norwegian musicians who were treated primarily in terms of their nationality, her 'Norwegianness' had been largely incidental during her career. Oselio's private papers, however, offer new insights into the complex relationship between the singer and the nation. Together with her reception history, these materials invite a fresh examination of Oselio's position in fin-de-siècle Norwegian musical life. They show how she cultivated her career and her identity outside Norway, as well as her deliberate decision to assert her 'Norwegianness'. They demonstrate the roles that Oselio wished to occupy on the country's stages and how other Norwegians responded to these roles. Ultimately, they document a period of transition, as artists, critics and audiences sought to determine the place that opera would occupy within the nation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses a series of 16 articles, published in the daily newspaper Yeni Sabah, between late April and mid-May 1940 under the title 'Our big survey: Is it right for Turks to marry foreigners?' This series of articles allow us to understand better the various opinions among the Turkish cultural elite regarding the larger question of 'who is a Turk', and especially regarding mixed children. This article argues that even when the state promoted a relatively progressive agenda for the benefit of women such as the right to marry foreigners, this right was criticized by members of the cultural elite who based their objection on what they perceived as a contradiction between this right and the Turkish homogenization project, based on dominant ideas of race, ethnicity, eugenics, gender, religion, and education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Pregled is the property of University of Sarajevo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Schools worldwide have long engaged in various forms of 'war education'. In China, an extensive 'Patriotic Education' campaign and an expanded 'National Defense Education' curriculum have led to an increase in youth-oriented military programs in the 2000s. Previous work on the implementation of these programs in Chinese schools has mostly focused on urban elite youth, while overlooking the reception of these programs by non-urban, non-elite populations. The present study addresses this issue by examining youth perceptions and experiences of military training courses in urban and rural high schools. Drawing on the analysis of Chinese publications in the 2000s and on data from field interviews with students of different backgrounds, the study finds that youth military training constitutes a contentious program. Although the Chinese government promotes the program as crucial for military strengthening and the fostering of a patriotic spirit, PRC academic and media writers provide alternative rationales for the program, which at times undermine the logic of government articulations. Meanwhile, interviews with youth document divergent attitudes and even resentment towards the program, especially among city youth. This finding casts doubt on the assumption that military-training courses necessarily contribute to the increased 'militarization' of Chinese youth and education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Native-place associations have played an indispensable role in the global migration of ethnic Chinese. Although there has been growing attention to their political role in advancing the Chinese state's interests, few studies have looked into how they are organized and how they operate vis-à-vis the state. This article focuses on post-handover Hong Kong, where native-place associations, despite their long presence, are still growing in number and sophistication after the 1997 handover. It posits that native-place associations there are forming a "cultural nexus" through which the Chinese state fosters political mobilization in support of its interests and policies. Based on an original set of event and biographical data, it shows that native-place associations are consolidating into a massive network connected by power-seeking elites. It also demonstrates how these associations seek to renew the significance of native-place and national identities. The findings point to how native-place associations may serve as a powerful cultural space for the Chinese state to project its influence offshore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article assumes that the examination of political discourses on the reasons for introducing the possibility for Jews and Christians to enter into mixed marriages can be particularly fruitful in the study of the vision that the Christian Hungarian political and cultural elite had of the future of the Jews in Hungary. The article concludes that although this elite did not really allow itself to be explicit, it hoped that mixed marriages would gradually lead to the total disappearance of the Jewish minority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]