This book provides a unique description of the identity strategies of stateless ethnic minorities in Poland. It describes and analyses the identity politics carried out by these groups, aimed at obtaining recognition of a separate status from the Polish state (a dominant group) in the symbolic and legal realms. On the one hand, comparative analysis of the activity undertaken by Lemkos, Polish Tatars, Roma, Kashubians, Karaims and Silesians will allow us to present the specifics of each of the communities, resulting from the special nature of their ethnicity. On the other hand, it will show some typical strategies for stateless groups in the field of identity and ethnicity. Critical factors here are processes such as building ethnic borders, dealing with a non-privileged position, striving to achieve recognition for the status quo of a particular identity or politicization of ethnicity. The subjects are mostly indigenous groups, and the lack of legitimacy of emancipation in their own nation-state can determine their status as an ‘in-between’ in the context of ethnic relations in Poland. In the analysis undertaken in the book of the activity of the ethnic groups there are three main contexts: intragroup, state policy and the global discourse of the rights of minorities. They determine the choice of identity strategy and adopted policy of identity. Not without significance is also the historical context, especially the political transformation in Poland after 1989, when Polish state policy towards ethnic minorities changed fundamentally - moving from the mono-national ideology of a socialist state to a pluralistic model of a democratic state. Gathering diverse examples in one volume will allow the reader to become familiar with the complex topic of ethnic relations in the world today, and especially in Central Europe, which is still in the process of change.

This book provides an interdisciplinary overview of the causes and impacts of COVID-19 on populations, economies, politics, institutions and environments from all world regions. The book maps the causes, effects and impacts of the virus and describes the impact of the virus on among others health care, teaching and learning, travel, tourism, daily life, local and regional economies, media impacts, elections, and indigenous populations and much more. Contributions to this book come from the humanities, social and policy science disciplines as well as from emerging transdisciplinary fields including climate change, sustainability, health care and epidemiology, security, art, visualization, economic and social well-being, law and borderland studies. As such, this book will be a rich source of information to all those geographers, social scientists and urban and regional planners working in this field.

The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569–1795) was once the largest country in Europe—a multicultural republic that was home to Belarusians, Germans, Jews, Lithuanians, Poles, Ruthenians, Tatars, Ukrainians, and other ethnic and religious groups. Although long since dissolved, the Commonwealth remains a rich resource for mythmakingin its descendent modern-day states, but also a source of contention between those with different understandings of its history.Multicultural Commonwealth brings together the expertise of world-renowned scholars in a range of disciplines to present perspectives on both the Commonwealth’s historical diversity and the memory of this diversity. With cutting-edge research on the intermeshed histories and memories of different ethnic and religious groups of the Commonwealth, this volume asks how various contemporary conceptions of multiculturalism can be applied to the region through a critical lens that also seeks to understand the past on its own terms.

This edited volume examines the critical issues of the 21st century through the prism of Ernest Gellner’s work. The contributors look critically at Gellner ́s legacy, questioning whether he remains an inspiration for today’s social theorists. Chapters proactively probe Gellner’s thoughts on a variety of pressing topics—modernity, postcolonialsm, nationalism, and more—without losing sight of current debates on these issues. This volume further brings these debates to life by having each chapter followed by a comment by an academic peer of the chapter author, thus transforming the text into a lively and dynamic conversation.

This book focuses on the closely interlinked areas of refugee migration and health. It discusses the main challenges of the recent unprecedented, extremely diverse and mostly unregulated refugee migration wave for Germany and Europe, and offers a broader view of refugee health from a European perspective. Health issues can lead to several challenges for refugees as well as healthcare providers, and as such the book also examines the requirements for the management of migrant populations in terms of medical care and health system adaptations, and includes theoretical aspects of refugee migration and health as well as various perspectives on the latest developments. Lastly, it describes the healthcare system demands and responses for short- and long-term care of refugees.

Introduction -- Africa -- Americas -- Asia and the Pacific -- Europe -- Middle East and North Africa (MENA) -- Introduction -- The right of every child to a nationality -- Migration, displacement and childhood statelessness -- The sustainable development agenda and childhood statelessness -- Safeguards against childhood statelessness -- Litigation and legal assistance to address childhood statelessness -- Mobilising to address childhood statelessness

The increased engagement of states with their co-ethnics abroad has recently become one of the most contentious features of European politics. Until recently, the issue has been discussed predominantly within the paradigm of international security; yet a review of the broader European picture shows that kin-state engagement can in fact have a positive societal impact when it actually responds effectively to the claims formulated by co-ethnic communities themselves. Poland's Kin-State Policies: Opportunities and Challenges offers new insights into this issue by examining Poland’s fast-evolving relationship with Polish communities living beyond its borders. Its central focus is the Act on the Polish Card (generally known as Karta Polaka). Tracing policymaking processes and the underlying political agendas that have shaped them, the volume situates Poland’s engagement within broader conceptual and normative debates around kin-state and diaspora politics and explores its reception and impact in neighbouring states (Ukraine, Germany, Lithuania). The volume highlights how the issue of co-ethnics abroad is increasingly being instrumentalised, most especially for the purposes of attracting labour migration to resolve the demographic crisis in Poland. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Ethnopolitics.