· December, 2010

Stories about Ethnicity & Race from December, 2010

Jamaica: Kartel & Cake Soap

  15 December 2010

“I never understood Bleaching, I can't understand how this is an actual phenomena in the same place that gave birth to Marcus Garvey”: The Phoenix in a Gas House explains.

Azerbaijan: Hospitality vs. privacy

  15 December 2010

Aaron in Azerbaijan [Eng] shares his thoughts on the local practices and traditions relating to hospitality in Azerbaijan, comparing them to those found in the West. The blog notes how perceptions of hospitality differ from culture to culture.

Armenia: Facebook Storytelling

  14 December 2010

Writing for Ararat Magazine, Global Voices author Simon Maghakyan says that that one Facebook Group is attempting to use the popular social networking site to teach children Armenian history. The post wonders if this might turn out to be a revolutionary way to get them interested in such subject matters.

Armenia: Smoking the Pipe of Peace

  14 December 2010

Ararat Magazine features a post by Global Voices’ Caucasus editor on Calumet, an ethnic lounge bar in Yerevan, the Armenian capital. Offering a laid back environment for local civic activists, artists and musicians, as well as foreigners, to unwind in, it concludes that the recently opened venue is a breath...

Russia: More Photos of Nationalist Riot Near Kremlin

  12 December 2010

LiveJournal-user Zyalt [RUS] and DervishRV [RUS] published more photo reports of riots of soccer fans and nationalists that took place next to the Kremlin's wall in Moscow. After the protest has been dispersed the crowd started to attack everyone with non-Slavic look on the streets and in the metro.

Armenia: Police target Emos

  12 December 2010

Although understood to be a fairly conservative and traditional country, reports that police in Armenia were targeting Emos, a stereotypically melancholic sub-culture associated especially with teenagers, caused alarm and outrage among bloggers and Facebook users.

Azerbaijan: Stepanakert

  12 December 2010

Marut's Blog posts photographs taken during the Soviet era of Stepanakert, capital of the breakaway territory of Nagorno Karabakh. An autonomous oblast situated within Azerbaijan before the collapse of the Soviet Union, the region declared itself independent in 1991, but remains internationally unrecognized. Negotiations between Armenia and Azerbaijan to determine...

Macedonia: Introducing the Hunza Affair

  12 December 2010

On the Nationalities Blog, Anastas Vangeli, aka Vuna, analyzes from the perspective of Orientalism an ongoing Macedonian political affair: fraternization with the “Hunza people” from the remote mountainous region of Pakistan, who claim ancestry from the soldiers of Alexander the Great.

Côte d'Ivoire: Anger and Sarcasm in Citizen Media after the Elections

  11 December 2010

After a hopeful start, the presidential elections in Cote d'Ivoire took a dramatic turn that led the country in a seemingly hopeless political stalemate. While the crisis persists, the Ivorian blogosphere seems to be split between either taking the events with a hint of humor and sarcasm or debating passionately the political and legal implications of the latest events. Julie Owono explains:

Russia: Photos and Videos of Soccer Fans Protesting in Moscow

RuNet Echo  11 December 2010

Blog of Novaya Gazeta [RUS], Radio Liberty [RUS], aleshru [RUS], and vadimb [RUS] share pictures and videos from the mass protest action of soccer fans in the center of Moscow. It is the second public event since the murder of one of the fans this week. Snob.ru hosts [RUS] discussion on the political consequences of...

Belarus: Search for National Identity

  10 December 2010

At OpenDemocracy.net, Natalia Leshchenko writes that “Belarusians have come to the point where they need a shared, universally accepted, veritable and satisfying understanding of themselves as a nation, and a common vision of their goals and priorities of development.”

Russia: Soccer Fans Block Moscow Streets in Protest Against Murder

RuNet Echo  9 December 2010

Corrupcia.net, bb-mos, podkradyha, and harfang83 share pictures of the soccer fans blocking Leningradskiy prospekt, one of the major Moscow streets, to protest against the murder of their colleague Yegor Sviridov. Killers of Sviridov were released soon after the murder. Most of those who participated in the street action are afraid the...

Bermuda: The Black Male Perspective

  8 December 2010

Breezeblog directs “anyone concerned about where Bermuda is headed amidst the spiralling gang violence, social dysfunctionality and hypocrisy” to an article written “from the perspective of a young black man”.

Azerbaijan: Armenia's Wikileaks?

  8 December 2010

The Önər Blog [AZ] comments on claims in Azerbaijan that Wikileaks cables painting the country in a bad light are the work of Armenians. In fact, the blog notes, at the same time as the media in Azerbaijan highlights the poverty, corruption and human rights abuses in its neighbor, how...

Brazil: The only black woman in a beauty pageant

  7 December 2010

Cris Rodrigues, from blog Somos Andando [We Are Walking, pt], writes about racial prejudice in a beauty pageant in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, where only one black woman competed among 29 other “white, tall, skinny and straight haired” contestants. She considers that the sample is not...