Looking up in Scotland? Multinationalism, multiculturalism and political elites

Abstract

At a time when all the political parties of Scotland are trying to establish a persuasive vision of the nation, inquiry into where ethnic and racial minorities fit into these debates provides one understudied means of bridging literatures on multinationalism and multiculturalism. Focusing especially on the lesser known question of how elite political actors are positioning minorities within projects of nation building, this article draws upon original empirical data in which three predominant clusters emerge. The first centres on an aspirational pluralism, the second concerns competing ways in which the legacy of Scotland's Empire resonates, and the third points to potential limitations in minority claims-making and recognition The article illustrates how elite political actors can play a vital role in ensuring that appeals to nationhood in Scotland can be meaningfully calibrated to include minorities too.

Social Citizenship, Social Policy and Refugee Integration: a Case of Policy Divergence in Scotland?

“…However, policy construction in immigrant policy, i.e. who has access to social goods, and deservedness and social citizenship can have territorial variance (see for example Koopmans and Statham, 1999;Meer, 2015).…”

Glasgow 2014, the media and Scottish politics: The (post)imperial symbolism of the Commonwealth Games

“…Elsewhere, Meer (2015) has highlighted the ambiguity with which members of the Scottish Parliament refer to empire. Equally, for the English and…”

Reaching out in a climate of negativity: perceptions and persistence among Muslim sources engaging with news media

“…Glasgow is a unique news ecosystem, housing headquarters for both local and Scottish-national news organisations as well as the Scottish headquarters for UK-national organisations. Scotland offers a distinctive model of relations between Muslim communities and the population (Bonino 2016;Hopkins 2017;Hussain and Miller 2006;Meer 2015), though this has not been studied in relation to media representation or framing. My research examined not the content of Scottish reporting on Muslims but its production.…”

“…Moreover, Ansari is expressive and energetic, with a thick west-Scotland brogue; she wears a hijab and has brown skin and a markedly Asian name. These seeming contradictions symbolise the 'civic' rather than 'ethnic' nationalism Scotland's political leaders have been crafting (Meer 2015), for although she does not look at first glance like the stereotypical Scot, her accent locates her firmly in the Scottish nation (Virdee et al 2006;cf. Kiely et al 2001).…”