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To achieve peaceful interethnic relations and a stable democracy in the aftermath of violent conflict, institutional designers may task political elites representing previously warring sides with governing a nation together. InPower-Sharing Executives, Joanna McEvoy asks whether certain institutional rules can promote cooperation between political parties representing the contending groups in a deeply divided place. Examining the different experiences of postconflict power sharing in Bosnia, Macedonia, and Northern Ireland, she finds that with certain incentives and norms in place, power sharing can indeed provide political space for an atmosphere of joint governance or accommodation between groups. Power-Sharing Executivesexplains how the institutional design process originated and evolved in each of the three nations and investigates the impact of institutional rules on interethnic cooperation. McEvoy also looks at the role of external actors such as international organizations in persuading political elites to agree to share power and to implement power-sharing peace agreements. This comparative analysis of institutional formation and outcomes shows how coalitions of varying inclusivity or with different rules can bring about a successful if delicate consociationality in practice.Power-Sharing Executivesoffers prescriptions for policymakers facing the challenges of mediating peace in a postconflict society and sheds light on the wider study of peace promotion.

The Cameroon Grassfields, home to three ethnic groups – Grassfields societies, Mbororo, and Hausa – provide a valuable case study for the anthropological examination of identity politics and interethnic relations. In the midst of the political liberalization of Cameroon in the late 1990s and 2000s, local responses to political and legal changes took the form of a series of performative and discursive expressions of ethnicity. Confrontational encounters stimulated by economic and political rivalry, as well as socially integrative processes, transformed collective self-understanding in Cameroon in conjunction with recent global discourses on human, minority, and indigenous rights. The book provides a vital contribution to the study of ethnicity, conflict, and social change in the anthropology of Africa.

This article examines the religious practices of descendants of Bosnian migrants in Slovenia, a country that stands out as one of the most secular in Europe. While Bosnia and Herzegovina is known for its complex religious pluralism, where religious institutions play a crucial role in nation-building, Slovenia presents a contrasting context of secularization. Applying Peter Berger’s theory of religious pluralism, which suggests that pluralism weakens traditional religious authority, this study explores how descendants of Bosnian migrants navigate their religious identities in a secular environment. Although their identities have been shaped by the Yugoslav wars and the post-war redefinition of ethnicity through religion, younger generations are also influenced by broader social processes in Slovenia, including secularization, integration, and exposure to multiple belief systems. Using a qualitative research approach based on semi-structured interviews, this case study investigates the preservation and transformation of religious traditions among Bosnian migrant descendants and how these practices influence their identity. The findings highlight how migration and adaptation to a different socio-cultural environment shape religious practices across generations, contributing to broader discussions on religious choice, identity, and pluralism in contemporary societies.

Objective Community-based education places students’ education in a community context and exposes students to patients’ social and environmental circumstances. Studies that evaluate the effectiveness of community-based education on bias awareness regarding migrants are limited. This study answered the following questions: (1) How do students’ knowledge, attitude, and skills regarding their cultural competencies, including ethnocultural empathy and implicit biases, change during community-based implicit bias education? (2) What is the perception of students towards this type of education? Method This single site case study used a pre-survey and post-survey consisting of the psychometric instrument Implicit Association Test and the questionnaire Scale of Ethnocultural Empathy as quantitative methods. These were combined with focus group interviews and qualitative analysis of reflection reports as qualitative methods. This study was conducted amongst third-year students of the bachelor of medicine at a medical faculty in the Netherlands. Thirty-five students completed the pre-survey and twenty-one students completed the post-survey. Thirty-eight students gave consent to analyze their reflection report. Twenty-three students took part in the group interviews. Results and conclusion The quantitative analysis showed that the students’ scores on the ethnocultural empathy scale decreased. The biases for skin color and ethnicity reduced after the educational intervention based on the Implicit Association Test. The qualitative analysis showed that community-based implicit bias education increased students’ knowledge about the network of non-profit governmental organizations in the domain of migrant health in the Netherlands, the needs of migrants, and the barriers migrants face in the healthcare system. Students’ self-reported attitudes changed after the educational intervention, since their awareness increased of, for instance, the factors that play a role in migrant healthcare and the differences in epidemiology between patients with and without a migration background. Clinical trial number Not applicable.

Background Migrant women face an increased risk of poor obstetric and neonatal outcomes. Norway implemented a multicultural doula (MCD) program in 2018, which was designed to improve pregnancy care for this group in vulnerable circumstances. This study aimed to assess the impact of MCD support, provided in addition to standard care, on obstetric and neonatal outcomes for selected newly arrived migrants. Methods This was a multi-centre case–control study involving all nine hospitals actively running the MCD program, which covers four of Norway’s five regions. Women who received MCD support at the time of childbirth ( n  = 339), from 2018–2023, were compared to similar newly arrived immigrant women who did not receive MCD support ( n  = 339) and gave birth within the same timeframe. Hospital records were reviewed, and outcomes were analysed using binary logistic regression. The results are expressed as crude and adjusted associations with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results Women receiving MCD support exhibited a 41% lower likelihood of undergoing emergency caesarean sections (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.59, 95% Cl 0.34–0.98) and those giving birth vaginally had a 75% lower risk of estimated blood loss ≥1000 ml (aOR 0.25, 95% Cl 0.12–0.52) compared with women without MCD support. Additionally, MCD support was associated with more use of pain-relief (aOR 2.88, 95% Cl 1.93–4.30) in labour and increased rates of exclusive breastfeeding at discharge (aOR 2.26, 95% Cl 1.53–3.36). Conclusions Our study suggests that MCD support may contribute to improved outcomes for migrants in vulnerable circumstances, potentially impacting their future reproductive health and children’s well-being.

Heritage planning is changing, in both theory and practice. There is greater attention to the cultural significance (values and attributes) conveyed to a heritage property, rather than focusing on the property alone. Identifying and revealing this cultural significance has become a critical step in heritage planning. Moreover, international guidelines increasingly encourage public participation in defining the cultural significance of heritage sites. However, effectively involving diverse stakeholders and capturing the cultural significance they attribute to heritage remains a challenge, particularly when dealing with extensive datasets and multiple stakeholders. Although automated methods have shown potential in fields like digital humanities, their application in heritage planning is still limited. This article explores the innovative use of artificial intelligence (AI), particularly text classification analysis, to analyze unstructured textual data (e.g., policy documents, literature, and social media) to uncover the cultural significance of built heritage. Focusing on Yazd, Iran, and specifically on windcatchers—a key cultural attribute recognized for its “outstanding universal value” by UNESCO—this study integrates AI to enhance both urban and socio-cultural planning. This article, as the concluding piece of a broader research project, synthesizes the project’s findings to highlight AI’s potential for inclusive heritage planning, referencing related publications of the same project to provide context while remaining concise. The research is structured in three phases: first, a literature review on AI applications in participatory heritage planning and value-based heritage planning; second, the methodology for data collection and analysis, including coding and comparing values and attributes of windcatchers conveyed by different stakeholders; and third, findings on the values and attributes, and their interrelationships as revealed through the data. The results confirm that while there are both conflicts and alignments in the cultural significance attributed to windcatchers in Yazd among various stakeholders, the theoretical framework presented here offers a valuable tool for heritage planning. By decoding and measuring cultural significance from diverse perspectives, this framework aids in identifying conflicts and alignments and in better aligning stakeholder perspectives. This model can be adapted to other key attributes in Yazd and other case studies, offering broader applications in heritage planning. Additionally, the findings underscore the potential of AI to evaluate the legislative framework’s effectiveness in enhancing public engagement.

Historic urban landscape (HUL) are essential for preserving the cultural continuity of traditional Chinese villages. Utilizing heritage management approaches to manage historic urban landscapes has significant implications for innovating the governance of these villages. This study used traditional Southern Anhui villages as empirical case studies to determine the key heritage management principles of HUL governance. This underscores the public policy nature of urban heritage conservation and highlights the importance of balancing heritage conservation with sustainable development through the involvement of diverse stakeholders and interdisciplinary institutional instruments. This study examined the development history of heritage management in traditional villages in Southern Anhui, revealing the characteristics and challenges of four aspects: public participation, planning and guidance, legislation and regulation, and fiscal financing mechanisms. Furthermore, it proposed strategies for optimizing the heritage management mechanisms within the HUL framework.

Learning the host language is a crucial factor in the settlement of migrants and refugees in a new country. It offers opportunities, but can also generate exclusion, marginalization, and isolation, hindering the possibilities of participation and the creation of social networks. Host language classes, therefore, play a crucial role, fostering critical awareness that enables learners to act within their social and cultural context. This promotes agency, autonomy, and empowerment, transforming differences into productivity and fostering social justice. This article focuses on classes of Portuguese as a host language (HL) in northern Portugal, examining how these contexts shape learners’ relationship with the language beyond depoliticized or subaltern approaches. It discusses the main obstacles and difficulties in these educational settings, as well as mechanisms that could contribute to more democratic and effective practices. Drawing on interviews with teachers (n = 10), trainers (n = 4), volunteers (n = 8), and students (n = 20) involved in the HL learning process, the content analysis highlights how policies and pedagogical practices impact students and how they are interpreted by these actors, revealing their impact on processes of participation, belonging, and citizenship. The results indicate an emergent form of collective autonomy in the relationship among students, the host society, and teachers, which means that teaching practices encompass not only the development of communication skills but also the civic and political awareness of learners. Lastly, while the language teachers identified more practical barriers in these teaching and learning contexts, the students described emotional and sociocultural obstacles.