This study explores how teaching strategies and entrepreneurial motivation influence students' entrepreneurial self-efficacy. A survey was conducted with 990 students from Southwest China, and structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to test the research hypotheses. Hayes's bootstrapping method was also used to examine how entrepreneurial self-efficacy served as a mediator between teaching strategies, entrepreneurial motivation, and students' entrepreneurial orientation. The results found that teaching strategies and entrepreneurial motivation positively and significantly affected students' self-efficacy, which have important implications for educators and policymakers. Specifically, entrepreneurial motivation was identified as a crucial factor that fosters self-efficacy, serving as an essential mediator linking entrepreneurial education to students' entrepreneurial orientation. This result implies that universities should incorporate interactive learning methods, case studies, and goal-setting workshops into their curricula to strengthen students' entrepreneurial orientation. Furthermore, policymakers must create supportive ecosystems that fund entrepreneurial education and provide mentorship opportunities. These initiatives can help bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and practical entrepreneurial application by equipping students with hands-on experience and real-world problem-solving skills crucial to entrepreneurial success.
This article presents the results of a pilot study aimed at designing an effective training program to teach migrant workers how to use machine translation (MT) tools (specifically Google Translate) by themselves. Employing a reflection and observation approach, the research team documented both participant experiences and their insights throughout the pilot. The training sessions were designed to improve practical skills and to raise participants’ awareness of privacy issues. The article shows how we designed and reflected on participants’ varying levels of familiarity and proficiency with translation technologies, examining key features such as image-based translation and identifying usability challenges. Drawing on the pilot study, we identified some potential challenges in applying MT literacy concepts to train migrant workers. These allowed us to revise the training plan and design activities and materials for the full-scale training programs that meet specific needs and linguistic backgrounds of Myanmar migrant workers. Key takeaways to ensure participants’ gain of practical skills for everyday use of MT include clearer instructions on tool functions, particularly voice input and camera mode (Google Lens), for optimal results.
This research explores the construction of non-Thai male English-user teachers’ identities in Thailand, including their professional identities at work and their social identities in daily life. A total of seven non-Thai male English-user teacher participants were involved. Intersectionality was used to examine the intersecting factors that shaped the construction of non-Thai male English-user teachers’ identities. Post-structural discourse analysis was used to elicit the constructions of non-Thai male English-user teachers’ identities. The results first revealed three types of non-Thai male English-user teachers’ professional identities: oppressed, struggling, and privileged. Nationality was the primary factor that caused these three types of professional identities. It intersected with other factors, such as gender, culture, stereotype, and hierarchy. The results also found three types of non-Thai male English-user teachers’ social identities: as a foreigner, situational identity, and multicultural identity. Nationality and culture were the primary factors behind these three types of social identities. They intersected with other factors, such as gender, stereotype, social role, and language ability. The findings of this research revealed the fluidity of non-Thai male English-user teachers’ identities, offering deeper insight into the influence of power dynamics.
This study examines the key competencies required of teachers in contemporary education and their role in preparing future generations. These competencies are widely recognized as foundational to societal development across multiple domains. In this context, the 4Cs model in initial teacher education was developed to establish conceptual and pedagogical preconditions for integrating critical thinking, creativity, collaboration, and communication competencies into teacher education programs. The study investigated the perceptions of students enrolled in teacher education programs at the University of Sarajevo regarding instructional activities through which university teachers foster and develop 4Cs competencies in higher education teaching. The findings indicate that, from the students’ perspective, instructional activities most strongly support the development of communication competency, followed by critical thinking and collaboration, whereas creativity is the least consistently fostered. This finding suggests that the integration of 4Cs competencies in higher education remains predominantly declarative rather than transformative, revealing a gap between curricular expectations and pedagogical practice. Furthermore, the results indicate a highly significant correlation between instructional activities fostering critical thinking and creativity. Significant correlations were also observed among the other competency scales, indicating that these competencies are interrelated and mutually reinforcing rather than developed in isolation. These findings highlight practical implications for teacher education programs.
Population and civil registration systems are increasingly recognized as foundational to effective governance. Yet, they are often examined as technical or sector-specific administrative functions rather than as core governance infrastructures. This study examines population and civil registration as pillars of inclusive and effective domestic governance in Indonesia, a decentralized, digitally transforming middle-income country. Using a qualitative documentary case study approach, the research analyses legal frameworks, policy documents, and peer-reviewed academic literature through an integrated theoretical lens combining state capacity theory, whole-of-government approaches, and digital governance theory. The findings reveal that population and civil registration enhance governance capacity by improving administrative visibility, facilitating intergovernmental coordination, and supporting the integration of digital governance. However, these benefits are conditional and influenced by institutional capacity, governance safeguards, and legitimacy, with persistent risks of exclusion and uneven implementation across regions. By conceptualizing population and civil registration as a governance capability rather than a purely administrative service, this study advances theoretical understanding of identity systems in public administration. It offers policy-relevant insights for strengthening inclusive and effective domestic governance in decentralized contexts.
The Black immigrant population in the U.S. has grown significantly, from 800,000 in 1980 to 4.6 million in 2019, now representing one in ten Black individuals. Despite this growth, Black immigrant women remain understudied, particularly regarding chronic conditions such as HIV/AIDS and cancer. This paper synthesizes research on the health experiences of Black immigrant women in the U.S. living with these conditions. A systematic search across five databases yielded 2,150 articles. However, inconsistencies in the conceptual and operational definitions of key variables—particularly race, ethnicity, gender, and duration of U.S. residency—prompted a revised focus on harmonization of these constructs. A second full-text review of articles resulted in 19 studies included for final analysis. Of these, 11 articles were qualitative, seven quantitative, and one used a mixed methods approach. Thirteen articles focused on HIV/AIDS, five on cancer, and one on general health. Race was often unexamined, conflated with ethnicity, or inferred through birthplace. This review underscores significant gaps in knowledge on Black immigrant women's health. Better conceptual clarity and focused research are essential to understanding how social determinants shape chronic disease outcomes in this growing population.
This critical review explores the postcolonial geographies of scholarly exiles in Europe and North America. Drawing on postcolonial, decolonial, and migration regime scholarship, I argue that scholarly exile is not a humanitarian exception to the contemporary global academic order but a structural expression of it. The analysis foregrounds the disruption of identity, barriers to reintegration, and the legal entrapment of displaced scholars within postcolonial migration regimes that systematically devalue credentials, constrain mobility, and marginalize non-Western knowledge. While recognizing the vital protective role of initiatives such as Scholars at Risk, the Philipp Schwartz Initiative, and similar programs, the essay focuses on the enduring structural and epistemic exclusions that persist beyond temporary fellowships. Through historical precedents and cases from geographies of protracted conflict and authoritarian transition, it demonstrates how these regimes sustain downward mobility, credential misrecognition, cultural bereavement, and liminality. The essay then examines how exiled scholars resist erasure through autonomous networks, reflexive theorizing, and decolonial practices of intellectual renewal. It concludes by arguing that addressing scholarly exile requires not incremental reform but a fundamental delinking from the epistemic hierarchies that make such marginalization structurally inevitable.
This article explores the Meira Paibi movement in Manipur, India, as a vital site of grassroots women’s activism operating within a militarized and ethnically contested landscape. Drawing on feminist security studies, intersectionality, and securitization theory, it examines how Meitei women redefine security through everyday acts of resistance, moral regulation, and community care. Originating in the late 1970s, the Meira Paibi or “women torchbearers” have evolved into informal agents of justice, patrolling streets, confronting state violence, and upholding social norms. Using a documentary-based methodology, this study analyzes how the Meira Paibi challenge dominant security discourses and engage in counter-securitizing acts, exemplified by the 2004 naked protest custodial violence. Their activism blurs boundaries between public and private, and resistance and regulation, exposing the embodied and relational dimensions of grassroots security. Yet the movement is not without contradictions: while confronting militarized patriarchy and challenging the state, their exercise of moral authority often reinforces maternalistic authority, moral conservatism, and community-level biopolitical regulation. By situating Meira Paibi within critical feminist and security frameworks, the article contributes to broader debates on gendered resistance, informal governance, and localized peacebuilding, arguing that women’s agency in conflict zones must be understood through a nuanced lens that embraces both their emancipatory potential and their internal tensions.
Following the violent transition in power from an authoritarian monarchy to a theocratic despotism, the 1979 Iranian Revolution did not fulfil any of its promises of freedom and equality. Since the inception of the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) in 1979, state-sanctioned violence has consistently targeted all of Iran’s numerous national and religious communities, including the Kurdish people, resulting in a decade of massive violence and terrorisation of civilians. Showcasing this decade’s reign of terror in Kurdistan, this article argues that the Islamic regime’s extensive use of violence and collective punishment was not an accidental occurrence of post-revolutionary chaos. But it was a deliberate choice of measure in line with its worldview and ambitions of redefining and reforging the nation-state identity and ideology in Iran. The process is referred to as ‘the incomplete task of nation-state building’ and took place during the decade following the revolution. In this regard, the regime imposed multifaceted measures and strategies on the Kurdish people, including conducting a civil war and imposing economic sanctions. This article will elaborate on the 1980s state-Kurdish conflict in Iran and the way the Kurdish movement challenged the then-newly established regime from various angles, particularly its numerous redlines.
This study explored the motivations of refugee high school students from Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and Syria for emigrating to Türkiye, with a particular focus on the city of Eskişehir. Unlike prior research that relies on adults’ perspectives, this study amplifies the voices of the refugee youth themselves. An explanatory sequential mixed-methods design was employed. Quantitative data was collected from 278 students via comprehensive questionnaires, and qualitative insights were obtained from in-depth interviews with 27 participants. Results indicate that civil wars, political instability, and economic hardships were primary drivers of emigration. Participants identified Türkiye’s safety, cultural familiarity, educational opportunities, and health services as key pull factors. Decisions to settle in Eskişehir were often influenced by family choices and guidance from acquaintances, while established networks in their home countries facilitated chain migration. Qualitative interviews were used to elaborate and contextualize the primary drivers of emigration (e.g., war, safety) identified through the quantitative survey, providing a more nuanced understanding. It is the first to directly center refugee high school students’ voices in Türkiye. By centering student perspectives in a non-English-speaking context, it offers novel empirical insights with important implications for research, policy, and educational practice.
This study investigates how multicultural education has been conceptualized and developed in Indonesia by integrating a systematic literature review and bibliometric analysis. Based on 46 Scopus-indexed articles published through November 2025, the study adheres to the PRISMA Statement guidelines. It uses VOSviewer mapping to examine conceptual patterns, institutional structures, and thematic clusters within the field. The findings reveal that multicultural education in Indonesia operates through a distinct relational configuration that integrates pedagogical practices, religious moderation, and local cultural values. Different from dominant Western frameworks that emphasize race, migration, and structural inequality, existing research in Indonesia conceptualizes Multicultural education within a pluralistic social context rooted in religious values. Bibliometric evidence indicates a strong concentration of research within state universities and Islamic higher education institutions, with central conceptual linkages to Islamic education, curriculum development, and discourse on moderation. Although pedagogical implementation and value formation are extensively addressed, macro-level analyses of social cohesion remain comparatively underexplored. The study advances the field by articulating a relational, multi-level conceptual model that differentiates pedagogical processes, ideological orientations, and sociological outcomes within culturally specific settings. By repositioning Indonesia within global debates on multicultural education, this research contributes to enhancing a context-sensitive perspective on diversity education in plural societies.
Continuous interactions among diverse ethnic and cultural groups shape multicultural cities. Social cohesion is thus a negotiated and relational outcome. This study conceptualizes cohesion as emerging from everyday interaction and adaptive social practices, rather than as a product of formal integration. It examines the roles of intercultural communication and social adaptation in shaping social cohesion and ethnic relations in an urban Indonesian context. Using survey data from 206 residents in Makassar, Indonesia, the study employs PLS-SEM to analyse relationships among intercultural communication, social adaptation, social cohesion, and community-based engagement. The model explains 72.9% of the variance in social cohesion and 82.7% of the variance in community-based engagement, indicating strong explanatory capacity. Intercultural communication is positively associated with both social cohesion and community engagement, while social adaptation demonstrates a substantially stronger association with social cohesion. This highlights the central role of adaptation in embedding intercultural experiences in shared norms over time. The results reveal differentiated pathways linking intercultural processes to engagement. Social cohesion mediates the relationship between social adaptation and community engagement, but does not mediate the relationship between intercultural communication and engagement. This finding indicates that participation may emerge through both pragmatic interactional coordination and cohesion-based relational processes. Social cohesion functions as a contingent rather than universal mediating mechanism, distinguishing between interactional effectiveness and longer-term adaptive integration in multicultural urban contexts. These findings provide a refined process-oriented framework for understanding how multicultural coexistence can be sustained through differentiated interactional and adaptive mechanisms.
This study examines the perceptions of campus atmosphere among LGBTQ+ students in Thai higher education, investigating the interplay of regional, academic, and identity-related factors that influence student experiences. The study employed a quantitative research approach to poll 688 students from multiple Thai colleges, encompassing both LGBTQ+ and heterosexual individuals. The data indicates that, although the general campus climate is viewed favorably, notable geographical and disciplinary disparities are present. LGBTQ+ students from southern regions expressed less favorable opinions, indicative of regional cultural and religious conservatism. Moreover, although both LGBTQ+ and heterosexual students typically indicated feeling respected, LGBTQ+ students assessed the climate as slightly more inclusive, emphasizing the significance of peer relationships and visibility in cultivating a supportive atmosphere. Gender identification exerted a negligible influence on perceptions of safety and inclusion; however, transgender students indicated somewhat reduced levels of comfort. The study highlighted the importance of intersectionality in understanding campus climate, illustrating how intersecting identities—such as gender, sexual orientation, and regional background—influence students' sense of inclusion. These findings contribute to the broader discussion on LGBTQ+ inclusion in higher education by questioning the notion of universal progress and promoting region-specific, culturally relevant solutions. The study's findings necessitate a heightened institutional focus on regional inequities, LGBTQ+ representation, and peer engagement to foster genuinely inclusive academic environments for all students.
This study, part of a larger research project, examines the intersectional identities of Asian international teacher educators (AITEs) in U.S. higher education. Grounded in Crenshaw’s (2013) framework of intersectionality, the study explores how AITEs experience systemic marginalization, racialization, and linguistic prejudice in academic spaces, and how these experiences inform their equity-oriented pedagogical approaches. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with six AITEs, the study investigates how intersecting identities shape their professional roles and pedagogical practices. Using an intersectional qualitative methodology that integrates narrative inquiry, document analysis, and thematic analysis, the findings reveal how AITEs negotiate invisibility, institutional constraints, and discrimination. Despite racial, linguistic, and gendered challenges that undermine professional credibility, participants resist marginalization by drawing on non-Western epistemologies, fostering inclusive dialogue, and contesting Eurocentric frameworks. By recognizing their positionality as AITEs and cultivating critical consciousness, participants engage in transformative acts of resistance and liberation. Their identities remain fluid across transnational contexts, positioning them as cultural and epistemological bridges (Coll et al., 2012). This study contributes to scholarship on AITEs’ intersectional experiences and advances critical multicultural education and institutional reform in higher education.
In Jordanian universities, English increasingly functions not only as a medium of instruction but also as a marker of cultural legitimacy and professional credibility. This study explores how accent, fluency, and performative competence shape students’ participation and sense of belonging in English as a Foreign Language graduate program. The analysis draws on semi-structured interviews and reflective narratives from twenty-four students enrolled in EFL-related graduate programs at two Jordanian universities. Students who entered university from urban and privately schooled backgrounds often described English fluency as an ordinary part of their educational experience, one that readily translated into academic confidence and professional recognition. By contrast, participants from public-school and rural contexts frequently reported monitoring their speech closely, worried that accent or pronunciation would expose them to judgment. Their accounts also reveal how classroom practices and institutional expectations quietly privilege native-like pronunciation and cosmopolitan communicative styles. Across these narratives, English emerges not as a neutral skill but as a cultural resource unevenly distributed across educational trajectories. Interpreted through the lenses of intersectionality, linguistic capital, and postcolonial critique, the findings suggest that English-medium higher education may reproduce existing inequalities unless pedagogical and policy reforms place greater emphasis on intelligibility, communicative competence, and linguistic inclusion.
This study aims to understand the challenges and obstacles Iranian migrant women face in their experiences with public services in Finland and how these challenges affect their cultural inclusion in Finnish society. The study draws on semi-structured face-to-face interviews with ten Iranian migrant women who have resided in Finland for 5 to 28 years, representing diverse backgrounds in terms of age, education, marital status, employment status, and migration pathways. The findings reveal multifaceted challenges that participants encounter in their sociocultural interactions, employment, and access to information in their engagement with public services in Finland, even after years of residence. In addition, the analysis highlights three cross-cutting barriers, language proficiency, limited social networks, and perceived or actual discrimination, that interconnect these challenges and significantly hinder migrants’ sense of belonging. By applying the Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EDI) framework, this study offers new insights into the structural and interpersonal dynamics that shape cultural inclusion, providing actionable recommendations for policymakers, public service providers, and community organizations to promote equitable and sustainable integration.
The current article presents a state-of-the-art review of peer-reviewed research published between 2014 and 2024 on English language use and cultural transformation in Qatar, authored by scholars affiliated with Qatari institutions and indexed in the Scopus and Web of Science databases. The review synthesizes a decade of empirical research to examine the sociocultural implications of English language instruction, particularly its role in reshaping linguistic hierarchies, cultural identity, and educational policy. Eighteen empirical studies were selected for their focus on English education and its broader societal effects. Drawing on postcolonial and sociolinguistic frameworks, the review identifies six thematic clusters: (1) English, identity, and power dynamics in schools; (2) student perspectives on bilingualism and language policy; (3) English in higher education and the workplace; (4) informal and digital avenues of English learning; (5) challenges in Arabic–English translation, including metaphorical and rhetorical disparities; and (6) English hegemony and its impact on national identity. The findings reveal English’s dual function as both a medium of global mobility and a mechanism of cultural dominance, often at the expense of the epistemological and symbolic standing of Arabic. By explicitly linking linguistic practices to broader socio-political dynamics, this review contributes original insight into the ideological dimensions of English use in Qatar, offering practical implications for language policy, bilingual education, and cultural preservation in postcolonial settings.
Mobility restrictions, cultural preservation, and intersectional marginalization are interrelated challenges that profoundly affect indigenous and nomadic populations. Restrictions on their movement through national borders, conservation measures, and development policies disrupt long-established spatial practices, economic systems, and kinship networks. While cultural preservation is essential for maintaining collective identity, it is often complicated by external interventions such as the commercialization of cultural heritage, state assimilation initiatives, and the pressures of globalization. The Moken, a traditionally semi-nomadic seafaring people of the Andaman Sea, are a prime example of these intersecting dynamics. Their experiences therefore provide an excellent case study for examining the intertwined dynamics of mobility, identity and marginality in today's maritime Southeast Asia. Field research conducted from November 2024 to March 2025 on the islands of Surin and Phayam has shown that the Moken's way of life has gradually shifted toward sedentarism. In this article, we argue that the preservation of the Moken's valuable cultural knowledge, both in terms of their profound understanding of their maritime environment and their sustainable use of natural resources, depends crucially on maintaining their "semi-nomadic" identity. However, as their ancestral habitat continues to shrink, they are at risk of losing not only their centuries-old identity but also their valuable cultural practices. This article focuses on the question of what remains of traditional spatial concepts and mobility patterns today and what new patterns have emerged because of changing living and environmental conditions.
The article examines the issues of religious assimilation and/or attempted segregation of the German population in the context of the intensified anti-religious policies of the Khrushchev era. The German population arrived in Kazakhstan in an organized manner in the 19th century. Having settled in the region, Germans established strong economic and cultural communities with their own cultural affiliation, ethnic identity, and religious institutions. During that period, as well as in the early Soviet era, the German population managed to preserve its religious identity, which served as a powerful unifying force under the conditions of “militant atheism”. However, in the 1950s-1960s, northern Kazakhstan became not only a region where, as a result of the Virgin and Fallow Lands campaign, a multi-ethnic society was formed but also a place where strict anti-religious state policies were implemented. The decisive and prohibitive stance of the Soviet authorities toward religious institutions significantly hindered Germans from fully adhering to their religious principles and national cultural values. This was particularly true for smaller religious communities such as Baptists, Mennonites, Seventh-Day Adventists, and Jehovists, who faced pressure not only from the Soviet authorities but also from larger religious groups, including German Catholics. As a result, we are observing a latent process of assimilation of certain communities (such as the Molokans and Sabbatarian Pentecostals) into larger religious associations. In some regions, this process was irreversible. At the same time, the examination of confidential reports from commissioners of the Council for Religious Affairs in northern Kazakhstan reveals the diverse adaptations of religious practices among the German population. Religious conflicts, resistance to assimilation, segregation, compromises with official authorities, and various other forms of internal and external interactions not only helped Germans retain their religious identity but also demonstrated the resilience of their religious traditions and rituals.
This study explores how Myanmar migrant workers experience marginalization shaped by the intersection of their social identities and migrant status, and how their shared religious identity with the Thai majority supports them in navigating this marginalization through the lens of translocational positionality. Three focus groups and in-depth interviews were conducted with 28 Myanmar migrant workers and 18 Thai locals, including Buddhist monks. Thematic analysis revealed that the workers faced legal and institutional vulnerability, economic exploitation, and cultural stigmatization, produced through the intersecting axes of nationality, legal and migrant status, cultural background, and transnational forces. Shared Buddhist identity with the host majority emerged as a strategic and symbolic resource through which Myanmar migrant workers navigated their marginalized status. Religious resemblance provided a sense of moral belonging, cultural familiarity, and access to religious spaces, which served as crucial platforms for coping with legal and economic challenges, creating safe cultural spaces, shifting economic and moral positioning, and cultivating a sense of belonging and a new ‘home’ in Thailand. This study highlights the translocational nature of migrants’ positioning—how they shift emphasis across identity markers depending on the social and institutional terrain they navigate.
