The Bosniak and Albanian minorities in postcommunist Montenegro have supported and been represented by mainstream Montenegrin parties more than by their ethnic parties. This stands in striking contrast to the situation in neighboring Serbia and North Macedonia where the Bosniak and Albanian minorities vote almost exclusively for their ethnic parties. The Montenegrin case stands out as deviant also when one considers a number of extant explanations, all of which would predict a different outcome. Montenegrin Bosniaks and Albanians constitute two native, sizeable and geographically concentrated minority groups inhabiting a country with an institutional framework and several special electoral arrangements favoring minority parties. Drawing on original data on Bosniak and Albanian legislators elected across 12 parliamentary elections in Montenegro (1990–2023), municipality and country-level parliamentary election results and 12 semi-structured elite interviews, I argue that what explains the deviance in the Montenegrin case is the peculiar nature of Montenegrin identity, specifically the fact that it does not pit the majority against minority, but rather it pits the Montenegrin and Serbian components of the Orthodox majority against each other and in such a context the non-Orthodox minorities become critical political allies of the Montenegrin bloc against the Serbian one.

This article begins with a folk idea, or stereotype, attached to the Hui Muslim minority in China: that of being violent. The analysis focuses on how ideas of ethnicity are contextualized in folk or popular narratives about violence. Specifically, cases presented in this article are narratives where different aspects of violence feature either positively or negatively: as a collective ethnic mark of being unreasonable, as martial spirit, as fighting prowess and so forth. This article argues that differently contextualized ideas of being violent or narratives about violent events enable Hui and non-Hui to not only establish ethnic turfs, but also to co-exist and merge ethnic boundaries, rendering ethnic borders open to redrawing and straddling.

In Europe, migrants and ethnic minority groups are at greater risk for mental disorders compared to the general population. However, little is known about which interventions improve their mental health and well-being and about their underlying mechanisms that reduce existing mental health inequities. To fill this gap, the aim of this scoping review was to synthesise the available evidence on health promotion, prevention, and non-medical treatment interventions targeting migrants and ethnic minority populations. By mapping and synthesising the findings, including facilitators and barriers for intervention uptake, this scoping review provides valuable insights for developing future interventions. We used the PICo strategy and PRISMA guidelines to select peer-reviewed articles assessing studies on interventions. In total, we included 27 studies and synthesised the results based on the type of intervention, intervention mechanisms and outcomes, and barriers and facilitators to intervention uptake. We found that the selected studies implemented tailored interventions to reach these specific populations who are at risk due to structural inequities such as discrimination and racism, stigma associated with mental health, language barriers, and problems in accessing health care. The majority of interventions showed a positive effect on participants’ mental health, indicating the importance of using a tailored approach. We identified three main successful mechanisms for intervention development and implementation: a sound theory-base, systematic adaption to make interventions culturally sensitive and participatory approaches. Moreover, this review indicates the need to holistically address social determinants of health through intersectoral programming to promote and improve mental health among migrants and ethnic minority populations. We identified current shortcomings and knowledge gaps within this field: rigorous intervention studies were scarce, there was a large diversity regarding migrant population groups and few studies evaluated the interventions’ (cost-)effectiveness.

The article analyses how population genetics has impacted on nationalist discourses across the Taiwan Straits and affected the relationship between Taiwan and China since the 1990s. In Taiwan this cutting-edge science has helped to construct a native-based and Taiwan-centred national identity through promoting indigenous peoples’ rights, rejecting a blood-based, cross-Straits nationalism, and founding a pan-Pacific indigenous peoples’ community through genetic links and cultural affinity. In China, after subverting the nationalist myth of Peking Man (a Homo erectus group believed to be the common ancestor of the Chinese) by analysing genetic data, the same group of Chinese genetic scientists have constructed another nationalist myth of a genetically homogenous nationhood. Such a discourse not only valorizes Chinese nationalism through claiming a DNA-based Chineseness across ethnic distinctions but also asserts genetic links between China and Taiwan, therefore providing a ‘scientific’ basis for China’s nationalism in the new century.

The aim of our study was to determine the distribution of hepatitis B virus (HBV) genotypes and subgenotypes in ethnic minorities in Yunnan province to provide evidence supporting the theoretical basis for hepatitis B prevention and control. We obtained serum samples and demographic data from 765 individuals reported by Yunnan province who had either acute or chronic HBV infection and were from one of 20 ethnic minority populations: Achang, Bai, Brown, Tibetan, Dai, Deang, Dulong, Hani, Hui, Jingpo, Lahu, Yi, Lisu Miao, Naxi, Nu, Pumi, Wa, Yao, or Zhuang people. We sequenced the HBV DNA and determined the genotypes and subgenotypes of the isolated HBVs. We mapped the genotype and subgenotype distribution by ethnic minority population and conducted descriptive analyses. There were four genotypes among the 20 ethnic groups: genotype B (21.3% of samples), C (76.6%), D (1.8%) and I (0.3%). The most common subgenotype was C1. There were no genotype differences by gender (P = 0.954) or age (P = 0.274), but there were differences by region (P < 0.001). There were differences in genotype distribution (P < 0.001) and subgenotype distribution (P = 0.011) by ethnic group. Genotype D was most prominent in Tibet and most HBV isolates were C/D recombinant viruses. The only two genotype I virus isolates were in Zhuang people. Susceptibility and geographic patterns may influence HBV prevalence in different ethnic populations, but additional research is needed for such a determination.

We study the link between residential segregation and fertility for the socially excluded and marginalized Roma ethnic minority. Using original survey data we collected in Serbia, we investigate whether fertility differs between ethnically homogeneous and mixed neighborhoods. Our results show that Roma in less-segregated areas tend to have significantly fewer children (around 0.8). Most of the difference arises from Roma in less-segregated areas waiting substantially more after having a boy than their counterparts in more-segregated areas. We exploit variation in the share of Serbian sounding first names to provide evidence that a mechanism at play is a shift in preferences toward lower fertility and sons rather than daughters induced by a higher exposure to the Serbian majority culture.

This article provides clinical guidelines for basic knowledge and skills essential for successful work with clients who have obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) across ethnic, racial and religious differences. We emphasise multiculturalist and anti-racist approaches and the role of culture in shaping the presentation of OCD in clients. Several competencies are discussed to help clinicians differentiate between behaviour that is consistent with group norms versus behaviour that is excessive and psychopathological in nature. Symptom presentation, mental health literacy and explanatory models may differ across cultural groups. The article also highlights the possibility of violating client beliefs and values during cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), and subsequently offers strategies to mitigate such problems, such as consulting community members, clergy, religious scholars and other authoritative sources. Finally, there is a discussion of how clinicians can help clients from diverse populations overcome a variety of obstacles and challenges faced in the therapeutic context, including stigma and cultural mistrust.

Recent reports indicate that the quality of care provided to immigrant and ethnic minority patients is not at the same level as that provided to majority group patients. Although the European Board of Medical Specialists recognizes awareness of cultural issues as a core component of the psychiatry specialization, few medical schools provide training in cultural issues. Cultural competence represents a comprehensive response to the mental health care needs of immigrant and ethnic minority patients. Cultural competence training involves the development of knowledge, skills, and attitudes that can improve the effectiveness of psychiatric treatment. Cognitive cultural competence involves awareness of the various ways in which culture, immigration status, and race impact psychosocial development, psychopathology, and therapeutic transactions. Technical cultural competence involves the application of cognitive cultural competence, and requires proficiency in intercultural communication, the capacity to develop a therapeutic relationship with a culturally different patient, and the ability to adapt diagnosis and treatment in response to cultural difference. Perhaps the greatest challenge in cultural competence training involves the development of attitudinal competence inasmuch as it requires exploration of cultural and racial preconceptions. Although research is in its infancy, there are increasing indications that cultural competence can improve key aspects of the psychiatric treatment of immigrant and minority group patients.