Defining Ethnicity
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ARTICLE DEFINING ETHNICITY Timothy Baumann Timothy Baumann is an Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Missouri, St. Louis. hat is ethnicity? Ethnicity has been best defined with- ancestral land, as with diaspora peoples; and in cultural anthropology, but it has been a debated 6. a sense of solidarity on the part of at least some sections of Wtopic and there is no single definition or theory of the ethnie’s population how ethnic groups are formed. According to John Hutchinson and Anthony Smith (1996:4–5), the term “ethnicity” is relatively In a broader context, Gerald Berreman (1972, 1981) defines eth- new, first appearing in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1953, but nicity as one level of social stratification or social inequality that its English origins are connected to the term “ethnic,” which has also includes race, class, kinship, age, estate, caste, and gender. been in use since the Middle Ages. The true origins of “ethnic” Berreman provides clear distinctions between ethnicity and have been traced back to Greece and the term ethnos, which was race or class. Ethnicity is linked in a dichotic relationship with used in reference to band, tribe, race, a people, or a swarm. race. It is differentiated from race in that racial stratification is associated with birth-ascribed status based on physical and cul- In more recent colonial and immigrant history, the term “eth- tural characteristics defined by outside groups. Ethnicity is also nic” falls under the dichotomy of “Us” and “Them.” The “Us,” ascribed at birth, but the ethnic group normally defines its cul- the majority, are viewed as non-ethnics and the “Them,” new tural characteristics itself. Thus, racial categorizations, which immigrants or minorities, as ethnic. Variations of the term are defined by the outsider, are normally laced with inaccura- have developed, including ethnic identity, ethnic origin, ethno- cies and stereotypes, while ethnic classification is normally centrism, and ethnicism (Hutchinson and Smith 1996:4–5). more accurate of a cultural group because it is defined by the Ethnic identity or origin refers to an individual’s ancestral her- group itself. Yet, ethnic classifications can also be defined and itage. Ethnocentrism is a belief that your cultural community used by outside groups to stereotype an ethnic community in or ancestry is superior to all others, resulting in dislike or ways that are often oversimplified and that view ethnicity as a hatred of any material, behavioral, or physical characteristics static cultural process. Ethnicity is differentiated from class in different than your own. Ethnicism is defined as a “movement that “social class membership and ranking . is based on of protest and resistance on behalf of [ethnics] against oppres- attributes regarded as extrinsic to the people who comprise the sive and exploitative outsiders” (Hutchinson and Smith 1996:5). class. such as amount of income, occupation, education, consumption patterns, and ‘life-style’” (Berreman 1981:15). Overall, an ethnic group or ethnicity has been defined in Thus, an individual’s class is not predetermined at birth; an numerous ways. Hutchinson and Smith’s (1996:6–7) definition individual’s accomplishments during his or her life can help an of an ethnic group, or ethnie, consists of six main features that individual to rise or fall in social status within the community. include: Primordial and Instrumental Theories of Ethnicity 1. a common proper name, to identify and express the “essence” of the community; The work of Sian Jones (1997) contains one of the better sum- 2. a myth of common ancestry that includes the idea of com- maries of anthropological theories concerning ethnicity and its mon origin in time and place and that gives an ethnie a application to archaeology. Overall, Jones (1997:xiii) outlines sense of fictive kinship; three major terms related to “ethnic”: ethnicity, ethnic identity, 3. shared historical memories, or better, shared memories of a and ethnic group. Ethnicity is defined as “all those social and common past or pasts, including heroes, events, and their psychological phenomena associated with a culturally con- commemoration; structed group identity.” Ethnic identity is defined as “that 4. one or more elements of common culture, which need not be aspect of a person’s self-conceptualization which results from specified but normally include religion, customs, and lan- identification with a broader group in opposition to others on guage; the basis of perceived cultural differentiation and/or common 5. a link with a homeland, not necessarily its physical occupa- descent.” An ethnic group is classified as “any group of people tion by the ethnie, only its symbolic attachment to the who set themselves apart and/or are set apart by others with 12 The SAA Archaeological Record • September 2004 ARTICLE whom they interact or co-exist on the basis of their perceptions variety of ethnic heritages and cultures to form their own indi- of cultural differentiation and/or common ancestry.” vidual or group identities” (Hutchinson and Smith 1996:9). Instrumentalist theory has been characterized as concerned Within her work, Jones (1997) summarizes and critiques the “with the role of ethnicity in the mediation of social relations two major theoretical paradigms of ethnicity—“primordialists” and the negotiation of access to resources, primarily economic and “instrumentals”—and suggests an alternative approach that and political resources” (Jones 1997:72). Jones (1974:75) argues combines portions of both in “practice theory.” Primordialists that instrumentalists fall into two categories: “those who focus believe that ethnicity is a natural phenomenon with its founda- on the socio-structural and cultural dimensions of ethnicity tions in family and kinship ties (Geertz 1963; Shils 1957); eth- and adopt a more objectivist approach; and those who focus on nicity emerges out of nepotism and reproductive fitness, nar- the interpersonal and behavioral aspects of ethnicity and take a rowing down the social concept into biological terms. A model more subjectivist stance.” by Isaacs (1974), for example, developed “a concept of primor- dial ties as a means of explaining the power and persistence of The origins of the instrumentalist movement has been tied to ethnic identity which he called ‘basic group identity’” (Jones the work of Fredrik Barth (1969) and Abner Cohen (1974). 1997:65–66). Isaacs’s basic group identity was linked to ethnic Barth viewed ethnic identity as an “individualistic strategy” in identity, which was argued to be assigned at birth and more fun- which individuals move from one identity to another to damental and natural than other social links. An added compo- “advance their personal economic and political interests, or to nent of Isaacs’s model is a psychological theory that addresses minimize their losses” (Jones 1997:74). Following Barth, eth- conflict between intertribal or ethnic groups. This latter concept nic identity forms through boundary maintenance and interac- is often tied to nationalist movements in modern societies. tion between individuals. Depending on each social interac- tion, a person’s ethnic identity can be perceived or presented in A major critique of the primordialist’s origins of ethnicity has various ways. Overall, interaction between individuals does not been that it represents a very static and naturalistic viewpoint. lead to an assimilation or homogenization of culture. Instead, It does not take into account culture process and other social cultural diversity and ethnic identity are still maintained, but factors that manipulate or formulate ethnic communities. in a nonstatic form. Cultural traits and even individuals can Jones (1998:68–72) summarizes four major critiques of pri- cross over ethnic boundaries, which in turn can transform an mordialist theory: ethnic group over time. 1. Primordial approaches are either too general or too obscure In contrast to Barth, Cohen (1974) “placed [a] greater emphasis to possess a great deal of explanatory power; “the intangible on the ethnic group as a collectively organized strategy for the aspects of the primordial approach constitute at best ex post protection of economic and political interests” (Jones 1997:74). facto argument. In searching for the givens of social exis- Ethnic groups share common interests, and in pursuit of these tence, the primordial approach explains everything and interests they develop “basic organizational functions: distinc- nothing.” tiveness or boundaries; communication; authority structure; 2. Primordial approaches suggest that ethnic identity is a decision making procedure; ideology; and socialization” determining and immutable dimension of an individual’s (Cohen 1974:xvi–xvii). Overall, Jones (1997:74) suggests that self-identity because the primordial attachments that under- both Barth and Cohen “focus on the organizational features of lie ethnicity are involuntary and coercive. However, such an ethnicity, and ethnicity is regarded as constituting the shared approach cannot explain the fluid nature of ethnic bound- beliefs and practices that provide a group with the boundary aries, the situational quality of ethnic identity at the level of maintenance and organizational dimensions necessary to individual, nor the fact that the importance of ethnicity maintain, and compete for, socioeconomic resources.” itself varies significantly in different social contexts and between different individuals. Jones (1997:76–79) outlines five major critiques of instrumen-