Ethnicity: Fluid and Permeable
The Shifting and Changing of Ethnic, National and Political Identity
Nov 12, 2006
Last week , we started revisiting the anthropology of belonging. In that first article, we explored questions asked by Emile Durkheim toward the end of the nineteenth century: What hold societies together, or what is the nature of solidarity? This week, we will take another look at those questions and explore notions of ethnicity.
Notions of Ethnicity
Ethnicity is usually based on kinship or blood ties. People of the same ethnicity generally, or traditionally, share a common regional or national origin. Language, clothing, livelihood and religion are often part of ethnicity. In a 1991 census, Since we define ethnicity often in terms of difference from other ethnic groups, this difference is very important. And of course, this difference in ethnicity can become a powerful and destructive political force. Ethnic conflicts can be, and often are, vicious.
Ethnic Identity: Fluid and Permeable
It is not uncommon for people to disguise their ethnic origins, especially if this identity is, for whatever reason, a liability. Furthermore, ethnic boundaries are not static and set. Instead, they are permeable and fluid. People can move back and forth across ethnic boundaries relatively easily- they are a lot less permanent than they might appear. And with an increasingly global world, religious, linguistic and customary difference between ethnic groups sometimes disappear, ethnic boundaries may be renegotiated or disappear altogether.
The Fluidity of Ethnic Identity: An Example
Even though Ethnicity means that a person shares certain qualities, characteristics or customs with a specific ethnic group, ethnic identity is multifaceted and personal.
An example: myself. Of Dutch descent, I married a Canadian. Our son was born in Canada but spends lots of time in the Netherlands and even went to school there. He speaks Dutch and celebrates Dutch holidays (in fact, our favorite one is coming up on December 5th: Saint Nicholas Day). My son's nationality, and my own for that matter, may be Canadian, but what is our ethnicity? Is it Canadian or Dutch? It depends. We identify ourselves differently. My son identifies himself, for the time being, as Canadian now, but who knows? This might change in the future.
Factors that Impact Ethnic Identity
There are other factors that influence our ethnic identity. Take soccer. No other factor can bring people back to their roots. While I see myself as Canadian, during the World Cup soccer, this quickly shifts. When the Orange Lion's play, I am Dutch. Another major influence are changes in political and national boundaries. An example is the shifting of political boundaries after WWII. When formerly German areas were handed over to Poland as agreed during the Potsdam agreement, the political and ethnic identity of the people living in those areas changed.
In Closing
Notions of ethnicity rank members of a community or society and they make people's chances in life harder or easier. We have seen however, that ethnic identity is not rigid or set. Instead, it is malleable and permeable both in terms of form and content. If this is true for ethnicity, what about race? More on the idea of race next week.
References
John Monaghan & Peter Just (2000). Social and Cultural Anthropology. A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press
