Ethnicity Identity And History

These essays examine the importance of historical consicousness and the role of historiography in ‘ethnic’ situations, exploring the many ways in which ethnic groups select history, write or rewrite it, rescue appropriate or ignore it, forget or traduce it. Drawing on expert knowledge of regions ranging from the Amazon to contemporary Germany, the contributors bring anthropological and historical understanding to answer these questions, and investigate major topics such as the relationship between ethnic, national and state identifications, and the cultural work of creating them. Examples include Afrikaaners and Northern Ireland Protestants, as well as Mormons and Catalans. Bringing together a variety of themes that have recently become the focus of study – ethnicity, the uses and nature of history and the likelihood of objectivity in historical telling – the book will be of great interest ot students in the social sciences, anthropology, politics, history and international relations.

These essays examine the importance of historical consicousness and the role of historiography in ‘ethnic’ situations, exploring the many ways in which ethnic groups select history, write or rewrite it, rescue appropriate or ignore it, forget or traduce it. Drawing on expert knowledge of regions ranging from the Amazon to contemporary Germany, the contributors bring anthropological and historical understanding to answer these questions, and investigate major topics such as the relationship between ethnic, national and state identifications, and the cultural work of creating them. Examples include Afrikaaners and Northern Ireland Protestants, as well as Mormons and Catalans. Bringing together a variety of themes that have recently become the focus of study – ethnicity, the uses and nature of history and the likelihood of objectivity in historical telling – the book will be of great interest ot students in the social sciences, anthropology, politics, history and international relations.

In a wide-ranging analysis of the drama of history, the importance of ethnicity, and Jewish identity, these essays explore areas of political and cultural disciplines fused with elegance in the work of the late eminent sociologist Werner J. Cahnman. The prominence of the American and European historians, philosophers, geographers, sociologists, and anthropologists in this volume represents evidence of the wide effect that Cahnman's work had on scholars in a number of fields in academic work. This volume will make timely and rewarding reading for social scientists and historians, especially those concerned with the religious factor. Contributors: Joseph B. Maier, Chaim I. Waxman, Louis Dumont, Karl Bosl, K.M. Bolte, Edmund Leites, Lewis S. Feuer, Lester Singer, Harriet D. Lyons, Andrew P. Lyons, Alvin Boskoff, Nathan Glazer, Irving Louis Horowitz, Herbert A. Strauss, William Spinrad, Calvin Goldscheider, Saul B. Cohen, and Emmanuel Maier.

The question of ethnicity is highly controversial in contemporary archaeology. The author responds to the need for a reassessment of the ways in which social groups are identified in the archeological record.

At the theoretical level, the chapters discuss the impact of ethnic studies and evolving theories of ethnicity on archiving practices; the effect of ethnic archiving on historical research; and the emergence of memory studies as a lens for understanding identity. Both contemporary and historical perspectives are included.

Ethnic elites, the influential business owners, teachers, and newspaper editors within distinct ethnic communities, play an important role as self-appointed mediators between their communities and “mainstream” societies. In Ethnic Elites and Canadian Identity, Aya Fujiwara examines the roles of Japanese, Ukrainian, and Scottish elites during the transition of Canadian identity from Anglo-conformity to ethnic pluralism. By comparing the strategies and discourses used by each community, including rhetoric, myths, collective memories, and symbols, she reveals how prewar community leaders were driving forces in the development of multiculturalism policy. In doing so, she challenges the widely held notion that multiculturalism was a product of the 1960s formulated and promoted by “mainstream” Canadians and places the emergence of Canadian multiculturalism within a transnational context.

"This collection of essays ... will allow readers to explore various aspects ... of the continent's history over the last two hundred years."--Book jacket.

In their later years, Americans of different racial and ethnic backgrounds are not in equally good-or equally poor-health. There is wide variation, but on average older Whites are healthier than older Blacks and tend to outlive them. But Whites tend to be in poorer health than Hispanics and Asian Americans. This volume documents the differentials and considers possible explanations. Selection processes play a role: selective migration, for instance, or selective survival to advanced ages. Health differentials originate early in life, possibly even before birth, and are affected by events and experiences throughout the life course. Differences in socioeconomic status, risk behavior, social relations, and health care all play a role. Separate chapters consider the contribution of such factors and the biopsychosocial mechanisms that link them to health. This volume provides the empirical evidence for the research agenda provided in the separate report of the Panel on Race, Ethnicity, and Health in Later Life.