The Tenacity Of Ethnicity

Marjorie Mandelstam Balzer combines extensive field research with historical inquiry to produce a dramatic study of a minority people in Russia, the Khanty (Ostiak) of Northwest Siberia. Although First Nations, indigenous peoples, have often been victims of expansionist state-building, Balzer shows that processes of acquiring ethnic identity can involve transcending victimhood. She brings Khanty views of their history and current life into focus, revealing multiple levels of cultural activism. She argues that anthropological theory and practice can derive from indigenous insights, and should help indigenous peoples. Balzer brings to life the saga of the Khanty over several centuries. She analyzes trends in Siberian ethnic interaction that strongly affected minority lives: colonization, Christianization, revitalization, Sovietization, and regionalization. These processes incorporate suprastate and state politics, including recent devastations stemming from the energy industry's land thefts. Balzer documents changes that might seem to foreshadow the demise of indigenous ethnicity. Yet the final chapters reveal ways some Khanty have preserved cultural values and dignity in crisis. Khanty identity has varied with the politics of individuals, groups, and generations. It has been shaped by recent grass-roots mobilization, ecological activism, and religious revival, as well as older historical memory, language-based solidarity, and loyalty to a homeland. The Tenacity of Ethnicity demonstrates how at each historical turn, Siberian experiences shed new light on old debates concerning colonialism, conversion, revitalization, ethnicity, and nationalism. This volume will be important for political scientists, historians, and regional specialists, as well as anthropologists and sociologists.

"A welcome and brilliantly crafted overview of this field. It represents a major advance in our understanding of how ethnicity works in specific social and cultural contexts. The second edition will be an invaluable resource for both students and researchers alike." - John Solomos, City University, London The first edition of Rethinking Ethnicity quickly established itself as a popular text for students of ethnicity and ethnic relations. This fully revised and updated second edition adds new material on globalization and the recent debates about whether ethnicity matters and ethnic groups actually exist. While ethnicity - as a social construct - is imagined, its effects are far from imaginary. Jenkins draws on specific examples to demonstrate the social mechanisms that construct ethnicity and the consequences for people′s experience. Drawing upon rich case study material, the book discusses such issues as: the ′myth′ of the plural society; postmodern notions of difference; the relationship between ethnicity, ′race′ and nationalism; ideology; language; violence and religion; and the everyday construction of national identity.

Drawing upon wide-ranging case study material, the book explores the ever-changing personal and cultural identity of Chinese migrants and the diverse cosmopolitan communities they create. The various models of newly-forged communities are examined with the added dimension of personal identity and the individual's place in society. With particular emphasis on the changing face of Chinese ethnicity in a range of established places of convergence, Chan draws on extensive experience and knowledge in the field to bring the reader a fresh, fascinating and ultimately very human analysis of migration, culture, identity and the self.

"This book is very well written and clearly organized throughout. It is pitched at upper-level undergraduate and graduate-level race and ethnicity students...in sum, this is an important book, highly recommended to students and faculty alike. The authors draw extensively from classic and contemporary sociological theory throughout the text and maintain a transnational focus in each and every chapter." —TEACHING SOCIOLOGY Ethnicity and Race: Making Identities in a Changing World, Second Edition uses examples and extended case studies from all over the world to craft a compelling, even-handed account of the power and persistence of ethnicity and race in the contemporary world. Known for its conceptual clarity, world-historical scope, and fair-minded treatment of these oft controversial topics, this updated and expanded edition retains all of the core elements and constructionist insights of the original.

With different histories, cultures, languages, and identities, most Americans of Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, and Vietnamese origin are lumped together and viewed by other Americans simply as Asian Americans. Since the mid 1960s, however, these different Asian American groups have come together to promote and protect both their individual and their united interests. The first book to examine this particular subject, Asian American Panethnicity is a highly detailed case study of how, and with what success, diverse national-origin groups can come together as a new, enlarged panethnic group. Yen Le Espiritu explores the construction of large-scale affiliations, in which previously unrelated groups submerge their differences and assume a common identity. Making use of extensive interviews and statistical data, she examines how Asian panethnicity protects the rights and interests of all Asian American groups, including those, like the Vietnamese and Cambodians, which are less powerful and prominent than the Chinese and Japanese. By citing specific examples—educational discrimination, legal redress, anti-Asian violence, the development of Asian American Studies programs, social services, and affirmative action—the author demonstrates how Asian Americans came to understand that only by cooperating with each other would they succeed in fighting the racism they all faced.

This highly readable book offers the first comprehensive definition of the field of ethnic studies, covering both the major issues of the field and its theoretical and methodological approaches. Ethnic Studies traces the origins and evolution of the discipline in the United States and maps its domain. The majority of the work considers central issues in ethnicity such as identity, stratification, adaptation, discrimination, racism, segregation, conflict, ethnicity and politics; and race, class and gender. For each issue, key concepts are introduced, main dimensions outlined, empirical evidence presented, theoretical approaches discussed, and often an alternative perspective is suggested. Yang highlights several current issues in ethnic studies such as affirmative action, illegal/legal immigration, and bilingual education and the English-only movement. He concludes that rather than a divisive force, ethnic studies is, and should be, a discipline that enhances our understanding of ethnic groups and their interrelations and strengthens interethnic and national unity based on ethnic diversity.

Covering countries ranging from Afghanistan and China to Kazakhstan and Russia, this encyclopedia supplies detailed information and informed perspectives, enabling readers to comprehend Asian ethnic groups as well as Asian politics and history. Asia is quickly becoming one of the most important regions of the world—culturally, economically, and politically. This work provides encyclopedic coverage of a wide array of Central, North, and East Asian ethnic groups, including those in eastern Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, China, Taiwan, Japan, and the Koreas. Arranged alphabetically by ethnic group, each entry provides an overview of the group that identifies its major population centers and population, primary languages and religions, parallels with other groups, origins and early development, major historic events, and cultural belief systems. Information on each group's typical ways of life, relations with neighboring groups, politics and recent history, notable challenges, demographic trends, and key figures is also included. Special attention is focused on the numerous ethnic groups that make up China, one of the world's most populated countries. Sidebars throughout the text provide fascinating facts and information about specific groups to make the encyclopedia more accessible and appealing, while "Further Reading" sections at the end of each entry and the bibliography will provide ample additional resources for students performing in-depth research.