The Political Anthropology of Ethnic and Religious Minorities

The Political Anthropology of Ethnic and Religious Minorities PDF Author: Arpad Szakolczai
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351209175
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 237

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Book Description
This book presents some arguments for why a political anthropological perspective can be particularly helpful for understanding the connected political and cultural challenges and opportunities posed by the situation of ethnic and religious minorities. The first chapter shortly introduces the major anthropological concepts used, including liminality, trickster, imitation and schismogenesis; concepts that are used together with approaches of historical sociology and genealogy, especially concerning the rise and fall of empires, and their lasting impact. The conceptual framework suggested here is particularly helpful for understanding how marginal places can become liminal, appearing suddenly at the center of political attention. The introduction also shows the manner in which minority existence can problematize the depersonalizing tendencies of modern globalization. Subsequent chapters demonstrate how the described political anthropological conceptual framework can be used in certain European regions, and in the case of certain ethnic and religious minority, and each illustrates that instead of charismatic leaders, trickster politicians are emerging and increasingly dominate, through the "public sphere", the space of modern politics emptied of real presence. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Nationalism and Ethnic Politics.

The Political Anthropology of Ethnic and Religious Minorities

The Political Anthropology of Ethnic and Religious Minorities PDF Author: Arpad Szakolczai
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351209175
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 237

Get Book

Book Description
This book presents some arguments for why a political anthropological perspective can be particularly helpful for understanding the connected political and cultural challenges and opportunities posed by the situation of ethnic and religious minorities. The first chapter shortly introduces the major anthropological concepts used, including liminality, trickster, imitation and schismogenesis; concepts that are used together with approaches of historical sociology and genealogy, especially concerning the rise and fall of empires, and their lasting impact. The conceptual framework suggested here is particularly helpful for understanding how marginal places can become liminal, appearing suddenly at the center of political attention. The introduction also shows the manner in which minority existence can problematize the depersonalizing tendencies of modern globalization. Subsequent chapters demonstrate how the described political anthropological conceptual framework can be used in certain European regions, and in the case of certain ethnic and religious minority, and each illustrates that instead of charismatic leaders, trickster politicians are emerging and increasingly dominate, through the "public sphere", the space of modern politics emptied of real presence. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Nationalism and Ethnic Politics.

Ethnicity as a Political Resource

Ethnicity as a Political Resource PDF Author: University of Cologne Forum »Ethnicity as a Political Resource«
Publisher: transcript Verlag
ISBN: 3839430135
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 261

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Book Description
How is ethnicity viewed by scholars of different academic disciplines? Can its emergences be compared in various regions of the world? How can it be conceptualized with specific reference to distinct historical periods? This book shows in a uniquely and innovative way the broad range of approaches to the political uses of ethnicity, both in contemporary settings and from a historical perspective. Its scope is multidisciplinary and spans across the globe. It is a suitable resource for teaching material. With its short contributions, it conveys central points of how to understand and analyze ethnicity as a political resource.

Religious Minorities in the Middle East

Religious Minorities in the Middle East PDF Author: Anh Nga Longva
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004207422
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 381

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Book Description
Focusing on the situation of both Muslim and non-Muslim religious minorities in the Middle East, this volume offers an analysis of various strategies of resilience and accommodation from a historical as well a contemporary perspective.

Perspectives on Race, Ethnicity, and Religion

Perspectives on Race, Ethnicity, and Religion PDF Author: Valerie Martinez-Ebers
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN:
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
Perspectives on Race, Ethnicity, and Religion is an introductory anthology that examines the history, current issues, and dynamics of minority groups in the United States. Featuring contributions from authors who are not only experts in their fields--which include political science, sociology, history, and religion--but who also belong to the minority groups about which they are writing, this collection provides students with the context to evaluate the roles that race, ethnicity, and religion play in the outcomes of American politics. Perspectives on Race, Ethnicity, and Religion offers students a uniquely personal yet scientifically informed look at this significant subject. It also demonstrates how the structure and operation of our political system can obstruct the efforts of these groups to gain the full benefits of freedom and equal treatment promised under the American Constitution.

The Politics and Practice of Religious Diversity

The Politics and Practice of Religious Diversity PDF Author: Andrew Dawson
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317648641
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 222

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Book Description
The Politics and Practice of Religious Diversity engages with one of the most characteristic features of modern society. An increasingly prominent and potentially contentious phenomenon, religious diversity is intimately associated with contemporary issues such as migration, human rights, social cohesion, socio-cultural pluralisation, political jurisdiction, globalisation, and reactionary belief systems. This edited collection of specially-commissioned chapters provides an unrivalled geographical coverage and multidisciplinary treatment of the socio-political processes and institutional practices provoked by, and associated with, religious diversity. Alongside chapters treating religious diversity in the ‘BRIC’ countries of Brazil, Russia, India and China, are contributions which discuss Australia, Finland, Mexico, South Africa, the UK, and the United States. This book provides an accessible, distinctive and timely treatment of a topic which is inextricably linked with modern society’s progressively diverse and global trajectory. Written and structured as an accessible volume for the student reader, this book is of immediate interest to both academics and laypersons working in mainstream and political sociology, sociology of religion, human geography, politics, area studies, migration studies and religious studies.

Ethnicity and the State

Ethnicity and the State PDF Author: Judith D. Toland
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 135129458X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
Modern states have evolved as complex political structures in which unitary forms of government maintain an uncertain equilibrium with ethnically plural societies. Historically, ruling elites have tried with little success to eradicate ethnicity through genocide, bury it under accusations of tribalism, discredit it with the mind-frame of modernization, or confine it to local rather than national political arenas. This broad-ranging volume examines the dynamics of ethnic manipulation and accommodation by dominant and subordinate groups in the state-building process. Ethnicity and the State reflects the widely varying political contexts and cultures in which reasons of state contend with unyielding ethnic allegiances. European, South American, Asian, and Middle Eastern examples reveal a consistent set of themes and attitudes. The authors find that while the state must realize its authority and stability through a strictly defined charter of rights and values, ethnic identity exercises its power more freely and flexibly. The sense of peoplehood may be artificially constructed in response to immediate need, or it may be ancient and organic, growing over time. It has the potential to cut across race, class, and gender. Its central tenets and myths may be reinterpreted, recreated, enlarged upon, or modified as the political situation warrants. Flexibility of belief and the need to identify with a larger group account both for the durability of ethnic loyalty and its vulnerability to manipulation. This volume is particularly timely at a moment when national governments in many parts of the world must face the adoption of more equitable forms of rule to hold their ethnically diverse societies together. Taken together, the analyses presented here warn against institutionalizing ethnic strife and offer a vision of how the state may foster expectations and policies that serve the interests of all ethnic groups within their borders. Political scientists, historians, and anthropologists will find this book valuable for its interpretations of forces that continue to reshape the social and political fabric of the world.

The Politics of Difference

The Politics of Difference PDF Author: Edwin Norman Wilmsen
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226900177
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 221

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Book Description
According to most social scientists, the advent of a global media village and the rise of liberal democratic government would diminish ethnic and national identity as a source of political action. Yet the contemporary world is in the midst of an explosion of identity politics and often violent ethnonationalism. This volume examines cases ranging from the well-publicized ethnonationalism of Bosnia and post-Apartheid South Africa to ethnic conflicts in Belgium and Sri Lanka. Distinguished international scholars including John Comaroff, Stanley J. Tambiah, and Ernesto Laclau argue that continued acceptance of imposed ethnic terms as the most appropriate vehicle for collective self-identification and social action legitimizes the conditions of inequality that give rise to them in the first place. This ambitious attempt to explain the inadequacies of current approaches to power and ethnicity forges more realistic alternatives to the volatile realities of social difference.

Public Commissions on Cultural and Religious Diversity

Public Commissions on Cultural and Religious Diversity PDF Author: Marie Claire Foblets
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 9781032095370
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
In several Western countries, expert commissions composed of academics, public figures, politicians and community organisers, have been established by governments or civil society to reflect on the changes and challenges of an increasingly plural society. This book focuses on the experiences of expert commissions in the UK, France, Quebec and Be

Islam and Ethnicity in Northern Kenya and Southern Ethiopia

Islam and Ethnicity in Northern Kenya and Southern Ethiopia PDF Author: Günther Schlee
Publisher: James Currey
ISBN: 9781782042150
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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Book Description
The recent ethnic violence in Kenya has been preceded by a process of territorialization and politicization of ethnicity. This study examines a marginalized part of Kenya, the semi-arid north inhabited by pastoralists of three language groups - speakers of Oromo, Somali, and Rendille. It spans different periods of time, from early processes of ethnic differentiation between groups, through the colonial period when differences were reflected in administrative policies, to recent times, when global minority discourses, particularly those related to Islam, are tapped by local political agents and ethnic entrepreneurs. A companion volume to Pastoralism and Politics in Northern Kenya and Southern Ethiopia, this book is based on over thirty-four years of field research and synthesizes findings from history and political anthropology. Günther Schlee is director of the Department of 'Integration and Conflict', Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle, Germany; Abdullahi Shongolo is an independent scholar based in Kenya.

Difference and Sameness as Modes of Integration

Difference and Sameness as Modes of Integration PDF Author: Günther Schlee
Publisher: Berghahn Books
ISBN: 1785337165
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
What does it mean to “fit in?” In this volume of essays, editors Günther Schlee and Alexander Horstmann demystify the discourse on identity, challenging common assumptions about the role of sameness and difference as the basis for inclusion and exclusion. Armed with intimate knowledge of local systems, social relationships, and the negotiation of people’s positions in the everyday politics, these essays tease out the ways in which ethnicity, religion and nationalism are used for social integration.