Ethnicity |
A term for group identity that came into use in anthropology in the 1950's, primarily to describe aspects of the processes of modernization going on in Africa (see the Manchester School). The concept received its modern form after Barth's anthology Ethnic Groups and Boundaries (1969). Barth here describes ethnicity as a contrastive category. I am "Norwegian" because I see myself (and / or: I am seen) in contrast to e.g. Saami or Swedes. Ethnicity is thus a concept describing a particular way of drawing boundaries between groups, in contrast to culture, which is the meaningful "contents", the "life-world" which the boundaries contain.