The Political Anthropology of Ethnic and Religious Minorities

The Political Anthropology of Ethnic and Religious Minorities PDF

Author: Arpad Szakolczai

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2018-12-07

Total Pages: 237

ISBN-13: 1351209175

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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 Politics and Practice of Religious Diversity

The Politics and Practice of Religious Diversity PDF

Author: Andrew Dawson

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2016-04-20

Total Pages: 222

ISBN-13: 1317648641

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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 as a Political Resource

Ethnicity as a Political Resource PDF

Author: University of Cologne Forum »Ethnicity as a Political Resource«

Publisher: transcript Verlag

Published: 2015-08-31

Total Pages: 261

ISBN-13: 3839430135

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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

Published: 2011-11-11

Total Pages: 381

ISBN-13: 9004207422

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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

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 276

ISBN-13:

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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.

Ethnic China

Ethnic China PDF

Author: Xiaobing Li

Publisher:

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781498507288

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Ethnic China examines the ongoing minority protests in China from the perspective of Chinese-American scholars in fields ranging from economics to anthropology.The contributors introduce and explore policy patterns, political systems, and social institutions by identifying key...

Religious Minorities in the Middle East

Religious Minorities in the Middle East PDF

Author: Anne Sofie Roald

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2011-11-11

Total Pages: 380

ISBN-13: 9004216847

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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.

Ethnicity and the State

Ethnicity and the State PDF

Author: Judith D. Toland

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-07-28

Total Pages: 233

ISBN-13: 135129458X

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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.

Representing Muslims

Representing Muslims PDF

Author: Sean McLoughlin

Publisher:

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 9780745314327

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--Explores the tensions and contradictions facing ethnic minorities in a multicultural society--Representing Muslims explores the tensions and contradictions facing ethnic minorities in a multicultural society, particularly when those communities assert rights that the majority would often prefer they went without - the right to express their Islamic identity and culture in ways which sometimes disturb and challenge prevailing notions of what it means to be British.McLoughlin sets the debates around Muslim religious identity and cultural politics in the wider context of contemporary ideas about globalization and diaspora, community and hybridity. In four different case studies he considers some of the ways in which Muslims are seeking to represent their identity to the state, wider society and each other. He also examines the ways in which Muslim identity is contextualised and cross-cut by a variety of sometimes conflicting notions of ethnicity, class, gender and generation.

The Politics of Difference

The Politics of Difference PDF

Author: Edwin Norman Wilmsen

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 1996-08

Total Pages: 221

ISBN-13: 0226900177

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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.