Recap

Trouble with primordialism

Constructivism

What do they share?

Ethnic/racial groups divided by real differences in:

• culture
• language
• tradition
• traits
• ancestry

Dynamics of real ethnic/racial groups drives politics

Groups sometimes change quickly

• Creole in Louisiana
• Irish in US
• Muhajirs in Pakistan

Are ethnic/racial groups actually divided by their traits and culture?

A Puzzle for Primordialism:

A Puzzle for Primordialism:

• Religious differences are "real" social, cultural, economic divides
• Ancestral cities share traditions, culture, language

BUT

• Ancestral cities are the relevant ethnic identity in Yorubaland

A Puzzle for Primordialism:

Why do ethnic groups persist in absence of major cultural differences while other groupings with major cultural differences remain irrelevant?

There are different ethnic identities available to the same people: which are relevant?

Constructivist definition of race/ethnicity

constructivism is not a unified theory

a group of theories/definitions that agree:

ethnicity/race is an identity that is based on descent

1. people have multiple ethnic identities
2. these identities can change (individuals, structure)
3. and groups are not necessarily culturally homogeneous

Thus,

• not "natural", but produced through political, economic, cultural processes

instrumentalist theory of race/ethnicity:

a constructivist theory that suggests:

1. individuals are motivated by economic and political gains

2. ethnic groups are an easy way to organize and coordinate to win elections, mobilize to improve benefits/business

3. because ethnicity is changable and shared traditions invented

4. ethnic groups change quickly as people (rationally) make them large enough to win elections/business, but small enough to maximize the benefit to each member (minimum winning coalition)

Ethnic groups can change whenever political and economic incentives change

Chewas and Tumbukas in Malawi and Zambia

1. What do we mean that people have multiple identities?
2. To what extent is ethnic identity really changable?
   • Are they changing between their "multiple identities"?
   • Are they switching to an entirely different identity?