Ethnicity: Racism, Class and Culture

The phrase 'ethnic groupO is now part of daily news and political discourse. More ominously, the term Oethnic cleansingO has entered the language in the aftermath of the collapse of Yugoslavia. Despite phrases such as this, we often think of ethnic difference as benign_whether exemplified in food, dress, or music. But is it? Are the kinds of sentiments that we call ethnic_or national_as potentially destructive as those we call racist? Are marches and drumbeats heartwarming traditional rituals or the signs of bitter division? Many books on ethnicity and racism have concentrated on a single country. This book takes the reader through key analytical debates drawing on a range of case study material from around the globe, including: Britain and migration; America as a post-slavery society; HawaiOi as a land dispossession society; and Malaysia as a OpluralO post-colonial society. In doing so, it addresses the question of whether there is a universal resurgence of ethnicity and coolly addresses competing theories of ethnicity and racism. Providing the reader with a clear conceptual frame within which to see long-standing debates afresh, it will be of relevance and value to both students in a range of social sciences and to specialists in the field.