Thomas Hylland Eriksen

Modernity-an Ethnographic Approach: Dualism and Mass Consumption in Trinidad.

Trinidad and modernity modernity as a general property Christmas, carnival and temporal consciousness household as cultural idiom mass consumption - origins and articulations modernity as a specific condition.

Common Denominators: Ethnicity, Nation-Building and Compromise in Mauritius

This book seeks to enhance comparative understandings of ethnicity, to refine theories of nationalism, and to contribute to ongoing debates on multiculturalism, identity politics and creolization. Mauritius, an Indian Ocean island-state with a population of about one million, provides a fascinating focus for this comprehensive study of social identity and political culture. Fifteen languages are officially spoken on the island, and four world religions are represented, as well as a high number of ethnic groups. The author argues that the social importance of ethnicity depends not only on political and economic circumstances, but also on kinship organization, and shows how ethnicity is expressed through the idioms of language and religion. However, it is also shown how ethnic identity may be superseded by other forms of belongingness and politics in the contemporary age. Nationhood, gender, class and individualism are all examined for the role they play in social organization and the formation of collective identity. Multiethnic and peaceful, the pace of social change in Mauritius has been rapid throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The ways in which Mauritians negotiate the relationship between ethnic, national and other identities in forging a surprisingly stable and democratic society, and the peculiar tensions which arise in the interface between the ethnic and the non-ethnic, ought to be familiar to anyone concerned with the future of multiethnic societies.

Formal and informal nationalism

Abstract This article argues that nationalism is an essentially dual phenomenon with its crucial loci in the formal organization of the state on the one hand, and in civil society on the other. Formal nationalism is connected with the demands of the modern nation‐state, including bureaucratic organization and meritocratic ideology, cultural uniformity and political consensus among the inhabitants. Informal nationalism is identified in collective events, such as ritual celebrations and international sports competitions, taking place in civil society. Both these aspects of nationalism have been discussed in the recent literature, but it has not been common to distinguish between them. It is argued here that the two nationalisms are not reducible to each other; both are equally ‘authentic’, but they can be contradictory. Although the discussion is intended to have general relevance for theories of nationalism, it draws its empirical material from nationalist ideologies in two recently invented, poly‐ethnic n...

Linguistic Hegemony and Minority Resistance

On the one hand, cultural differences in the contemporary world seem to vanish rapidly. This is effected through homogenizing processes of economic and political integration into nation-states and into the global system, as well as the globalization of culture brought about through modern means of mass communication. On the other hand, recent decades have seen the widespread resurgence of ethnic sentiments and the revitalization of local cultural identities. This apparent paradox is here seen as an inherent aspect of modernity. The processes of integration into nation-states puts strong pressures on minorities to assimilate. For this reason, many minority languages are threatened. The article compares the situation of several linguistic minorities, focusing on their relationship with the nation-states to which they are subjected, their strategies of resistance, and problems in challenging linguistic hegemony. Perhaps paradoxically, cultural minorities may have to assimilate culturally in important respects in order to present their case effectively and thereby retain their minority identity. A main conclusion emerging from the comparisons is that states need not be nation-states relying on nationalist ideologies proclaiming the virtues of absolute cultural homogeneity. Although they may be unspectacular, forms of linguistic oppression are forms of oppression no less, and they demand the attention of peace and conflict researchers.

We and Us: Two Modes of Group Identification*

This essentially theoretical essay is intended as a contribution to the ongoing discussion on the relationship between social identification and enemy images. Empirical material from Mauritius is used to illuminate various dimensions of identification, and a number of general points are made: First, identification shifts circumstantially and is contingent on symbolic legitimation as well as personal experiences. Second, and perhaps less evidently, the composition of groups shifts accordingly - both as relevant system boundaries change and as perceived social contrasts change. Third, identification is contingent on two basic mechanisms: we-hood or internal principles for cohesion, and us-hood or contrasting with others. Fourth, the encouragement of multiple loyalties may reduce conflict potential.

Nationalism, Mauritian Style: Cultural Unity and Ethnic Diversity

Nationalism is a kind of ideology (or secular religion) which holds that there should be congruence between cultural boundaries and political ones (Gellner 1983; Anderson 1991 [1983]). This essay discusses what such congruence should entail; notably, whether or not it necessarily means that the members of a nation ought to belong to the same ethnic group for the concept of nationhood to be meaningful. The empirical material to be discussed in some detail derives from Mauritius, a polyethnic island state which is probably less atypical, globally speaking, than European evidence on nationalism may suggest. A main contention in the present essay is that nationalisms quite different from the European ones are being developed in various countries. Particular nationalisms, and perhaps especially emergent ones, ought therefore to be examined comparatively.

Complexity in social and cultural integration: Some analytical dimensions

Abstract Although the term complexity1 is often drawn into debates and research on migration and ethnicity, it is rarely examined – unlike the term culture, which has been scrutinised extensively. This article, which is theoretical rather than empirical, sets out to do two things: To distinguish between different meanings of complexity, and to show how complexity – a seemingly fuzzy term – can be operationalised in research on contemporary majority – minority relations. Arguing that a multidimensional approach is necessary, the author distinguishes between majority and minority perspectives, between enforced and chosen processes of integration/segregation, and between social and cultural dimensions. It is only if all these dimensions and their interrelationships are taken into account that a sufficiently nuanced (complex) description is possible.Abstract Although the term complexity1 is often drawn into debates and research on migration and ethnicity, it is rarely examined – unlike the term culture, which has been scrutinised extensively. This article, which is theoretical rather than empirical, sets out to do two things: To distinguish between different meanings of complexity, and to show how complexity – a seemingly fuzzy term – can be operationalised in research on contemporary majority – minority relations. Arguing that a multidimensional approach is necessary, the author distinguishes between majority and minority perspectives, between enforced and chosen processes of integration/segregation, and between social and cultural dimensions. It is only if all these dimensions and their interrelationships are taken into account that a sufficiently nuanced (complex) description is possible.

Linguistic diversity and the quest for national identity: The case of Mauritius

Abstract The subject of the article is the tension between nationalism and ethnicity as rival ideologies in a changing society, viewed through the cultural idiom of language. Drawing on fieldwork in Mauritius, the author sets out to elucidate consequences of language use and language policies for ethnic relations and nationalist ideology. The first part is a description and analysis of the language situation in Mauritius, a multi‐ethnic society where different ethnic groups relate to various languages in different ways. Spoken language is not a marker of ethnicity since virtually everybody speaks Kreol – a French‐lexicon Creole that is rarely written. Instead, ethnic strategies are mobilized with regard to the choice of ancestral languages in the definition of self, in the controversy over national languages, and in the educational system. The second part discusses the potential of Kreol as a national language and as a vehicle of ethnic co‐operation and national ideology. The complex and ambivalent attitu...

Software, sports day and sheera: Culture and identity processes within a global software organization in India

Abstract Global software organizations (GSO) represent one kind of workplace setting within the new economy. Employing information technology (IT) professionals engaged in global software development work, these workplaces are not only rational, information-based structures, but also actively create and nurture social and symbolic frameworks for their employees. An in-depth, interpretative case study of a GSO located in Mumbai, India, was used in order to understand how these frameworks constitute and are constituted by various kinds of coexisting cultures. Four kinds of cultures — corporate culture, IT work culture, national culture and primordial cultures — were identified through an interpretive analysis of the empirical material. The dynamics and intersections of these cultures within this workplace were seen to relate to how GSOs, as well as IT workers, construct their respective identities. An understanding, of these dynamics, has both theoretical and practical implications.

The concept of neoliberalism has become an obstacle to the anthropological understanding of the twenty?first century

The following discussion developed from a debate held on the motion: ?The concept of neoliberalism has become an obstacle to the anthropological understanding of the twenty-first century?, held at the 2012 meeting of the Group for Debates in Anthropological Theory (GDAT) at the University of Manchester. The debate was organized and edited for publication by Soumhya Venkatesan. A full transcription of the debate is hosted on the JRAI website: http://www.jrai.net; a full podcast of the debate can be heard at the Talking Anthropology website: http://www.talkinganthropology.com/2013/01/18/ta45-gdat1-neoliberalism/#t=2:49:40.219.