Soc 151 - Nationalism and Ethnicity

Nationalism and Ethnicity

Social theorists predicated in the early twentieth century that ethnicity and nationalism would slowly diminish in significance and eventually disappear as a result of modernatization, industrialization, and individualism. These predications never happened. Since then ethnicity and nationalism are phenomena's that manifest in many societies, hard to ignore and also has grown in political importance around the world, mainly after the Second World War. (Eriksen 2002: 2) Neoliberal capitalism has become the heightening importance of ethnicity but also has changed the forms of ethnic groups to increasingly resemble (or to be) corporations. Nationalism and ethnic politics go hand in hand with the state and the struggle for control of political resources. "After the Second World, indigenous people for example the Native Americans began to structure themselves politically and wanted their ethnic identities and territorial entitlements to be recognized by the state." (Eriksen 2002: 4) For instance in Africa, nationalism and ethnicity played an important role in the development of their politics. To better understand the characteristics and development of African nationalism and ethnicity we must understand their ideologies and also look at different types of nationalism and historical backgrounds in retrospect to the development of these two ideologies in Africa. (Young 2004: 8)

The relationship between ethnicity and nationality is very intricate. In order to understand the relationship between these two, ethnicity and nationalism terms we must understand what these terms mean. First and foremost, "ethnicity refers to relationships within members of a group who consider themselves distinguished with a ranked hierarchy within the society. " (Eriksen 2002: 7) I would describe ethnicity as a state of being ethnic, or the relationship within the ethnic group. For instance, let's take two tribes from Africa, they may have different languages, religious beliefs, cultures, and rituals. But this does not mean that there is an ethnic relationship between these two tribes. Ethnicity will come in the picture only when these two tribes share common interest and acknowledge there culturally difference. Ethnicity is basically a characteristic of the tribe. Whereas, nationalism is considered to be a belief and a form of behavior. Nationalism can be described and defined in ethnic and social terms. The main reason for nationalism is to defend and promote the interests of the nation. Nationalism is also closely associated with patriotism and national sovereignty. (Kellas 1991: 3-4) Patriotism focuses more on the loyalty one has for the nation they belong to. As for social and ethnic nationalism focuses on a group trying to have their own entity away from the state. Political expression plays a great role in defining nationalism. After the fall of communism, nationalist violence grew and played a great role in places like Yugoslavia and Rwanda. (Carlsneas and Simmons 2003: 409)

Crawford Young concluded that ethnicity could be defined in three parts; ethnicity has a shared list of cultural attributes. This list consist of language which plays an very important part, for instance Hutu and Tutsi share the same speech code in Rwanda and Burundi, as well as sharing ancestry, cultural practices, beliefs, and rituals. Secondly, ethnicity is defined by being apart of something that is communal, with shared interests. Thirdly, ethnicity has limitations. ("They" constitute the "us"; whom one is depends upon whom one is not.) (Young, 2004: 7)

In order to understand Africa's definition and emergence of nationalism and ethnicity, we must first understand how nationalism emerged. During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, states became modern states built upon an administrative and military system and away from households and court of the sovereign. By the seventh and eighteenth centuries sovereignty belonging to the people after sovereignty became the property of the state. The doctrine of popular sovereignty was ratified by the American and French Revolutions, which eventually led to the emergence of nationalism. (Young 2004: 9)

Now lets talk about nationalism and how it developed in Africa. The colonial partition of Africa shaped the formation of its emergence. The state constituted its people in three ways. The African people were racialized, as "black" which caused segregation and the notion that Africans were uncivilized people. Secondly, the Africans were considered colonial subjects, where taxations, law