details
Title |
Ethnic identity in West Africa. Historical perspectives on America's discourse about ethnicity |
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Author | Mark, Peter |
Source | Tertium comparationis 4 (1998) 1, S. 10-20 |
Document | full text (188 KB) |
License of the document | In copyright |
Keywords (German) | Kulturelle Identität; Enkulturation; Ethnische Identität; Ethnische Gruppe; Guinea-Bissau; Senegal; USA; Westafrika |
sub-discipline | History of Education Intercultural and International Comparative Educational Research |
Document type | Article (journal) |
ISSN | 0947-9732; 1434-1697; 09479732; 14341697 |
Language | English |
Year of creation | 1998 |
review status | Peer-Reviewed |
Abstract (English): | Political Correctness and Affirmative Action are core issues of America’s difficult search for cultural identity. However, a policy of differential treatment of categorized ethnicities is likely to cause complex and dynamic identities to become static and one-dimensional. This in turn is a factor of social destabilization. The basic assumption of ethnicity as a fixed social or racial category is not only an over-simplification, but a policy focussing on group rights changes the character of the groups themselves and even stimulates growing isolation between them. The paper’s argumentation is based on observations on the historical process of group identity-forming in Western African societies. They provide the example of how ethnic identity is a matter of dynamic constellations, of change, of interaction, of conscious and unconscious negotiation and choice, both on the group level and on the individual level. |
Abstract (German): | Hintergrund der Argumentation des Autors "ist die Bewegung für 'Political Correctness' und 'Affirmative Action' in den USA. Als eine ihrer Konsequenzen impliziert sie den grundsätzlichen Antagonismus zwischen verschiedenen kulturellen Identitäten, der im gegebenen politischen Kontext virulent wird und den anderen nicht mehr an der eigenen Kultur teilhaben läßt bzw. zur Wahl für oder gegen zwingt. Gestützt auf eigene empirische Untersuchungen und ethnographische Feldforschung über die Normalität mehrsprachiger und plurikultueller Enkulturation in traditionellen afrikanischen Gesellschaften vertritt er das Konzept nicht-determinierter, dynamischer, nicht-ausschließlicher kultureller Identitäten." (DIPF/Orig.) |
other articles of this journal | Tertium comparationis Jahr: 1998 |
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Date of publication | 17.11.2010 |
Citation | Mark, Peter: Ethnic identity in West Africa. Historical perspectives on America's discourse about ethnicity - In: Tertium comparationis 4 (1998) 1, S. 10-20 - URN: urn:nbn:de:0111-opus-28828 - DOI: 10.25656/01:2882 |