Introduction

Abstract

Introduces an edited Vol of 16 Chpts (each abstracted) that investigates the status of the categories of race, ethnicity, & nationalism at the end of the 20th century. Despite the relativism that must accompany any comparison of these categories across cultures, it is suggested that all cultures share at least seven attributes: species life & being, language, religion, literature/art/science/technology, institutions, & transgenerational memory. It is observed that at the end of the 20th century, self-determination has been a battle cry for many ethnicities, who on the basis of one or a number of these cultural attributes proclaim the right to form a sovereign state. To obtain these dreams, ethnic groups have had to define themselves in opposition to others, & then to embed these differences in a system of social institutions that might perpetuate the ethnic identity. It is concluded that, although contributions examine a variety of contexts in which this process has occurred, they share the hope of building institutions & languages that unite rather than divide people across racial, ethnic, & national lines. D. M. Smith