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Ethnicity has been a key concept in anthropology and sociology for many years, yet many people still seem uncertain as to its meaning, its relevance, and its relationship to other concepts such as `race' and nationalism. In Ethnicity: Anthropological Constructions the major anthropological and sociological approaches to ethnicity, covering much of the significant literature and leading authors, are outlined clearly and concisely

In most of the European countries immigration is occurring since decades, which leads to an increasing intercultural mixture of the national population. In Germany the scientific and public discourse on sustainable development has hardly noticed possible effects of "ethnicity". Research on the actual situation of intercultural participation in environmental planning is missing as well as on the needed preconditions for an appropriate "intercultural empowerment" of public engagement. Up to now the percentage of immigrants engaged in organisations of the ecological movement or institutions dealing with environmental or sustainability affairs is very low (Katz/ Kontzi 2009). There is a lack of profound knowledge about the attitudes or every day acting of (im-)migrants towards nature and its management, about their interests in environmental protection, about risk awareness and demands regarding environmental and sustainability issues. But, ethnicity is nothing fixed which can be easily analysed or "allocated" to people or a societal group. It is a construction which evolves if certain similarities are supposed. The contribution is stressing this point: According to the approach of critical whiteness the exclusion and the construction of "the other", of "being involved" in procedures of "doing nature relations" is scrutinized. Qualitative Data of an explorative study on environmental organisations in Germany and their efforts in "acting intercultural" are introduced. The existing mental images and ideas about migrants´ interests and public engagement in nature and sustainability issues by environmental actors are presented and reflected. Literature Katz C., Kontzi K. (2009b) Interkulturalität: Kein Thema im Nachhaltigkeitsdiskurs?! Politische Ökologie 115-116, S. 86-87.

The near universality of multiethnicity in contemporary states, the persistence—culturally and structurally—of the ethnic factor, contradicting modernization and Marxist theories, and the strong public interest in ethnic phenomena have stimulated a great deal of research in sociology and other social sciences. This review examines the wide diversity of definitions and interpretations in that research. The demography of ethnic groups, the sources of ethnic survival and revival (primordial attachments, political and economic interests, and estrangement from the larger society), and the major themes in the literature on ethnicity are examined. Three themes are emphasized: 1) the relationship of ethnicity to social stratification and discrimination-in particular with reference to internal colonialism, split labor markets, and resource mobilization; 2) ethnicity as culture, illustrated by reference to studies of family and religion; and 3) the connections between ethnicity and politics in developing states, in developed states, and in the armed forces and police of many societies.

This book is a welcome and brilliantly crafted overview of this field. It represents a major advance in our understanding of how ethnicity works in specific social and cultural contexts. The second edition will be an invaluable resource for both students and researchers alike' - John Solomos, City University, London. The first edition of Rethinking Ethnicity quickly established itself as a popular text for students of ethnicity and ethnic relations. This fully revised and updated second edition adds new material on globalization and the recent debates about whether ethnicity matters and ethnic