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PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore how ethnicity remains relevant to the workplace experience of minority ethnic graduate employees in contemporary British organizations.Design/methodology/approachQualitative interviews were conducted with 30 British Black Caribbean graduate employees drawn from a range of public and private‐sector organizations to examine the ways in which they felt their ethnicity impacted on how they experienced their places of work. Template analysis was used to analyse the data.FindingsThe paper finds that racial discrimination, social class and ethnic identity were key elements of the way in which ethnicity was experienced by these minority ethnic graduate employees. The paper discusses the differing ways racial discrimination is experienced and conceptualized in contemporary British organizations; and highlights the ways in which social class may play a role in how a group of (largely) working class minority ethnic graduates progress their careers in (largely) middle class organizational environments. Presented for the first time is a theory on the key facets of the ways ethnic identity might be experienced at work.Research limitations/implicationsFurther research would be required to see if the findings are replicated with graduates from other minority ethnic groups.Practical implicationsThe paper provides insights into ways in which majority and minority ethnic employees may experience organizations differently.Originality/valueThis paper provides some new insights into the role of ethnicity at work. It also attempts to address some of the issues with organizational psychological research on ethnicity at work identified by Kenny and Briner.

In the formation of ethnicity the interaction between the views of outside observers and insiders themselves is an important process. The Minangkabau, whose homeland is located in the uplands of central Sumatra, have been a popular source of study because of their matrilineal social organisation and the practice of themerantau, where young Minangkabau men leave the homeland to seek knowledge and fortune abroad. Since the 1970s as a result of the women's movement, there has been a growing number of works focusing on the matrilineal principles which underlie Minangkabau society. Themerantau, too, has often been cited for the dynamism in Minangkabau society which has led to its considerable contributions to the Indonesian state in a number of fields. It is not surprising, therefore, that today the Minangkabau themselves see matriliny and themerantauas primary components in their identity. While these components were present in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, they did not play the central role in ethnic identity as they do today. As I hope to show in this paper, there were different historical circumstances in those years which required another approach to ethnic identity.

"In the economics of everyday life, even ethnicity has become a potential resource to be tapped, generating new sources of profit and power, new ways of being social, and new visions of the future. Throughout Africa, ethnic corporations have been repurposed to do business in mining or tourism; in the USA, Native American groupings have expanded their involvement in gaming, design, and other industries; and all over the world, the commodification of culture has sown itself deeply into the domains of everything from medicine to fashion. Ethnic groups increasingly seek empowerment by formally incorporating themselves, by deploying their sovereign status for material ends, and by copyrighting their cultural practices as intellectual property. Building on ethnographic case studies from Kenya, Nepal, Peru, Russia, and many other countries, this collection poses the question: Does the turn to the incorporation and commodification of ethnicity really herald a new historical moment in the global politics of identity?"--

The aim of this article is to identify some conditions for peaceful coexistence between the state and populations in multi-cultural societies. Initially, the concepts of ideology, nationalism and ethnicity are examined briefly. It is argued that a successful ideology, such as a nationalist or an ethnic one, must simultaneously legitimize a social order, i.e. a power structure, and provide a meaningful frame for the articulation of important, perceived needs and wishes of its adherents. A few empirical cases are then considered. These examples, ranging from the multi-cultural island-states of Mauritius and Trinidad & Tobago to the Saami (Lappish) minority situation in northern Norway, involve conflicts between nation-states and ethnic groups, and between different ethnic groups within the nation-state. Some conflicts, and the methods employed to resolve them, are compared. The uniqueness of nationalism as a modern, abstract `binary' ideology of exclusion and inclusion, and its powerful symbolic as well as practical aspects, are stressed and contrasted with `segmentary' ethnic ideologies. Finally, the article proposes a list of necessary conditions for the peaceful coexistence of culturally diverse groups within the framework of a modern nation-state. The conclusion is that the main responsibility lies with the state insofar as it possesses a monopoly of political power and the legitimate use of force. State policies should genuinely attempt to decentralize power while at the same time recognizing the right of being culturally distinctive, even in matters relevant for political discourse. State nationalism should not be symbolically linked with the collective identity of only one of the populations. The culturally homogenizing tendencies of nationalism must in other words be counteracted through institutional arrangements which secure some form of ethnic autonomy and encourage cultural pluralism. The alternatives are violent suppression and the enforced assimilation of culturally distinctive groups.

"Der Beitrag interessiert sich für die Irritationen, die in den Gesellschaftswissenschaften im allgemeinen und in der Soziologie im besonderen durch die unerwartete Zunahme von ethnischen Spannungen in jüngster Zeit ausgelöst worden sind. Erkennbar ist dies an der Intensität mit der insbesondere die Soziologie lange geltende und selbstverständliche Grundbegrifflichkeiten in Zweifel zieht und neu diskutiert. Die Soziologie ist wieder reflexiver geworden. Mit den Folgen dieser Selbstbefragung wird sich der Vortrag in zwei Schritten befassen. Erstens wird gezeigt, weshalb und wie dieser 'Ethnic Revival' die moderne Konzeption von 'Gesellschaft' in Frage gestellt hat. Von Bedeutung ist dabei die Skepsis, die erneut und diesmal unabweislich der Modernisierungstheorie entgegengebracht wird. Die Vorstellung einer linearen Entwicklung der sozialen Integration von der traditionalen 'Gemeinschaft' zur modernen 'Gesellschaft' ist nicht mehr haltbar. Im zweiten Schritt wird versucht, einige Möglichkeiten zu skizzieren, wie sich die Soziologie ihre Grundfrage nach der sozialen Integration neu vorlegen könnte. Nicht, indem sie auf Begriffe wie 'Gemeinschaft' und 'Gesellschaft' verzichtet, sondern indem sie sie aus dem Modernisierungskorsett befreit und in ein neues dialektisches Spannungsverhältnis setzt. Das wird nichts anderes bedeuten, als eine Einladung an die Soziologie, sich zu historisieren. Zu erklären gilt es nicht nur die aktuelle, sondern die diskontinuierlich wiederkehrende Ethnisierung des Politischen." (Autorenreferat)

The aim of this article is to analyse the role of ethnic music in the life of the Tatar minority in Poland as an example of creative ethnicity. On the one hand, modern Tatar musical practices construct an interesting example of "invented tradition" because the studied group does not have "musical memory", while on the other hand, these activities are aimed at the group's future. Music can fulfill different social functions. In the case of ethnic groups, three of these functions seem to be particularly relevant: integrational, political (ideological) and identity. Desk research reveals the formal and informal musical practices undertaken by Polish Tatars. The values and musical assets associated with Tatar culture reflect the minority's identity. The main statement of the article is that music is an important element that contributes to constructing the contemporary group's identity. Tatar music is becoming an essential element of Tatar culture, enhancing a sense of the group's distinctiveness. The contemporary Tatar music groups construct a significant Tatar showcase to the audience outside of the Tatar ethnic group, as well as form an important identity element of the Tatar community and a manifestation of creative ethnicity. It is also possible to find correlations between their repertoire and contemporary group transformations, including those related to its identity.

"Ethnicity, Nationalism, and Colonialism" published on by Oxford University Press.

Die Ursachen des seit 2002 andauernden Bürgerkriegs in der Côte d'Ivoire sind komplex und lassen sich bis in die Kolonialzeit zurückverfolgen. Eine konstruierte Konfliktlinie verläuft zwischen 'Nordlern' und 'Südlern' bzw. zwischen Muslimen und Christen. Das Ethnonym 'Dioula' wird gleichbedeutend mit 'Muslim' und 'Nordler' verwendet. Viele 'Dioula' werden überdies verdächtigt, keine 'echten' Ivorer zu sein, sondern Migranten aus den Nachbarländern Mali, Burkina Faso oder Guinea. Der Hintergrund dieser Verdächtigungen ist die nationalistische Ideologie der 'Ivoirité', die 1995 geschaffen wurde. Auf der Grundlage dieser Ideologie werden bestimmte Bevölkerungsgruppen von Landbesitz und politischer Partizipation ausgeschlossen. Diese Exklusionspolitik trifft jedoch nicht nur rezente Immigranten, sondern auch Bevölkerungsgruppen, die seit Jahrhunderten im heutigen Norden der Côte d'Ivoire ansässig sind.