Ethnos : descent and culture communities -- Multiple discourses of ethnicity : differences by country and region -- The demise of race : the emergence of 'ethnic' -- The primordialism debate -- How real are groups? : political ethnicity, symbolic ethnicity and competition theory -- Migration and ethnicity -- Social conditions of ethnicity : global economy and precarious states -- Ethnic majorities and nationalism in Europe : globalization and right-wing movements -- Ethnicity and the modern world : general conclusions
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: Kultur und Gesellschaft: gemeinsamer Kongreß der Deutschen, der Österreichischen und der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Soziologie, Zürich 1988 ; Beiträge der Forschungskomitees, Sektionen und Ad-hoc-Gruppen, S. 270-273
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.