ethnicity and nationalism

ethnicity

A sense of historical, cultural, and sometimes ancestral connection to a group of people who are imagined to be distinct from those outside the group

origin myth

A story told about the founding and history of a particular group to reinforce a sense of common identity

example of origin myth

the story of the first Thanksgiving is an origin myth that hides the reality of the colonial settlers’ brutal conquest of Native peoples

ethnic boundary maker

A practice or belief used to signify who is in a group and who is not; usually not clearly fixed or defined and may change over time

Situational negotiation of identity

An individual's self-identification with a particular group that can shift according to social location

identity entrepreneurs

Political, military, or religious leaders who promote a worldview through the lens of ethnicity and use war, propaganda, and state power to mobilize people against those whom they perceive as a danger

genocide

The deliberate and systematic destruction of an ethnic or religious group

ethnic cleansing

Efforts by representatives of one ethnic or religious group to remove or destroy another group in a particular geographic area

melting pot

A metaphor used to describe the process of immigrant assimilation into U.S. dominant culture

assimilation

The process through which cultural minorities accept the patterns and norms of the dominant culture and cease to exist as separate groups

multiculturalism

A pattern of ethnic relations in which new immigrants and their children enculturate into the dominant national culture yet retain an ethnic culture

state

An autonomous regional structure of political, economic, and military rule with a central government authorized to make laws and use force to maintain order and defend its territory

nation-state

A political entity, located within a geographic territory with enforced borders, where the population shares a sense of culture, ancestry, and destiny as a people.

citizenship

Legal membership in a nation-state

nation

A term once used to describe a group of people who shared a place of origin; now used interchangeably with nation-state

nationality

An identification with a group of people thought to share a place of origin

nationalism

The desire of an ethnic community to create and/or maintain a nation-state

imagined community

The invented sense of connection and shared traditions that underlies identification with a particular ethnic group or nation whose members likely will never all meet.

diaspora

A group of people who live outside their ancestral homeland yet maintain emotional and material ties to home