Customer Reviews

Ethnicity and Nationalism: Anthropological Perspectives (Anthropology, Culture and Society)

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The author, a Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo, has written a clear and concise book about ethnicity and nationalism from an anthropological perspective. Written in a very dry style, however, this book is not recommended as an introduction to nationalism for non-anthropologists, especially since Eriksen likes to draw on his own experiences in Mauritius and Norway a bit too much. Instead, this is a good introduction to anthropological debates about nationalism.

Eriksen is succssful in pointing out the constructive and fluid nature of ethnic and national identities: he shows how ethnicity is not an inherent property but merely an aspect of a relationship. Nonetheless, he argues, we should not therefore discount the importance of ethnicity or nationhood to those who hold it dear. He also addresses typical anthropological issues like kinship and argues for more efforts from anthropologists in studying the past to help create a better understanding of ethnicity and nationalism.

Finally, Eriksen manages to spend an equal amount of time on ethnicity and nationalism, something very rare in the literature.

All in all, a good book.

A first-rate introduction to the anthropological study of ethnicity, using illustrations from the Zambian Copperbelt, Peru, and Mauritius. Great discussions of Barth and Abner Cohen, but very little of Geertz or, most unfortunately, Daniel Bell. Ethnic identities are "fluid, negotiable, situational, analogic (or gradualist) and segmentary [i.e., nested]." Ethnicity doesn't explain everything, but is often a powerful analytic tool. Eriksen does anthropology proud.

Eriksen blends both historical and recent contributions to the subject, then adds his own analysis. His writing style is clear and concise and his analysis is very carefully reasoned - a refreshing change from much of the social science literature. The work is more thorough on ethnicity than nationalism, but serves as a good starting point for more reading on the latter. This is an academic work, but suitable for any student of social science, and certainly anyone that has taken an introductory anthropology course.

In line with most of this author's work, it seems very much focused geographically on the places with which he is personally familiar, Norway primarily (Mauritius secondly). Norway is, however, not necessarily a good choice as a representative for the general topics discussed, and no credible rationale for this is presented. This peculiar choice of geographical and cultural starting point is obviously convenient for the author, but serves the discussion of the topics chosen poorly. Further, the reader quickly suspects that the author's underlying motivation is political, while the argumentation in the book takes a anthropological form. This is a point of criticism which the author, openly left-wing politically speaking, often is met with, and for good reason in this reader's opinion. Best avoided.