Everyday Primoridalism And Violence In Kenya

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NATIONALISM, ETHNICITY AND CONFLICT Everyday Primordialism and Violence in Kenya Name: R. den Boer Amount of words: 1696 INTRODUCTION There are many different approaches to the concept ethnicity. Yet, they all agree that ‘ethnicity has something to do with the classification of people and group relations’ (Erikson 1993: 4). Erikson explains that ‘group identities must always be defined in relation to that which they are not – in other words, in relation to non-members’ (Erikson 1993: 10). So what is it that makes ethnic groups essentially distinct from each other? Primordialists would answer that ‘the communal bond of an ethnic group is given by nature. It is something you cannot change, since it is in your genes’ (Gould 2010). They see ethnic identities ‘qualitatively different from other identities, such as class, because of an emotional attachment to ethnicity’ (Gould 2010). This is the common view people have on ethnicity. Analysts, however, share the constructivist view. Constructivists claim that an ethnic group is ‘an imagined, constructed community, created through social action. Ethnic groups are categories of ascription and identification, and these can change over time. Individuals can change their ethnic identity and cross ethnic boundaries’ (Gould 2010). Eventhough the constructivist view dominates the academic world, the media often report about ethnic violence in a primordialist way. This is how the media reify ethnic boundaries. Gerd Bauman (1999) argues that ethnicity is often reified and essentialized as if it were one thing beyond change. This essay focusses on the process of reification and gives an example of everyday primordialism taken from the newspaper. ETHNIC REIFICATION Gerd Baumann (1999) explains that identities depend on variable contexts and situations. Some individuals may have an “ambiguous ethnicity” when they

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