Anthropology

Instructor :Bedassa Aga

 Unit One

1. Introducing Anthropology and its Subject Matter

Unit learning outcomes
Up on the successful completion of this unit, you will be able
to:
1. Define the concepts in Anthropology
2. Understand the historical development of anthropology
3. Express the scope and subject matter of anthropology
4. Explain the sub-disciplines of anthropology
5. Internalize unique feature of anthropology
6. Convert misconception held about anthropology
7. Differentiate anthropology from other discipline
8. Appraise the relevance of anthropology in our life
 Brainstorming
Reflect your views on the following questions.
 How do you define Anthropology?
 How do you conceive the meaning of the term ‘human’?
 1.1 Definition, Scope and Subject Matter of Anthropology

1.1.1 Concepts in Anthropology

 The term anthropology is a compound of two Greek words,

‘anthropos’ and ‘logos’, which can be translated as ‘human

being/mankind’ and ‘reason/study/science’, respectively.
 So, anthropology means ‘reason about humans’ or ‘the study

or science of humankind or humanity’.

 Moreover, man has two important characteristics: biological

and cultural: It is very important to understand that the

biological and the cultural characteristics are inseparable
elements.
 Culture influences human physical structures and the vise-

versa.
1.1.2.The Historical Development of Anthropology
 Anthropology as an academic discipline was born during the 19th
century, out of the intellectual atmosphere of Enlightenment, which is
the eighteenth century social philosophical movement that
emphasized human progress and the poser of reason, and based on
Darwinian Theory of Evolution.
 A major impetus for its growth was the expansion of western colonial
powers and their consequent desire to better understand the peoples
living under colonial domination.
 Through ethnography and ethnology, the colonialist intellectuals
created the basis for the development of Anthropology as a science.
 Ethnography is a holistic study of a given culture group.
 Ethnology is a comparative study of culture groups.
 1.1.3. Scope and subject matter of anthropology
 Investigates the strategies for living that are learned and
shared by people as members of human social groups;
 Examines the characteristics that human beings share as

members of one species (homo sapiens) and the diverse ways

that people live in different environments;
 Analyses the products of social groups -material objects

(material cultures) and non-material creations

(religion/beliefs, social values, institutions, practices, etc).
 Ethnography Ethnology

Requires field work to collect data Uses data collected by a series of

researchers

Often descriptive Usually synthetic

Group/community specific Comparative/cross-cultural

 1.3 Unique (Basic) Features of Anthropology
a. Anthropology has a broad scope.
 It is interested in all human beings, whether contemporary or past,

''primitive'' or '' civilized'' and that they are interested in many different
aspects of humans
b. In its approach anthropology is holistic, relativistic, and focused one.
 Holistic in a sense that it looks any phenomena from different vantage

points.
 The concept of relativity is highly appreciated in anthological studies.

Anthropology tries to study and explain a certain belief, practice or

institution of a group of people in its own context. It does not make
value judgment, i.e., declaring that this belief or practice is ‘good’ or
‘bad’.
c. Anthropology's comparative perspective helps to understand
differences and similarities across time and place.
d. Another important perspective is a way of looking at people's ideas. It
considers insiders' views as a primary focus of any anthropological inquiry.
 Anthropological studies give attention to how people perceive themselves

and understand their world; how a particular group of people explain

about their action, or give meaning to their behavior or cultural practices.
 This is what anthropologists call emic perspective. It helps to understand

the logic and justification behind group behavior and cultural practices.
e. Another important unique feature is its research approach.
 Anthropology is highly dependent on qualitative research to understand

the meaning behind any human activity.

 Extended fieldwork, participant observation, in-depth and key informant
interviews and focus-group discussion are qualitative research instruments
f. Focusing more on the local than the big social processes has
been another exclusive approach in the discipline.
 Paying great attention to local or micro-social processes certainly

help us to better understand big changes in societies.

 A detailed account of an event or phenomenon discovers multiple

realities in a community.
 1.4 Misconceptions about anthropology
1. One misconception about anthropology is related to the area of
its study. It is said that anthropology is limited to the study of
"primitive" societies.
2. Another misconception is that anthropologists only study the
rural people and rural areas.
3. It is also wrongly misconceived that anthropology is the
study/analysis of fossil evidences of the proto-humans like that
of Lucy/Dinkeneshe.
4. It is also misconceived that the purpose of anthropology is to
study in order to keep and preserve communities far from
development and obsolete cultural practices in museums.
1.5 The Relationship between Anthropology and
Other Disciplines
 Anthropology is similar with other social sciences such as
sociology, psychology, political sciences, economics, history, etc.
Anthropology greatly overlaps with these disciplines that study
human society.
 However, anthropology differs from other social sciences and the

humanities by its broad scope, unique approach, perspective, unit

of analysis and methods used.
 In its scope, anthropology studies humankind in its entirety.
 In its approach, anthropology studies and analyzes human ways

of life holistically, comparatively and in a relativistic manner.

 In its perspective, anthropology approaches and locates
dimensions of people’s individual and communal lived
experiences, their thoughts and their feelings in terms of how
these dimensions are interconnected and interrelated to one
another, yet not necessarily constrained or very orderly, whole.
 The perspective is also fundamentally empirical, naturalistic and

ideographic [particularising] than nomothetic [universalising] one.

 In its method of research, it is unique in that it undertakes

extended fieldwork among the studied community and develops

intimate knowledge of the life and social worlds of its study
group/society through employing those ethnographic data
collection techniques such as participant observation, Key
informant interview and focus group discussions.
 1.6 The Contributions of anthropology
 By studying anthropology, we get the following benefits, among others.
1. First, the anthropological perspective, with its emphasis on the
comparative study of cultures, should lead us to the conclusion that our
culture is just one way of life among many found in the world and that it
represents one way (among many possible ways) to adapt to a particular
set of environmental conditions.
 Through the process of contrasting and comparing, we gain a fuller
understanding of other cultures and our own.
2. Second, anthropology gives us an insight into different ways and modes
of life of human society (social and cultural diversity), which helps to
understand the logic and justification behind group behavior and cultural
practices. Knowledge about the rest of the world is particularly important
today because the world has become increasingly interconnected.
3. Through its distinctive methodology of long-term, intensive,
participant-observation research, cultural anthropology offers a
unique perspective on how local cultural groups are engaging with
the process of globalization.
4. Because of its relativistic approach, anthropology helps us to be
more sensitive to and appreciative of cultural diversity and variability.
 Anthropology helps us fight against prejudice and discriminations. It

helps us fight against ethnocentrism; the belief that one's own

culture and one's own way of life is superior to others cultural, social
and material life. This arises from ignorance about other ethnic
groups and their ways of lives.
6. Anthropology is also used as a tool for development. Paying
attention to local conditions, is crucial to solve community problems.
 Unit Two
1.2 Sub-fields of anthropology
1.2.1 Physical/Biological Anthropology
Physical anthropology is essentially concerned with two broad
areas of investigation: human evolution and genetics.
The study of human evolution is further divided into two
specialties: Paleoanthropology and Primatology.
1. Palaeoanthropology (paleo meaning “old”) is the study of
human biological evolution through the analysis of fossil
remains.
2. Primatology studies about primates or recent human ancestors
to explain human evolution.
1.2.2 Archaeological Anthropology
 studies the ways of lives of past peoples by excavating and
analyzing the material culture/physical remains (artefacts,
features and eco-facts) they left behind.
 Artefacts are material remains made and used by the past peoples
and that can be taken to laboratories
 Features are like artifacts, are made or modified by past people,
but they cannot be readily carried away from the site.
 Eco-facts are non-artefactual, organic and environmental
remains such as soil, animal bones, and plant.
 Archaeology has also its own subfields or areas of specialties. The
most important ones are Prehistoric Archaeology and Historical
Archaeology.
Prehistoric archaeology
a. Investigates human prehistory and prehistoric cultures.
 It focuses on entire period between 6,000 years ago and the

time of the first stone tools (the first artifacts), around 2.5
million years ago, is called prehistory.
b. Historic archaeology
 Help to reconstruct the cultures of people who used writing

and about whom historical documents have been written.

 Historic archaeology takes advantage of the fact that about

6,000 years ago, some human groups invented language and

began to write down things that can tell about the past.
1.2.3 Linguistic Anthropology
 linguistic anthropology or anthropological linguistics studies
human language as a cultural resource and speaking as a cultural
practice in its social and cultural context.
 Language is basically a system of information transmission and
reception.
 Humans communicate messages by sound (speech), by gesture
(body language), and in other visual ways such as writing.
 Analogous to genes that carry and transmit genetic materials to

offspring, languages hand down cultural traits from one generation

to another.
 It is divided into four distinct branches or areas of research:

a. Structural or Descriptive Linguistics,

b. Historical Linguistics,
c. Ethno-Linguistics, and
a.Structural
: /Descriptive Linguistics
 Studies the structure of linguistic patterns.
 It examines sound systems, grammatical systems, and the

meanings attached to words in specific languages to

understand the structure and set of rules of given language.
 Every culture has a distinctive language with its own logical

structure and set of rules for putting words and sounds

together for the purpose of communicating.
 In its simplest form, the task of the descriptive linguist is to

compile dictionaries and grammar books for previously

unwritten languages.
b. Ethno-linguistics (cultural linguistics):
 Examines the relationship between language and culture.
 In any language, certain cultural aspects that are emphasized

(such as types of snow among the Inuit, cows among the

pastoral communities, or automobiles in U.S. culture) are
reflected in the vocabulary.
 Moreover, cultural linguists explore how different linguistic

categories can affect how people categorize their experiences,

how they think, and how they perceive the world around them
c. Historical linguistics
 Deals with the emergence of language in general and how specific
languages have diverged over time.
 It focuses on the comparison and classifications of different

languages to differentiate the historical links between them.

d. Socio-linguistics:
 Investigates linguistic variation within a given language.
 No language is a homogeneous system in which everyone speaks

just like everyone else.

 One reason for variation is geography, as in regional dialects and

accents.
 Linguistic variation also is expressed in the bilingualism of ethnic

groups.
1.2.4 Socio-Cultural Anthropology
 It is also often called social anthropology or cultural anthropology.
 It deals with human society and culture.
 Socio-cultural anthropology describes, analyzes, interprets, and explains
social, cultural and material life of contemporary human societies.
 Socio-cultural anthropologists engage in two aspects of study:
Ethnography (based on field work) and Ethnology (based on cross-
cultural comparison).
 It has been sub-divided into many other specialized fields as:
Anthropology of Art, Medical Anthropology, Urban Anthropology,
Economic Anthropology, Political Anthropology, Development
Anthropology, Anthropology of Religion, Demographic Anthropology,
Ecological Anthropology, Psychological Anthropology, Ethnomusicology,
etc.
Ethnography
 Requires field work to collect data
 Often descriptive
 Group/community specific

Ethnology
Uses data collected by a series of researchers
Usually synthetic
Comparative/cross-cultural

 EthnologyEthnologyetetEthnologyEt
Unit three
. Human Culture and Ties that Connect
Up on the successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:

 Describe the meaning, characteristics, and functions of culture

 Explain aspects of culture that govern human behavior patter
 Develop and understanding of accepting and respecting cultural
differences
 Describe the mechanisms to culture change
 Understand the basic building blocks of human society -
marriage, family, and kinship system
 2.1. Conceptualizing Culture: What Culture is and What Culture isn't

 Edward B. Tylor. He defined culture as “a complex whole which

includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other
capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society”.
 Robert Bierstedt says, “Culture is the complex whole that consists
of everything we think and do and have as members of society.”
 B. Malinowski has defined culture “as cumulative creation of man".
He regarded culture as the handiwork of man and the medium
through which he achieves his ends.
 2.2 Characteristic Features of Culture

1. Culture Is Learned
 Culture is not transmitted genetically rather; it is acquired through

the process of learning or interacting with one’s environment.

 More than any other species human relies for their survival on

behavior patterns that are learned.

 Human have no instinct, which genetically programmed to direct to

behave in a particular way.

 This process of acquiring culture after we born is called

enculturation.
 Enculturation is specifically defined as the process by which an

individual learns the rules and values of one’s culture.

3. Culture Is Symbolic:
 Symbolic thought is unique and crucial to humans and to cultural

learning.
 A symbol is something verbal or nonverbal, within a particular

language or culture that comes to stand for something else.

 There need be no obvious, natural, or necessary connection

between the symbol and what it symbolizes.

 A symbol’s meaning is not always obvious. However, many

symbols are powerful and often trigger behaviors or emotional

states.
 For example, the designs and colors of the flags of different

countries represent symbolic associations with abstract ideas and

concepts.
4. Culture Is All-Encompassing
 Culture encompasses all aspects, which affect people in their

everyday lives.
 Culture comprises countless material and non-material

aspects of human lives.

 Thus, when we talk about a particular people’s culture, we

are referring to all of its man- made objects, ideas, activities

whether those of traditional, old time things of the past or
those created lately.
5. Culture Is Integrated
 Cultures are not haphazard collections of customs and

beliefs.
 Instead, culture should be thought as of integrated wholes,

the parts of which, to some degree, are interconnected with

one another.
 A culture is a system, change in one aspect will likely

generate changes in other aspects.

 A good way of describing this integrated nature of culture

is by using the analogy between a culture and a living

organism.
6. Culture Can Be Adaptive and Maladaptive
 People adapt themselves to the environment using culture.
 The ability to adapt themselves to practically any ecological

condition, unlike other animals, makes humans unique.

 Sometimes, adaptive behavior that offers short-term benefits to

particular subgroups or individuals may harm the environment and

threaten the group's long-term survival.
 Example: Automobiles permit us to make a living by getting us

from home to workplace. But the by-products of such "beneficial"

technology often create new problems. Chemical emissions
increase air pollution, deplete the ozone layer, and contribute to
global warming.
7. Culture Is Dynamic
 There are no cultures that remain completely static year

after year.
 Culture is changing constantly as new ideas and new

techniques are added as time passes modifying or

changing the old ways. Sec G
 Alene+2
 2.3 Aspects/Elements of Culture

2.3.1 Material culture

 Material culture consist of man-made objects such as tools,

implements, furniture, automobiles, buildings, dams, roads,

bridges, and in fact, the physical substance which has been
changed and used by man.
 It is concerned with the external, mechanical and utilitarian

objects. It includes technical and material equipment.

2.3.2 Non – Material culture
 The term ‘culture’ when used in the ordinary sense, means

‘non-material culture’.
 It is something internal and intrinsically valuable, reflects the

inward nature of man.

 Non- material culture consists of the words the people use or

the language they speak, the beliefs they hold, values and
virtues they cherish, habits they follow, rituals and practices
that they do and the ceremonies they observe. It also includes
our customs and tastes, attitudes and outlook, in brief, our
ways of acting, feeling and thinking.
 Some aspects of non material culture are listed as follow
Values
 Values are the standards by which member of a society define what is

good or bad, beautiful or ugly.

 Values are a central aspect of the nonmaterial culture of a society and are

important because they influence the behavior of the members of a

society.
Beliefs
 Beliefs are cultural conventions that concern true or false assumptions,

specific descriptions of the nature of the universe and humanity’s place

in it.
 Values are generalized notions of what is good and bad; beliefs are more
specific and, in form at least, have more content.
 Example: “Education is good” is a fundamental value in Ethiopian society,
whereas “Grading is the best way to evaluate students” is a belief that
reflects assumptions about the most appropriate way to determine
Norms
 Norms are shared rules or guidelines that define how people “ought” to

behave under certain circumstances.

 Norms are generally connected to the values, beliefs, and ideologies of

a society.
 Norms vary in terms of their importance to a culture , these are:

a) Folkway: Norms guiding ordinary usages and conventions of everyday

life are known as folkways. Folkways are norms that are not strictly
enforced, such as not leaving your seat for an elderly people inside a
bus/taxi.
b) Mores: Mores (pronounced MOR-ays) are much stronger norms than
are folkways.
 Mores are norms that are believed to be essential to core values and we

insist on conformity.
 A person who steals, rapes, and kills has violated some of society’s

most important mores.

2.4 Cultural Unity and Variations: Universality, Generality
and Particularity of Culture
1) Universality
 Cultural Universals are cultural traits that span across all cultures.
 Most are biologically that distinguish us from other species – Long
period of infant dependency – Year-round sexuality– Complex
brain that enables use of symbols, languages, and tools Social
universals – Life in groups – Some kind of family – Culture
organizes on social life Depends on social interactions for
expression and continuation – Incest taboo – Exogamy (marriage
outside one’s group).
2) Generality
 Generalities are cultural traits that occur in many societies but not all

of them.
 Societies can share same beliefs and customs because of borrowing

Domination (colonial rule) when customs and procedures are imposed

on one culture can also cause generality Independent innovation of
same cultural trait – Farming
 Examples: – Nuclear family Parents and children.

3) Particularity
 Trait of a culture that is not widespread Cultural borrowing – traits once

limited are more widespread Useful traits that don’t clash with current
culture get borrowed
 Examples: – Food dishes Particularities are becoming rarer in some way
2.5. Evaluating Cultural Differences: Ethnocentrism,
Cultural Relativism and Human Rights
A. ETHNOCENTRISM
 Ethnocentrism refers to the tendency to see the behaviors, beliefs,

values, and norms of one's own group as the only right way of
living and to judge others by those standards.
 Our own group is the center or axis of everything, and we scale

and rate all others with reference to it.

 It is a cultural universal.
 Ethnocentrism results in prejudices about people from other

cultures and the rejection of their "alien ways.“

 The positive aspect of ethnocentrisms, it acts as a conservative

force in preserving traditions of one's own culture. It can help

maintain the separation and uniqueness of cultures.
B. CULTRUALRELATIVISM
 We cannot grasp the behavior of other people if we interpret what

they say and do in the light of our values, beliefs, and motives.
 Instead, we need to examine their behavior as insiders, seeing it

within the framework of their values, beliefs and motives.

 The concept of cultural relativism states that cultures differ, so that

a cultural trait, act, or idea has no meaning but its meaning only
within its cultural setting.
 Cultural relativism suspends judgment and views about the
behavior of people from the perspective of their own culture.
 Cultural relativism describes a situation where there is an attitude

of respect for cultural differences rather than condemning other

people's culture as uncivilized or backward.
Respect for cultural differences involves:
 Appreciating cultural diversity;
 Accepting and respecting other cultures;
 Trying to understand every culture and its elements in terms of its

own context and logic;

 Accepting that each body of custom has inherent dignity and

meaning as the way of life of one group which has worked out to
its environment, to the biological needs of its members, and to the
group relationships;
 Knowing that a person's own culture is only one among many; and
 Recognizing that what is immoral, ethical, acceptable, etc, in one

culture may not be so in another culture.

C. HUMAN RIGHTS
 The idea of human rights challenges cultural relativism by invoking a

realm of justice and morality beyond and superior to the laws and
customs of particular countries, cultures, and religions.
 Human rights include the right to speak freely, to hold religious beliefs

without persecution, and to not be murdered, injured, or enslaved or

imprisoned without charge.
 Such rights are seen as inalienable (nations cannot abridge or terminate

them) and international (larger than and superior to individual nations

and cultures).
 Anthropologists respect human diversity. Most ethnographers try to be

objective, accurate, and sensitive in their accounts of other cultures.

 However, their objectivity, sensitivity and a cross-cultural perspective

got nothing to do with ignoring international standards of justice and

morality.
 2.6 Culture Change
 Culture change can occur as a result of the following Mechanisms:
i. Diffusion
 The source of new cultural elements in a society may also be another
society.
 The process by which cultural elements are borrowed from another
society and incorporated into the culture of the recipient group is
called diffusion.
 Diffusion is direct when two cultures trade with, intermarry among, or
wage war on one another.
 Diffusion is forced when one culture subjugates another and imposes
its customs on the dominated group.
 Diffusion is indirect when items or traits move from group A to group
C via group B without any firsthand contact between A and C.
ii. Acculturation
 Is the exchange of cultural features that results when groups have

continuous firsthand contact.

 The cultures of either or both groups may be changed by this

contact.
 This usually happens in situations of trade or colonialism.
 In situations of continuous contact, cultures have also exchanged

and blended foods, recipes, music, dances, clothing, tools, and

technologies.
iii. Invention
 Invention-the process by which humans innovate, creatively finding

solutions to problems is a third mechanism of cultural change.

 Faced with comparable problems and challenges, people in

different societies have innovated and changed in similar ways,

which is one reason cultural generalities exist.
 One example is the independent invention of agriculture in the

Middle East and Mexico.

 Over the course of human history, major innovations have spread at
the expense of earlier ones. Often a major invention, such as
agriculture, triggers a series of subsequent interrelated changes.
 Thus in both Mexico and the Middle East, agriculture led to many

social, political, and legal changes, including notions of property

and distinctions in wealth, class, and power.
iv. Globalization
 The term globalization encompasses a series of processes,

including diffusion and acculturation, working to promote

change in a world in which nations and people are increasingly
interlinked and mutually dependent.
 Media play a significant role in globalization
 2.7 Ties That Connect: Marriage, Family and Kinship

2.7.1 MARRIAGE
2.7.1.1 Rules of Marriage
2.7.1.2 Mate Selection: Whom Should You Marry?
a) Exogamy
 This is the rule by which a man is not allowed to marry someone

from his own social group.

 Such prohibited union is designated as incest taboo.
 In fact, there are some definite reasons for which practice of
exogamy got approval. They are:
 A conception of blood relation prevails among the members of a

group. Therefore, marriage within the group-members is

considered a marriage between a brother and sister.
 Attraction between a male and female gets lost due to close

relationship in a small group.

 There is a popular idea that a great increase of energy and vigor is

possible in the progeny if marriage binds two extremely distant

persons who possess no kin relation among them.
 Kottak claimed also that exogamy has adaptive value, because it

links people into a wider social network that nurtures, helps, and
protects them in times of need
b) Endogamy
 A rule of endogamy requires individuals to marry within their own

group and forbids them to marry outside it.

 Religious groups such as the Amish, Mormons, Catholics, and Jews

have rules of endogamy,

 Castes in India and Nepal are also endogamous.
c) Preferential Cousin Marriage
 A common form of preferred marriage is called preferential cousin

marriage and is practiced in one form or another in most of the

major regions of the world.
a. Cross Cousins Marriage: are children of siblings of the opposite
sex- that is one’s mother’s brothers’ children and one’s father’s
sisters’ children.
b. Parallel Cousins Marriage : When marriage takes place between
the children of the siblings of the same sex, namely the children
of one’s mother’s sister and one’s father brother.
d) The Levirate and Sororate
 Another form of mate selection that tends to limit individual choice

are those that require a person to marry the husband or wide of

deceased kin.
 The levirate- is the custom whereby a widow is expected to marry

the brother (or some close male relative) of her dead husband.
 Usually any children fathered by the woman’s new husband are

considered to belong legally to the dead brother rather than to the

actual genitor.
 The sororate: which comes into play when a wife dies, is the practice

of a widower’s marrying the sister (or some close female relative) of

his deceased wife.
 In the event that the deceased spouse has no sibling, the family of

the deceased is under a general obligation to supply some

equivalent relative as a substitute.
 2.7.1.3. NUMBER OF SPOUSES
 Rules specifying how many mates a person may/should have.
a. Monogamy: the marriage of one man to one woman at a time.
b. Polygamy: the marriage of a man or woman with two or more
mates.
 Polygamy can be of two types:

I. Polygyny: the marriage of a man to two or more women at a time.

II. Polyandy: the marraige of a woman to two or more men at a time
 Marriage of a man with two or more sisters at a time is called

sororal polygyny.
 When the co-wives are not sisters, the marriage is termed as non-
sororal polygyny.
 Advantages & Disadvantages of Polygamy marriage
 Having two/more wives is often seen as a sign of prestige.
 Having multiple wives means wealth, power, & status both for

the polygnous husband, wives and children.

 It produces more children, who are considered valuable for

future economic and poltical assets.

 Economic advantage: It encourages to work hard (more cows,

goats..) for more wives

 The Drawbacks of Polygyny:Jealousy among the co-wives who

frequently compete for the husband’s attenttion.

2.7.1.4 Economic Consideration of Marriage
1.Bride Price: It is also known as bridewealth, is the compensation
given upon marriage by the family of the groom to the family of
the bride.
 According to Murdock, in Africa it was estimated that 82% of the

societies require the payment of bride price.

 Bride price has been seen as:

 security or insurance for the good treatment of the wife:

 as mechanism to stabilize marriage by reducing the possibility of

divorce:
 as a form of compensation to the bride’s lineage for the loss of

her economic potential and childbearing capacity:

 and as a symbol of the union between two large groups of kin.
2. Bride Service: When the groom works for his wife’s family, this is
known as bride service.
3. Dowry: A dowry involves a transfer of goods or money in the
opposite direction, from the bride's family to the groom’s family.
 2.7.1.5 Post-Marital Residence
 Where the newly married couple lives after the marriage ritual is

governed by cultural rules, which are referred to as post-marital

residence rule.
I. Patrilocal Residence: the married couple lives with or near the
relatives of the husband’s father.
II. Matrilocal Residence: the married couple lives with or near the
relatives of the wife.
III. Avunculocal Residence: The married couple lives with or near the
husband’s mother’s brother.
IV. Ambilocal/Bilocal Residence: The married couple has a choice of
living with relatives of the wife or relatives of the husband
V. Neolocal Residence: The Married couple forms an independent
place of residence away from the relatives of either spouse.
 2.7.2 FAMILY
 two fundamentally different types of family structure-the nuclear
family and the extended family.
1. The Nuclear Family: Consisting of husband and wife and their
children, the nuclear family is a two-generation family formed
around the conjugal or marital union.
2. The Extended Family: Extended families consist of two or more
families that are linked by blood ties.
 In the case of a patrilineal extended family, the young couple takes

up residence in the homestead of the husband’s father, and the

husband continues to work for his father, who also runs the
household.
 It is important to point out that in extended family systems,
marriage is viewed more as bringing a daughter into the family
than acquiring a wife.
 In other words, a man’s obligations of obedience to his father and

loyalty to his brothers is far more important than his relationship

to his wife.
 When a woman marries into an extended family, she most often

comes under the control of her mother-in-law, who allocates

chores and supervises her domestic activities.
2.7.2.1 Functions Marriage and Family

1. Biological Function: The institution of marriage and family serves

biological (sexual and reproductive) function.
2. Economic Function: Marriage brings economic co-operation between
men and women and ensure survival of individuals in a society.
3. Social Function: Marriage is based on the desire to perpetuate one’s
family line. In marriage one adds, not only a spouse but most of the
spouse’s relatives to one’s own group of kin. This means the
institution of marriage brings with it the creation and perpetuation
of the family
4. Educational and Socialization Function: The burden of socialization
(via processes of enculturation and education) of new born infants
fall primarily upon the family. In addition, children learn an immense
amount of knowledge, culture, values prescribed by society , before
 2.7.3 KINSHIP
 Kinship is the method of reckoning relationship.
 In any society every adult individual belongs to two different

nuclear families.
 The family in which he was born and reared is called ‘family of

orientation’.
 The other family to which he establishes relation through

marriage is called ‘family of procreation’.

 A kinship system is neither a social group nor does it correspond

to organized aggregation of individuals.

 It is a structured system of relationships where individuals are

bound together by complex interlocking and ramifying ties.

 The relationship based on blood ties is called “consanguineous
kinship”, and the relatives of this kind are called ‘consanguineous
kin’.
 “This kind of bond, which arises out of a socially or legally
 defined marital relationship, is called a final relationship”, and the

relatives so related are called ‘afinal kin’.

 The afinal kinds [husband and wife] are not related to one another

through blood.
 2.7.4 DESCENT
 Descent refers to the social recognition of the biological
relationship that exists between the individuals.
 The rule of descent refers to a set of principles by which an

individual traces his descent.

 Succession and inheritance is related to this rule of descent.
 There are three Important rules of decent are follows;

1. Patrilineal descent
 When descent is traced solely through the male line, it is called

patrilineal descent.
 A man’s sons and daughters all belong to the same descent group

by birth, but it only the sons who continue the affiliation.

 Succession and inheritance pass through the male line.
2. Matrilineal descent
 When the descent is traced solely through the female line. It is called

matrilineal descent.
 At birth, children of both sexes belong to mother’s descent group,

but later only females acquire the succession and inheritance.

 Therefore, daughters carry the tradition, generation after generation.

3. Cognatic Descent
 In some society’s individuals are free to show their genealogical

links either through men or women.

 Some people of such society are therefore connected with the kin-

group of father and others with the kin group of mothers.

 There is no fixed rule to trace the succession and inheritance; any

combination of lineal link is possible in such societies.

 Unit Four

4. Marginalized, Minorities, and Vulnerable

Groups
Contents of the Unit
 Concepts related to marginalization
 Gender-based marginalization
 Marginalized occupational groups
 Age-based vulnerability: marginalization of children and

older persons
 Marginalization of religious and ethnic minorities
 Inclusiveness and the human rights approach
 4.1 Definition of concepts
 Marginalization is defined as a treatment of a person or social
group as minor, insignificant or peripheral.
 Marginalization involves exclusion of certain groups from social

interactions, marriage relations, sharing food and drinks, and

working and living together.
 Vulnerability refers to the state of being exposed to physical or

emotional injuries.
 Vulnerable groups are people exposed to possibilities of attack,

harms or mistreatment.
 As a result, vulnerable persons/groups need special attention,

protection and support.

 Minority groups: The phrase ‘minority group’ refers to a small
group of people within a community, region, or country.
 In most cases, minority groups are different from the majority
population in terms of race, religion, ethnicity, and language.
For example, black Americans are minorities in the United
States of America. Christians could be minorities in a Muslim
majority country. Muslims can be minorities in a predominantly
Hindu society.
 Hence, minority groups can be ethnic minorities, religious

minorities, or racial minorities in a given community, region of

country.
 4.2 Gender-based marginalization
 Gender inequality involves discrimination on a group of people based
on their gender.
 Gender inequality mainly arises from socio-cultural norms.
 The manifestations of gender inequality varies from culture to culture.
 Girls and women face negative discrimination in societies across the

world.
 Women are exposed to social and economic inequalities involving

unfair distribution of wealth, income and job opportunities.

 Gender-based marginalization is a global problem. It involves

exclusion of girls and women from a wide range of opportunities and

social services. Gender disparities in education is a good example.
• Women and girls are also vulnerable to gender-based violence such as rape, early/child
marriage, abduction/forced marriage, domestic violence and female genital
cutting/mutilation.
 There are some customary practices that affect the health and
wellbeing of girls and women.
 These practices collectively are called harmful traditional

practices (HTPs).
Female genital cutting
 Female genital cutting (FGC) is practiced in 28 countries in
western, northern and eastern Africa. The prevalence of FGC is
very high in Somali (98%), Djibouti (93%), Egypt (87%), Sudan
(87%), and Eritrea (83%).
 Ethiopia is one of the high prevalence countries in Africa.
 According to recent reports, 65% of girls and women in 15 to

49 years age category are circumcised (UNFPA & UNICEF, 2017).

 According to Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey report,
the prevalence of FGC in Ethiopia varied from region to region.
Somali (99%), Afar (91%), and Harari (84%) are the three regions
with very high prevalence of the practice.
 The prevalence of FGC in Oromia (76%), Benishangul-Gumuz

(63%), Amhara (62%) and Southern, Nations, Nationalities and

 Peoples (SNNP) regional states (62%) is also high.
 The prevalence of the practice in also high in big cities such as

Addis Ababa (54%) and Dire Dawa (79%). The two regions with
relatively low FGC prevalence are Tigray (24%) and Gambella
(33%).
Health impacts of female genital cutting
 There are four major types of FGC.

They are Type I (clitoridectomy),

Type II (excision),
Type III (infibulation), and
Type IV (all the rest).
 The first three types of FGC are practiced in Ethiopia.
Factors that encourage female genital cutting
1) people consider it as an integral part of their culture; and
2) people believe that the practice has some benefits.
 The following are some of the beliefs related to the practice:
 FGC is considered as a process of purifying girls. In some cultures
uncircumcised girls/women are considered as impure.
 According to local beliefs, marriage to uncircumcised girls would
bring misfortunes such as illness, infertility, and conflict.
 Uncircumcised girls would be disobedient, powerful and ill-
mannered.
 There is a widely held belief that uncircumcised girls are promiscuous
because they have high sexual drive.
 FGC is also considered as a means of preserving girls’ virginity, which
is considered as a precondition for marriage in some cultures.
 Female genital cutting is sustained is enforced by social expectations and
norms.
 Girls and parents who decide to abandon the practice would be subject to
social sanctions.
 The following are examples:
 Social exclusion and marginalization: Community members would exclude
uncut girls and women from a wide range of social relations and
interactions.
 Gossip and insult: community members, including peer groups, boys,
women and men, put pressure on uncircumcised girls and their parents
through gossiping and insulting.
 In some parts of Ethiopia, men do not marry uncircumcised girls. As a
result, uncircumcised girls are excluded from marriage opportunities and
love relationships.
 In some parts of the country, people do not eat food cooked by
uncircumcised girls. Uncircumcised girls/women are not also allowed to join
other people for prayer. This is because uncut girls are labeled as impure.
4.3 Marginalized occupational groups
 The following are marginalized occupational groups in our
country: tanners, potters, weavers and ironsmiths.
 Marginalization of despised occupational groups is
manifested in many ways in different parts of Ethiopia.
Type of
marginaliz
Manifestations of marginalization
ation
Spatial • Craft-workers settle/live on the outskirts of villages, near to forests, on poor land,
marginaliz
ation • They are segregated at market places (they sell their goods at the outskirts of
markets).
Economic • Craft-workers are excluded from certain economic activities including production
marginaliz
ation and exchanges. In some cultures they are not allowed to cultivate crops.
• They have a limited access to land and land ownership.
Social • Craft-workers are excluded from intermarriage, they do not share burial places
marginaliz
ation with others; they are excluded from membership of associations such as iddirs.
• When marginalized groups are allowed to participate in social events, they must sit
on the floor separately-sometimes outside the house or near the door.
Cultural • Cultural marginalization is manifested in negative stereotyping such as the
marginaliz
ation following: Occupational minorities are labelled as impure and polluting; they are
accused of eating animals that have died without being slaughtered; Occupational
minorities are also considered unreliable, lacking morality, respect and shame.
 4.4 Age-based vulnerability
 Age-based vulnerability is susceptibility of people, especially
children and older people, to different forms of attack, physical
injuries and emotional harms. For example, children and older
people (people aged 60 and above) are exposed to possibilities
of attack, harm and mistreatment because of their age.
 As a result, vulnerable persons/groups need special attention,

protection and support.

 4.4.1 Children: Discrimination/vulnerability
 girls are exposed to HTPs such as female genital cutting.
 Minor girls are also exposed to early/child marriage in many

parts of Ethiopia.
Early/child marriage:
 Early marriage has the following major harmful consequences:
 Early marriage inhibits girls' personal development; it hinders

girls’ chance to education and future professional development.

 Early marriage exposes young girls to sexual abuse by their older

husbands.
 Early marriage leads to early pregnancies, which increases risks

of diseases and complications during delivery, fistula, and death

of the mother or child.
Factors encouraging early marriage:
 Social norms and economic factors are the two major drivers of the

practice.
Social norms:
 Chastity of girls is one of the social norms that influence parents and

relatives to protecting girls from pre-marital sex. The value attached to

virginity is another driver of early marriage.
 Community members influence unmarried teen-age girls to get married

as early as possible. They do this through social pressure including

insulting unmarried young girls. Komoker, an Amharic term, is the
widely used insult to ridicule girls considered to be late to get married.
Economic factors:
 Are among the major factors that drive child marriage. In many areas of
Ethiopia marriage provides economic security for young girls. Hence,
parents, in some cases girls, support early marriage for economic
benefits such as access to land and other resources.
 4.4.2 Marginalization of older persons
 The phrase ‘older people’ refers to adults with the age of 60 and above.
 People’s attitude towards older persons is changing over time in
Ethiopia and all over the world.
 Older men and women have been respected across Ethiopian cultures.
Older persons have been considered as custodians of tradition, culture,
and history. The role of older persons crucial in mentoring younger
people, resolving disputes, and restoring peace across Ethiopian
cultures.
 Situations are changing as family structures and living patterns are
changing over time.
 Rural-urban migration, changes in values and life style, education and
new employment opportunities lead to so many changes.
 Care and support for older people tend to decline as younger people
migrate to urban areas and exposed to economic pressure and new life
styles.
 Ageism is a widely observed social problem in the world.
 Ageism refer to stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination

against people based on their age.

 Older people are facing various problems as a result of

modernization, globalization, and urbanization.

 Older people are exposed to social exclusion because of their

lower social and economic status.

 In most cases, older people are excluded from social, cultural,

political and economic interactions in their communities.

 Older persons are marginalized because they are considered as

social burden rather than social assets.

 4.5. Religious and ethnic minorities
 The Jewish people suffered from discrimination and persecution
in different parts of the world. They were targets of
extermination in Germany and other Western European countries
because of their identity.
 Muslim Rohingyas are among the most marginalized and

persecuted people in the world. According to Abdu Hasnat

Milton et al (2017), the Rohingya are ‘one of the most ill-treated
and persecuted refugee groups in the world’. In recent years,
more than half-a-million Rohingyas fled from their homes in
Nyanmar to neighboring countries such as Bangladesh.
4.6. Human right approaches and inclusiveness:
Anthropological perspectives
 All forms of marginalization and discrimination against vulnerable and
minority groups contradict the principles of human rights.
 Anthropology appreciates cultural diversity and commonality.
 Cultural relativism is one of the guiding principles in social anthropology.
 This does not mean that we need to appreciate every custom and practice.
 Anthropologists do not support/appreciate cultural practices that violate
the rights and wellbeing of individuals and groups.

 11
 Unit Five

5. Identity, Inter-Ethnic Relations and Multiculturalism in

Ethiopia
Unit learning outcomes:
Up on the successful completion of this unit, you will be able to:
 Define ‘ethnicity’ and differentiate it from other cognate

identifications and group categorization such as race and nation;

 Understand the basics of ethnic identity and ethnic group –as the
outcome of a dialectical process of internal and external
definition;
 Develop greater understanding over the often-contested nature

of culture, identity, ethnicity and race;

 Understand lack of sound biological or scientific basis for use of

race in analytical sense to group identification and categorization;

 Identify the major theories of ethnicity and describe their main
arguments regarding the nature, characteristics and silent
feature of ethnicity;
 Explain the different aspects and patterns of ethnic relations

and understand how ethnic groups maintain their ethnic

boundary (identity) while interacting with others;
 Critique ethnicity as a dynamic aspect of social organization and

ethnic boundaries as flexible and constantly reproduced through

social interaction;
 Analyze how ethnic and other cognate identifications are socially

constructed and manipulated as a powerful tool for economic

and political ends.
5.1. Identity, Ethnicity and Race: Identification and Social
Categorization
 Brubaker (2004), inculcate that identity more generally is not
real, either, in the sense that it is not a ‘thing’ that people can be
said to have or to be.
 Instead, we should talk about ongoing and open-ended
processes of identification.
 By this logic, identity does not impel people to do anything; it is,

rather, people who engage in identification.

 Whatever reality can be attributed to groups depends on people

thinking that groups exist and that they belong to them.

 Identity depends on processes of identification and does not

determine, in any mechanistic or causal sense, what individuals

do.
 5.1.1. Ethnicity: What’s in a name?
 After the end of the second world war, words like “ethnicity”, “ethnic
groups” “ethnic conflict” and “nationalism” have become quite common
terms in the English language, and they keep cropping up in the press, in
TV news, in political programmes and in casual conversations.
 During the 1980s and early 1990s, we have witnessed an explosion in the
growth of scholarly publications on ethnicity, ethnic phenomenon and
nationalism across different disciplines, within social sciences.
 An important reason for the current academic interest in ethnicity and
nationalism is the fact that such phenomena have become so visible in
many societies that it has become impossible to ignore them.
 In the early twentieth century, many social theorists held that ethnicity and
nationalism would decrease in importance and eventually vanish as a result
of modernization, industrialization and individualism.
 This never came about. On the contrary, ethnicity and nationalism have
grown in political importance in the world, particularly since the Second
World War.
 Thirty-five of the thirty-seven major armed conflicts in the world in
1991 were internal conflicts, and most of them - from Sri Lanka to
Northern Ireland - could plausibly be described as ethnic conflicts.
 In addition to violent ethnic movements, there are also many important
non-violent ethnic movements, such as the Québecois independence
movement in Canada.
 In many parts of the world, further, nation-building - the creation of
political cohesion and national identity in former colonies - is high on
the political agenda.
 Ethnic and national identities also become strongly pertinent following
the continuous influx of labour migrants and refugees to Europe and
North America, which has led to the establishment of new, permanent
ethnic minorities in these areas.
 During the same period, indigenous populations (such as Inuits& Sami)
have organized themselves politically, and demand that their ethnic
identities and territorial entitlements should be recognized by the State.
 Finally, the political turbulence in Europe has moved issues of
ethnic and national identities to the forefront of political life.
 At one extreme of the continent, the erstwhile Soviet Union has

split into over a dozen ethnically based states.

 With the disappearance of the strong Socialist state in the

countries of Central and Eastern Europe, issues of nationhood

and minority problems are emerging with unprecedented force.
 On the other extreme of the continent, the situation seems to

be the opposite, as the nation-states of Western Europe are

moving towards a closer economic, political and possibly
cultural integration.
 5.1.3. The term itself –Ethnicity
 The word is derived from the Greek term ‘ethnos’ (which in turn,
derived from the Latin word ‘ethnikos’), which literally means “a
group of people bound together by the same manners, customs or
other distinctive features”
 In the context of ancient Greek, the term refers to a collectivity of

humans lived and acted together -which is typically translated

today as ‘people’ or ‘nation’ (not political unit per say, but group of
people with shared communality)
 Contrary to its literal meaning however, ancient Greeks were using

the term ‘ethnos’ in practice to refer to non-Hellenic, people who

are non-Greek and considered as second-class peoples.
 Likewise, in early England, it used to refer to someone who was

neither Christian nor Jewish (to refer to heathen or pagan).

 In its modern sense, it was only after the end of II World War that
the term widely adopted and begins to use.
 Before World War II, while the term “tribe” was the term of choice

for “pre-modern” societies and the term “race” was used to refer
modern societies
 Due to the close link between the term “race” and Nazi ideology,
after the end of II WW, the term “ethnic” gradually replaced “race”
within both the North American tradition and the European
tradition.
 The North American tradition adopted ‘ethnic’ as a substitute for

minority groups within a larger society of the nation-state

(referring to the Jews, Italians, Irish and other people considered
inferior to the dominant group of largely British descent).
 The European tradition regularly opted to use ‘ethnic group’ as a

synonym for nationhood, defined historically by descent or

 Jack David Eller put it, “some of the most perplexing problems
arise from the vagueness of the term and phenomenon called
ethnicity and from its indefinite and ever-expanding domain…
ethnicity is “vague, elusive and expansive”
 The fall of communism and the breakup of the Soviet-style
federations along ‘ethnic’ lines and the emergence of ‘ethnic
cleansing’ policies in the Balkans and the Caucasus have
further complicated these definitional issues.
 With the wars on former Yugoslav soil, extensive and

influential mass media coverage of ‘ethnic conflict’ has seen

the term ‘ethnic’ degenerate into a synonym for tribal,
primitive, barbaric and backward.
 Finally, the ever-increasing influx of asylum seekers, refugees and
economic migrants to Western Europe, North America and
Australia, who do not necessarily express visible or significant
physical, cultural or religious differences to their hosts, together
with their uncertain legal status (i.e., waiting for a decision on
asylum), has relegated the term ‘ethnic’ to a quasi-legislative
domain.
 In this context, the term ‘ethnicity’ often refers again to

noncitizens who inhabit ‘our land’, just as it did in the days of

ancient Greece and Judea; that is, to second-class peoples.
 What is obvious from this short history of the term is the fact that
‘ethnicity’ contains a multiplicity of meanings.
 Such a plasticity and ambiguity of the concept allows for deep

misunderstandings as well as political misuses.

 5.2. Conceptualizing Ethnicity –What’s it?
 None of the founding fathers of anthropology and sociology - with
the partial exception of Max Weber granted ethnicity much attention.
 Max Weber, in his work entitled “Economy and Society”, first

published in 1922 (1978:385-98), provided the early and influential

sociological conc0eptions of ethnicity and ethnic group.
 According to Weber, an “ethnic group” is based on the belief in

common descent shared by its members, extending beyond kinship,

political solidarity vis-a-vis other groups, and common customs,
language, religion, values, morality, and etiquette.
 In other words, ethnic groups are those human groups that entertain

a subjective belief in their common descent because of similarities or

physical type or of customs or both, or because of memories of
colonization and migration.
 It does not matter whether or not an objective blood relationship
 Perhaps the most significant part of Weber’s argument is that:
“ethnic membership does not constitute a group; it only facilitates
group formation of any kind, particularly in the political sphere.
 On the other hand, it is primarily the political community, no

matter how artificially organized that inspires the belief in common

ethnicity”
 Weber seems to be suggesting that the belief in common ancestry

is likely to be a consequence of collective political action rather

than its cause; people come to see themselves as belonging
together – coming from a common background – as a consequence
of acting together.
 Collective interests thus, do not simply reflect or follow from

similarities and differences between people; the pursuit of

collective interests does, however, encourage ethnic identification.
 Any cultural trait in common can provide a basis for and resources
for ethnic closure: language, ritual, economic way of life, lifestyle
more generally, and the division of laboure, are all likely
possibilities in this respect.
 Shared language and ritual are particularly implicated in ethnicity:

mutual intelligibility of the behavior of others is a fundamental

prerequisite for any group.
 By this token, an ethnic group is a particular form of status group.
 Finally, Weber argues that since the possibilities for collective action

rooted in ethnicity are ‘indefinite’, the ethnic group, and its close
relative the nation, cannot easily be precisely defined for
sociological purposes.
 The next great contribution to our understanding of ethnicity comes from
the influential works of the Norwegian anthropologist, named Frederik
Barth (1969).
 Barth in an exceptionally brilliant ‘Introduction’ part of a collection of
scholarly work entitled “Ethnic Groups and Boundaries”(1969), provided
nothing short of a Copernican revolution in the study of ethnicity –in and
outside anthropology.
 In his introduction to the collection of “Ethnic Groups and Boundaries”,
Barth (1969), outlined in detail a model of ethnicity.
 Barth began with what actors believe or think: ascriptions and self-
ascriptions.
 A categorical ascription is an ethnic ascription when it classifies a person
in terms of his basic, most general identity, presumptively determined by
his origin and background.
 To the extent that actors use ethnic identities to categorize themselves
and others for purposes of interaction, they form ethnic groups in this
organizational sense.
 Barth focused not upon the cultural characteristics of ethnic groups but upon
relationships of cultural differentiation, and specifically upon contact between
collectivities thus differentiated, 'us' and 'them’
 Barth's emphasis was not so much upon the substance or content of ethnicity,
what he called the 'cultural stuff', as upon the social processes, which produce
and reproduce - which organize, if you like-boundaries of identification and
differentiation between ethnic collectivities.
 As illustrated by Barth, it is important to recognize that although ethnic
categories take cultural differences into account: we can assume no simple
one-to-one relationship between ethnic units and cultural similarities and
differences.
 But the features that are taken into account are not the sum of 'objective'
differences, but only those which the actors themselves regard as
significant…
 Not only do ecological variations mark and exaggerate differences; some
cultural features are used by the actors as signals and emblems of
differences, others are ignored, and in some relationships radical differences
are played down and denied.
 The cultural contents of ethnic dichotomies would seem analytically to be
of two orders:
1. overt signals or signs - the diacritical features that people look for and
exhibit to show identity, often such features as dress, language, house-
form, or general style of life, and
2. basic value orientations: the standards of morality and excellence by
which performance is judged. Since belonging to an ethnic category
implies being a certain kind of person, having that basic identity, it also
implies a claim to be judged, and to judge oneself, by those standards
that are relevant to that identity.
 Ethnic categories provide an organizational vessel that may be given
varying amounts and forms of content in different socio-cultural systems.
 They may be of great relevance to behavior, but they need not be; they
may pervade all social life, or they may be relevant only in limited sectors
of activity.
 In its most general notion, for Barth, ethnicity is seen as a ‘social
organization of culture difference’.
 Before Barth, cultural difference was traditionally explained from the
inside out – social groups possess different cultural characteristics,
which make them unique and distinct (common language, lifestyle,
descent, religion, physical markers, history, eating habits, etc.).
 Culture was perceived as something relatively or firmly stable, persistent
and intact.
 Cultural difference was understood in terms of a group’s property (i.e.,
to be Gamo is to be in possession of a distinct culture to that of the
Wolayita).
 According to Frederik Barth (1969), Cultural difference per se does not
create ethnic collectivities.
 It is the social contact with others that leads to definition and
categorization of an ‘us’ and a ‘them’;
 Hence, cultural difference between two groups is not the decisive feature
of ethnicity.
 Indeed, ethnicity is essentially an aspect of a relationship, not a property
of a group.
 Nonetheless, Barth turned the traditional understanding of cultural
difference on its head.
 He defined and explained ethnicity from the outside in: it is not

the ‘possession’ of cultural characteristics that makes social

groups distinct but rather it is the social interaction with other
groups that makes that difference possible, visible and socially
meaningful.
 Shared culture is, in this model, best understood as generated in

and by processes of ethnic boundary maintenance, rather than the

other way round: the production and reproduction of difference
vis-a-vis external others is what creates the image of similarity
internally, vis-avis each other.
 In Barth’s own words: ‘the critical focus of investigation from this

point of view becomes the ethnic boundary that defines the group,
not the cultural stuff that it encloses’
 The difference is created, developed and maintained only through
interaction with others (i.e., Frenchness is created and becomes
culturally and politically meaningful only through the encounter with
Englishness, Germaness, Danishness, etc.).
 Hence, the focus in the study of ethnic difference has shifted from

the study of its contents (i.e., the structure of the language, the
form of the particular costumes, the nature of eating habits) to the
study of cultural boundaries and social interaction.
 Ethnic groups are not merely or necessarily based on the occupation

of exclusive territories; and the different ways in which they are

maintained, not only by a once-and for-all recruitment but by
continual expression and validation, need to be analyzed.
 In other words, ethnic boundaries are explained first and foremost
as a product of social action.
 Cultural difference per se does not create ethnic collectivities: it is

the social contact with others that leads to definition and

categorization of an ‘us’ and a ‘them’.
 At this point, we should note that contrary to a widespread

commonsense view, cultural difference between two groups is not

the decisive feature of ethnicity. ‘Group identities must always be
defined in relation to that which they are not – in other words, in
relation to nonmembers of the group’ .
 Thus, in emphasizing boundaries between groups, and their
production and reproduction, Barth immediately shifted the
analytical center of gravity away from this or that settled, bounded
group - or 'society' - and towards complex universes of
relationships between groups and their members.
 In doing so, Barth emphasized that ethnic identity is generated,

confirmed or transformed in the course of interaction and

transaction between decision-making, strategizing individuals.
 Barth’s work has transformed and shifted the study of ethnic

difference from the study of cultural contents (language, religion,

and customs) to the study of the interaction processes in which
cultural characteristics are “picked up” as markers of differences in
the interaction process.
 For instance, two distinctive, endogamous groups, say, somewhere
in Ethiopia, may well have widely different languages, religious
beliefs and even technologies, but that does not entail that there is
an ethnic relationship between them.
 For ethnicity to come about, the groups must have a minimum of

contact between them, and they must entertain ideas of each other
as being culturally different from themselves.
 If these conditions are not fulfilled, there is no ethnicity, for

ethnicity is essentially an aspect of a relationship, not a property of

a group.
 Conversely, some groups may seem culturally similar, yet there can
be a socially highly relevant (and even volatile) inter-ethnic
relationship between them.
 This would be the case of the relationship between Serbs and

Croats following the break-up of Yugoslavia, or of the tension

between coastal Sami and Norwegians.
 There may also be considerable cultural variation within a group

without ethnicity
 Only in so far as cultural differences are perceived as being
important, and are made socially relevant, do social relationships
have an ethnic element.
 Ethnicity is an aspect of social relationship between agents who

consider themselves as being culturally distinctive from members of

other groups with whom they have a minimum of regular
interaction.
 In spite of the difference in scholarly views of ethnicity among
anthropologists, the 'basic social anthropological model of
ethnicity' can be summarized as follows:
 Ethnicity is a matter of cultural differentiation - although, to
reiterate the main theme of social identity (Jenkins 2004),
identification always involves a dialectical interplay between
similarity and difference.
 Ethnicity is centrally a matter of shared meanings - what we

conventionally call 'culture' - but is also produced and reproduced

during interaction.
 Ethnicity is no more fixed or unchanging than the way of life of

which it is an aspect, or the situations in which it is produced and

reproduced.
 Ethnicity, as an identification, is collective and individual,
externalized in social interaction and the categorization of others,
 5.3. Ethnic Groups and Ethnic Identity
 Ethnic identity refers to ethnicity as an individually experienced
phenomenon.
 Ethnicity itself is an abstract concept, which includes an implicit

reference to both collective and individual aspects of the

phenomenon.
 Notably, the term ‘ethnic group’ is also attached with various

meanings as ethnicity.
  By considering the various definitions provided to define ethnicity,
Hutchinson and Smith’s (1996) identified six main features that the
definition of an ethnic group, predominantly consists. This includes;
1. A common proper name, to identify and express the “essence” of the
community;
2. A myth of common ancestry that includes the idea of common
origin in time and place and that gives an ethnic group a sense of
fictive kinship;
3. Shared historical memories, or better, shared memories of a
common past or pasts, including heroes, events, and their
commemoration;
4. One or more elements of common culture, which need not be
specified but normally, include religion, customs, and language;
5. A link with a homeland, not necessarily its physical occupation by
the ethnic group, only its symbolic attachment to the ancestral land,
as with diaspora peoples; and
 Ethnic Identity
 Typically, ethnic identity is an affiliative construct, where an individual is
viewed by themselves and by others as belonging to a particular ethnic or
cultural group.
 An individual can choose to associate with a group especially if other
choices are available (i.e., the person is of mixed ethnic or racial heritage).
 Affiliation can be influenced by racial, natal, symbolic, and cultural factors
(Cheung, 1993).
 Racial factors involve the use of physiognomic and physical

characteristics,
 Natal factors refer to "homeland" (ancestral home) or origins of

individuals, their parents and kin, and

Symbolic factors include those factors that typify or exemplify an ethnic

group (e.g., holidays, foods, clothing, artifacts, etc.).

Cultural factors: religion, language etc.
 On the individual level, ethnicity is a social-psychological process,
which gives an individual a sense of belonging and identity.
 Ethnic identity can be defined as a manner in which persons, on
account of their ethnic origin, locate themselves psychologically in
relation to one or more social systems, and in which they perceive
others as locating them in relation to those systems.
 Locating oneself in relation to a community and society is not only a
psychological phenomenon, but also a social phenomenon in the
sense that the internal psychological states express themselves
objectively in external behaviour patterns that come to be shared by
others.
 Thus, individuals locate themselves in one or another community
internally by states of mind and feelings, such as self-definitions or
feelings of closeness, and externally by behaviour appropriate to
these states of mind and feelings.
 We can thus distinguish external and internal aspects of ethnic identity.
 External aspects refer to observable behaviour, both cultural and social, such as ,
1. speaking an ethnic language, practicing ethnic traditions,
2. participation in ethnic personal networks, such as family and friendships,
3. participation in ethnic institutional organizations, such as churches, schools,
enterprises, media
4. participation in ethnic voluntary associations, such as clubs, 'societies,' youth
organizations and
5. participation in functions sponsored by ethnic organizations such as picnics,
concerts, public lectures, rallies, dances.
 The internal aspects of ethnic identity refer to images, ideas, attitudes, and
feelings.
 These, of course, are interconnected with the external behaviour. But, it should not
be assumed that, empirically, the two types are always dependent upon each other.
 We can distinguish at least three types of internal aspects of identity: (1) cognitive,
(2) moral, and (3) affective.
5.4. Race –The Social Construction of Racial Identity
 5.5. Theories of Ethnicity: Primordialism, Instrumentalism
and Social Constructivism
5.5.1. The Primordial Model of Ethnicity
 Basic assumptions of Primordialism

 ethnicity is a natural phenomenon with its foundations in primordial ties -

deriving mainly from kinship, locality and culture
 ethnicity is something given, ascribed at birth, deriving from the kin-and-clan-

structure of human society, and hence something more or less fixed and
permanent
 Ethnicity
and ethnic attachment is “natural and innate”, which would never
change over time, and
 ethnic membership is fixed, permanent and primarily ascribed through birth.
 Ethnic identification is based on deep, ‘primordial’ attachments to that group,
established by kinship and descent.
 the ‘core’ of ethnicity resides in the myths, memories, values, symbols and the

characteristic styles of particular historic configurations,

 5.5.2. Instrumentalist (Situational) Theory of Ethnicity
 Basic Assumptions:
 ethnicity is situationally defined , depending on rational calculations of

advantage and stimulated by political mobilization under the leadership of

actors whose primary motives are non-ethnic
 ethnicity is an instrument of group mobilization for political and economic
ends
 ethnicity is something that can be changed, constructed or even
manipulated to gain specific political and/or economic ends.
 the contexts of modern states, leaders (political elites) use and manipulate
perceptions of ethnic identity to further their own ends and stay in power.
 ethnic groups are to be seen as a product of political myths, created and
manipulated by culture elites in their pursuit of advantages and power.
 5.5.3. Social Constructivist Theory of Ethnicity
 The basic notion in this approach:
 ethnicity is something that is being negotiated and constructed in

everyday living. ethnicity is constructed in the process of feeding,

clothing, sending to school and conversing with children and others.
 ethnicity as basically a social-psychological reality or a matter of

perception of "us" and "them" in contradistinction to looking at it as

something given, which exists objectively as it were "out there". .
 ethnic identity is an “individualistic strategy” in which individuals move

from one identity to another to “advance their personal economic and

political interests, or to minimize their losses”
 ethnic identity forms through boundary maintenance and interaction

between individuals.
 Ethnic group is hence a result of group relations in which the boundaries

are established through mutual perceptions and not by means of any

objectively distinct culture.
 ethnicity is dynamic that changes through time and space; and ethnic
 Unit Six

6. Customary and Local Governance Systems and Peace

Making