Common Denominators : Ethnicity, Nation-Building and Compromise in Mauritius

Thomas Hylland Eriksen

ISBN 10: 1859739547 / ISBN 13: 9781859739549

Edité par Routledge, 1998

A propos de cet article

nach der Bestellung gedruckt Neuware - Printed after ordering - This book seeks to enhance comparative understandings of ethnicity, to refine theories of nationalism, and to contribute to ongoing debates on multiculturalism, identity politics and creolization. Mauritius, an Indian Ocean island-state with a population of about one million, provides a fascinating focus for this comprehensive study of social identity and political culture. Fifteen languages are officially spoken on the island, and four world religions are represented, as well as a high number of ethnic groups. The author argues that the social importance of ethnicity depends not only on political and economic circumstances, but also on kinship organization, and shows how ethnicity is expressed through the idioms of language and religion. However, it is also shown how ethnic identity may be superseded by other forms of belongingness and politics in the contemporary age. Nationhood, gender, class and individualism are all examined for the role they play in social organization and the formation of collective identity. Multiethnic and peaceful, the pace of social change in Mauritius has been rapid throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The ways in which Mauritians negotiate the relationship between ethnic, national and other identities in forging a surprisingly stable and democratic society, and the peculiar tensions which arise in the interface between the ethnic and the non-ethnic, ought to be familiar to anyone concerned with the future of multiethnic societies.

N° de réf. du vendeur 9781859739549

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Common Denominators : Ethnicity, Nation-Building and Compromise in Mauritius
• Éditeur: Routledge
• Date de parution: 1998
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 1859739547
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9781859739549
• Reliure: Buch
• État de l'article: Neu
• Dimensions: 240 L x 161 H x 16 P (en millimètres) 240 millimètres de largeur par 161 millimètres de hauteur par 16 millimètres de profondeur
• Poids: 496 grammes

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis

This book seeks to enhance comparative understandings of ethnicity, to refine theories of nationalism, and to contribute to ongoing debates on multiculturalism, identity politics and creolization. Mauritius, an Indian Ocean island-state with a population of about one million, provides a fascinating focus for this comprehensive study of social identity and political culture. Fifteen languages are officially spoken on the island, and four world religions are represented, as well as a high number of ethnic groups. The author argues that the social importance of ethnicity depends not only on political and economic circumstances, but also on kinship organization, and shows how ethnicity is expressed through the idioms of language and religion. However, it is also shown how ethnic identity may be superseded by other forms of belongingness and politics in the contemporary age. Nationhood, gender, class and individualism are all examined for the role they play in social organization and the formation of collective identity. Multiethnic and peaceful, the pace of social change in Mauritius has been rapid throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The ways in which Mauritians negotiate the relationship between ethnic, national and other identities in forging a surprisingly stable and democratic society, and the peculiar tensions which arise in the interface between the ethnic and the non-ethnic, ought to be familiar to anyone concerned with the future of multiethnic societies.

À propos de l?auteur

Thomas Hylland Eriksen is a Professor at the Department and Museum of Anthropology, University of Oslo.

Thomas Hylland Eriksen is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Oslo and author of Ethnicity and Nationalism (1994; 2002) and Small Places, Large Issues: An Introduction to Social and Cultural Anthropology (1995; 2001).