Ethnicity And Nationalism - Second Edition : Anthropological Perspectives (Anthropology, Culture and Society)

Rating:
Summary: First-Rate
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Highly informative
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: Politically correct, otherwise rather useless
Review: 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.