Documenti di Didattica
Documenti di Professioni
Documenti di Cultura
The aim of the course is to provide academic background, conceptual clarity, and guidance to
the students around the key concepts of race and ethnicity. Classical studies on nationalism
and state-formation emphasize territoriality, clearly delimited boundaries, and a homogenous
population with a focus on universalism, inclusion, civility, modern tolerance, transnational
integration and civic nationhood. The increasing emphasis on particularity, exclusion,
violence, ancient hatreds, and national disintegration (stemming mainly from the post-
communist east Europe and the former Soviet Union and the increasing number of immigrants
in Europe) constitutes a challenge to the analytical gains of the mainstream literature on
nationalism. In this context ethnic group formation, ethnic integration and ethnic conflict
appear among the defining phenomena of the modern era. While one understanding in the
field of race and ethnicity emphasizes membership in definite groups (similarity), the other
emphasizes cultural differentiation (difference); both aiming to explain and understand human
diversity through the processes of social identification and interaction. Ethnic integration and
ethnic conflict can be divided into several sub-categories, such as assimilation, melting pot or
cultural pluralism (multiculturalism) on the one hand and discrimination, ethnic cleansing or
genocide on the other. Since ethnic groups can (and often do) generate various forms of
conflict, ethnicity appears as one of the most controversial topics in the literature. Most
theoretical approaches to understanding racial and ethnic identification or racial and ethnic
relations remain inconclusive. Thus, it is important to emphasize a broader understanding of
the concept of ethnicity as a social phenomenon. Ethnicity also has political, historical,
economic, and religious dimensions none of which can be ignored. In this context,
conceptions like the return of the repressed or elite manipulation need to be critically
reconsidered in relation to the concepts of collective identity (and its expressive forms) and
(ethnic and racial) social movements.
The final grade for the course will be made up as follows: class presentation 30 per cent; mid-
term exam 40 per cent, and final exam 30 per cent.
According to university policies, you must attend two thirds of all classes. If you do not attend
more than one third, you will not receive a good grade for this course; your exam papers or
class presentation will not be marked (your grade will be NA). There will be fourteen weeks
of classes, comprising of three one hour lectures. I will take attendance at the beginning of
each lecture (a total of forty-two lectures). Late arrivals will be counted as absent. You must
be present for twenty-eight of these lectures in order to obtain a passing grade. I will not mark
extra points for attendance. You must turn in all assignments when they are due. You must be
present when you are required to give a presentation. Important note: You must submit your
exam papers to the Turn-it-in when they are due. No late submissions are accepted.
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If you do not participate in the classes you will not receive better than a CC. Class
participation is important. However, your comments must be relevant to the topics being
discussed. Disruptive behaviour or remarks will not be tolerated. You can participate in the
discussion by adding to someone elses point of view or you may express disagreement.
However, condescending statements or discussion not relevant to the topic will not be
allowed. Just making random comments that lead us nowhere does not count as participation.
This means speaking up usefully in class so that a given conversation moves forward talking
but not adding is not participation. Your opinions will be respected providing it is based on
academic relevancy.
Hutchinson, J. and Smith A. D. (1996) Introduction, Ethnicity (Eds.), Oxford, New York:
Oxford University Press.
Calhoun, Craig (1993) Nationalism and Ethnicity, Annual Review of Sociology, Volume 19,
211-239.
Alonso, Ana Maria. (1994) The Politics of Space, Time and Substance: State Formation,
Nationalism and Ethnicity, Annual Review of Anthropology. Vol.23; S.379.
Jalali, Rita and Lipset, Seymour Martin (1992/93) Racial and Ethnic Conflicts: A Global
Perspective, Political Science Quarterly, 107 (4): 585-606.
Brubaker, Rogers (2009) Ethnicity, Race and Nationalism, Annual Review of Sociology 35:
2142.
Reference Books: The following books are recommended to the students (optional
readings):
Abdelai, Rawi, Yoshiko Herrera, Alastair Johnston and Rose McDermott (2006) Identity as a
Variable, Perspectives on Politics 4(4): 695-711.
Armstrong, A. (1982) Nations before Nationalism, Chapel Hill: the University of North
Carolina Press.
Barany, Zoltan (2002) The East European Gypsies: Regime Change, Marginality, and
Ethnopolitics.
Barth, Fredrik (ed.) (1969) Introduction, in Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Social
Organisation of Culture Difference, Boston: Little, Brown, pp. 9-39.
Berger, Peter and Thomas Luckmann (1966) The Social Construction of Reality.
Bentley, Carter (1987) Ethnicity and Practice, in Comparative Study of Society and History
29: 24-55.
Bourdieu, Pierre (1985) The Social Space and the Genesis of Groups, Theory and Society
14(6): 723-744.
Bourdieu, Pierre (1991) Identity and Representation: Elements for a Critical Reflection on
the Idea of Region, in Pierre Bourdieu, Language and Symbolic Power, Cambridge: Harvard
University Press, pp. 220-228.
Brass, Paul R. (1997) Theft of an Idol: Text and Context in the Representation of Collective
Violence.
Brower, Daniel R. and Edward J. Lazzerini (eds) (1997) Russias Orient: Imperial
Borderlands and Peoples, 1700-1917.
Brubaker, Rogers (1996) Myths and misconceptions in the study of nationalism, in Hall,
John (ed.) The State of the Nation, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 272-306.
Brubaker, Rogers (1996) The Manichean Myth: Rethinking the Distinction between
<<Civic>> and <<Ethnic>> Nationalism, in Kriesi, Hanspeter (ed.) Nation and National
Identity: The European Experience in Perspective, Zrich: Regger.
Brubaker, Rogers and David D. Laitin (1998) Ethnic and Nationalist Violence, Annual
Review of Sociology, pp. 423-452.
Brubaker, Rogers and Frederick Cooper (2000) Beyond Identity, Theory and Society
29(1): 1-47.
Brubaker, Rogers (2004) Ethnicity without Groups, Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University
Press.
Brubaker, Rogers, Mara Loveman, and Peter Samatov (2004) Ethnicity as Cognition, Theory
and Society, 33: 31-64.
Brubaker, Rogers (2009) Ethnicity, Race and Nationalism, Annual Review of Sociology 35:
2142.
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Calhoun, Craig (ed.) (1994) Social Theory and the Politics of Identity.
Chandra, Kanchan and Steven Wilkinson (2008) Measuring the Effect of Ethnicity,
Comparative Political Studies 41(4/5): 515-568.
Cohen, A. P. (1982) Belonging: Identity and Social Organization in British Rural Cultures,
Manchester: Manchester University Press.
Cohen, A. P. (1985) The Symbolic Construction of Community, London and New York:
Routledge.
Connor, Walker (1993) Beyond Reason: The Nature of the Ethnonational Bond, Ethnic and
Racial Studies 16(3): 373-389.
Cornell, Stephen and Douglas Hartmann (1998) Ethnicity and Race: Making Identities in a
Changing World, Thousand Oaks: Pine Forge Press, Ch. 6.
Cowan, Jane K. Marie-Benedicte Dembour, and Richard A. Wilson (eds) (2001) Culture and
Rights: Anthropological Perspectives.
Day, G. (2006) Community and Everyday Life: The New Sociology, New York: Routledge.
Donnan H., Wilson, T. M. (1999) Borders: Frontiers of Identity, Nation and State, Oxford:
Berg.
Eisenberg, S., Halev, J. (eds) (2005) Minorities within Minorities: Equality, Rights, and
Diversity, Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press.
Elias, N. (1997) The Germans: Power Struggles and the development of Habitus in the
nineteenth and twentieth Centuries, UK: Polity Press.
Eller, Jack and Reed Coughlan (1993) The Poverty of Primordialism: The Demystification of
Ethnic Attachments, Ethnic and Racial Studies, pp. 183-202.
Elias, Norbert (1982) The Civilising Process: Vol. II State Formation and Civilisation,
Blackwell, Oxford.
Elkins, Zachary and John Sides (2007) Can Institutions Build Unity in Multiethnic States?
American Political Science Review 101(4): 693-708.
Evans, Martin (1996) 'Languages of racism within contemporary Europe', in Brian Jenkins
and Spyros A. Sofos (eds) Nation and identity in contemporary Europe, Routledge: London
& New York.
Gabriel, John and Ben-Tovim, Gideon (1978) Marxism and the Concept of Racism,
Economy and Society 7 (2): 118-154.
Gans, H. (1996) Symbolic Ethnicity: The Future of Ethnic groups and cultures in America,
in W. Sollors (ed.), Theories of Ethnicity: A classical reader, London: Macmillan, pp. 425
460.
Giddens, Anthony (1994) Political theory and the Problem of Violence, in A. Giddens
Beyond Left and Right: The Future of Radical Politics.
Gil-White, Franscisco J. September (1999) How Thick is Blood? The Plot Thickens . . . : If
Ethnic Actors are Primordialists, What Remains of the Circumstantialist/Primordialist
Controversy? Ethnic and Racial Studies, pp. 789-820.
Glazer, Nathan and Daniel Moynihan (eds) (1975) Ethnicity: Theory and Experience.
Greenfeld, Liah and Daniel Chirot (1994) Nationalism and Aggression, Theory and Society
23: 79-130.
Grosby, Stephen (1994) The Verdict of History: The Inexpungeable Tie of PrimordialityA
Response to Eller and Coughlan, Ethnic and Racial Studies 17(1): 164-171.
Hale, Henry (2004) Explaining Ethnicity, Comparative Political Studies 37(4): 458-485.
Hall, Stuart. (1996) Introduction: Who needs Identity?, in Stuart Hall and Paul du Gay
(eds.), Questions of Cultural Identity. London: Sage publications.
Hall, Stuart. (1996) New Ethnicities, in David Morley, Kuan-Hsing Chen (eds.) Critical
Dialogues in Cultural Studies. New York: Routledge.
Hannerz, Ulf (1992) Cultural Complexity: Studies in the Social Organization of Meaning.
Hardin, R. (1995) One for All: The Logic of Group Conflict, Princeton, NJ: Princeton
University Press.
Hechter, Michael Debra Friedman, and Malka Appelbaum (1982) A Theory of Ethnic
Collective Action, International Migration Review, pp. 412-434.
Hechter, Michael (1995) Explaining Nationalist Violence, Nations and Nationalism 1(1):
53-68.
Hirschfeld, Lawrence A. (1996) Race in the Making: Cognition, Culture and the Child's
Construction of Human Kinds, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Horowitz, Donald L. (2003) The Cracked Foundations of the Right to Secede, Journal of
Democracy 14(2): 5-17.
Hutchinson, J. and Smith A. D. (1996) Ethnicity (Eds.), Oxford, New York: Oxford
University Press.
Jenkins, R. (1996) Ethnicity etcetera: Social anthropological points of view, Ethnic and
Racial Studies 19: 807822.
Jenkins, Richard (1997) Rethinking Ethnicity: Arguments and Explorations, London: Sage
Publications.
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Johnson, Carter (2008) Partitioning to Peace: Sovereignty, Demography, and Ethnic Civil
Wars, International Security 32(4): 140-170.
Kalyvas, Stathis N. (2003) The Ontology of Political Violence: Action and Identity in
Civil Wars, Perspectives on Politics 1(3): 475-494.
Kalyvas, Stathis (2008) Ethnic defection in civil war, Comparative Political Studies 41(8):
1043-1068.
Kaufman, Stuart (2001) Modern Hatreds: The Symbolic Politics of Ethnic War, 15-
Kaufman, Stuart J. (2006) Symbolic politics or rational choice? Testing theories of extreme
ethnic violence, International Security 30(4): 45-86.
Kukathas, C. (2003) The liberal Archipelago: A theory of Diversity and Freedom, Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Kymlicka, Will (2000) Nation-Building and Minority Rights: Comparing East and West,
Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 26(2): 83-212.
Laitin, David D. (1995) "Marginality: A Microperspective", Rationality and Society 7(1): 31-
57.
Lamont M., Molnar V. The study of boundaries in the social science, Annual Review of
Sociology 28: 167195.
Lijphart, Arend (1971) Cultural Diversity and Theories of Political Integration, Canadian
Journal of Political Science 4(1): 1-14.
Mann, Michael (2005) The Dark Side of Democracy: Explaining Ethnic Cleansing,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Maykel, V. (2005) The Social Psychology of Ethnic Identity, Hove, England: Psychology
Press.
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Merton, R. K. (1986) Social Theory and Social Structure, New York: Free Press.
Michael, Hechter (1992) "The Dynamics of Secession", Acta Sociologica 35(4): 467-283.
Miles, Robert (1993) Racism after 'race relations' (Routledge: London), Ch. 2: Nationalism
and racism: antithesis and articulation, pp. 53-80.
Milton Esman (1973) The Management of Communal Conflict, Public Policy 21.
Mosse, George L. (1995) Racism and Nationalism, Nations and Nationalism 1(2):163-173.
Nagel, J. (1994) Constructing Ethnicity: Creating and Recreating Ethnic Identity and
Culture, Social Problems 41(1): 152176.
Nagel, Joane (1995) "American Indian Ethnic Revival: Politics and the Resurgence of
Identity", American Sociological Review 60: 947-65.
Nairn, Tom (1975) The Modern Janus, New Left Review 94.
Nisan, M. (2002) Minorities in the Middle East; A history of Struggle and Selfexpression, US:
Mcfarland Company Publisher.
Okamura, J. Y. (1981) Situational Ethnicity, Ethnic and Racial Studies 4(4): 452-463.
Olzak, Susan and Joane Nagel (eds) (1986) Competitive Ethnic Relations.
Olzak, Susan (1998) Ethnic Protest in Core and Periphery, Ethnic and Racial Studies, xxx:
187-217.
Parekh, Bhikhu (2000) Rethinking Multiculturalism: Cultural Diversity and Political Theory.
Reilly, Benjamin (2001) Democracy in Divided Societies: Electoral Engineering for Conflict
Management.
Revill, G. (1993) Reading Rosehill, in M. Keith and S. Pile (eds.), Place and the Politics of
Identity. London and New York: Routledge.
Reynolds, Vernon Vincent Falger, and Ian Vine (eds.) (1987) The Sociobiology of
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Safran, W. (2008) Language, ethnicity and religion: a complex and persistent linkage,
Nations and Nationalism 14(1): 171190.
Simmel, G. (1996) The stranger and Web of Group Affiliations, in W. Sollors (ed.) Theories
of ethnicity: A Classical Reader, London: Macmillan, pp. 3752.
Shanin, Theodor (1986) Soviet Theories of Ethnicity: The Case of a Missing Term, New
Left Review 158: 113.
Shaw, R. Paul and Yuwa Wong (1989) Genetic Seeds of Warfare: Evolution, Nationalism and
Patriotism, pp. 23-61.
Shibutani, Tamotsu and Kian Kwan (1965) Ethnic Stratification: A Comparative Approach.
Shils, Edward (1957) Primordial, Personal, Sacred, and Civil Ties, British Journal of
Sociology, pp. 113-145.
Smith, Anthony D. (1981) The Ethnic Revival in The Modern World, Cambridge University
Press, Cambridge.
Smith, Anthony D. (1984) National Identity and Myths of Ethnic Descent, Research in
social Movements, Conflict and Change (7): 95-130.
Smith, Anthony D. (1992) Chosen People: Why ethnic groups survive, Ethnic and Racial
Studies 15(3): 436456.
Smith, Anthony D. (1995) Nations and Nationalism in Global Area, Cambridge, UK: Polity
Press.
Smith, Anthony D. (1999) Myths and Memories of Nation, USA: Oxford University Press, p.
10
196.
Smith, Anthony D. (2000) The 'Sacred' Dimension of Nationalism, Millennium 29(3): 791-
814.
Smith, Anthony D. (2003) Chosen Peoples: Sacred Sources of National Identity, Oxford,
New York: Oxford University Press.
Theo Goldberg, David (1992) The Semantics of Race, Ethnic and Racial Studies 15(4): 543-
569.
Van den Berghe, Pierre (1978) Race and Ethnicity: a Socio-Biological Perspective, Ethnic
and Racial Studies 1(4): 401-411.
Van den Berghe, Pierre L. (1987) The Ethnic Phenomenon, Westport: Praeger.
Van den Berghe, Pierre L. (1995) Does race matter? Nations and nationalism 1(3): 357-68.
Van Evera, Stephen (1994) Hypotheses on Nationalism and War, International Security
18(4): 5-39.
Verkuyten, M. (2005) The Social Psychology of Ethnic Identity, Hove and New York:
Psychology Press.
Wallerstein, I. and Balibar, E. (1991) Race, Nation, Class: Ambiguous Identities, London:
Verso.
Weber, Max (1996) Ethnic Groups, in W. Sollors (ed.), Theories of Ethnicity: A classical
Rreader, London: Macmillan, pp. 5267.
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Weber, Max. 1978 [1922] Economy and Society (eds.), Guenther Roth and Claus Wittich,
Berkeley: University of California Press, 385-398; 900-904, 910-912; 921-926.
Young, Crawford (1983) The Temple of Ethnicity, World Politics 35(4): 652-662.
Additional readings:
BANKS, Marcus
1996 Ethnicity: Anthropological Constructions.
London, New York (reprint) (Routledge)
Chapter 5: Ethnicity and nationalism: S.121 - 160
BRASS, Paul R.
1991 Ethnicity and Nationalism: Theory and Comparison.
New Dehli (Sage Publishers India)
BRUBAKER, R.
2005 Ethnicity without Groups.
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CONNOR, Walker
1994 Ethnonationalism: The quest for understanding.
Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press
HALL, Steward
1999 Cultural Identity and Diaspora
In: Vertovec Steven and Cohen Robin (Eds.): Migration, Diasporas and
Transnationalism. Cheltenham/ UK and Northampton, MA (Edward Elgar Publishing
Ltd.); pp.299-314
HETHERINGTON, Kevin
1998 Expressions of Identity. Space, Performance, Politics.
London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi (Sage Publishers)
bes.: Chapter 1: S.21-40
TAMBIAH, Stanley J.
1989 The Politics of Ethnicity.
In: American Ethnologist, Vol. 16, Nr. 2; s.335 bis S.349
Reprint and revised in: BOROFSKY, Robert (Ed.): Assessing Cultural Anthropology.
New York etc. 1994; S. 430 bis S.441
VERDERY, Katherine
1994 Ethnicity, Nationalism, and State-making.
in: VERMEULEN, Hans and GOVERS, Cora (Eds.): The Anthropology of Ethnicity.
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Beyond Ethnic Groups and Boundaries. Amsterdam (Het Spinhuis); S.33 bis S.58