Modern ethnicity and its modalities: theory and practice

L.R. Nizamova

39-52 p.



The focus of the study is the topic of ethnicity in modern society, its peculiarities, growing fragmentation, variability and the dynamic character of ethnicity in contemporary (postmodern) society. Contrary to essentialist approaches and holistic, determinist and static theories of culture, the author articulates the idea of ‘modalities of ethnicity.’ This denotes the multiple modes of existence of ethnic difference and distinctions in the field of a relatively coherent and stable network of social relations in the ethnic community that differs from others and is recognized as original. On the basis of analysis of works by Russian scholars and data from a sociological project for which the author is a member of the research group, an argument is made for the relevance, analytical strength and explanatory potential of the concept of ‘modalities’ of ethnicity.


Keywords: essentialism, ethnicity, modalities of ethnicity, modernity, native language, post-modernity, Republic of Tatarstan, religiosity, Tatars


REFERENCES

1. Eriksen T.H. Ethnicity and Nationalism. Anthropological Perspectives. London, Connecticut, Pluto Press, 1993. 173 p.

2. Belikov V.I., Krysin L.P. Sociolinguistics: Textbook. Moscow, RGGU Publ., 2001. 437 p.

3. Convention 169. Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention. Available at: http://www.un.org/ru/documents/decl_conv/conventions/iol169.shtml (accessed: 29.05.2012).

4. Habermas J., Ratzinger J. (Benedict XVI) Dialektika sekulyarizatsii. O razume i religii. [Dialectics of Secularization. On Reason and Religion]. Moscow, Bibleiskobogoslovskiy in-t Sv. Apostola Andreya Publ., 2006. 112 p.

5. Multiculturalism: Critical Concepts in Sociology. Ed. by G.Baumann. London, Routledge, 2011. 1592 p.

6. Girko L.V. Ref.: Schwinn T. Mnogoobrazie modernov: konkuriruyushchie tezisy i otkrytye voprosy: obzor literatury s konstruktivnoy tochki zreniya. [Multiple Modernities: Competing Arguments and Open Questions: Review of the Literature from a Constructive Point of View]. Sotsial’nye i gumanitarnye nauki. Otechestvennaya i zarubezhnaya literatura. Ser. 11. Sotsiologiya. Ref. zhurnal – Social and humanitarian sciences. Native and Foreign Literature. Ser. 11. Sociology. Ref. Journal, 2010, no 4, pp. 27–37.

7. Viner B.E. Formy etnichnosti, byvaet li u etnosa sushchnost’ i chto storonniki akademika Bromleya mogut vzyat’ u novykh teoriy [Forms of Ethnicity, Does Ethnicity have eEsence and What can the Adherents of Academician Bromley Borrow from the New Theories]. Zhurnal sotsiologii i sotsial’noy antropologii – Journal of sociology and social anthropology, 2005, vol.VIII, no 2, pp. 142–164.

8. Nizamova L.R. Slozhnosostavnaya kontseptsiya modernoy etnichnosti: predely i vozmozhnosti teoreticheskogo sinteza [The Compound Concept of Modern Ethnicity: The Limits and Opportunities of Theoretical Synthesis]. Zhurnal sotsiologii i sotsial’noy antropologii – Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology, 2009, vol. XII, no 1, pp. 141–159.

9. Abdrakhmanov R.F. Republic of Tatarstan. On the Way to the Census. V.A.Tishkov (Ed.). Moscow, Aviaizdat Publ., 2003, pp. 421–440.

10.Starovoitova G.V. Etnicheskaya gruppa v sovremennom sovetskom gorode. Sotsiologicheskie ocherki [The Ethnic Group in the Contemporary Soviet City. Sociological Studies]. Leningrad, Nauka Publ., LO, 1987. 174 p.

11.Konstruirovanie etnichnosti. Etnicheskie obshchiny Sankt-Peterburga [The Construction of Ethnicity. Ethnic Communities in Saint Petersburg]. V.Voronkov & I.Osvald (eds.). Saint-Petersburg, Dmitri Bulanin Publishing House, 1998. 303 p.

12.Karpenko O. «Byt’ natsional’nym»: strakh poteryat’ i strakh poteryat’sya. Na primere tatar Sankt-Peterburga [«To be National»: The Fear of Losing and the Fear of Losing Oneself. The Example of Tatars in Saint Petersburg]. Construction of Ethnicity. The Ethnic Communities of Saint-Petersburg. V.Voronkov & I.Osvald (eds.). SaintPetersburg, Dmitri Bulanin Publishing House, 1998, pp. 37–96.

13.Phillips A. Multiculturalism without Culture. Princeton and Oxford, Princeton University Press, 2007. 202 p.

About the author: Liliya R. Nizamova – Candidate of Science (Sociology), Associate Professor, Department of General and Ethnic Sociology, Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University (18, Kremlyovskaya Str., Kazan 420008, Russian Federation); linizamova@yandex.ru


Received 29.04.2016   Accepted for publication 28.09.2016

Published Online 17.11.2017