essay
Of definitions and boundaries
discourse and the social life of meaning • Washington, D.C. • Published In 1986 • Pages: 75-93
By: Herzfeld, Michael.
Abstract
This is a discussion of how the nation state appropriates the discourse of ethnicity and kinship, and fixes their terms in a process of naturalization and reification. The state creates a rigid identity and morality that lacks the indeterminate, variable, and shifting quality of the original discourse. Problems arise when a nation state defines itself in both racial and territorial terms, e.g., having to protect the rights of Turkish immigrants and deal with Cretan lawbreakers who claim to be truest of all Greeks.
- HRAF PubDate
- 2003
- Region
- Europe
- Sub Region
- Southeastern Europe
- Document Type
- essay
- Evaluation
- Creator Type
- Ethnologist
- Document Rating
- 4: Excellent Secondary Data
- 5: Excellent Primary Data
- Analyst
- Ian Skoggard ; 2002
- Field Date
- 1973-1981
- Coverage Date
- 1728-1984
- Coverage Place
- Greece
- Notes
- Michael Herzfeld
- Includes bibliographical references (p. 91-93)
- LCCN
- 86042577
- LCSH
- Greece