Meta-ethnicity
Encyclopedia
Meta-ethnicity is a relatively recent term (or neologism) that arises occasionally in academic literature or public discourse, and when it does, seems to be an attempt to describe a level of commonality that is wider and more general (i.e., might differ on specifics) than ethnicity
, but does not necessarily correspond to (and may actually transcend) nation
or nationality
.
An early use - possibly the first published in English - was an article in a 1984 USSR Academy of Sciences publication discussing identity in Asia
and Africa
.
Some other examples:
Ethnic group
An ethnic group is a group of people whose members identify with each other, through a common heritage, often consisting of a common language, a common culture and/or an ideology that stresses common ancestry or endogamy...
, but does not necessarily correspond to (and may actually transcend) nation
Nation
A nation may refer to a community of people who share a common language, culture, ethnicity, descent, and/or history. In this definition, a nation has no physical borders. However, it can also refer to people who share a common territory and government irrespective of their ethnic make-up...
or nationality
Nationality
Nationality is membership of a nation or sovereign state, usually determined by their citizenship, but sometimes by ethnicity or place of residence, or based on their sense of national identity....
.
An early use - possibly the first published in English - was an article in a 1984 USSR Academy of Sciences publication discussing identity in Asia
Asia
Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, located primarily in the eastern and northern hemispheres. It covers 8.7% of the Earth's total surface area and with approximately 3.879 billion people, it hosts 60% of the world's current human population...
and Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
.
Some other examples:
- "Against this dominant view of the nature of the Indian state, Singh argues that IndiaIndiaIndia , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
should be seen as an 'ethnic democracyEthnic democracyEthnic democracy is a political system that combines a structured ethnic dominance with democratic, political and civil rights for all. Both the dominant ethnic group and the minority ethnic groups have citizenship and are able to fully participate in the political process. Ethnic democracy differs...
' in which HinduismHinduismHinduism is the predominant and indigenous religious tradition of the Indian Subcontinent. Hinduism is known to its followers as , amongst many other expressions...
works as a meta-ethnicity and in which hegemonic control is exercised over ethnic minoritiesMinority groupA minority is a sociological group within a demographic. The demographic could be based on many factors from ethnicity, gender, wealth, power, etc. The term extends to numerous situations, and civilizations within history, despite the misnomer of minorities associated with a numerical statistic...
, particularly those living in the peripheral regions." - "We also know that demographically by the year 2050 less than one in two AmericansUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
will be a white Euro-AmericanEuropean AmericanA European American is a citizen or resident of the United States who has origins in any of the original peoples of Europe...
. There has even been talk of a kind of meta-ethnicity or post-ethnicity. That is to say that intermarriageInterracial marriageInterracial marriage occurs when two people of differing racial groups marry. This is a form of exogamy and can be seen in the broader context of miscegenation .-Legality of interracial marriage:In the Western world certain jurisdictions have had regulations...
, mix, birth-rateBirth rateCrude birth rate is the nativity or childbirths per 1,000 people per year . Another word used interchangeably with "birth rate" is "natality". When the crude birth rate is subtracted from the crude death rate, it reveals the rate of natural increase...
, etc. will lead to not one, nor two or even three ethnicities feeding into people’s make-up, but many more." - "L. Byzov, however, believes that 'there has taken place within the RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
n national consciousness one of the most radical changes ever: from a meta-ethnic sense of identityIdentity (social science)Identity is a term used to describe a person's conception and expression of their individuality or group affiliations . The term is used more specifically in psychology and sociology, and is given a great deal of attention in social psychology...
to a strictly ethnic identity' (Byzov 1996, 45)." - "Geoffrey Fox, on the other hand, argues that 'HispanicHispanicHispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
', with its emphasis on Spanish-languageSpanish languageSpanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
heritageCultural heritageCultural heritage is the legacy of physical artifacts and intangible attributes of a group or society that are inherited from past generations, maintained in the present and bestowed for the benefit of future generations...
as the foundation of meta-ethnicity, has no implied racial or classSocial classSocial classes are economic or cultural arrangements of groups in society. Class is an essential object of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, economists, anthropologists and social historians. In the social sciences, social class is often discussed in terms of 'social stratification'...
agendas and is simply preferred by most immigrants from Latin AmericaLatin AmericaLatin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
." ... "Furthermore, these split-level processes of identity formationIdentity formationIdentity formation is the development of the distinct personality of an individual regarded as a persisting entity in a particular stage of life in which individual characteristics are possessed and by which a person is recognised or known . This process defines individuals to others and themselves...
--the forging of ethnicity and meta-ethnicity--take place in regional contexts of unequal ethnic control over media and symbol systemsSymbolic systemIn the fields of anthropology, sociology, and psychology, symbolic system refers to a system of interconnected symbolic meanings. In particular, the field focuses on the dynamic relationships between various symbols within different task or theoretical contexts...
." - Peter TurchinPeter TurchinPeter Turchin is a Russian-American scientist, specializing in population biology and "cliodynamics" — mathematical modeling and statistical analysis of the dynamics of historical societies.- Biography :...
introduces the concept "metaethnic frontier theory" in his 2003 book, Historical Dynamics: Why States Rise and Fall - Muslims can be considered to have a Meta-Ethnic Identity, with a similar underlying culture and identity transcending different nationalities.
- "At the beginning of the new century, Chinese peopleChinese peopleThe term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....
are living the construction of a metaethnicity of multiple identities."