SC2218: Anthropology and the SC2218: Anthropology and the Human ConditionHuman Condition

Lecture 9: Ethnicity, Nation, and Lecture 9: Ethnicity, Nation, and Other Imagined CommunitiesOther Imagined Communities

Eric C. ThompsonEric C. Thompson

Semester 1, 2010/2011Semester 1, 2010/2011

Where Are We Going?Where Are We Going?

• Part 1: What is Anthropology?– Strangers Abroad, Race, Culture

• Part 2: What do Anthropologists Study?– Kinship– Gender– Economy– Community

• Part 3: Current Debates and Trends– Representing Others, The Poetry of

Culture, World Anthropologies

YOU AREHERE

Lecture OutlineLecture Outline

• What is are “Communities”?

• Race, Ethnicity, Nation– Types of Communities

• Census, Map, Museum– Technologies of Communities

• Beyond Census, Map, Museum…

Anthropology and CommunitiesAnthropology and Communities• Early modern Anthropology (19th to mid-

20th century) took “community” for granted.– Anthropologists studied small groups, villages– Community and shared culture were taken-

for-granted

• Now, anthropologists take “community” as a topic of research.– How are “communities” formed and imagined?

What counts as a “community”?

Community::Dictionary Definitions

• People with common interests, living in a particular area.

• A group of people with common characteristics living together within a larger society.

• A body of persons having a common history or common social, economic and political interests.

• A body of persons of common interests scattered through a larger society.

Community:Community:Co-location, CommonalityCo-location, Commonality

• Co-location (people living in one area)– Although “community” is still often used in this

sense; this is increasingly seen as irrelevant.– Social and cultural processes not bound by co-

location (esp. with telecommunication).– People standing at a bus-stop are not a

“community”

• Commonality– How is this determined?– (Will come back to this)

Comparing CommunitiesComparing Communitiesand Networksand Networks

• Social Networks and Communities are distinct sociological and cultural things.

• A Social Network is defined by exchange and relationship between persons.

• Exchange takes place on the basis of difference not similarity (though can create relationship and a sense of ‘commonality’)

• A network is not necessarily a “community”.

Unbounded CommunitiesUnbounded Communities• A community of academics, scholars• NUSS = the NUS alumni community• The “Malay community” (or any other “ethnic

community”)• A national community (do you cease to be

Singaporean if you take a trip to Australia?)• The “YouTube” community.• Communities are based in senses of

belonging and identity.

““Imagined Communities”Imagined Communities”• Markers of commonality are arbitrary; they

are socially and culturally agreed upon.

• Communities exist because people imagine them to exist. (They are fundamentally cultural – shared belief, ideas, feelings).

• Communities are not “fictional”… They are social and cultural realities – produced by human imagination.

Culture is…Culture is…

• A system of shared meanings. “Webs of Significance”

• A system for signaling and reproducing those shared meanings.

• How is community culturally produced?

• How do we signal and represent commonality among a group of people?

Racial, Ethnic, NationalRacial, Ethnic, NationalCommunitiesCommunities

• Markers of commonality are arbitrary…• Race = use of biological, physiological

characteristics as markers of similarity and difference.

• Ethnicity = use of culturally expressed characteristics as markers of similarity and difference.

• Nationality = political affiliation with a state (citizenship); but also combined with senses of ethnicity (ethno-nationalism)

Race, Ethnicity and NationRace, Ethnicity and NationHistorical PerspectiveHistorical Perspective

• From the 19th to 20th centuries, race was replaced (displaced) by ethnicity.

• From the 19th century onward, “nationality” has straddled an unclear conceptual area between ethnicity (a ‘culturally similar’ group of people) and affiliation with a territorial-state (citizenship).

The shift from RACE to The shift from RACE to ETHNICITYETHNICITY

Race, Ethnicity, LineageRace, Ethnicity, Lineage• Race (Biological Difference) appears as a effect

of biological, reproductive isolation• Ethnicity (Cultural Difference) appears as an

effect of cultural isolation• Over time, isolated groups of people develop

biological (genetic) and cultural (ethnic) distinctiveness.

• Lineages are lines of descent. Everyone has multiple lineages (through their mothers and fathers).

Imagining Race, Ethnicity, NationImagining Race, Ethnicity, Nation

• Racial, Ethnic or National communities are based on beliefs which make biology (race), culture (ethnicity), or political affiliation (nationality) meaningful.

• None of these are meaningful outside of their social construction as “imagined communities”.

Race• Idea of Race is based on

coherence of traits (esp. biological).

• Traits do not cohere.

• 95% of biological/ genetic variation occurs within human populations

• 5% occurs between populations

• Race remains a popular idea but scientifically useless and socially divisive

““None of the Above”None of the Above”

• What are the effects of racial categorization for the people interviewed in the film?

• What purpose does racial categorization serve?

• How would these people identify (or be identified) if they lived in Singapore?

Nobuko

Takeshi

Dorothy Charles

BretEricMayumi

Mia Isaac

Yoshio

Race versus Lineage

Recent advances in genetics allow us to trace “Deep Ancestry”But these Lineages are a very different thing than Race

Nobuko

Takeshi

Dorothy Charles

BretEricMayumi

Mia Isaac

Yoshio

Saito-Thompson Family Tree

? ?

Nobuko

Takeshi

Dorothy Charles

BretEricMayumi

Mia Isaac

Yoshio

Race versus Lineage

Japanese European

??Nobuko

Takeshi

Dorothy Charles

BretEricMayumi

Mia Isaac

Yoshio

Race versus Lineage

mtDNAHaplogroup F

mtDNA Haplogroup H

Eric Charles Thompsonson of Dorothy L. Thompson

mtDNA Deep Ancestry Lineage

Nobuko

Takeshi

Dorothy Charles

BretEricMayumi

Mia Isaac

Yoshio

Race versus Lineage

Y-Chromosome Haplogroup I170

Isaac Asahi Saito Thompsonson of Eric Charles Thompson

Y-Chromosome Deep Ancestry Lineage

What about CULTURAL variation?

Shift from Race to EthnicityShift from Race to Ethnicity• 18th - 19th Century: “Race” = groups who

share physical traits, customs, habits and other characteristics. (Biology AND Culture)

• 20th Century: Ethnicity = groups who share customs, language, social views.

• Ethnicity = Race minus Biology• Ethnicity became a more acceptable way of

categorizing similarity and difference

Ethnicity: Two ViewsEthnicity: Two Views• Primordialism

– Coherence (“Sharing”) of Cultural Traits– Assumed Blood Ties, Race, Language, Region,

Religion, Custom

• Circumstantialism (Situationalism)– Identity depends on circumstances– Individual circumstantialism– Social, historical circumstantialism

• Problem:– Evidence supports Circumstantialism– Peoples’ feelings support Primordialism

Ethnic Groups and BoundariesEthnic Groups and Boundaries

• Ethnicity is based on a sense of difference.

• Symbols & practices are not ‘ethnic’ until they become signifiers of difference.

• Examples:– Japanese Shinto– Malay Adat

What is a “Nation”?What is a “Nation”?

• A European (Primordialist) Theory• One “people” living on one territory governed by

one state (French people, German people, Chinese people)

• A Nation = An Ethnic Group with a State.• Problems:

– 1. People move around!– 2. Culture (the marker of ethnicity) changes over

time and space (without clear ‘boundaries’ between groups)

Shifting meaning of “Nationality”Shifting meaning of “Nationality”• 19th and 20th Century: A “nation” is a “people”

(defined in terms of a blurred combination of ‘race’ and ‘ethnicity’)

• 20th to 21st Century: Nationality is defined by a person’s association with a territorial-state (what passport do you hold?)

• States create “nations” (more than “nations” being a justification for states)– “Peasants in to Frenchmen” (Eugen Weber)– Singapore, Indonesia and other post-colonial ‘nation-

states’

Imagined CommunitiesImagined Communities(Benedict Anderson… and beyond)(Benedict Anderson… and beyond)

• All communities – Racial, Ethnic, National, etc. – are products of cultural processes, symbols, and practices.

• Communities exist because people imagine them to exist.

• We can study distinct processes and practices that enable such imagining.

Census, Map, Museum*

• Cultural Practices

• Governmentality

• Ethnicity & Nationalism

*From Ben Anderson (1991)Imagined Communities, Revised Ed.

Census• Singapore Census 1871 to 2000

• Shifting categories, shifting relationships between categories.

• What happens to:

European? African? Chinese? Malay?

Eurasian? Bugis? Hindoo? Tamil?

• In each census, how would you categorize yourself?

Census Categories: Straits Settlements 1871

Europeans and Americans(18 subcategories)

ArmeniansJewsEurasiansAbyssiniansAchineseAfricansAndamaneseArabsBengalees & other Natives of

IndiaBoyaneseBugis

BurmeseChineseCochin-ChineseDyaksHindoosJapaneseJavaneseJaweepekansMalaysManilamenMantrasParseesPersiansSiameseSinghalese

Census Categories: Straits Settlements 1901

I. Europeans and Americans (23 subcategories)

II. EurasiansIII. Chinese

CantoneseHokkienKhehStraits-bornTeo-ChewTribe Not Stated(2 other categories)

IV. Malays & Other Natives of the ArchipelagoAboriginesAchineseBugisJavaneseMalays(4 other subcategories)

V. Tamils & Other Natives of IndiaBengalisBurmeseParseesTamils

VI. Other NationalitiesAfricansAnnameseArabsArmeniansJapaneseJewsPersiansSiameseSinhaleseNot Stated

Census Categories: British Malaya 1921

The European Pop. by Race(20 subcategories)

EurasiansThe Malay Pop. by Race

MalaysJavaneseBoyaneseBugisAchineseSakai(5 other subcategories)

The Chinese Pop. by TribeHokkienCantoneseTie ChiuKhehNorthern Provinces(6 other subcategories)

The Indian Pop. by RaceTamilTeluguBengaliHindustaniBurmeseGurkha(6 other subcategories)

The “Other” Pop. By RaceArabsArmeniansFilipinosJapaneseNegrosSiameseSinhaleseTurks (Asiatic)(4 other subcategories)

Census Categories: Malaya 1957Malaysians

MalaysIndonesianAll Aborigines

NegritoSemai(4 other subcategories)

ChineseHokkienTiechiuKhek (Hakka)CantoneseHainaneseHokchiaHokchiuKwongsaiHenghwaOther Chinese

IndiansIndian TamilTeleguMalayaliOther Indian

OthersEurasianCeylon TamilOther CeylonesePakistaniThai (Siamese)Other AsianBritishOther EuropeanOthers (not European or Asian)

Census Categories: Singapore 2000Chinese

“Persons of Chinese origin”HokkienTeochewCantoneseHakkaHainaneseHockchiaFoochowHenghuaShanghaineseEtc.

Malay“Persons of Malay or Indonesian origin”JavaneseBoyaneseBugisEtc.

Indian“Persons of Indian, Pakistani, Bangledeshi and Sri Lankan origin”TamilMalayaliPunjabiBengaliSinghaleseEtc.

Other Ethnic Group“All persons other than Chinese, Malays and Indians”EurasiansEuropeansArabsJapaneseEtc.

Census• Singapore Census 1871 to 2000

• Shifting categories, shifting relationships between categories.

• What happens to:

European? African? Chinese? Malay?

Eurasian? Bugis? Hindoo? Tamil?

• In each census, how would you categorize yourself?

MapMap

• Do maps show nations or create nations?

• What is the relationship between maps and national identity?

Siam MappedSiam Mapped(Thongchai Winichakul, 1994)(Thongchai Winichakul, 1994)

Thai Buddhist Pilgrimage MapThai Buddhist Pilgrimage Map

““History of Thailand’s Boundary”History of Thailand’s Boundary”

““Wake Up, Thai People”Wake Up, Thai People”

The “Geo-body” of the Nation:The “Geo-body” of the Nation:Culturally Produced through MapsCulturally Produced through Maps

Museum• Sites for interpreting and

reinterpreting the past• National and other

frameworks

Beyond Census, Map, MuseumBeyond Census, Map, Museum

• Census, Map, and Museum are just three practices, symbols and institutions that enable imagined communities.

• What other practices, symbols or institutions that enable imagined communities?

• How do these practices, symbols, institutions…– Make us feel we are part of a community?– Signal to others that we are part of a community?

Communities / IdentitiesCommunities / Identities• Identity = Personal relationship to a community.• Other “Imaged Communities” Beyond Race,

Ethnicity, Race:– Religious (Faith/Belief) Communities – Gender, Sexuality, Kinship– Class, Professional, Hobbies, etc…

• Online Communities (the “YouTube community”)• Institutional Communities (the “NUS community”)• Is this class a community?• Does the Wiki create a stronger sense of community?

Final Thoughts…Final Thoughts…• Community is created through …

– Imagination and Practice

• We make our communities through imaginative practices and practical imagination.

• What communities are you part of?• What are the practices through which

you imagine yourself part of those communities?