Against ethnicity

Abstract

The Durkheimian tradition treats ethnicity as effect, not cause (Douglas 2004a). Group cultural markings are products of the human interactions that form and sustain groups. In other words, ethnicity is a symptom-an epiphenomenon. 1 People frequently confuse symptom and cause; because of such confusion ethnic marking can have real consequences-ethnic riots may be sparked in much the same way people are spooked by ghosts. This poses a problem. How can conciliation be effected among those who believe cultural epiphenomena to be real?Invoking epiphenomena stirs group emotions and vastly complicates the problem of addressing other causes of human conflict. As an antidote, Mary Douglas (2007) suggested "thinking in circles." This provides a way to envisage apparently divergent cultural epiphenomena as belonging to a larger functional whole. In elaborating on Douglas's argument this article considers musical practice as a means through which conflicted parties might discover neglected or unanticipated mutualities. The article examines the ethnomusicology of the Hungarian com-Abstract: Ethnicity-once the preserve of anthropologists and folklorists studying disappearing tribal and peasant cultures-has become an important element in the models and explanations of a broader community of social scientists seeking to comprehend post-Cold War social disorder. But is ethnicity equivalent to variables such as resource competition or poverty? Ethnicity can be viewed as an epiphenomenon. The argument has major consequences for the way ethnic conflicts are analyzed and resolved. The article considers neo-Durkheimian conceptual tools for uncovering mechanisms generative of ethnic epiphenomena, and explores a neo-Durkheimian approach to conflict resolution. Specifically, Mary Douglas's ideas on ring composition are extended to include the ethnomusicological project of the Hungarian composer Béla Bartók, and then applied to epiphenomena emerging from the protracted civil conflict in the West African country of Sierra Leone.