Identity as a scarce resource

Harrison, Simon

doi:10.1017/s0964028299000191

Cited by 89 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 12 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Beyond 'Ethnic groups and boundaries ' (Vermeulen and Govers 1994). Amongst the many post 1969 contributions to the development of theories on 'ethnicity', 'identity', 'plural society', 'hybridity', etc., I would like to mention Bentley (1987), Tonkin and others (1989), Cohen (1994), Harrison (1999aHarrison ( , 1999b, Jenkins (1997), Nash (1989), Verdery (1994) and Werbner and Modood (1997). In varying ways these commentators address the fluid character of everyday ethnicity and, in contrast, the exacerbating manipulations of governments and other political interests in order to incorporate populations under ethnic banners.…”

Section: Social Interaction -Reducing or Confirming Categorical Boundmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The contradictory message produced an inescapable double-bind: efforts to absorb a Norwegian cultural competence were encouraged from outside, that is by the school, while at the same time performances of such competence were ridiculed and rejected by their close Norwegian counterparts. When people were led to believe that Saaminess indicated an inferior, more 'primitive' culture and a corresponding inferior identity, Norwegians might also feel their own identity jeopard-ised through Saami assimilation and adopted the concept of it being some sort of identity pollution (Harrison 1999a;1999b). Only slowly has this stamp of inferiority disappeared from local discourse, to be supplanted with either an acceptance of Saami identity as complementary to Norwegian, or by a consensus, in the form of a silent agreement, that the ethnic boundary has disappeared and everyone is now a 'Northerner'.…”

Section: Reinventing the Saami-norwegian Dichotomymentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Variations of ethnic boundary significance in north Norway

Thuen¹

2012

Polar Record

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In coastal north Norway the Saami people have lived in a close relationship with Norwegians or Norse people for a thousand years or more. This relationship has been articulated in various ways over the centuries, and this article argues that in parts of the region it took a rather intimate form based on the shared exploitation of the dominant marine and terrestrial niches, a common class position as tenant farmers, a varying practice of inter-ethnic marital relations and the effects of a bilateral kinship system. Various forms of inter-ethnic contact and exchange may thus have served to reduce the relevance of ethnic difference in daily life, as suggested by Barth's argument about the integrative effect of transactions, but contrary to his argument about the transactional reinforcement of ethnic boundaries. Contrary to the intention, governmental assimilatory efforts served to reproduce the boundary as the basis for a ranked society and left coastal Saami individuals in some confusion as to how to define themselves, often opting for a mixed category of Norwegian and Saami, labelled ‘Northerner’. Ethno-political emancipation in recent years has tended to put pressure on this identity construction and promoted a dichotomised identity as either Saami or Norwegian.

show abstract

Section: Social Interaction -Reducing or Confirming Categorical Boundmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Reinventing the Saami-norwegian Dichotomymentioning

confidence: 99%

Variations of ethnic boundary significance in north Norway

Thuen¹

2012

Polar Record

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…We may find that, as Koryak culture (e.g., dances, souvenirs, shamanic knowledge) becomes an increasingly valuable commodity, people identifying themselves as Koryak and other indigenous Kamchatkans may shift to a more exclusive, essentialising discourse of culture in order to prevent the Russians and Ukrainians who have already appropriated their land and material assets from appropriating their spiritual and cultural assets as well (cf. Harrison 1999Harrison , 2000 6 For a nuanced analysis of boundaries and borders in a Boasian theory of culture, see Bashkow (2004) and Bunzl (2004). 7 Goldenweiser emphasises the point himself in a subsequent passage (1917: 449).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dancing in the House of Koryak Culture

King¹

2009

FEJF

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper explores two interrelated themes found in the anthropology of ethnic dance ensembles in Kamchatka, Russia: authenticity and the place of individual in society. I use two elite dance troupes (one professional, the other semi-professional) to analyse local categories of cultural authenticity. People in Kamchatka were vocal about representations of indigenous dance on the stage and critiqued dance performances on the basis of whether or not they lived up to their expectations for a proper representation of traditional forms. These critiques are consistently made with respect to the representations themselves and are wholly detached from ethnic (or other) identities of the performers. They provide insight into the nature of authorised knowledge of cultural traditions in Kamchatka. The second part of the paper explores the role of children's dance ensembles in cultural revival movements in small villages. Performing traditional indigenous Kamchatkan dance is not a case of memorising a set stock of moves and positions but entails finding oneself through an individually creative engagement with a style modelled by elders. In both cases, I argue that a semiotics of dance focuses our attention on what symbols do (as opposed to simply what they mean) within a cultural field.

show abstract

“…But the point is valid. The MQM, with its values of toughness and transgression, provided a momentary locus of unity for the young urban muhajir population in the shifting political landscape of Pakistan, where identity truly is a scarce resource (see Harrison 1999 for this formulation). But as soon as the MQM began to partake of ''politics as usual'' it became just another feeder at the trough, incapable of exciting and sustaining real commitment-at least for the moment.…”

Section: Violence As Fun In Urban Pakistanmentioning

confidence: 99%

Three Styles in the Study of Violence

Lindholm¹

2008

Reviews in Anthropology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:What methods can be used to understand the pain of others? Studying violence is very different than studying kinship or religion or other topics, which, however complex intellectually, are relatively risk free. In contrast, a study of violence is likely to put the observer at risk, both physically and psychologically. Violence also fragments experience, making it difficult to construct coherent or effective narratives about it. To overcome these difficulties, the texts under review variously combine 'experience-near' accounts with historical 'experience-distant' analysis. Each mode has its own advantages and disadvantages. Experience near reportage must rely on material that is fragmentary, oblique and restricted, but which is also emotionally intense and involving; experience distant analysis can achieve objectivity, systematic understanding, and intellectual Lindholm Violence 2 closure, but at the price of immediacy and expressive power. The most experience near material conveys trauma and depersonalization, the most experience distant accounts convey coherence and idealization; a mingling of the two extremes occurs at the middle range (violence, South Asia, social movements, ethnographic methodology). Biographical Statement:CHARLES LINDHOLM, University Professor of Anthropology, Boston University. REFLECTIONS ON VIOLENCE AND ETHNOGRAPHIC PRACTICEAs Adam Smith (1759) was the first to note, human beings blush with shame when they witness another's embarrassment, or smile when they observe another's happiness, but they are not able to experience someone else's pain. We may be grimace with disgust or horror when we witness agony or we may feel a secret sadistic thrill; we may extend a helping hand or we may be relieved (it wasn't me). But we don't actually feel the suffering of others, despite the cliché. Not even the slightest twinge.Yet, although we do not physically experience other's pain, in our culture we are endlessly fascinated by how the sufferer reacts. No accident occurs without its circle of spellbound onlookers, while graphic scenes of dismemberment entice and excite movie audiences. Since Schopenhauer (1819), philosophers have speculated that the morbid attraction to the misery of others arises from the human awareness of transience and the coincident imaginative capacity, which renders pain more frightening and also more mesmerizing for us than it is for animals. This is because pain disorganizes, fragments, and disintegrates identity. Since pain negates the coherent and autonomous self, there is a deep desire to observe how others respond when subjected to its shattering force. At the same time, in our personal lives pain is a catastrophe at worst, troublesome at best.Personal suffering is meaningless and disruptive. It should always be evaded, medicated, or otherwise alleviated.However, this attitude toward pain may not be as unanimous as it is often assumed to be. In many spiritual traditions, including Christianity, suffering is not viewed with fascinated horror when it occurs to othe...

show abstract

Identity as a scarce resource

Cited by 89 publications

References 12 publications

Variations of ethnic boundary significance in north Norway

Variations of ethnic boundary significance in north Norway

Dancing in the House of Koryak Culture

Three Styles in the Study of Violence

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About