Large group of related ethnic groups who identify with each other
Meta-ethnicity is a relatively recent term (or
neologism) occasionally used in academic literature or public discourse on
ethnic studies. It describes a level of commonality that is wider ("
meta-") and more general (i.e., might differ on specifics) than
ethnicity, but does not necessarily correspond to (and may actually transcend)
nation or
nationality. In colloquial discourse, it usually signifies a larger
in-group of distinct
ethnic groups who identify more closely with each other than they would with
out-group ethnic groups. The groups within the in-group may be genetically and culturally related which reinforces the grouping.
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.[1]
Examples of use
Some other examples:
Gurharpal Singh, Ethnic Conflict in India: A Case-Study of Punjab (New York: Palgrave, 2000).
Gurharpal Singh, "Against this dominant view of the nature of the Indian state, Singh argues that
India should be seen as an '
ethnic democracy' in which
Hinduism works as a meta-ethnicity and in which
hegemonic control is exercised over ethnic
minorities, particularly those living in the peripheral regions" in Christopher Shackle, Gurharpal Singh and Arvind-Pal Mandair eds., Sikh Religion, Culture and Ethnicity (Curson: 2001), p.155.
"L. Byzov, however, believes that 'there has taken place within the
Russian national consciousness one of the most radical changes ever: from a meta-ethnic sense of
identity to a strictly ethnic identity' (Byzov 1996, 45)."[2]
"Geoffrey Fox, on the other hand, argues that '
Hispanic', with its emphasis on
Spanish-languageheritage as the foundation of meta-ethnicity, has no implied
racial or
class agendas and is simply preferred by most
immigrants from
Latin America." ... "Furthermore, these split-level processes of
identity formation—the forging of ethnicity and meta-ethnicity—take place in regional contexts of unequal ethnic control over media and
symbol systems."[3]
Peter Turchin introduces the concept "metaethnic frontier theory" in his 2003 book, Historical Dynamics: Why States Rise and Fall[4]
According to Hussain, Imtiaz, "At the beginning of the new century,
Chinese people are living the construction of a metaethnicity of multiple identities."[5]
^Brook, Solomon, and Nikolai Cheboksarov. 1984. "Metaethnic Identities in Asia and Africa." In Ethnocultural Development of African Countries. Moscow: USSR Academy of Sciences. Pp. 49-73.