Primordialism

Primordialism is the idea that nations or ethnic identities are fixed, natural and ancient.[1] Primordialists argue that each individual has a single inborn ethnic identity independent of historical processes.[2][3] While implicit primordialist assumptions are common in society and much academic research, primordialism is widely rejected by scholars of nationalism and ethnicity, as individuals can have multiple ethnic identities which are changeable and socially constructed.[2][4]

Primordialism, in relation to ethnicity, argues that "ethnic groups and nationalities exist because there are traditions of belief and action towards primordial objects such as biological factors and especially territorial location".[5]

This argument relies on a concept of kinship, where members of an ethnic group feel they share characteristics, origins or sometimes even a blood relationship. Seen through the Igbos of Nigeria, following what they felt was their origin as descendants of the Jews.[6]

Term

Primordialism can be traced philosophically to the ideas of German Romanticism, particularly in the works of Johann Gottlieb Fichte and Johann Gottfried Herder.[7] For Herder, the nation was synonymous with language group. In Herder's thinking, language was synonymous with thought, and as each language was learnt in community, then each community must think differently. This also suggests that the community would hold a fixed nature over time.

The term primordialism is associated with sociologist Edward Shils and anthropologist Clifford Geertz. Shils was the first one who used this term in 1957 to describe the bonds between family members. The relations between family members cannot be interpreted as any interpersonal relations, but have a quality of their own which can only be described as "primordial" and which derives from the bond of blood.[8][9][10]

The meaning of the term was later expanded by Clifford Geertz, according to whom relations of individuals to a community result from their birth into that community, as they inevitably acquire the community's language and social practices. According to Geertz, individuals' ties to certain groups are "natural" and do not result from social interaction. Furthermore, such spiritual bonds exist in all societies and accompany all individuals, although the strength of the primordial connections may vary at the individual level, from society to society, or across time.[11][12]

Assessments

Primordialism was widely discredited after the Second World War, with many scholars of nationalism coming to treat the nation as a community constructed by the technologies and politics of modernity (see Modernism).[1]

While acknowledging that "primordialism is admittedly not without its own flaws and problems," much like all conceptual and theoretical traditions in the social sciences, political scientist Khalil F. Osman[13] argues that "Primordialism, as an approach that stresses the workings of sub-national loyalties and solidarities operative in the collective consciousness of communities, is still capable of furnishing an epistemological and conceptual tool informing and opening up a unique space for inquiry and into social and political action."

See also

References
  1. Jack Hayward, Brian Barry, Archie Brown (2003) p 330
  2. Chandra, Kanchan (2012). Constructivist theories of ethnic politics. Oxford University Press. p. 19. ISBN 978-0-19-989315-7. OCLC 829678440.
  3. Murat Bayar, ‘Reconsidering Primordialism: an alternative approach to the study of ethnicity’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 32.9, (2009), pp. 1-20, (p. 2).
  4. Laitin, David D. (1998). Identity in formation : the Russian-speaking populations in the near abroad. Cornell University Press. pp. 9–10. ISBN 0-8014-3495-5. OCLC 851108907.
  5. Steven Gryosby (1994) ‘The verdict of history: The inexpungeable tie of primordiality huth – A response to Eller and Coughlan’, Ethnic and Racial Studies 17(1), pp. 164-171, (p. 168).
  6. Johannes, Harnischfeger, ‘Secessionism in Nigeria’, ECAS 4 conference, Uppsala, (2011) <https://web.archive.org/web/20120414214617/http://www.nai.uu.se/ecas-4/panels/41-60/panel-56/Johannes-Harnischfeger-Full-paper.pdf> [accessed 31/10/11] (p. 1).
  7. Dominique Jacquin-Berdal (2002) p 9
  8. Eller and Coughlan 1993, 184.
  9. Bayar 2009, 1641.
  10. Norval 2012, 306.
  11. Eller and Coughlan 1993, 186.
  12. Bayar 2009, 1641-1642.
  13. Khalil F. Osman, Sectarianism in Iraq: The Making of State and Nation since 1920 (London and New York: Routledge, 2015), p. 36.

Sources
  • Bayar, Murat, ‘Reconsidering Primordialism: an alternative approach to the study of ethnicity’, Ethnic and Racial Studies, 32.9, (2009), pp. 1–20.
  • Eller, Jack David and Reed M. Coughlan. (1993). "The Poverty of Primordialism: The Demystification of Ethnic Attachments". Ethnic and Racial Studies 16, no. 2: 183–202.
  • Gryosby, Steven, (1994) ‘The verdict of history: The inexpungeable tie of primordialityhuth – A response to Eller and Coughlan’, Ethnic and Racial Studies 17(1), pp. 164–171
  • Harnischfeger, Johannes, "Secessionism in Nigeria", ECAS 4 conference, Uppsala, (2011)
  • Jack Hayward, Brian Barry, Archie Brown (2003) The British Study of Politics in the Twentieth Century, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-726294-5
  • Dominique Jacquin-Berdal (2002) Nationalism and Ethnicity in the Horn of Africa: A Critique of the Ethnic Interpretation ELewiston, New York: Edwin Mellen Press ISBN 0-7734-6954-0
  • Norval, Aletta J. (2012). "The Politics of Ethnicity and Identity". The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Political Sociology, edited by Edwin Amenta, Kate Nash and Alan Scott, 305–314. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.

Further reading
  • Yehouda A. Shenhav (2006) The Arab Jews: a postcolonial reading of nationalism, religion, and ethnicity, Stanford University Press, ISBN 0-8047-5296-6
  • Geertz, Clifford. The Interpretation of Cultures. New York: Basic Books, 1973.
  • Joireman, Sandra Fullerton, ‘Primordialism’, in Nationalism and Political Identity, (Cornwall: MPG Books Ltd, 2003), pp. 19–35 (p. 19).
  • Sambanis, Nicholas, ‘Do ethnic and nonethnic Civil Wars have the same causes? A theoretical and Empirical Inquiry (Part 1)’, Journal of Conflict Resolution, 45 (2001), 259-282
  • Shils, Edward. "Primordial, Personal, Sacred and Civil Ties: Some Particular Observations on the Relationships of Sociological Research and Theory". British Journal of Sociology 8, no. 2 (1957): 130–145
  • Spencer, Steve, Race and Ethnicity: Culture, Identity and Representation (Abingdon: Routledge, 2006)
  • Barth, Fredrik 1969: Ethnic Groups and Boundaries
  • Smith, Anthony D. 1998. Nationalism and modernism: a critical survey of recent theories of nations and nationalism, London; New York: Routledge.
  • Özkırımlı, Umut 2000. Theories of Nationalism, London: Macmillan Press.
  • Espiritu, Yen Le: Asian-American Panethnicity: Bridging Institutions and Identities.
  • Appadurai, Arjun 1996: Modernity at Large
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