Description
Book SynopsisThe melting pot metaphor conveys an image of individuals from varied origins blending imperceptibly together. But when such ingredients as inequality, nationalism, or perceived injustice are added to the mix, the melting pot can become a seething cauldron. Manning Nash's examination of ethnicity in the postcolonial world offers insights into the ways that ethnic tensions are engendered and sustained. Ethnicity, Nash suggests, is formed by historical processes based on preexisting elements of society and culture. Notions of ethnicity have at their core the recursive metaphor of blood, bed, and cultbody substance, kinship, and religious belief. When individuals who perceive themselves bound by these ties are threatened in some way, ethnicity becomes a unifying call to action. Nash identifies a number of conceptspolitical self-rule, economic opportunity, cultural identity, religious freedomthat have been rallying cries for ethnic struggles in the twentieth century. He offers a novel analy
