It should be clear that while ethnicity tries to draw sharp lines and distinctions between people, the real world is not nearly so neat. In the real world, distinctions between groups are much more permeable. It is the permeability of “ethnic memory” which is more interesting, however. The ways in which ethnic groups engage in a complex web of “remembering, forgetting, interpreting and inventing” for the purpose of creating cohesion is fascinating and can shed much light on modern politics.
This is where Eller’s book shines, because the discussion about the nature of ethnicity in the abstract forms just a small portion. The bulk of the book is taken up with applying this concepts to ethnic conflicts with the Serbs and the Bosnians, the Kurds, the Hutu and Tutsi, the Tamils and Sinhalese of Sri Lanka, and the English-speaking and French-speaking nations of Quebec.
Through these real-world examples, he demonstrates that these conflicts and even the very groups themselves have originated and developed due to very specific and modern social conditions. Ethnicity is thus not a “natural” or primordial situation, but is rather a product of particular forces operating in particular circumstances. Thus, when we encounter an ethnic conflict, we should not assume that it is “natural” and that there is little we can do about it. Instead, one of the possible solutions might be to find ways to get people to reconsider the ethnic affiliation by preferring different traits to focus upon. I don’t know how successful that would be, but it is certainly worth exploring.
Eller’s book is very much an academic work — it is, in fact, used as a text in college courses all around the country. But that doesn’t mean that average readers can’t get something out of it. Quite the contrary, because Eller’s writing is generally very clear and easy to understand. Occasionally some of the wording will require one to re-read a couple of times, but it is well worth buying for anyone interested in learning more about the role played by ethnicity and culture in the conflicts which plague the modern world.
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