Etniciteit is interactie
Bateson (1979) has written that there must always be two of something to create a difference and thereby information. In line with this idea, we might say that the idea of an isolated ethnic group is absurd. It is through contact with others that we discover who we are, and an ‘isolated ethnic group’ may therefore be compared with the sound of one hand clapping – an absurdity. The fact that two groups are culturally distinctive does not create ethnicity. There must be at least a minimum of contact between their respective members. We therefore have to draw the conclusion that the members of different ethnic groups must have something in common – some basis for interaction – in addition to being different. Ethnicity occurs when cultural differences are made relevant through interaction. It thus concerns what is socially relevant, not which cultural differences are ‘actually there’. In an article on ethnic relations in Thailand, Michael Moerman (1965) has shown that many of his informants mention cultural particulars which they presume are characteristic of themselves but which they in fact share with neighbouring peoples. Indeed, a variety of criteria can be used as markers of cultural difference in interethnic situations – phenotype (appearance or ‘race’), language, religion or even clothes. If any such marker is socially recognised as an indicator of an ethnic contrast, it matters little if the ‘objective cultural differences’ are negligible.
Uit: Small Places, Large Issues van Thomas Hylland Eriksen (2001: 262-263)
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