Re: Oh and ethnicity is a shibboleth, one of Hobsbawm's invented traditions Archived Message
Posted by Thomas Newfield on December 11, 2019, 11:33 am, in reply to "Oh and ethnicity is a shibboleth, one of Hobsbawm's invented traditions"
I grant the thing about race - I'm just using the common parlance. The Christians used to call it "phyletism", some still do. Same thing in effect, if not root. That Mongolians, Inuit, Ecuadorians, Scots; Jews, or the early Muslims (for example) were or are not groups characterised by a stereotype of behaviour, internal solidarity and coherence, and a will to self-perpetuate and sacrifice their lives if necessary, in many cases; and also common racial (ie - family, clan) characteristics - of varying degrees including very little. In other words that they are ethnoi, is more tendentious nonsense that you need a thick blindfold to maintain, albeit quite common. But you're right that ethnicity, peoplehood, membership of the ethnos is a shibboleth - a way in, the only way in to the ethnic community. Also a process, as natural as language. But when you say "there's no culture but working class culture" - that's ikonoclasm akin to that of the neo-libs and the Wahabis. Who btw can both be considered consortia or nascent ethnoi themselves. It's a very bloody pedigree that one.
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