ABSTRACT
It has been noted that one of the ambiguities in the internal colonial explanation of ethnic nationalism concerns the relative roles of cultural distinctions and economic disparities in the formation of ethnic consciousness. To what extent is ethnicity a reactive response to economic inequalities and to what extent is it an autonomous expression of the cultural map? This issue is pursued more systematically in the debates as to the nature and manifestations of class consciousness. If ethnicity were to be portrayed as a derivative manifestation of class, then what kind of characterization of ethnic politics, and of the role of the state, would be implied?
