ABSTRACT
To argue that constructions of identity have their historical counterparts is not the same as saying that these constructions are essential or primordial in their current form. The primordial perspective is problematic in this respect, as in most others. The primordial approach emphasizes the emotional ties of individuals to ethnic groups. It is basically an essentialist view of identity in which ethnic groups (and hence nations) are taken as given. Some versions focus on a presumed primordial need for shared identity that is fulfilled by culturally defined groupings. Geertz (1973) for example, argued that primordial ties were based on kinship, residence and particularistic loyalties, which in response to modern changes resulted in politicized ethnicity or nationalism. Others have taken more of a socio-biological perspective and have maintained that ethnicity is an extension of a ‘natural tendency to favour kin’ (e.g. Greenfeld 1996, Isaacs 1975).
