ABSTRACT
The chapter reviews theories of ethnicity in anthropology and biblical studies, arguing that many theories do not explain what makes “ethnicity” a unique way of dividing human beings into stable, seemingly unchangeable categories. It asks, if ethnicity is so fluid, variable and overlaps so much with other ways of dividing people into groups, what makes a particular group construction warrant the word, “ethnicity?” Various perspectives are considered, including the use of “the other” as an analytical category in humanistic scholarship. The author contends that ethnicity differs from other group constructions because, among many possible features and traits, group members are also thought to share common ancestry and common territorial origins.
