ABSTRACT
Hettne describes ethnicity as a fluid and elusive concept involving not only a wide range of objective factors, such as race, language, culture and religion, but also subjective considerations that comprise a ‘felt’ combination of objective factors which are fluid over space and time (1993: 123–49). Brown also identifies two dimensions to ethnicity within the context of development. First, it can be seen as primordial and cultural, making people ‘naturally’ ethnocentric; second, it can be considered as a less conscious membership of a cultural group, the ethnicity of which becomes focused only in response to external threats — in short an ‘interest group’ (1994). In most cases, the real world is usually a constantly changing combination of these two dimensions (Burja 1992: 347–61).
