ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses two major arguments. The first argument holds that economic, political and military interests within a specific historical context condition ethnographic practice. The second argument holds that the ensuing ethnographic discourses in turn influence the historical context by suggesting and facilitating ethnic policies, and by contributing to the formation or change of ethnic identities through processes of classification. It explains some basic and general historical, geographic and ethnographic information, gleaned from existing ethnographies and presents as ethnographic ‘facts’. Just as ethnographic knowledge, the chapter considers ethnic identity to be a social construction, mediated by a continuous process of negotiation of cultural difference between various social actors – those within and outside of the ‘ethnic group’ – with a major part played by the modern state in its efforts to describe and classify its population. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.
