ABSTRACT
This chapter examines contemporary debates around ethnic identification in multi-ethnic Britain and focuses on the importance of processes of intercultural exchange. It provides the tension between essentialist notions of ethnic identity and theories of cross-cultural syncretism as well as focusing on the contingent and contextual importance of the ethnic resource. The chapter argues that notions of syncretism are an important resource in challenging the assertion of essentialized ethnic identities since they readily accept and acknowledge processes of cultural transformation and change. The subsequent articulation of self-identity for migrants, and in particular their descendents, becomes a process of negotiation between the cultural heritage of their ancestry and the lived realities of their contemporary multi-ethnic setting. A more flexible and open understanding of ethnicity and identity gives individuals more room to manoeuvre and express themselves in a celebratory way, while simultaneously challenging biological notions of ethno-cultural belonging.
