Arts & Culture
Anthropological Theories of Ethnicity and Ethnic Boundaries
Quick fact
Fredrik Barth's 1969 edited volume 'Ethnic Groups and Boundaries' revolutionized the study of ethnicity by showing that ethnic identity is maintained not by shared cultural traits, but by the social boundaries people create and enforce—and these boundaries can persist even when culture changes drastically.
Why this is interesting
Is your ethnicity something you're born with, or something you define and redefine as circumstances change? In the 1960s, an anthropologist upended the field by arguing that the real engine of ethnicity isn't the cultural 'stuff' inside ethnic groups, but the social fence that separates 'us' from 'them.'