The term ‘Ethnicity’ first appeared in English language in 1953 and it is a derivative of the term ‘ethnic’. The term ‘Ethnicity’ came to be used as an analytical category coinciding with the increasing demand by the groups that are culturally different from the dominant majority of the State.
In India, during the 1950s and 1960s there was a phenomenon that could be seen as ‘ethnic’ as per present usage of the term. Linguistic Movements in many states are the most prominent example. Urmila Phadnis states that linguistic ethnicity has revolved around three issues. These are
- Language as a basis of territorial redistribution of state boundaries.
- The issues of official language or the language of the state business and administration.
- Language as a medium of instruction in education.
Ethnicity is a complex phenomenon. The task of the theoretician is to outline at least what can be said to be the essential dimension of this phenomenon and to indicate the directions of their possible variations.
The meaning of ethnicity depends on the meaning of several other concepts, particularly those of ethnic group and ethnic identity. It refers to ethnicity as the collective phenomenon.
Ethnicity as an analytical concept includes an implicit reference to both collective and individual aspects of the phenomenon.
Ethnicity is socially constructed and subjectively defined by a combination of aspects related to a group’s ancestry, cultural customs, language, religion, national identity, kinship networks and even physical appearance.
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