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Difference in difference: language, geography, and ethno-racial identity in contemporary Iran.
- Source :
-
Ethnic & Racial Studies . Oct2021, Vol. 44 Issue 12, p2255-2281. 27p. 1 Illustration, 1 Diagram, 1 Chart, 5 Graphs, 1 Map. - Publication Year :
- 2021
-
Abstract
- Three approaches to portraying ethno-racial and national identity for Iran are common: a discretizing approach that groups and conflates ethnicity, language and geography; a civic-territorial conception of nationalism as supra-ethnic Iranian-ness; and an ethno-nationalist approach that criticizes the former for privileging a state-centered, Persian-Shiite majority's culture and status. Instead of arbitrating between them, we propose a sociological approach that compares different forms of ethno-racial self-identification in modern Iran. Using the 2016 Iran Social Survey, which asks open-ended questions on ethno-racial self-identification, we find wide variation in how ethnic identity is expressed. On the one hand, the findings suggest that a sizable degree of mismatch exists, where concepts of ethnic groupness are confusing or not fully recognizable to many individuals. On the other hand, we also find that multi-ethnic self-identification is common, including across the ethno-racial boundaries often portrayed as closed and mutually exclusive groups in Western discussions on Iran. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- *NATIONALISM
*ETHNICITY
*HISTORICAL sociology
*RACE identity
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 01419870
- Volume :
- 44
- Issue :
- 12
- Database :
- Academic Search Index
- Journal :
- Ethnic & Racial Studies
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 151697441
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2021.1895275