Marbaniang, Domenic

Forthcoming in REVIVE Magazine. Definitions The Oxford Dictionary defines “ethnicity” as “the fact or state of belonging to a social group that has a common national or cultural tradition.” Chamber’s Dictionary, on the other hand, defines it as “the state of belonging to a particular racial or cultural group.” While traditionally, ethnicity was connected with race, in modern times, with the emergence of nation-states, ethnicity is also broadly understood in “national” (political) terms. However, since ethnicity is dynamic in nature (for inter-marriages, migrations, acculturation, and assimilation are ongoing processes), multiplication of the multiple ethnic groups continues. For instance, we talk of African-Americans and Indian-Americans as different ethnic groups. But, then the terms “African” and “Indian” are not without their subdivisions. “Indian” could mean Gujarati, Marathi, Telugu, Naga, Khasi, Mizo, and any of the various ethnic groups in India. In addition, migrations, intermi...