Creating Ethnicity: The Process of Ethnogenesis

Creating Ethnicity raises the important question of `what is ethnic?′ Using case studies from Canada, Zaire, Belgium and Bolivia, Roosens shows that ethnicity does not always stem from ancient tradition, but can be shaped, modified, recreated or even manufactured in modern society. The author largely focuses on the Huron Indians of Quebec, an ethnic group that had all but disappeared, but which manufactured an ethnic tradition almost from scratch in the midst of a modern, industrialized nation. They are contrasted with other ethnic groups in other countries, whose paths to ethnic identity were very different. Finally, Roosens examines a contemporary European city, Brussels, and shows how various ethnic minorities preserved, shaped an