1.4 What is ethnic identity?

Ethnic identity, or ethnicity, relates to that which the individual shares in common with others that permits membership of a particular social group defined according to certain cultural norms, differentiating the group from others. Like the earlier and less acceptable terms "race" and "nation" ethnicity is used to describe socio-political groups. Ethnic identity, or ethnicity, may be defined as a "social way of organising cultural difference." Ethnic identity enables individuals to see themselves and to be seen by others as part of a group on the basis of real or presumed common features such as ancestry, territory, language, religion and culture. Two elements are essential for ethnic identity, a social group, and a cultural unit. There is a dynamic and changing relationship between the two, as those belonging to the social group respond to internal and external factors in their environment with an appropriate change in their culture.

What is important for our study is to note the importance of, and problematic nature of what the Norwegian anthropologist Frederick Barth calls "boundary markers" to define the group and its identity in contrast to its neighbours. The classic Jewish "boundary markers" are Sabbath, circumcision and the food laws, yet what appears a mark of ethnic identity in one context may not apply in another. Whilst these may appear fixed they are often flexible and permeable, and up for negotiation according to changing circumstances.