Ethnic communities are internally sites of renegotiation between traditional and adopted values

Evidence

Bhikhu Parekh, an acute observer, adopts a strong definition of “ethnic communities”: “The Asian and Afro-Caribbean communities are ethnic in nature, that is, physically distinguishable, bonded by social ties arising out of shared customs, language and practice of inter-marriage, and having their distinct history, collective memories, geographical origins, views of life and modes of social organization.” Nevertheless, he recognizes that contrary to popular impression, great changes are afoot within ethnic communities and every family has become a terrain of subdued or explosive struggles. In every family, husband and wife, parents and children, brothers and sisters are having to re-negotiate and re-define their patterns of relationship in a manner that takes account both of their traditional values and those characteristic of their adopted country. — Stuart Hall, Essential Essays, Volume 2, 333

Categorization

• DEFINE: Gives Parekh’s strong definition of ‘ethnic communities’ — physically distinguishable, bonded by customs/language/intermarriage, distinct history — plus the correction that these are not static.
• QUESTION: The definition and the internal-struggle claim sit slightly in tension — worth chasing how Hall squares a strong collective definition with intra-family renegotiation as the dominant reality.
• XREF: connects to: Families are seen as interdependent and essential, friends interdependent, ethnic groups essential. — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 337; Native tribal membership is politically constructed through shifting and gendered standards.