NAMES,LABELS, AND IDENTITIES: SOCIOPOLITICAL CONTEXTS AND THE QUESTION OF ETHNIC CATEGORIZATION

This article addresses a relatively unexplored topic: the meaning and use of names and labels for ethnies and nations. It has been said (by Anthony Smith and others) that a nation is a “named” ethnic community. In the same sense, an ethnie is a “named” categoric group. The labeling of an ethnic or national categoric group by the group is often a self-conscious political act of identification reflecting its image and self-image and serving a variety of purposes: the achievement of collective self-respect, self-legitimation, adaptation and assimilation, differentiation, and self-exclusion, just as labeling by others is associated with legitimation or de-legitimation and positive or negative discrimination. The assigning of ethnonyms is a function of the sociopolitical context, ideology, and public policy.