Ethnogenesis (from Ancient Greek ἔθνος (éthnos) 'group of people, nation' and γένεσις (génesis) 'beginning, coming into being'; pl. ethnogeneses) is the formation and development of an ethnic group.[1][2] This can originate by group self-identification or by outside identification.
The term ethnogenesis was originally a mid-19th-century neologism[3] that was later introduced into 20th-century academic anthropology. In that context, it refers to the observable phenomenon of the emergence of new social groups that are identified as having a cohesive identity, i.e. an "ethnic group" in anthropological terms. Relevant social sciences not only observe this phenomenon but also search for explanations for its causes. The term ethnogeny is also used as a variant of ethnogenesis.[4]
- ^ According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary [1].
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Compare:
Fitzgerald, Thomas K. (January 1993). Metaphors of Identity: A Culture-Communication Dialogue. SUNY series in human communication processes. Albany: State University of New York Press (published 1993). p. 83. ISBN 9780791415955. Retrieved 5 December 2020.
The process of emerging ethnicity has been called 'ethogenesis,' the development and public presentation of a self-conscious ethnicity. [...] Roosens [1989: 47], in Creating Ethnicity, defined ethnogenesis as 'how people feel themselves to be a people and how they continue to maintain themselves as such,' even in the face of contradictory historical evidence.
- ^ Timrod, Henry. ‘Ethnogenesis. Written at the Time of the Meeting of the Southern Congress, at Montgomery, February, 1861’. Charleston Daily Courier, 31 January 1862.
- ^ Andrew Gillett, "Ethnogenesis: A Contested Model of Early Medieval Europe", History Compass 4/2 (2006): 241–260 p. 244. doi:10.1111/j.1478-0542.2006.00311.x