I argue against the commonly held view that ethnically based preferential policies consistently lead to the construction of well-defined boundaries between collectivities. Using a statistical study of Australia as a case, I demonstrate that preferential programs, under certain conditions, may blur the boundaries between groups. This trend is reflected in the growing number of individuals in the early 1980s who chose to claim an Aboriginal identity in Australian states that increasingly recognized indigenous land claims.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (1997) Census of Population and Housing, 1981: Local Government Area Summary File [Computer File]. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
2.
Australian Bureau of Statistics (1998) Census of Population and Housing, 1986: Statistical Local Area Summary File (Local Residence) [Computer File]. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
3.
Australian Surveying and Land Information Group (1988) Aboriginal Land and Population (Map).Canberra: Australian Surveying and Land Information Group, Department of Administrative Services.
4.
BarthF. (ed.) (1969) Ethnic Groups and Boundaries. Boston MA: Little, Brown and Company.
5.
BohrnstedtG. W. (1969) ‘Observations on the Measurement of Change’, in BorgattaE. F.BohrnstedtG. W. (eds), Sociological Methodology 1969. San Francisco CA: Jossey-Bass.
6.
CastlesI. (1989) Census 86: Data Quality – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Counts (Catalogue No. 2602.0).Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
7.
CastlesI. (1991) Census 86 – Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People, (Catalogue No. 2503.0).Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
8.
CastlesI. (1995) Year Book Australia 1995. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics.
9.
DiamondL.PlattnerM. F. (1994) ‘Introduction’, in DiamondL.PlattnerM. F. (eds), Nationalism, Ethnic Conflict, and Democracy. Baltimore MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
10.
DreyerJ. T. (1993) China's Political System: Modernization and Tradition. New York: Paragon House.
11.
FriedmanE. (1993) ‘Ethnic Identification and the De-nationalization and Democratization of Leninist States’, in YoungC. (ed.), The Rising Tide of Cultural Pluralism: the Nation-State at Bay?Madison WI: University of Wisconsin Press, pp. 222–41.
12.
GingrichN.ConnerlyW. (1997) ‘Face the failure of racial preferences’, New York Times National Edition, June 15, p. E15.
13.
HaleyB. D.WilcoxonL. R. (1997) ‘Anthropology and the making of Chumash tradition’, Current Anthropology, 38 (5), 761–94.
14.
HoddieM. (1998) ‘Ethnic identity change in the People's Republic of China: an explanation using data from the 1981 and 1986 census enumerations’, Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 4 (1&2), 119–41.
15.
HorowitzD. L. (1985) Ethnic Groups in Conflict. Berkeley CA: University of California Press.
16.
JackmanR. W. (1980) ‘A note on the measurement of growth rates in cross-national research’, American Journal of Sociology, 86 (3), 604–17.
17.
KennedyP. (1996) A Guide to Econometrics. Cambridge MA: MIT Press.
18.
LaitinD. D. (1998) Identity in Formation: the Russian-Speaking Populations in the Near Abroad. Ithaca NY: Cornell University Press.
19.
LijphartA. (1977) Democracy in Plural Societies: a Comparative Exploration. New Haven CT: Yale University Press.
20.
MaddockK. (1983) This Land Is Our Land: Aboriginal Land Rights. Ringwood: Penguin Books Australia.
21.
NesiahD. (1997) Discrimination with Reason? The Policy of Reservations in the United States, India and Malaysia. New Delhi: Oxford University Press.
22.
PettmanJ. J. (1995) ‘Race, Ethnicity and Gender in Australia’, in StasilulisD.Yuval-DavisN. (eds), Unsettling Settler Societies: Articulations of Gender, Race, Ethnicity and Class. London: Sage, pp. 65–94.
23.
RoosensE. E. (1989) Creating Ethnicity: the Process of Ethnogenesis. Newbury Park NJ: Sage.
24.
RothchildD. (1997) Managing Ethnic Conflict in Africa: Pressures and Incentives for Cooperation. Washington DC: Brookings Institution.
25.
SautmanB. (1998) ‘Preferential Policies for Ethnic Minorities in China: the Case of Xinjiang’, in SafranW. (ed.), Nationalism and Ethnoregional Identities in China. Portland OR: Frank Cass, pp. 119–41.
26.
ShueV. (1988) The Reach of the State: Sketches of the Chinese Body Politic. Stanford CA: Stanford University Press.
27.
SilverB. (1974) ‘Social mobilization and the Russification of Soviet nationalities’, American Political Science Review, 68 (1), 45–66.
28.
SiskT. D. (1996) Power Sharing and International Mediation in Ethnic Conflicts. Washington DC: United States Institute of Peace Press.
29.
SmithT. W. (1980) ‘Ethnic measurement and identification’, Ethnicity, 7 (1), 78–95.
30.
SowellT. (1990) Preferential Policies: an International Perspective. New York: William Morrow.
31.
WalterB. F. (1997) ‘The critical barrier to civil war settlement’, International Organization, 51 (3), 335–65.
32.
WalterB. F. (1999) ‘Designing transitions from civil wars’, International Security, 25 (1), 127–55.
33.
WeinerM. (1978) Sons of the Soil: Migration and Ethnic Conflict in India. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press.
34.
WeinerM. (1983) ‘The political consequences of preferential politics: a comparative perspective’, Comparative Politics, 16 (1), 35–52.
35.
WeinerM.KatzensteinM. F.RaoK. V. N. (1981) India's Preferential Policies: Migrants, the Middle Classes, and Ethnic Equality. Chicago IL: University of Chicago Press.
36.
WuD. Y. H. (1990) ‘Chinese minority policy and the meaning of minority culture: the example of Bai in Yunnan, China’, Human Organization, 49 (1), 1–14.
37.
YoungE. (1995) Third World in the First: Development and Indigenous Peoples. London: Routledge.
