Ethnicity. Aspect of a Relationship or Property of a Group?

Essay from the year 2015 in the subject Ethnology / Cultural Anthropology grade: 1.0 Queen's University Belfast (School of History and Anthropology) course: Social Anthropology language: English abstract: In this essay I intend to analyse Eriksen's (2002) assertion that ethnicity is an aspect of a relationship rather than a property of a group (2002:12) and do so in light of other relevant theories and issues in order to provide a critical discussion of the concept as a whole.Since its introduction into the spectrum of anthropological discussion the notion of ethnicity has been received with considerable debate and postulation. At a general level however it has been examined as an element closely related to or even governing broader areas such as cultural identity nationalism as well as individual and group identification.