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Ethnogenesis literally means "the creation of an ethnicity". I had a question "What kind of forms of ethnogenesis exist?" on my final exam in Introduction to Slavic Studies. I answered that an ethnic group can be formed by joining of smaller social groups, like families, which have common interests, goals or needs which they cannot achieve by themselves. The simplest form of an ethnic group would be a tribe. Another factor for joining of groups which results in creation of an ethnicity (over an extended period of time, not immediately; and the creation of an ethnicity is a result of the joining, not the cause) is a common trait, for example language, religion, culture, common history, geographical proximity, etc. or mostly a combination of some or all of these triats, mostly all because ethnic groups are usually formed among smaller groups living next to each other that share many of the traits. But it is not necessarily so. For example, language does not necessarily have to be the joining factor, and in many times it wasn't. Many ethnic groups were multilingual and many of their members were polyglotic. Take the Yugoslavians for instance. The Chinese, Turks, Indians, Indonesians, etc. and their sub-ethnic groups as well. In cities around the world throughout history many times during a formation of a city-state various language groups merged under one umbrella ethnicity.
Which brings us to the next form of ethnogenesis: merging of already existing ethnic groups. The joining of various peoples that arrived in America, the ancestors of many European ethnic groups in the past were of different ethnicity, for example the Poles, the Czechs, the Germans, etc. These groups were formed when several other ethnic groups merged in some point in history to form one greater ethnic group, sometimes preserving their local distinctiveness, but nonetheless, you would never hear from a Saxon or a Bavarian that he/she is not an ethnic German.
Third form of ethnogenesis is the splitting of an already existing ethnic group. First example that comes into my mind would be the Bosnians which today exist as three ethnic groups which split from one another due to religious differences. Ethnic groups can split for many reasons, most of the time these reasons are political and motivated by a few number of individuals, which also could have been done in the previous form, that is of merging of ethnic groups. After a period when the initial motivation to keep an ethnic group in one piece is diminished, that ethnic group may again split into parts, though not necessarily into the same parts that existed when it was formed, and mostly it is not.
Whether an ethnogenesis is lead by few individuals or by the majority of the members of the ethnic groups themselves, whether by free will or by force, any kind of ethnic groups is natural, because it's nature is to be an ethnic group. By it's definition it cannot be fake, same way a language cannot be fake either, since no thing of the psychical (not physical) world cannot.
Whether someone dislikes it or not, the modern Greek ethnicity is real and natural, regardless of the process of its creation, it's current construction or how crazy or chaotic it may be. That gives us information about the nature of this ethnicity and a possibility to examine it.
Macedonian ethnicity is equally real and natural. It takes only one person to form an ethnicity (and let us not forget, in some parts of the world there are ethnic groups which only have one member left). Ethnicity is based on one's self-declaration and this ignores all other outside factors, like history, language, culture, religion. I'm not talking here about switching one's ethnicity about which I spoke in another thread, but that is another but a very similar situation.
Which brings us to the next form of ethnogenesis: merging of already existing ethnic groups. The joining of various peoples that arrived in America, the ancestors of many European ethnic groups in the past were of different ethnicity, for example the Poles, the Czechs, the Germans, etc. These groups were formed when several other ethnic groups merged in some point in history to form one greater ethnic group, sometimes preserving their local distinctiveness, but nonetheless, you would never hear from a Saxon or a Bavarian that he/she is not an ethnic German.
Third form of ethnogenesis is the splitting of an already existing ethnic group. First example that comes into my mind would be the Bosnians which today exist as three ethnic groups which split from one another due to religious differences. Ethnic groups can split for many reasons, most of the time these reasons are political and motivated by a few number of individuals, which also could have been done in the previous form, that is of merging of ethnic groups. After a period when the initial motivation to keep an ethnic group in one piece is diminished, that ethnic group may again split into parts, though not necessarily into the same parts that existed when it was formed, and mostly it is not.
Whether an ethnogenesis is lead by few individuals or by the majority of the members of the ethnic groups themselves, whether by free will or by force, any kind of ethnic groups is natural, because it's nature is to be an ethnic group. By it's definition it cannot be fake, same way a language cannot be fake either, since no thing of the psychical (not physical) world cannot.
Whether someone dislikes it or not, the modern Greek ethnicity is real and natural, regardless of the process of its creation, it's current construction or how crazy or chaotic it may be. That gives us information about the nature of this ethnicity and a possibility to examine it.
Macedonian ethnicity is equally real and natural. It takes only one person to form an ethnicity (and let us not forget, in some parts of the world there are ethnic groups which only have one member left). Ethnicity is based on one's self-declaration and this ignores all other outside factors, like history, language, culture, religion. I'm not talking here about switching one's ethnicity about which I spoke in another thread, but that is another but a very similar situation.
)are things that make an ethnicity.
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