This book aims to provide readers with an easy‐to‐use, accurate, up‐to‐date guide to ethnic groups in the contemporary world. At a time when ethnic identity, ethnic relations, ethnic conflict and immigration are increasingly important in current affairs, we need all the up‐to‐date easy‐to‐use guides we can get.
The book is divided into four parts: Europe, Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and the Americas. Each part contains a nation‐by‐nation description for that region. An introduction, a bibliography and maps are provided at the beginning of each regional part. The country profiles, which are arranged alphabetically, start with a brief account listing the major ethnic groups today. The groups featured include both indigenous and immigrant groups. The major groups or clusters of related groups are then described with a note of the locations, population, religion, and basic social, economic, and political practices of each. Then for each nation, an analysis is given of the current state of ethnic relations, with emphasis on the principle concerns. The book concludes with an impressively detailed index: references to Roman Catholics occur in 102 countries, Muslims 111, Jews 43, Arabs 43, and Palestinians 19.
The author gives a brief introduction to the major features of ethnicity and the problems it causes; homogeneous and heterogeneous and pluralistic nations; types of group domination ‐ cultural, linguistic, economic and political; problems of definitions, group identification, even naming groups (“Tropical Forest Forages” now, not “Pygmies”); and problems of information accuracy where often the author feels the need to depart from official statistics: “if government criteria were followed, no separate ethnic groups would be listed for Turkey because the government claims that there are no ethnic minorities and that all people are simply Turks”. The author even dislikes the census categories used in the UK. The sources used are identified ‐ the bibliographies are excellent; and finally the author considers some of the common patterns in ethnic relations such as ethnocentricity (perceived self‐importance), stereotyping and ethnic competition.
The book is self‐styled as a handbook, but it contains no charts or statistical tabulations. The data, and there is plenty of data, is absorbed into prose descriptions, which are refreshingly brief, readable and well‐presented with good sub‐headings and use of bold type for group names. Overall the book is a masterly and orderly compilation with even the complexities of Russia and the USA resolved.
Commenting on the subject of race‐relations is fraught with dangers, but I do feel unhappy about the author’s use of stereotyping. In an age when we know of the evils of stereotypes, and their doubtful validity, it was sad to read that the English “were sometimes stereotyped as aloof, arrogant, and emotionally repressed”, “the Welsh … as fun‐loving, musical, and irresponsible”; “the Scots … as being extremely frugal and overconcerned with education and learning”; and the Irish as “heavy drinkers, and ethnic jokes commonly portray them as fools”. I know these images exist, but no attempt is made to authenticate or justify them. I was a little surprised to see the Manx and Cornish feature, and again, was it wise to feature, in the sole photograph in the section on Ireland, a cosy rural idyll of a woman at a spinning wheel, while in the sole photograph in the UK section, what do we have but a photograph of the 1981 Brixton riots! Other countries are likewise represented by a sole image. I wonder if the publisher thought a few photos would be a good idea? If so, it was a mistake; it cuts across the message of the text. In a book with limited space for comment, generalisations are inevitable, but it is a pity if, in such an otherwise excellent production, prejudices should be entrenched.
On balance I consider the World Directors of Minorities by the Minority Rights Group, 1997, better written and more informative about the minorities themselves, although Ethnic Groups Worldwide focusses a little more on race relations. But there again, if race relations is your interest, there are books such as the many authored by Ellis Cashmore, for example the Dictionary of Race and Ethnic Relations (4th.ed. Routledge, 1998).
