Barth, Ethnic Groups and Boundaries

“Even after more than four decades, this book continues to be a valuable tool for understanding and analyzing the nature of ethnicity. The case studies are useful for gaining insight into particular contexts, while the introduction and preface provide a comprehensive (without jargon, dense text, or obfuscating sentences) overview of Barth’s approach.” — Mary Lorena Kenny, Eastern Connecticut State University

“I share the widely held opinion that this book marked an epochal shift in the anthropological study of ethnicity. And, unlike so many other social science theories generated one, two or three decades ago, it has not become outdated.” —Katherine M. Verdery, Johns Hopkins University

“It would be difficult to overstate the influence which this book, and especially Barth’s introduction to it, has had on the anthropological study of ethnicity in general, and of ethnic identity in particular.” —Anthony P. Cohen, University of Edinburgh

“Barth went beyond existing conceptualizations in both depth and detail, theorizing ethnic identity within a wider set of arguments about social process and social forms.” —Richard Jenkins, Social Identity