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A Discussion on Ethnic Identity
By Gökhan Bacik
Abstract
After the end of the cold war a new wave of expectations has come to the forefront. Accordingly, many substantial concepts and institutions are, and will be, changing. Of all discussed concepts and institutions, some of them, such as nation states, are now part of the ongoing discussions. However, considering the various sides of these ongoing discussions, one should note that the main discussion around the concept of identity - identification theory - constitutes a large portion of the above- mentioned disputation. Why? The difficulty of giving a clear answer to this question is obvious. However, we may refer to the nature of the same process. Accordingly, the process that we are talking about includes some contradictions. These contradictions intensify with the definition of the identity formation. Consequently, the same process and the developments may give way to some contradicting result s. For example, with the positive effect of globalisation we are talking about the de- functioning of nation states. At the same time, however, the role of sub-identities, such as ethnic ones, is increasing paradoxically. From this stance, we have two independent tendencies: one that increases the commonalities of the world nations, and the other one that makes much more clearly the differences of the subidentities.
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