Embodied ethnicity : the ethnic affiliation grounded in the body
Résumé
Drawing on cultural phenomenology, this article extends literature on ethnicity by investigating its embodied dimensions and by studying infra-national referents (e.g. regionalism in France). Findings show the central role of embodiment in ethnicity. Three dimensions of ethnicity are outlined: embodied ethnicity (being in the world), embodied ethnic imaginary (remembering being-in-the-world) and embodied ethnic interactions (being-in-the-world with others). This analysis extends the postassimilastionist model by adding an embodied dimension, highlights the specificities of local ethnicity, and questions the concept of the habitus.