This text reflects the post-Cold War world of the 1990s by concentrating on current rather than historical controversies. Chapters are also devoted to ethnic identity and its relation to language, nationalism, discrimination and religious beliefs.

In this thought-provoking reader of largely new or newly revised articles, scholars link ethnicity to language, nationalism, localism, religion and other issues in various crucial areas around the globe: former Yugoslavia, Eastern Europe and the Baltic States, Sri Lanka, Southeast and East Asia, Africa and Latino communities in the United States. An important professional resource and an excellent teaching tool for courses in anthropology and ethnic studies.