Misconception of Identifying Ethnic Groups by Cultural Elements
The common misconception in relating ethnicity and culture is to define ethnic groups by cultural elements. Firstly, ethnic group is a category of people which is bound together by common characteristics that differentiate them from other groups. On the other hand, culture is a system of knowledge shared by a relatively large group of people. Culture consists of values, beliefs, religion, experiences, behaviours and traditions acquired by a group of people that is passed down generations by generations (Browaeys & Price, 2008). In my essay, I would like to clarify that ethnic groups cannot be defined by their cultural elements with several examples.
Commonly, characteristics and traits of an ethnic group is identified by its cultural elements. Elements such as language, religion and customs are used to differentiate a group and another. Specified cultural elements are categorized to represent different types of ethnic groups. However this assumption is not suitable to apply in many situations. It is troublesome to identify ethnic group by cultural elements. This is because the people within an ethnic group does not necessarily possess the identical cultural elements. For instance, the Cham people in Vietnam belong to one ethnic entity, however in different areas this group of people possess different cultural elements. The Cham people in south central of Vietnam and in Mekong Delta have distinctive differences in religion, language and customs. In the south central Vietnam, the Cham practise localized Hinduism and Islam as religion. They speak south central dialect and their writing is originated from a script in Sanskrit. In term of custom, these Cham people are considered matrilineal and practice exogamy. On the contrary, the Cham in Mekong Delta majorly practise Islam. They speak in Mekong Delta dialect and...
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