PUBLIC POLICY AND ETHNICITY: THE POLITICS OF ETHNIC BOUNDARY MAKING; ED. BY ELIZABETH RATA

Public Policy And Ethnicity Is A Response To The Growing Concern In Many Democracies That Ethnicity Has Become Institutionalized As A Political Category. The Book Draws On A Number Of International Studies, Including New Zealand, To Show That This Process Of Public Policymaking Creates Artificial Divisions And Boundaries That May Become Permanent And Detrimental As Well As Being Fundamentally At Odds With The Social Fluidity Of Modern Societies--publisher's Description. Introduction : Of Mohammad, Murals And Maori Ceremony / Elizabeth Rata And Roger Openshaw -- Freedom, Identity Construction And Cultural Closure : The Taniwha, The Hijab And The Weiner Schnitzel As Boundary Makers / Erich Kolig -- The Political Strategies Of Ethnic And Indigenous Elites / Elizabeth Rata -- Culturalism, Neo-liberalism And The State : The Rise And Fall Of Neotraditionalist Ideologies In The South Pacific / Alain Babadzan -- The Paradox Of Indigenous Rights : The Controversy Around The Foreshore And The Seabed In The New Zealand / Toon Van Meijl -- Ethnicity In Business : The Case Of New Zealand Maori / Martin Devlin -- Re-politicising Race : The Anglian Church In New Zealand / Christopher Tremewan -- Putting Ethnicity Into Policy : A New Zealand Case Study / Roger Openshaw -- Race And Ethnicity In United Kingdom Public Policy : Education And Health / Lorraine Culley And Jack Demaine -- Ethnic Measurement As A Policy-making Tool / Paul Callister -- Challenging Ethnic Explanations For Educational Failure / Roy Nash -- Dogmas Of Ethnicity / John A. Clark -- Historical Revisionism In New Zealand : Always Winter And Never Christmas / Graham Butterworth. Edited By Elizabeth Rata, Roger Openshaw ; With A Preface By Jonathan Friedman. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 201-220) And Index. Has ethnicity become institutionalized as a political category? Drawing on international studies, including New Zealand, the book shows that this process of public policymaking creates artificial divisions that can become permanent and detrimental as well as being at odds with the social fluidity of modern societies. Preface by Jonathan Friedman. Public Policy and Ethnicity contests the claim that ethnic-based public policy enhances democratic values and practices by recognizing cultural diversity. It also disputes the claim that such policies lead to greater social inclusion and social justice for ethnic peoples. Investigating the global process of ethnic politics at local levels, this collection, through a focus on policy areas such as education, business, government and health, demonstrates that recognizing ethnicity in public policymaking not only creates artificial divisions and permanent boundaries, but also supports the reactionary politics of elites. The boundaries created between ethnic groups by public policy increases rather than decreases social division whilst doing little to alter patterns of social inequality