Handbook of Language and Ethnic Identity [Hardcover]

This volume presents a comprehensive introduction to the connection between language and ethnicity. Since the ethnic revival of the last twenty years, there has been a substantial and interdisciplinary change in our understanding of the connection between these fundamental aspects of our identity. The distinguished sociolinguist Joshua Fishman has commissioned over 25 previously unpublished papers on every facet of the subject. The volume is divided into two sections, the first examining disciplinary perspectives on the subject; the second uses the prism of geography, looking at the subject in the context of Africa, Scandinavia, Germany and the rest of Western Europe, North America and elsewhere. The volume is truly interdisciplinary and the contributors are all distinguished figures in their fields. Each chapter is followed by thought provoking questions and essential bibliography, and Fishman pulls together the various views that have been expressed and shows how they differ and how they are alike.The volume is useful as a scholarly reference, a resource for the lay reader, and can also be used as a text in ethnicity courses.

The Handbook includes a great variety of topics and approaches...Handbooks and encyclopedias are susceptible to dry, authoritative accounts of received wisdom. Few of the chapters fall into this category...[C]hapter authors present a great deal of fascinating material and arguments debunking stereotypes...This volume achieves its stated goals--it is accessible to non-specialist readers and provides a wealth of interesting information for specialists. --Anthropology & Education Quarterly