1. Political Manifestations of Ethnic Diversity

2. Integrating Themes in Human Geography
Cultural Patterns and Processes
Cultural differences
Ethnicity
Political Organization of Space
Evolution of the contemporary political pattern
Internal political boundaries and arrangements
Challenges to inherited political-territorial arrangements
Spatial relationships between political patterns and patterns of ethnicity …

3. Some Basic Vocabulary
Ethnic group – “…a group, which is part of a larger population, that possesses a distinct culture of its own. The members of such a group feel a common origin, real or imaginary, and are frequently set apart by race, religion, or national origin, or a combination of these.”
Territoriality – “A behavioral phenomenon associated with people’s …organization of space….reflects the need that individuals and groups have for space for reasons of security, identify ….area over which [they] wish to assert control….”
Source: Dictionary of Human Geography (Penguin, 1987)

4. Challenges to the State
A perceived threat to a group’s sense of identity can be a strong centripetal force, binding the group together for common defense against the ‘other’
Competing claims among ethnic groups for territory, control, or recognition can be a strong centrifugal force , threatening to undermine the stability of the state

5. Contemporary Conflicts Rooted in Ethnic Identity
Ethnicity stirs human emotions that, under certain circumstance, can erupt into public displays, civil disturbances, even open political conflict.
Some manifestation of ethnicity lies at the heart of tensions that mark events at various places and scales around the world, including …
French Canada
Nigeria
Sudan
Lebanon
Mexico (Chiapas)
Sri Lanka
Russia (Chechnya)
Northern Ireland
Philippines
Eritrea

6. Language is often a symbol of ethnic identity
Source: Atlas of Canada. officiallanguages/mothertonguefrench

7. The Number of languages spoken in the states of Nigeria is a clue to ethnic diversity
Nigerian languages represent three different language families
Nilo-Saharan
Afro-Asiatic
Niger-Congo
Source:

8. Ethnic Diversity – a Legacy of Colonialism
Tensions among Nigeria’s main ethnic groups erupt into open conflict in the streets of Lagos.
Source:

9. Ethnic Conflict Puts Nigeria at Risk
53,787 people died in ethnic and religious clashes between Christians and Muslims in Plateau State between September 2001 and May 2004
NY Times (October 8, 2004)
Plateau State

10. Chad-Sudan Border Zone
Border zone marked by ethnic diversity
Open conflict has destroyed villages
Thousands have fled to refugees camps on both sides of the international border
Source: Human Rights Watch [

11. More than 1 million people have fled as Arab militias attack black African populations.
Source:
darfur_villages_0802_2004.jpg
Source:

12. The High Price of Conflict
Two families arrive in Bredjing camp after walking for many days from Sudan bearing on their heads all the possessions they were able to grab when soldiers drove them from their villages in Darfur.
Source:

13. Sri Lanka’s Complex Cultural Environment
Ethnic diversity
Sinhalese – 74%
Sri Lankan Tamils – 12%
Indian Tamils – 6 %
Other minorities – Muslims, Burghers, Veddas
Religious diversity
Sinhalese – Buddhist
Tamils – Hindu
Muslims - Sunni
Source:

14. Sri Lanka's conflict has cost thousands of lives
Source:
world/para/ltte.htm
Source:
from_our_own_correspondent/ stm

15. Ethnic Mosaic of the Former Soviet Union
Source:

16. Russia’s Ethnic Republics
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17. Chechen (58%) + Russian (23%) = Formula for Conflict
Source:
russia/trip/nazran-2.html
Chechen boy with a toy helmet and toy gun leads his sister through Grozny. A Russian mortar shell is in the foreground on the left. [AP/Wide World Photo]
Source:
children_shell.jpg

18. Barriers Emerge out of Diversity
One of the main gates on the 'peace line' in west Belfast. This particular gate is used to seal a road that runs between the Catholic Falls Road area and the Protestant Shankill district.
Source: CAIN Project. [ photos/belfast/peaceline/gate1.htm#gate1]

19. Former Yugoslavia – A Patchwork Quilt with Frayed Threads
Source: bosnia/map1993.htm
Source: