“Inside Out”: The politics of ethnically enumerating the nation

1. “Inside Out”: The politics of ethnically enumerating the nation • Tahu Kukutai • Stanford University Victor Thompson Stanford University Conference on Social Statistics & Ethnic Diversity, Montreal, Canada, 6 – 8 December 2007

2. Motivating the problem • Ubiquity of ethnicity but variation in state processes of recognition. WHY? • Case-studies: emphasis on dynamics endogenous to states • Problem 1: Lacks generalizability • Problem II: Ignores global influences

3. The Politics of Ethnic Enumeration • Scientific rationality vs. political negotiation • Political process: “top down” vs “bottom up” • Typology of ethnic classification regimes - centered on state motivations (Rallu et al.) • Search for systematic patterns across states (Morning)

4. “Inside Out”:An alternative approach Ethnic Cognizance Inside -Structure -Groups State Eumeration Practices Outside -HR Instruments -INGOs Identity Legitimization

5. Pressures from the inside : state-centered • STRUCTURE • historical context of state formation • resources • GROUPS • immigrants • ethnic contenders

6. Pressures from the outside: world society • Integration into global civil society and world culture • international organizations (INGOs) • human rights instruments • Isomorphism in practices • Expose states to global monitoring and sanctioning • Opens political opportunities for ethnic activists

7. Hypotheses • INTERNAL Ethnic recognition • immigrants + • foreign workers - • ethnic contenders + • resources + • post-1965 sovereignty + • EXTERNAL Ethnic recognition • ICERD signatory - or + • ICERD commitment + • INGOs membership +

8. Global Enumeration Database on Ethnic Diversity • Compiled dataset of ethno-racial and civic identity questions asked in the 2000 Census round (1995-2004) • Extended to include countries that have population registers • Coded a wide range of questions: • Nationality • Citizenship • Birthplace • Immigration status • Race • Ethnicity & Ethnic Origins • Ancestry, descent • Indigeneity • Tribe • Language, Mother tongue

9. Total located in 2000 Census Round 184 out of 195 states located in the 2000 Census Round 4 had no census available 7 remain missing Population registries accounted for 8% (n=14) of the sample % complete by region Africa 79% North America 97% South America 100% Asia 97% Europe 96% Oceania 96% Census Coverage

10. Modeling Ethnic Enumeration • Two models • Ethnic Cognizance • Race, ethnicity, ancestry, indegeneity/tribe, or mother-tongue • Exclude birthplace, citizenship and religion • Identity Legitimization • Formal recognition of specific ethnic groups on census

11. Percentage of States that Recognize at Least One Ethnic Recognition Africa 50.0% Europe 48.9% South America 80.0% Asia 67.6% North America 85.7% Oceania 63.7% Percentage of states that formally legitimate ethnic identities Africa 20.0% Europe 35.6% South America 60.0% Asia 37.8% North America 85.7% Oceania 57.1% Commitment to Recognizing Ethnicity Across Regions

14. Summary of Findings • Internal • Those emanating from groups • Those associated with structural conditions • External • Commitment • INGOs

15. Conclusions • Ethnic Enumeration is generalizable • Global phenomena • Despite the local nuances of ethnicity we are able to extrapolate effects that go beyond ad hoc explanations of state enumeration practices • Exogenous factors matter