Alexander Horstmann is Associate Professor in Southeast Asian Studies at the School of Humanities, Tallinn University, Estonia. He has held visiting positions at Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Mahidol University and EHESS in Paris. He is co-editor of the Berghahn Journal Advances in Research: Conflict and Society. He published Building Noah's Ark for Migrants, Refugees, and Religious Communities ( Palgrave, 2015) and Faith in the Future: Understanding the Revitalization of Religion and Cultural Traditions in Asia (Brill, 2012).

List of Illustrations

Introduction: Difference and Sameness as Modes of Integration
Günther Schlee

Chapter 1. Distances and Hierarchies: The Struggle over Ethnic Symbols in Nepal's Public Spaces
Joanna Pfaff-Czarnecka

Chapter 2. Identity through Difference: Ambivalences of the Social Integration of Mauritania's Former Slaves
Urs Peter Ruf

Chapter 3. Identification with the State and Identifications by the State
Günther Schlee

Chapter 4. Politics of Belonging and Identity Transformations in Northern Côte d'Ivoire and Western Burkina Faso
Youssouf Diallo

Chapter 5. Tanguiéta: Identity Processes and Political History in a Small African Town
Tilo Grätz

Chapter 6. Transnational Practices and Post-Soviet Collective Identity
Claus Bech Hansen and Markus Kaiser

Chapter 7. Living Together: The Transformation of Multi-Religious Coexistence in Southern Thailand
Alexander Horstmann

Chapter 8. Three Dyads Compared: Nuer/Anywaa (Ethiopia), Maasai/Kamba (Kenya), and Evenki/Buryat (Siberia)
Günther Schlee

Chapter 9. Ruling over Ethnic and Religious Differences: A Comparative Essay on Empires
Günther Schlee

Epilogue
Günther Schlee, Alexander Horstmann, and John Eidson

Bibliography
Index

What does it mean to "fit in?" In this volume of essays, editors Günther Schlee and Alexander Horstmann demystify the discourse on identity, challenging common assumptions about the role of sameness and difference as the basis for inclusion and exclusion. Armed with intimate knowledge of local systems, social relationships, and the negotiation of people's positions in the everyday politics, these essays tease out the ways in which ethnicity, religion and nationalism are used for social integration.