Ethnics and ethics in southeast asia

This paper poses two questions that seem critical to any discussion of ethnicity in Southeast Asia. The first is whether the concept of ethnicity, historically conditioned as it is by specifically Euro- American racism and nationalism, can be fruitfully applied to cultural variations in Southeast Asia. The other is whether, even if this concept is fruitful, it is socially responsible to introduce a concept so historically weighted into discussions of an area which already has ample political and social problems of its own. To stimulate discussion, I am going to answer both questions negatively, although obviously no philosophically adequate, historically documented justification for such simple-minded answers could fit within the length of this paper. In the interest of economy, this paper distinguishes between ethnicity (the concept a set of Southeast Asians may have of their culturally belonging together; i.e. if you will, “ethnoethnicity�?), and “ethnicity�? (a concept by which Euro- Americans classify sets of Southeast Asians).