APPLYING PIERRE BOURDIEU’S CONCEPTS OF HABITUS AND FIELD TO THE STUDY OF ETHNICITY IN KENYA

Abstract

Empirical research on ethnicity in the last thirty years has resolved the debate between the classic primordialist and instrumentalist schools in favour of constructivism. This is especially so when considering ethnicity in Africa where recent scholarship has utilised a constructivist approach while recognising the ‘natural’ appeal of ethnicity among populations. This paper is theoretical in its purpose and seeks to of this paper is to adapt Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus and field as a theoretical lens in the study of ethnicity in Africa. This is an attempt to provide an alternative way to theorise the process of ethnic construction in Africa that does not involve engaging the two above-mentioned theoretical debates. As the paper will show, it provides us with a way to take into account the influence of both structures and agents when looking at ethnicity without giving too much focus to either one of them thus reconciling theoretical debates. Secondly it provides us with a way of theorising the construction of ethnicity among young people. The paper will therefore articulate this argument by first briefly looking at how ethnicity is currently theorised before sketching out Bourdieu’s concepts of habitus and field It will then move on to provide an understanding of how it offers more resources for the study of ethnicity in Africa through two illustrative examples. This paper forms is a part of a larger research project that seeks to understand young people’s attitudes towards ethnicity and politics in Kenya by engaging them in interviews and focus group discussions.

Keywords: Ethnicity, Habitus, Bourdieu, Constructivism, Primordialism