Download or read book Ethnic Identity Formation and Ritual Dynamics written by Basudhara Sen and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This qualitative study used thirty-one in-depth semi-structured interviews with observation method. The results indicate that in the process of ethnic identity formation, first-generation Indian immigrants negotiate with their distinctive pan-Indian cultural practices that separate them from others, retain and alter their regional-Indian ritual practices to celebrate their internal cultural variations, and bring their ethnicity to the mainstream society through selective pan and/or regional-ethnic ritualized practices. This study adds to the social constructionist perspective of ethnicity emphasizing the situational dimension of ritual dynamics and contributes to the micro-sociological analysis of ethnic identity. It enhances our empirical knowledge of an under studied Asian Indian immigrant community and provides an extension to the analytic potential of structural ritualization theory. It also offers a theoretical framework to explore the complexity of race and ethnicity of other ethno-racial groups.