Racial, ethnic and religious social distance in Surinam
An exploration of the 'strategic alliance hypothesis' in a Caribbean community
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2145805 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Merlin B Brinkerhoff (University of Calgary), Jeffrey C Jacob (University of Calgary) |
| Year | 1994 |
| Volume | 17 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 636-661 |
| Publication date | 1994-10-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Ethnic and Racial Studies (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0141-9870 • E-ISSN: 1466-4356 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/01419870.1994.9993844 |
| OpenAlex | W2030820078 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 3 |
| References cited | 16 |
The poly-ethnic Caribbean can be seen as a laboratory for the study of the evolution of inter- and intra-ethnic relationships. Using the Caribbean experience as context, the present study begins by focusing on the dynamics of Muslim-Hindu relations in Surinam and then extends its analysis to South Asian-Creole relations. Building on the work of van der Burg and van der Veer (1986), the study develops and examines a 'strategic alliance hypothesis': that Hindus and Muslims have avoided overt conflict in their Surinamese homeland in order to advance their common interests against the country's other major ethnic groups, and, by extension, South Asians have joined multi-ethnic coalitions to advance these same interests. To explore these strategic alliance hypotheses, 376 secondary-school students in western Surinam were administered a modified Bogardus (1925) social distance scale in order to measure the degree of reciprocal tolerance that the sample's respondents expressed towards Surinam's prominent ethno-religious groups. The survey results offered qualified support for the strategic alliance hypothesis - the degree of preferential closeness Hindus and Muslims in the sample would tolerate for each other fell approximately midway between the social distance they would allow between themselves and the Creoles, their major competitors, and the distance preferred for members of other sects within their own religion. These data are contextualized within Surinam's ongoing struggle to restore the independent and civilian constitutional government that was overthrown in a 1980 military coup
Alliance · Ethnic group · Ethnology · Geography · Political science · Social distance · Sociology · Anthropology · Caribbean history, culture, and politics · Law · Religion and Society Interactions · Religion, Society, and Development
South Asians Overseas
The plural society in the British West Indies
A New System of Slavery
Handbook of Research Design & Social Measurement
Caste in Overseas Indian Communities
Consociational Democracy
Insurrection and Redemocratization in Suriname
Mormonism and the Moral Majority Make Strange Bedfellows
The Applicability of Social Distance for Religious Research
Brahmanism Abroad
From Al-Beruni to Jinnah
Islamisation and Muslim Ethnicity in South India
Pandits, power and profit
Religious Belief and Social Change
| Unique citing works | 3 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,11 |
| Citation span | 1999 - 2007 (9) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 3 |