• Wimmer, A. (2008). The making and unmaking of ethnic boundaries: A multilevel process theory. American journal of sociology, 113(4), 970-1022.
  Introduction 14
  The comparative study of ethnicity rests firmly on the ground established by Fredrik Barth in his well-known introduction to a collection of ethnographic case studies. Barth broke away from the Herderian canon in anthropology, according to which each ethnic group represented a historically grown, uniquely shaped flower in the garden of human cultures. Instead of studying each of these cultures in a separate ethnography, Barth and his collaborators observed how the boundaries between two ethnic groups are maintained, even though their cultures might be indistinguishable and even though individuals and groups might switch from one side of the boundary to the other. Barth’s approach to ethnicity thus no longer resembled an exercise in Linnean taxonomy but in social ecology.
  这一篇文章是发表在社会学顶级的杂志上，看开篇也不是寻常套路，用了一种回顾评价一名大家作品的形式，the ..study of ….rests firmly on the ground established by … in his well-known …. 这种写法也可以用在我们要讲某一个领域的研究基本是某个大牛牵头进行的，并且有代表作。
  …broke away from …., according to which ……instead of studying…..,….observed how ….are maintained, ….’s approach to… thus no longer resembled ….but in ….
  当一个领域很久之前就有一种研究惯例，然后出现了一个人打破了这种惯例，pioneer 一种新的模式，即可以用这个句子来介绍。
  Barth pioneered what later became known as “constructivism”: the claim that ethnicity is the product of a social process rather than a cultural given, made and remade rather than taken for granted, chosen depending on circumstances rather than ascribed through birth. In the following two decades, prolonged battles emerged between devotees of this constructivist perspective and adherents to older views that were more in line with Herderian notions of the binding power of ethnicity and culture. This debate has often been framed in dichotomous terms: primordialism, which underlined that ethnic membership was acquired through birth and thus represented a given characteristic of a social world, was pitted against “instrumentalism,” which maintained that individuals choose between various identities according to self-interest.
  这一段我基本看不太懂，老夫写得好艰难啊，那就只看句型吧。果真作者也用了pioneer 这个单词。 … pioneer what later became known as ….: 解释这个东西，the claim that …is …rather than …., made and remade rather than….., chosen…rather than …… 排比句，好厉害，所使用的的单词都很精准。In the following two decades,一定就是新旧观念之争了，怎么写得呢，prolonged battles emerged between devotees ….and adherents … 然后就要说debate了， the debate has often been framed in ….
  我非常佩服这名作者使用语言的能力，真的特别的强，仔细感悟他所使用的对比和排比，你也会一定深受启发。
  “Essentialism” was opposed to “situationism,” the former privileging the transcontextual stability provided by ethnic cultures while the latter showed how individuals identify with different ethnic categories depending on the logic of the situation. “modernists” attributed the salience of ethnicity to the rise of the modern nation-state, while “perennialists” insisted that ethnicity represented one of the most stable principles of social organization in human history. Scholars who insisted on the subjectively felt reality and deeply rooted character of ethnic “identity” argued against those for whom ethnic distinctions were primarily driven by the changing “interests” of individuals or collective actors.
  作者又讲了两个类别派别的观点，看起来这一段原来是理论回顾。Essentialism 与situationism 的观点，the former privileged…. While the latter showed ….然后又讲了modernists 和 perennialists insisted that ….. 一类人argued against those for whom …….
  This article attempts to transcend these debates. I argue that the empirical and analytical questions that they raise cannot be solved by definitional ontology – by trying to find out what ethnicity really is. The past decades have produced an impressive variety of case studies in which we find examples that fit – and contradict – any of the positions summarized above, as will be shown in the following section. The definitional debates may have diverted our efforts away from understanding why ethnicity appears in such variable forms. While there is a substantial body of work illustrating the contrasting properties of ethnic, national, or racial boundaries across usually two or three examples, little has been done to explain the entire range of empirically documented variation through comparative theory building and research. This article is certainly not a successful execution of this task; rather, it is intended as a substantial beginning and as an invitation to other scholars to futher advances this agenda.
  终于要开始讲作者本人做的事情了。 Transcend the debates. I argue that …. The past decades have produced an impressive variety of case studies ….as will be shown in the following section. While ….., little has been done to explain …… this article is certainly not a successful execution of this task; rather, it is intended as a substantial beginning and as an invitation to …原来作者也要开始一个新的研究趋势… 大牛做的事情。