Ethnicity, whether old or new has always defined and defied bordersand
boundaries. It is both global and local in character. Itchallenges the received
notions of state and nation and is in turnchallenged by globalization,
internationalism, multiculturalism andthe overriding notions of modernity. The
present collection is anedited version of some of the papers that were presented
at aninternational conference on Ethnicity organized at OUCIP,Hyderabad. These
papers focus on the changing notions of ethnicityand the challenges they pose to
nation states in a world ofeconomic and political uncertainties. Ranging from
the issues ofinvention and reinvention of ethnicity, the studies herein coverthe
assertions of ethnicity in the indigenous context within anation