Primordialists

Primordialists are scholars who subscribe to primordialism, a theoretical stance in anthropology and political science that treats ethnic and national identities as ancient, fixed, and essentially given. They argue that attachments to kin groups, language, religion, territory, and culture are primordial bonds that predate modern politics and shape loyalties across generations. In this view, ethnic and national communities resemble enduring essences, with boundaries relatively stable and transmitted through family and communal life, reinforced by myths and symbols that render group belonging natural.

Core tenets include the idea that identities are inherited and largely non-negotiable; group loyalties take precedence over individual or instrumental considerations; intergroup relations are organized around clear in-group/out-group divisions; and collective memory preserves presumed ancient grievances and justifications for cohesion.

Primordialists contrast with instrumentalist accounts, which view ethnicity as a resource manipulated by actors for political or economic gain, and with constructivist approaches, which stress social construction and variability of identities. A related perspective, ethno-symbolism, seeks to rehabilitate the importance of myths, memories, and symbols in nationalism while acknowledging historical change.

Criticism of primordialism centers on its tendency to downplay modernization, state formation, migration, and institutions; it can oversimplify identity by ignoring cross-cutting loyalties and individual agency. Despite these debates, primordialist ideas have influenced analyses of long-standing ethnic ties and the persistence of identities in many regions, especially in studies of traditional or pre-modern contexts.