Relational Dimensions of Ethnic Identity: Research on Ethnic Categories in the Case of Petrinja

Rad se temelji na rezultatima empirijskog istraživanja provedenog u naselju Petrinji na početku 2003. godine. Prilikom konstruiranja uzorka pošlo se od pretpostavke da su u Petrinji zbog ratnih razaranja i raseljavanja u Domovinskom ratu formirane četiri kategorije etničnosti: 1. domicilni Hrvati, 2. bosanski Hrvati, 3. domicilni Srbi i 4. domicilni Srbi povratnici. Cilj istraživanja bio je utvrditi koji oblici etničke identifikacije prevladavaju u četirima kategorijama etničnosti kao i na koji način pripadnici svake pojedine kategorije etničnosti definiraju pripadnike drugih kategorija u svome okruženju. Problem etničke identifikacije ispitan je među članovima skupine (endoidentifikacija) te među onima koji joj ne pripadaju tj. outsiderima (egzoidentifikacija). Rezultati istraživanja u svim četirima kategorijama potvrdili su tezu kako etnički identiteti imaju relacijski i dinamičan karakter podložan redefiniranju. Time se ujedno pokazalo da je procesnost bitno svojstvo etničnosti.The paper is based on the results of an empirical study carried out in the settlement of Petrinja at the being of 2003. During construction of the sample, the assumption was made that due to war destruction and migration during the Homeland war, four ethnic categories were formed: 1. indigenous Croats, 2. Bosnian Croats, 3. indigenous Serbs, and 4. indigenous Serb returnees. The goal of the study was to establish the forms of ethnic identification that are predominant in these four ethnic categories, as well as to determine the way in which members of each ethnic category define members of other categories in their environment. The problem of ethnic identification was examined among members of groups (endoidentification), as well as among non-members, i.e. outsiders (exoidentification). The results of the research, in all four categories, confirmed the thesis that ethnic identities have a relational in addition to a dynamic character that is subject to redefinition. Hence, it was also shown that processuality is an important trait of ethnicity