Ethnic Diversity and Ethnic Stratification in Suriname in 2012

According
to internationally standardized measures (Alesina 2003; Fearon
2003), Suriname belongs to the móst diverse countries in the world,
with respect to ethnicities, languages and religions. Suriname has
grown into such a highly diverse society due to her colonial past
in which different ethnic groups have been transferred to or settled
on Surinamese territory. A brief overview of the country's migration
history is useful to introduce the six major ethnic groups that are
locally known as bevolkingsgroepen ('population groups'): Natives,
Maroons, Creoles, Hindustani, Javanese, and Chinese. The objective of this study is to find out in which way ethnic
differentiation . in Suriname is still associated with ethnic stratification,
and how this has developed in the recent past. Por this, we
use data from the recent Sur Mob 2012 general population sample
survey, which allows for assessing change using intergenerational,
cohort and life cycle comparisons. Our overall research question
is: 'To what extent are ethnic diversity and social stratification in
Suriname associated, ·and how has this changedover recent decades?'
We aim to answer this question for all seven major ethnic groups
in Suriname (i.e. including the Mixed).