Editing Migration Period (section)

=== Barbarian identity ===
{{Further|Barbarian}}

Analysis of barbarian [[Cultural identity|identity]] and how it was created and expressed during the Barbarian Invasions has elicited discussion among scholars. [[Herwig Wolfram]], a historian of the Goths,<ref>Wolfram, Thomas J. Dunlap, tr. ''History of the Goths'' (1979) 1988:5</ref> in discussing the equation of ''migratio gentium'' with ''{{lang|de|Völkerwanderung}}'', observes that {{ill|Michael Ignaz Schmidt|de|lt=Michael Schmidt}} introduced the equation in his 1778 history of the Germans. Wolfram observed that the significance of ''[[gens]]'' as a biological community was shifting, even during the [[early Middle Ages]] and that "to complicate matters, we have no way of devising a terminology that is not derived from the concept of [[Nation|nationhood]] created during the [[French Revolution]]".

The "primordialistic"<ref>Anthony D. Smith, ''The Ethnic Origins of Nations'' (Oxford, 1966) pp. 6ff., coined the term to separate these thinkers from those who view ethnicity as a situational construct, the product of history, rather than a cause, influenced by a variety of political, economic and cultural factors.</ref> paradigm prevailed during the 19th century. Scholars, such as German linguist [[Johann Gottfried Herder]], viewed tribes as coherent biological (racial) entities, using the term to refer to discrete ethnic groups.{{sfn|Geary|2006|p=29}} He also believed that the ''Volk'' were an organic whole, with a core identity and spirit evident in art, literature and language. These characteristics were seen as intrinsic, unaffected by external influences, even conquest.{{sfn|Kulikowski|2007|p=46}} Language, in particular, was seen as the most important expression of ethnicity. They argued that groups sharing the same (or similar) language possessed a common identity and ancestry.<ref>That was influenced by the 'family tree' model (''{{lang|de|Stammbaun}}'') of linguistics in that relationships between related languages were seen to be the result of derivation from a [[common descent|common ancestor]]. The model still is very influential in linguistics</ref> This was the [[Romanticism|Romantic]] ideal that there once had been a single German, Celtic or Slavic people who originated from a common homeland and spoke a [[lingua franca|common tongue]], helping to provide a [[conceptual framework]] for [[political movement]]s of the 18th and 19th centuries such as [[Pan-Germanism]] and [[Pan-Slavism]].{{sfn|Kulikowski|2007|p=46}}

From the 1960s, a reinterpretation of archaeological and historical evidence prompted scholars, such as Goffart and Todd, to propose new models for explaining the construction of barbarian identity. They maintained that no sense of shared identity was perceived by the ''Germani'';<ref name="Halsall 2008 17">{{harvtxt|Halsall|2008|p=17}}</ref><ref>{{harvtxt|Todd|1996|pp=8–10}} There is no indication that the Germani possessed a feeling that they were a "separate people, nation, or group of tribes"</ref>{{sfn|Geary|2006|p=29}} a similar theory having been proposed for Celtic and Slavic groups.<ref>For example, ''The Celtic World'', Miranda Green (1996), p. 3 and ''The Making of the Slavs''. Floring Curta (2001)</ref>

A theory states that the primordialist mode of thinking was encouraged by a ''[[prima facie]]'' interpretation of [[Greco-Roman world|Graeco-Roman]] sources, which grouped together many tribes under such labels as ''Germanoi'', ''Keltoi'' or ''Sclavenoi'', thus encouraging their perception as distinct peoples. Modernists argue that the uniqueness perceived by specific groups was based on common political and [[economic interest]]s rather than biological or racial distinctions. Indeed, on this basis, some schools of thought in recent scholarship urge that the concept of ''Germanic'' peoples be jettisoned altogether.<ref name ="Halsall 2008 24">{{harvtxt|Halsall|2008|p=24}}</ref><ref>{{harvtxt|Friedrich|Harland|2020|}}</ref>

The role of language in constructing and maintaining group identity can be ephemeral since large-scale language shifts occur commonly in history.<ref>''Archaeology and Language: Correlating Archaeological and Linguistic Hypotheses''. "The Eurasian Spread Zone and the Indo-European Dispersal." [[Johanna Nichols]]. p. 224</ref> Modernists propose the idea of "imagined communities"; the barbarian polities in late antiquity were social constructs rather than unchanging lines of blood kinship.{{sfn|Kulikowski|2007|p=48}} The process of forming tribal units was called "[[ethnogenesis]]", a term coined by [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] scholar [[Yulian Bromley]].<ref>{{harvtxt |Halsall|2008|p=15}}</ref> The [[Vienna School of History|Austrian school]] (led by [[Reinhard Wenskus]]) popularized this idea, which influenced medievalists such as Herwig Wolfram, [[Walter Pohl]] and [[Patrick J. Geary]].<ref name="Halsall 2008 17" /> It argues that the stimulus for forming tribal polities was perpetuated by a small nucleus of people, known as the ''{{lang|de|Traditionskern}}'' ("kernel of tradition"), who were a military or aristocratic elite. This core group formed a standard for larger units, gathering adherents by employing amalgamative metaphors such as kinship and aboriginal commonality and claiming that they perpetuated an ancient, divinely-sanctioned lineage.<ref name="harvtxt|Geary|2003|p = 77">{{harvtxt|Geary|2003|p=77}}</ref>

<blockquote>The common, track-filled map of the ''{{lang|de|Völkerwanderung}}'' may illustrate such [a] course of events, but it misleads. Unfolded over long periods of time, the changes of position that took place were necessarily irregular&nbsp;... (with) periods of emphatic discontinuity. For decades and possibly centuries, the tradition bearers idled, and the tradition itself hibernated. There was ample time for forgetfulness to do its work.{{sfn|Wood|2006|p=97}}</blockquote>