Page "Migration Period" Paragraph 16

Walter Pohl highlights the dynamic nature of group identity, proposing that during the Migration Period people could live in circumstances of " ethnic ambiguity ".

Given that ethnicity was important for the upper classes, they could adopt multiple ethnicities to secure the allegiance of their partners and followers: a phenomenon referred to as " situational ethnicity ".

To advance socially, one needed to " grow into a dominating group with high prestige, to copy its lifestyle ".

The process of assimilation could produce " a wide variety of transitional stages ".

Followers could also disband from larger units.

Factions arose, challenging the right to lead the people and uphold their traditions.

Conversely defeat by an external power could mean the end of a ruler and his people, who were absorbed into the victorious confederacy.

“ Seen in this light, ‘ ethnic ’ identity among barbarians was extraordinarily fluid, as new groups emerged and old ones disappeared ".