The Political Anthropology of Ethnic and Religious Minorities.

Papp Z., Attila and Szakolcai, Árpád and Horváth, Ágnes (2018) The Political Anthropology of Ethnic and Religious Minorities. Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 23 (1). pp. 1-17. ISSN 1353-7113 (Print) 1557-2986

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Abstract

The book presents some arguments why a political anthropological perspective can be particularly helpful to understand the connected political and cultural challenges and opportunities posed by the situation of ethnic and religious minorities. The first chapter shortly introduces the major anthropological concepts used, including liminality, trickster, imitation and schismogenesis; concepts that are used together with approaches of historical sociology and genealogy, especially concerning the rise and fall of empires, and their lasting impact. The conceptual framework suggested in this chapter is particularly helpful for understanding how marginal places can become liminal, appearing suddenly at the center of political attention. This introduction also shows the manner in which minority existence can problematize the depersonalizing tendencies of modern globalization. The other chapters of the book releave how the described political anthropological conceptual framework can be used in certain European regions, and in the case of certain ethnic and religious minority. All these chapters illustrate that instead of charismatic leaders, trickster politicians are emerging and increasingly dominate, through the “public sphere”, the space of modern politics emptied of real presence.

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