Date of publishing:
25.9.2016
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21104/CL.2016.3.01
The Český lid provides open access to all of its content under licenseCreative Commons Attribution NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International.
Abstract:
A concept of “culture” lies at the heart of much anthropological theory and is also central to public discourses regarding the identity and social integration of migrants, immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers and other cultural ‘Others’ who seek a place in contemporary European societies. This paper interrogates these discourses, exemplified through discussions about the integration of Romanian Roma migrants in France today, and suggests that popular ideas about culture do not correspond to the relativist and historically contingent stance adopted by most anthropologists. Instead, discriminatory positions toward minority groups are sometimes justified using an outdated cultural evolutionary model; attempts to challenge this model, however, may result in the perpetuation of this same ‘primitive’/’civilized’ distinction. The paper also discusses how anthropological perspectives on culture are viewed with suspicion by researchers in the activist community and by scholars in other disciplines. The paper poses the question, therefore, of how contemporary anthropological thinking about culture can contribute to these different discourses, arguing that anthropologists need to make their ideas about culture more accessible and relevant to public perspectives.
Keywords
Civilization; Culture; Discourse; Identity; Integration; Racism;Roma
Article Text
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