Beschreibung
The title of this volume was supplied by a Hungarian
villager, who made use of a popular idiom to express his
disillusionment with the results of rural privatisation.
Hann draws on his own ethnographic materials from Hungary
and elsewhere to explore a wide range of topics, from
political economy to questions of ethnic and religious
identity and minority rights. Applying a broad definition of
`property relations’, he argues that private ownership,
multi-party politics and the proliferation of NGOs are poor
compensation for a decline in the substantive material and
moral conditions of citizenship. The spread of neoliberal
economic principles, identity politics and new `rights’
agendas is not restricted to the post-socialist countries
and the volume therefore employs a wider comparative
framework. Underlying all the chapters (none of them
previously published in this form in English) is an
inclusive, eclectic approach to contemporary anthropology.
Hann concludes by arguing that anthropologists of all
traditions and theoretical persuasions need to renew their
engagement with world history. To recognise the enduring
unity of Eurasia is an important step towards overcoming the
distortions of Eurocentrism.
Chris Hann is a Director of the Max Planck Institute for
Social Anthropology, Halle/S.
