Talking Culture: Sidney W. Mintz Lecture FOR

CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY Volume 36, Number i, FebruaryI995
? Research.All rightsreserved
FoundationforAnthropological
I995 byThe Wenner-Gren OOII-3204/95/360i-0003$2.00
(D.Phil.,I970). She conductedfieldand archivalresearchin Cuba

in I967-68 and in Sao Paulo,Brazil,betweenI973 and I979. She
SIDNEY W. MINTZ LECTURE is theauthorofMarriage,Class, and Colourin Nineteenth-
CenturyCuba (Cambridge:CambridgeUniversity Press,I974, re-
FOR I993 printedbytheUniversity
Workers,
ofMichiganPressin i989), Planters,
and Wives:Class Conflictand GenderRelationson
SaioPaulo Plantations,i850-i980 (Oxford:St. Antony's/Macmil-
lan, i988); "Women'sLabours:The Naturalisation ofSocial In-
equalityand Women'sSubordination," in OfMarriageand the
Talking Culture Market,editedby K. Young,C. Wolkowitz,and R. McCullagh

(London:Routledgeand KeganPaul, i98i), "New Reproductive
Technologies-Old Fatherhood," Reproductive and GeneticEngi-
neeringI (i), and "Is Sex to Genderas Race Is to Ethnicity?" in
GenderedAnthropology, editedbyTeresadel Valle (London:
New Boundaries,New Rhetorics Routledge,I993). The presentpaperwas submittedin finalform
I5 VI 94.
of Exclusion in Europe'
Es gibt zwei Sortenvon Ratten,
by Verena Stolcke die hungrigenund die satten;
die Satten bleiben vergniigtzuhaus,
die Hungrigenwandernaus . . .
Oh weh, sie sind schon in der Ndh.
HEINRICH HEINE
In the contemporary debateconcerning Europeanintegration and
the "problem"ofThirdWorldimmigration no less thanin devel- Everywhere,and fromnow on as much in the soci-
opmentsin anthropology in thepast decade,theboundednessof
culturesand culturaldifference have gainednew prominence. An- ety of originas in the host society,[the immigrant]
thropology needsnot onlyto explorehow globalizationaffects calls fora completerethinkingof the legitimate
thediscipline'sclassicalsubjectsbut also to paymoreattention bases of citizenshipand of the relationshipbetween
to thenew waysin whichculturaldifferences and cleavagesare the state and the nation or nationality.An absent
conceptualized at its source.In effect,thepoliticalrightin Eu-
ropehas in thepastdecadedevelopeda politicalrhetoric ofexclu- presence, he obliges us to question not only the reac-
sionin whichThirdWorldimmigrants, who proceedin part tions ofrejectionwhich,takingthe state as an ex-
fromits ex-colonies,are construedas posinga threatto thena- pressionof the nation, are vindicated by claiming to
tionalunityofthe "host" countriesbecausetheyare culturally base citizenshipon commonalityoflanguage and
different.This rhetoricofexclusionhas generally been identified
as a new formofracism.I argue,instead,that,ratherthanas-
culture (ifnot "race") but also the assimilationist
sertingdifferent endowmentsofhumanraces,it postulatesa pro- "generosity"that,confidentthat the state, armed
pensityin humannatureto rejectstrangers. This assumptionun- with education, will know how to reproducethe na-
derliesa radicaloppositionbetweennationalsand immigrants as tion,would seek to conceal a universalistchauvin-
foreignersinformed by a reifiednotionofboundedand distinct, ism.
localizednational-cultural identityand heritagethatis employed
PIERRE BOURDIEU
to rationalizethecall forrestrictive immigration policies.Follow-
inga systematiccomparisonofthe contrasting conceptualstruc-
turesofthe two doctrines, I concludethatthecontemporary cul- The uniqueness of European culture,which emerges
turalfundamentalism ofthepoliticalrightis, withrespectto fromthe historyof the diversityofregionaland na-
traditionalracism,bothold and new. It is old in thatit drawsfor tional cultures,constitutesthe basic prerequisitefor
its argumentative forceon theunresolvedcontradiction in the
modernconceptionofthenation-state betweenan organicist and European union.
a voluntaristidea ofbelonging.It is new in that,becauseracism COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
has becomediscredited it attributes
politically, theallegedincom-
patibilitybetweendifferent culturesto an incapacityofdifferent As anthropology graduallyoutgrowspostmodernistself-
culturesto communicatethatis inherentin humannature.
scrutinyand culturalself-examinationand moves back
into the real world,neitherthe worldnor the discipline
VERENA STOLCKE is professor in theDe-
ofsocial anthropology
partamento de Historiade SociedadesPrecapitalistas
y Antropo- is any longerthe same. Anthropologists have leamed to
logia Social oftheUniversidadAut6nomade Barcelona.Bornin be moresensitiveto the formidabledifficulties involved
Germanyin I938, she was educatedat OxfordUniversity in making sense of cultural diversitywithout losing
sightofsharedhumanity.At the same time,the notions
of cultureand culturaldifference, anthropology'sclassi-
i. This paperwas delivered, as the I993 SidneyW. MintzLecture
to theDepartmentofAnthropology oftheJohnsHopkinsUniver- cal stock-in-trade, have become ubiquitous in the popu-
sityon Novemberi5, I993. It is based on researchconductedir lar and political languagein which Westerngeopolitical
i99i-92 whileI was a JeanMonnetfellowat theEuropeanUniver conflictsand realignmentsarebeingphrased.Anthropol-
sityInstitutein Florence.I thankespeciallymyfellowfellowsMi ogists in recentyears have paid heightenedcriticalat-
chael Harbsmeier, Eric Heilman,and Sol Picciottoforthe many
fruitfuldiscussionswe had on thetopicsI raiseandRam6nVald6& tentionto the many ways in which Westerneconomic
of the UniversidadAut6nomade Barcelonaforhis commentsor and culturalhegemonyhas invadedthe restofthe world
an earlierversion. and to how "other" cultureshave resistedand reworked
T
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2 CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY Volume 36, Number i, FebruaryI995
theseinsidiousinfluences.How these "others"are being the slogan "ForeignersOut!" There is a growingsense

politicallyand culturallyrethoughtby the West,where thatEuropeansneed to develop a feelingof sharedcul-
the idea of culturaldistinctnessis being endowed with tureand identityofpurposein orderto providethe ideo-
new divisiveforce,has, however,attractedsurprisingly logical support for European economic and political
little interestamong anthropologists.I want to address union that will enable it to succeed. But the idea of a
one major instance of contemporaryculture-bounded supranational culturally integratedEurope and how
political rhetoric. much space is to be accorded to national and regional
SidneyMintz has workedformany yearstowardun- cultures and identities are mattersof intense dispute
coveringthe logic and power of racism in systems of because of the challenge to national sovereigntiesthey
dominationand exclusionin the New World.It is surely are variously felt to pose (Gallo I989; Cassen I993;
appropriateto focus my lecturein his honor on the re- Commissionofthe EuropeanCommunitiesI987, I992).
surgenceof essentialistideologiesin the Old World.On By contrast,immigrants,in particularthose fromthe
one of his tripsto Paris he himselfprophesiedsome of poorSouth (and,more recently,also fromthe East) who
thesedevelopmentsmorethan 2o yearsago,notingthat, seek shelterin the wealthyNorth,have all overWestern
whereasissues of race were absentfromFrenchanthro- Europecome to be regardedas undesirable,threatening
pology,in contrastwith the North American variety, strangers,aliens. The extracommunitarian immigrants
because of the different positions the discipline's sub- already"in our midst" are the targetsof mountinghos-
jects (internallyor externallycolonial) occupied in rela- tilityand violence as politiciansofthe rightand conser-
tionto the respectivenationalcommunities,Francewas vative governmentsfuel popular fearswith a rhetoric
beginningto experienceracismas ever-growing numbers Dfexclusion that extols national identitypredicatedon
ofimmigrantsarrivedfromits ex-colonies(Mintz I 97I). zulturalexclusiveness.
The alarmingspread of hostilityand violence in Eu- The social and political tensionsthat extracommuni-
rope againstimmigrantsfromthe ThirdWorldhas pro- tarianimmigrationhas provokedin a contextof succes-
voked much soul-searchingin the past decade over the 3ive economic crises have been accompanied by a
resurgenceof the old demon of racism in a new guise. I heightenedconcernovernationalculturalidentitiesthat
want to propose,however,thata perceptibleshiftin the has eroded the cosmopolitanhopes professedin the af-
rhetoricof exclusion can now be detected.From what termathof the deadly horrorsof the Nazi race policies
were once assertionsof the differing endowmentof hu- f World War II. The demons of race and eugenics ap-
man races therehas risen since the seventiesa rhetoric ?earedto have been politicallyifnot scientificallyexor-
of inclusion and exclusion that emphasizes the distinc- ,ised partlyby the work done by UNESCO and other
tiveness of cultural identity,traditions,and heritage )odiesin defenseofhuman equalityin culturaldiversity
amonggroupsand assumes the closureofcultureby ter- Lnthe Boasian traditionafterI945 (Nye I993:669; Levi-
ritory(Soysal I993). I intendfirstto examine the nature 5traussI978, I985; Haraway I988). Yet culturalidentity
of this shift in the way in which European anti- md distinctiveness,ideas which until then seemed to
immigrantsentimentis phrased.Then I will trace the )e a peculiar obsession only of anthropologists,have
social and political roots and the implicationsof this iow come to occupy a centralplace in the way in which
new rhetoric.The formationofliberalstatesand notions inti-immigration sentimentsand policies are being ra-
of belonginghas, of course, been quite different from ;ionalized.
one WesternEuropeancountryto another.Historymay There is a growingpropensityin the popularmood in
explainthe originsofthese different political traditions, Europe to blame all the socioeconomic ills resulting
but it is not the cause of theircontinuity;each period :rom the recession and capitalist readjustments-
interpretshistory according to contemporaryneeds. anemployment,housing shortages, mounting delin-
Therefore,I will conclude by contrastingthe ways in luency,deficienciesin social services-on immigrants
which the national political repertoiresof Britainand xho lack "our" moral and cultural values, simplybe-
France have shaped and been employed to legitimate :ause they are there (see TaguieffI99I for a detailed
mountinganimosityagainstimmigrants. mnalysis and challengeof these imputationsin the case
The buildingof Europe is a twofoldprocess.As intra- AfFrance.)The advocates of a halt to immigrationand
Europeanbordersbecome progressively morepermeable, .ike-mindedpoliticians have added to the popular ani-
externalboundariesare evermore tightlyclosed.2Strin- nositytowardimmigrantsby artificiallyincreasingthe
gentlegal controlsare put in place to exclude what have 5cale of the "problem." Allusions to an "immigration
come to be known as extracommunitarian immigrants lood" and an "emigrationbomb" serveto intensifydif-
as partiesof the rightappeal forelectoral supportwith use popularfears,therebydivertingspreadingsocial dis-
,ontentfromthe truecauses ofthe economic recession.
Dpponentsof immigrationoftenadd to this the conser-
2. One signof the sense of urgencyoverimmigration controlis iative demographicargumentwhich attributesdeclin-
theinformal bodies,such as theTrevigroupof ng socioeconomic opportunitiesand povertyand the
intergovernmental
ministers,the Ad Hoc Groupon Immigration, and the Schengen
Accord,setup sincethemidseventies. These organizations,which :onsequentdesireorneed to emigrateto the "population
are not accountableto the EuropeanParliament, have served,al- )omb" ticking away in the Third World, which is
most in secrecy,to harmonizepolicyamongmembercountries )lamed on immigrants' own improvidence. They
(Bunyan I99I, Ford I99I). ;herebymask the economic-politicalroots of modern
STOLCKE Talking Culture| 3
povertyand insteadjustifyaggressivepopulationcontrol immigrantcommunitiesand its call fora curbon immi-

programswhose targetsare women in the poor South. grationhad anythingto do with racism (see Asad I990
Advocates of a halt to immigrationtalk of a "threshold on the idea ofBritishness,constructedout of the values
of tolerance,"alluding to what ethologistshave called and sensibilitiesof the Englishdominantclass; see also
the territorialimperative-the alleged factthatpopula- Dodd I986). People "by nature"preferred to live among
tions (note, among animals) tend to defendtheirterri- their"own kind" ratherthanin a multiculturalsociety,
tory against "intruders"when these exceed a certain this attitudebeing, "afterall," a "natural," instinctive
proportionestimatedvariouslyat 12-25 % because oth- reactionto the presence of people with a different cul-
erwiseseveresocial tensionsare boundto arise (Zungaro tureand origin.As AlfredSherman,directoroftheright-
i992; Erdheimi992:i9). The mediaand politiciansal- wing Institutefor Policy Studies and one of the main
lude to the threatof culturalestrangementor alienation theoreticiansof this doctrine,elaboratedin I978, "Na-
(Winkleri992, Kallscheueri992). In otherwords,the tionalconsciousnessis the sheetanchorfortheuncondi-
"problem" is not "us" but "them." "We" are the mea- tionalloyaltiesand acceptanceofdutiesand responsibil-
sure of the good life which "they" are threateningto ities,based on personalidentificationwith the national
undermine,and this is so because "they" are foreigners community,which underliecivic dutyand patriotism"
and culturally"different."Althoughrisingunemploy- (quotedin Barkeri98i:2o; see also I979). Immigrants
ment,thehousingshortage,and deficientsocial services in large numbers would destroythe "homogeneityof
are obviously not the fault of immigrants,"they" are the nation." A multiracial(sic) societywould inevitably
effectively made into the scapegoatsfor"our" socioeco- endangerthe "values" and "culture" ofthe whitemajor-
nomic problems.This line of argumentis so persuasive ityand unleash social conflict.These were nonrational,
because it appeals to the "national habitus,"an exclusi- instinctualfearsbuilt aroundfeelingsof loyaltyand be-
vist notion of belonging and political and economic longing(Barkerand Beezer I983: I25).3 As Enoch Powell
rightsconveyedby the modernidea of the nation-state had arguedin I969, "an instinctto preservean identity
(Elias I99I) centralto which is the assumptionthatfor- and defenda territoryis one ofthe deepestand strongest
eigners,strangersfromwithout,are not entitledto share implantedin mankind . . . and . . . its beneficialeffects
in "national" resources and wealth, especially when arenotexhausted"(quotedin Barkeri98i:22).
these are apparentlybecomingscarce.It is conveniently Until the late seventiessuch nationalistclaims were
forgotten, forexample,thatimmigrantsoftendo thejobs putforwardonlyby a few(thoughvociferous)ideologues
that natives won't. Similarlyoverlookedare the other- ofthe rightwho went out oftheirway to distancethem-
wise much bemoaned consequences of the population selves fromthe overtracismofthe National Front,mor-
implosion in the wealthy North, that is, the verylow allydiscreditedbyits associationwithNazi ideology.By
birthratesin an agingEurope,forthe viabilityofindus- the eighties,with mountingeconomic difficultiesand
trial nations and the welfarestate (Below-replacement growinganimosityagainst immigrants,in an effortto
fertility
I986, BerquoI993). The questionwhy,ifthere gain electoralsupportthe Torypartyhad adopteda dis-
is shortageof work,intoleranceand aggressionare not course of exclusion which was similarlyinfusedby ex-
directedagainstone's fellow citizens is neverraised. pressionsoffearfortheintegrity ofthenationalcommu-
The meaning and nature of these rationalizationsof nity,way oflife,tradition,and loyaltyunderthreatfrom
animositytowardimmigrantsand the need to curb ex- immigrants(BarkerI979). One symptomaticexample of
tracommunitarianimmigrationhave been highlycon- this ideological alignmentof the Tory partywith its
troversial.I will here analyze the rightistrhetoricof ex- rightis MargaretThatcher'smuch-quotedstatementof
clusion rather than examining the logic of popular I978 that "people are reallyratherafraidthatthis coun-
anti-immigrant resentment.Popularreactionsand senti- trymightbe swampedbypeople witha different culture.
mentscannotsimplybe extrapolatedfromthe discourse And,you know, the Britishcharacterhas done so much
of the political class. fordemocracy,forlaw, and done so much throughout
the world, that if there is a fear that it might be
swamped, people are going to react and be hostile to
thosecomingin" (quotedin Fitzpatrick
I987:i2i). To
Immigrants:A Threat to the Cultural protect"the nation" fromthe threatimmigrantswith
Integrityof the Nation alien cultures posed for social cohesion, their entry
needed to be curbed.
In the early eighties Dummett identifieda change in
Britainin the idiom in which rejectionof immigrants
was beingexpressedwhen she drewattentionto the ten- 3. Barkersummedup the argumentof what he called "the new
dencyto attributesocial tensionsto thepresenceof im- racism"as follows:"Immigrants
threatento 'swamp'us withtheir
migrantswith alien cultures rather than to racism alien culture:and if theyare allowed in in largenumbers,they
(DummettandMartini982:ioi, myemphasis;see also will destroythe 'homogeneity
ofthe nation.'At theheartofthis
Dummett I973). As earlyas in the late sixtiesthe right 'new racism'is thenotionofcultureand tradition. A community
is its culture,its way of lifeand its traditions.
To breaktheseis
in Britainwas exalting "Britishculture" and the "na- to shatterthe community. These are non-rational(andindeed,in
tional community,"distancingitselffromracial catego- thefullyfledgedversion,instinctual), builtaroundfeelingsofloy-
riesand denyingwithinsistencethatits hostilitytoward altyand belonging."
A similar shiftin the rhetoricof exclusion has also Cultural Fundamentalism:A New
been identifiedwithin the French political right.Ta- Constructionof Exclusion
guieff's(I98I) is probablythe most detailed,thoughcon-
troversial,analysis of ideological developmentsamong The emergenceof cultureas "the key semanticterrain"
the varioustendenciesof the Frenchrightsince the sev- (Benthall andKnightI993:2) ofpoliticaldiscourse needs,
enties. It is controversialbecause the author at once however,to be more carefullyexplored.I want to argue
harshlycriticizesantiracistorganizationsforinvoking, that it is misleading to see in the contemporaryanti-
in their defense of immigrants'"rightto difference," immigrantrhetoricof the righta new formofracismor
what he regardsas an equally essentialistconceptionof a racismin disguise.This is, of course,no merequibble
culturaldifference (see also Duranton-CrabolI988). The overwords.Not fora momentdo I want to trivializethe
Frenchrightbegan orchestrating its anti-immigrantof- sociopoliticalimportof this novel exaltationof cultural
fensiveby espousingwhat Taguieffhas termeda "differ- difference, but to combat the beast we need to know
entialracism,"a doctrinewhich exalts the essentialand what sort it is. To this end we need to do more than
irreduciblecultural differenceof non-Europeanimmi- uncoverthe strategicmotives forthe right'sdisavowal
grantcommunities whose presence is condemned for of racism and analyze the conceptual structureof this
threateningthe "host" country'soriginalnational iden- new political discourse and the repertoireof ideas on
tity.A core element of this doctrineof exclusion is the which it draws.
repudiationof "cultural miscegenation"forthe sake of A substantiveconceptual shiftthat can be detected
the unconditional preservationof one's own original among political rightistsand conservativestoward an
purportedly bioculturalidentity.By contrastwithearlier anti-immigrant rhetoricpredicatedon culturaldiversity
"inegalitarianracism" (Taguieff'sterm),ratherthan in- and incommensurability is, in fact,informedby certain
feriorizing the "other"it exalts the absolute,irreducible assumptionsimplicitin the modernnotions of citizen-
differenceof the "self" and the incommensurability of ship,nationalidentity,and the nation-state.Even ifthis
different culturalidentities.A key concept of this new celebrationof national-culturalintegrityinstead of ap-
rhetoricis the notion of enracinement(rootedness).To peals to racial purityis a political ploy, this does not
preserveboth Frenchidentityand those of immigrants explain why the rightand conservatives,in theirefforts
in their diversity,the latterought to stay at home or to protect themselves from accusations of racism,
returnthere. Collective identityis increasinglycon- should have resortedto theinvocationofnational-cum-
ceived in termsofethnicity,culture,heritage,tradition, cultural identity and incommensurabilityto do this.
memory,and difference, with onlyoccasional references This culturalistrhetoricis distinctfromracism in that
to "blood" and "race." As Taguieffhas argued,"differen- it reifiescultureconceivedas a compact,bounded,local-
tial racism" constitutes a strategydesigned by the ized, and historicallyrootedset of traditionsand values
Frenchrightto mask what has become a "clandestine transmittedthroughthe generationsby drawingon an
racism" (PP. 330-37). ideological repertoirethat dates back to the contradic-
Notwithstandingthe insistentemphasis on cultural toryigth-centuryconceptionof the nation-state.4
identityand difference, scholarshave tendedto identify Ratherthanassertingdifferent endowmentsofhuman
a "new style of racism" in the anti-immigrant rhetoric races,contemporaryculturalfundamentalism(as I have
of the right(BarkerI98I, I979; TaguieffI987; Solomos chosen to designate the contemporaryanti-immigrant
I99I; Wieviorka I993). Several related reasons have rhetoricof the right)emphasizes differencesof cultural
been adduced forthis. Analystsin France no less than heritageand theirincommensurability. The term"fun-
in Britainattributethis culturalistdiscourse of exclu- damentalism"has conventionallybeen reservedforde-
sion to a sort of political dialectic between antiracists' scribing antimodern,neotraditionalistreligious phe-
condemnationof racism forits association with Nazi nomena and movements interpretedas a reaction to
race theoriesand the right'sattemptsto gain political socioeconomicand culturalmodernization.As I will ar-
respectabilityby masking the racist undertonesof its gue, however,the exaltationin the contemporary secu-
anti-immigrant program.Besides,orderinghumanshier- lar cultural fundamentalismof the rightof primordial
archicallyinto races has become indefensiblescientifi- national identitiesand loyalties is not premodern,for
cally (BarkerI98I, TaguieffI987), and it is a mistake the assumptionson which it is based forma contradic-
to suppose that racism developedhistoricallyonly as a torypart of modernity (Dubiel i992, Klingeri992).
justificationof relations of dominationand inequality There is somethinggenuinelydistinctfromtraditional
(BarkerI98I). Lastly, even when this new "theoryof racismin the conceptualstructureofthis new doctrine,
xenophobia" (Barker198I) does not employracial cate- whichhas to do withthe apparentlyanachronisticresur-
gories,the demand to exclude immigrantsby virtueof gence,in the modern,economicallyglobalizedworld,of
their being culturally different"aliens" is ratified a heightenedsense ofprimordialidentity,culturaldiffer-
throughappeals to basic human instincts,that is, in
terms of a pseudobiological theory.Even though the
term"race" may,therefore, 4. See Asad (i990) fora different
thematizationofBritishidentity
be absentfromthisrhetoric, that attemptsto reconcilea defenseofBritishculturalvalueswith
it is racism nonetheless,a "racism withoutrace" (Rex toleranceforculturaldiversityin the aftermath of the Rushdie
I973:I9I-9.2; Balibar I99I; Solomos i99i; GilroyI99I: affairreceivedwithapprovalbyliberalopinionoutsidetheConser-
I86-87). vativeparty.
STOLCKE TalkingCultureI s
ence, and exclusiveness. What distinguishesconven- up yet anothercommitteeofinquiry,this time into rac-
tional racismfromthis sortof culturalfundamentalism ism and xenophobia.Its task was to assess the efficacy
is the way in which those who allegedlythreatenthe of the declarationand to update the informationon ex-
social peace of the nation are perceived.The difference tra-Europeanimmigrationin the lightof the extension
betweenthese two doctrinesresides,first,in the way in offreedomofmovementwithinEuropeto be introduced
which those who are theirrespectivetargetsare concep- in I992-93 (EuropeanParliamentI990). The notionof
tualized-whether theyare conceived as naturallyinfe- xenophobiawas thus incorporated,withoutany further
riormembersor as strangers,aliens, to the polity,be it attemptto dispel its ambiguities,into European Parlia-
a state,an empire,or a commonwealth.Culturalfunda- ment parlance. The media and politicianshave equally
mentalism legitimates the exclusion of foreigners, picked up the idea, and it has capturedthe European
strangers.Racism has usually provideda rationalization imaginationin general.It was this terminologicalinno-
forclass prerogativesby naturalizingthe socioeconomic vation which firstmade me wonderwhethertherewas
inferiorityofthe underprivileged (to disarmthempoliti- not something distinct to the rhetoric of exclusion
cally)or claims ofnational supremacy(BlanckaertI988). wherebyanti-immigrant sentimentin WesternEurope
Second, whereas both doctrinesconstituteideological is justified.5
themeswhich "naturalize" and therebyaim to neutral- "Xenophobia" literally means "hostility toward
ize specificsociopoliticalcleavages whose real rootsare strangersand all that is foreign"(Le Petit RobertI967).
economic-political,they do this in conceptuallydiffer- Cashmore,in his I984 Dictionary of Race and Ethnic
entways. "Equality" and "difference"tendto be arrayed Relations, still dismissed the term as a "somewhat
against each otherin political discourse in both cases, vague psychologicalconceptdescribinga person'sdispo-
but the "difference"which is invoked and the meaning sitionto fear(orabhor)otherpersonsorgroupsperceived
with which it is endowed differ.There may be occa- as outsiders" because of its uncertain meaning and
sional referencesto "blood" or "race," but thereis more hence its limitedanalyticalvalue in thatit presupposes
to this culturalist discourse than the idea of insur- underlyingcauses which it does not analyze; therefore,
mountableessentialculturaldifferences or a kindofbio- he thought(as it has turnedout, wrongly),"it has fallen
logical culturalism(Lawrence I982:83), namely,the as- fromthecontemporary race and ethnicrelationsvocabu-
sumptionthat relations between different culturesare lary" (P. 3I4). Eitherthe root causes of this attitudeare
by "nature"hostile and mutuallydestructivebecause it not specifiedor it is takenforgrantedthatpeople have a
is in humannatureto be ethnocentric;different cultures "natural"propensityto fearand rejectoutsidersbecause
ought,therefore, to be kept apartfortheirown good. theyare different.6The right'sexplicitsympathyand the
Homoxenophobicus 5. Scholarshavenotedincreasingly frequent reference to xenopho-

bia. Becausehostilitytowardimmigrants is, in practice,selective,
A furthersuppositionregardinghuman nature can, in Taguieff(i987:337, my translation), forexample,has arguedfor
the Frenchcase that"in sum, the xenophobicattitudeindicates
effect,be foundin political as well as populardiscourse onlya limit;it nevermanifests itselfin a strictsense(as therejec-
on extracommunitarianimmigrationin the eighties. tionoftheforeigner as such)butresultsfroma moreorless explicit
Newspaper headlines, politicians, and scholars invoke hierarchy ofrejectedgroups.Itis nota rejectionofthe'other'which
the term "xenophobia" along with racism to describe does not chooseamongits 'others'and does notpresupposea set
ofvalueswhichauthorizediscrimination. Anyxenophobiain this
mountinganti-immigrant animosity.In I984, forexam- sense constitutesa latentracism,a nascentracism"(Enfinl'atti-
ple, the European Parliamentconvened a committeeof tudex6nophoben'indiquequ'une limite,elle ne se manifesteja-
inquiryto reporton the rise of fascism and racism in mais au sens strict(rejetde l'6tranger commetel),mais proc6de
Europein a firstattemptto assess the extentand mean- d'unehierarchie plusou moinsexplicitedesgroupesrejet6s.Il n'est
pas de rejectde "l'autre"qui ne s6lectionneparmises "autres,"et
ing of anti-immigrant hostility.In I985 the committee ne sous-entende une 6chellede valeursautorisantla discrimina-
concludedthat"a new typeofspectrenow hauntsEuro- tion.Toutex6nophobie esten ce sensun racismelatent,un racisme
pean politics: xenophobophilia." The reportdescribed a l'6tatnaissant).Taguiefftherefore also disagrees(pp.8o-8 i) with
xenophobiaas "a latentresentmentor 'feeling,'an atti- Levi-Strauss'scelebratedthoughcontroversial distinction between
tude thatgoes beforefascismor racism and can prepare ethnocentrism as a universalattitudeofculturalself-preservation
and creativity and racismas a doctrinethatjustifiesoppression
the groundforthem but, in itself,does not fall within and exploitation, whichgainednew prominence in theFrenchde-
the purviewof the law and legal prevention(Evregenis bate overimmigration. Othershave also interpreted xenophobic
i985:6o). The componentsof this more or less diffuse claimsas a second-levelracistdiscourse(LangmuirI978:i82 and
feelingand of increasingtensionsbetween the national Delacampagne i983:42-43, cited by TaguieffI987:79-80, 5og). For
a critiqueof Levi-Strauss's
culturalrelativismsee Geertz(I986).
and immigrantcommunitiesand theirassociation with More recently,Todorov (i989:8i-io9) has taken Levi-Strauss to
a general sense of social malaise, it was argued,were taskforradicalrelativismand extremeculturaldeterminism.
See
admittedlydifficultto identify,but one element was also Levi-Strauss (I994:42o-26).
"the time-honoureddistrustof strangers,fearof the fu- forexample,has asked in a
6. B6jin (i986:306, my translation),
turecombinedwith a self-defensive reflex"(p. 92). One critiqueof antiracists,"Whyhas this naturaland even healthy
ethnocentrism whichhas beengenerated in Europein recentyears
outcome of the committee's work was a Declaration producedexpressionsof exasperation?It is the antiraciststhem-
against Racism and Xenophobia made public in I986 selveswho provideus withan adequate,even obviousanswerto
(EuropeanParliamenti986). In I989 the Parliamentset this questionwhen theyinsistthat allegedly'racist'politicians
affinityof its argumentwith key postulates of human This claim is as politicallydangerousas it is scientifi-
ethologyand sociobiologyhave been noted repeatedly cally debatable, for history,by contrast,for example,
(BarkerI98I: chap. 5; Duranton-CrabolI988:44, 7 I-8I). with biology,is unable to prove human universals,at
The scientificweaknesses of notions of human nature least as far as our contemporaryunderstandingof the
based on biologicalprinciplessuch as the territorial im- human experience goes. Besides, it is not difficultto
perativeand the tribalinstinct,accordingto which hu- come up with examplesdemonstrating the fallacyofthe
mans no less than animals have a natural tendencyto idea that xenophobia is part of the human condition.
formbounded social groups and for the sake of their The war in Bosnia providesprobablythemosttragiccon-
own survivalto differentiate themselvesfromand to be temporaryinstance. Until Serbian radical nationalism
hostile to outsidershave been reiterated(see, e.g., Sah- tore them apart,Muslims, Serbs,and Croats had lived
lins I976, Rose, Lewontin, and Kamin I984, Gould togetheras neighborsin their acknowledgedreligious
i98i). The point here is, however,to show why a belief and otherculturaldifferences.
in Homo xenophobicus has so much commonsenseap- Xenophobia,an attitude supposedlyinherentin hu-
peal. man nature,constitutesthe ideologicalunderpinningof
Strikingin that it suggests that this assumption is cultural fundamentalismand accounts forpeople's al-
not restrictedto the scientificor political rightis, for leged tendencyto value theirown culturesto the exclu-
example, Cohn-Benditand Schmid's (I99I:5, my trans- sion of any other and thereforebe incapable of living
lation)recentargumentthat"the indignationoverxeno- side by side. Contemporaryculturalfundamentalismis
phobia (Fremdenhass),which suggestsas an antidotea based, then,on two conflatedassumptions:that differ-
policyof open borders,is somehow false and dangerous. ent culturesare incommensurableand that,because hu-
Forifhistoryhas taughtus one thing,thenit is this: in mans are inherentlyethnocentric,relations between
no societyhas a civil intercoursewith foreignersbeen culturesare by "nature" hostile. Xenophobiais to cul-
inbred.Much indicates thatthereservevis-a'-visthefor-
eigner constitutesan anthropologicalconstant of the
tat dieses Problemallgegenwartiger gemachtals zuvor.Werdies
species: and modernitywith its growingmobilityhas leugnet,arbeitetderAngstvordemFremdenund den aggressiven
made this problem more general than it was before."7 Potentialen, die in ihrschlummern, nichtentgegen."Cohn-Bendit
is thehead oftheDepartmentofMulticultural Affairs
ofthecity
ofFrankfurt, and Schmidis his assistant.This articlewas written
in supportof a shiftin immigration policyby the Greenstoward
experiencean increasein theiraudiencesunderconditionsand in a systemofimmigration quotas(see also Cohn-Benditand Schmid
regionswherethereis a strong,important, and, in the eventof i992 fora more careful argument).Enzensberger(I992:I3-I4, my
apathyon thepartofthe'corpssocial,'irreversible influxofimmi- translation, emphasisadded)has similarlyarguedthat"everymi-
grantsofextra-European origin.Theythusacknowledge, I presume gration, independentofitscauses,itsaims,whether itbe voluntary
involuntarily, thatthisexasperation is a reactionof defenseby a or involuntary,and its magnitude,leads to conflicts.Group
community whichsensesthatitsidentity is threatened, a reaction selfishness and xenophobiaconstituteanthropological constants
whichpresentsanalogieswiththe resistancethisor thatoccupa- whichprecede any rationalization.Theiruniversalitysuggests
tionbyforeign armedforceshas provokedin thepast.This rejec- thattheyare olderthananyknownformofsociety.Ancientsoci-
tionmighteven,ifinternational tensionsintensify, becomemore etiesinventedtaboosand ritualsofhospitality in orderto contain
profound as immigrants concentrate, modifying in a moreirrevers- them,to preventrecurrent bloodbaths,to allow fora modicum
iblewaya country's identitythanwouldoccupationforces,which of exchangeand communication betweendifferent clans,tribes,
do not intendto settleand reproduce"(Pourquoicet ethnocen- ethnicities. These measuresdo not,however,eliminatethestatus
trismenaturelet meme sain s'est-iltraduit,au coursdes ann6es of alien. On the contrary, theyinstitutionalize it. The guestis
r6centesen Europe,pardes manifestations d'exasp6ration? Ce sont sacredbutmaynotstay"(JedeMigration fuhrt zu Konflikten,unab-
les antiracisteseux-memesqui nous donnentla r6ponsead6quate, hangigdavon,wodurchsie ausgelostwird,welcheAbsichtihrzu-
d'ailleurs6vidente,a cettequestionquand ils soulignentque les grundeliegt, ob sie freiwilligoder unfreiwillig geschiehtund
politicienssuppos6s'racistes'voientleuraudiences'accroitre dans welchenUmfangsie annimmt.Gruppenegoismus und Fremden-
les conjonctures et les r6gionsoii s'estproduitun brutal,important hass sindanthropologische Konstanten, die jederBegriindung vor-
et-en cas d'apathiedu corpssocial-irr6versibleaffluxd'immi- ausgehen.IhreuniverselleVerbreitung sprichtdafiir,dass sie alter
gr6sd'origineextra-europeenne. Ils reconnaissent ainsi,involon- sind als alle bekanntenGesellschaftsformen. Um sie einzudam-
tairement je suppose,que cetteexasp6ration est une reactionde men, um dauerndeBlutbaderzu vermeiden,um uAberhaupt ein
defensed'une communaut6qui percoitson identit6commemen- Minimumvon Austauschund Verkehrzwischenverschiedenen
ac6e,r6actionqui pr6sentedesanalogiesavecla r6sistance que telle Clans, Stammen,Ethnienzu ermoglichen, haben altertiumliche
ou telle occupationpar des forcesarm6es6trangeres a pu susciter Gesellschaften die Tabus und RitualederGastfreundschaft erfun-
dansle pass6.Ce rejetpourraitmeme,sui devaients'exacerber les den.Diese Vorkehrungen hebendenStatusdes Fremdenabernicht
tensionsinternationales, s'avererplus profonddans la mesureoii auf.Sie schreibenihn ganz im Gegenteilfest.Der Gast ist heilig,
des immigr6squi fontsouche modifientplus irr6mediablementaberer darfnichtbleiben.)Anotherway ofnaturalizing whatcan
l'identit6d'un paysque des occupantsqui ne cherchent pas a s'y be shownto be historicallydetermined attitudesbyuniversalizing
enracineret s'y reproduire). A Britishwriterdefinesxenophobia themconsistsin arguingthatracismis universal.Thus Todorov
as "a dislike for foreignersor outsiders . . . an old and familiar (i989:I14, my translation) has argued that racism as a form of
phenomenon in human societies" (Layton-HenryI99I:I69). behavior,as opposedto racialismas a pseudoscientific is
doctrine,
7. "Die Entrustung
uberdenFremdenhass,dieals Gegenmittel eine "an ancientbehaviorand probablya universalone; racialismis a
Politikder schrankenlosoffenenGrenzenempfiehlt, hat etwas currentofopinionbornin WesternEuropewhoseheydayextends
scheinheiliges
undGefahrliches.Denn wenndie Geschichteirgend fromthe i 8thto themiddleofthe2oth century" (Le racismeestun
war je derzivile Um- comportement
etwaslehrt,danndies: KeinerGesellschaft ancien,et d'extensionprobablement universelle;le
gangmit den Fremdenangeboren.Vieles sprichtdafuir, dass die racialismeest un mouvementd'id6esn6 en Europeoccidentale,
Reserveihmgegeniuber Konstantender dontla grandep6riodeva du milieu du XVIIIeau milieudu XXe
zu den anthropologischen
Gattunggehort;unddie Modernehatmitihrersteigenden Mobili- siecle).
ST O L C KE Talkink Culture | 7
tural fundamentalismwhat the bio-moral concept of portunityforall in the marketplaceand socioeconomic

"race" is to racism,namely,the naturalistconstantthat inequality-which, ratherthan being an anachronistic
endows with truthvalue and legitimatesthe respective survivalof past times of slaveryand/orEuropean colo-
ideologies. nial expansionand the ascriptiveorderingof society,is
partand parcel of liberal capitalism (Stolcke I993, Fitz-
patrickI987).
Racism versus Cultural Fundamentalism At differentmomentsin historysystemsofinequality
and oppressionhave been rationalizedin distinctways.
A systematiccomparisonof the conceptual structures Racist doctrines are only one variation of the same
of traditionalracism and this culturalfundamentalism theme, namely, the endeavour to reconcile an idea of
may renderclearerthe distinctnessof what are alterna- shared humanity with existing formsof domination.
tive doctrinesof exclusion.8They have in common that Earlymoderncolonial encounterswith "primitives"in-
theyaddressthe contradictionbetweenthe modernuni- tenselyexercised European minds. Initiallyit was not
versalistnotion that all humans are naturallyequal and their "racial" differencewhich haunted the European
freeand multipleformsof sociopolitical discrimination imagination but their religious-cum-moraldiversity
and exclusion,but theydo so differently. Bothdoctrines which was feltto challenge Christianhegemony.How,
derivetheirargumentativeforcefromthe same ideologi- if God had created "man" in his image, could therebe
cal subterfuge, namely,the presentationof what is the humans who were not Christians?Nineteenth-century
outcome ofspecificpolitico-economicrelationshipsand scientificracism was a new way of justifyingdomina-
conflictsof interestas natural and hence incontestable tion and inequality inspiredby the search fornatural
because it, as it were, "comes naturally." laws thatwould accountforthe orderin natureand soci-
Modern Western racism rationalizes claims of na- ety. Strikingin the igth-centurydebate over the place
tional superiorityor sociopolitical disqualificationand ofhumans in natureis the tensionbetweenman's faith
economic exploitationof groupsof individualswithina in freewill unencumberedby naturalconstraints,in his
polityby attributing to themcertainmoral,intellectual, endeavouras a freeagentto masternature,and the ten-
or social defectssupposedlygroundedin their "racial" dency to naturalize social man. Social Darwinism, eu-
endowmentwhich,by virtueof being innate,are inevi- genics, and criminologyprovidedthe pseudoscientific
table. The markersinvokedto identifya "race" may be legitimationfor consolidating class inequality. Their
phenotypicalor constructed.Racism thus operateswith targetswere the dangerouslaboringclasses at home (see,
a particularistic criterion of classification, namely, e.g., Chevalier I984). If the self-determiningindividual,
"race," which challengesthe claim to equal humanness throughpersistentinferiority, seemed unable to make
by dividinghumankindinto inherentlydistinctgroups the most ofthe opportunitiessocietypurportedto offer,
orderedhierarchically,one groupmakinga claim to ex- it had to be because of some essential,inherentdefect.
clusive superiority. In this sense racistdoctrinesare cat- The personor,better,his or hernaturalendowment-be
egorical, concealing the sociopolitical relationships it called racial, sexual, innate talent,or intelligence-
whichgeneratethehierarchy."Race" is construedas the ratherthanthe prevailingsocioeconomicor political or-
necessaryand sufficientnatural cause of the unfitness derwas to be blamed forthis. This rationalefunctioned
of "others" and hence of theirinferiority. Sociopolitical both as a powerfulincentiveforindividualeffortand to
inequalityand dominationare therebyattributedto the disarm social discontent.Physical anthropologyat the
criterionofdifferentiation itself,namely,"their"lack of same time lent supportboth to claims of national su-
worth,which is in "their" race. As a doctrineof asym- premacyamong European nations and to the colonial
metric classificationracism provokes counterconcepts enterpriseby establishinga hierarchyofbio-moralraces
that demean the "other" as the "other" could not de- (Blanckaert I988; Brubaker i992:98-io2).
mean the "self." Mutual recognitionis deniedprecisely Cultural fundamentalism,by contrast,assumes a set
because the "racial" defect,beingrelative,is not shared ofsymmetriccounterconcepts,thatofthe foreigner, the
by the "self." And that is the point. By attributingun- stranger,the alien as opposed to the national, the citi-
equal status and treatmentto its victim's own inherent zen. Humans by theirnatureare bearersof culture.But
shortcomings,this doctrinedenies the ideological char- humanityis composed of a multiplicityof distinctcul-
acterof racism itself. tures which are incommensurable,the relations be-
Of course, this raises the importantquestion of the tween theirrespectivemembersbeing inherentlycon-
place of an idea of social status inscribed in nature, flictivebecause it is in human natureto be xenophobic.
ratherthan resultingfromcontract,in modernsociety, An alleged human universal-people's natural propen-
otherwiseconceived of as composed of self-determining sityto rejectstrangers-accountsforculturalparticular-
individualsborn equal and free.Modern racism consti- ism. The apparentcontradiction,in the modernliberal
tutes an ideological sleight-of-hand forreconcilingthe democraticethos, between the invocation of a shared
irreconcilable-a liberal meritocraticethos of equal op- humanitywhich involves an idea of generalityso that
no human being seems to be excluded and culturalpar-
ticularismtranslatedinto national terms is overcome
analysisofpolitical ideologically:a cultural "other," the immigrantas for-
8. I drawhereon Koselleck's(i985) important
counterconcepts. eigner. alien. and as such a notentin1 "enemv" who
threatens"our" national-cum-cultural uniqueness and prevailingsocioeconomicills withtheway in whichim-

integrity,is constructedout of a traitwhich is shared migrantsas foreignersare conceptualized.Ratherthan
by the "self." In yet anotherideological twist,national being thematizeddirectly,immigrants'socioeconomic
identityand belonginginterpreted as culturalsingularity exclusion is a consequence of theirpolitical exclusion
become an insurmountablebarrierto doingwhat comes (Le temps des exclusions I993). Opponentsof immigra-
naturallyto humans,in principle,namely,communicat- tion on the rightmay object to grantingimmigrantsthe
ing. social and politicalrightsinherentin citizenshipon eco-
Instead of orderingdifferentcultures hierarchically, nomic grounds.The "problem" of immigrationis con-
culturalfundamentalismsegregatesthemspatially,each strued,however,as a political threatto nationalidentity
culturein its place. The factthatnation-statesare by no and integrityon account of immigrants'culturaldiver-
means culturallyuniformis ignored.Localized political sitybecause the nation-stateis conceivedas foundedon
communitiesare regardedby definitionas culturallyho- a bounded and distinctcommunitywhich mobilizes a
mogeneous. Presumed inherentxenophobic propensi- shared sense of belongingand loyaltypredicatedon a
ties-though they challenge the supposed territorial common language,culturaltraditions,and beliefs.In a
rootingof culturalcommunities,since theyare directed context of economic recession and national retrench-
against strangers"in our midst"-reterritorializecul- ment, appeals to primordial loyalties fall on fertile
tures. Their targetsare uprootedstrangerswho fail to groundbecause of the ordinarytaken-for-granted sense
assimilate culturally. of national belonging that is the common idiom of
Being symmetrical,these categoriesare logically re- contemporary political self-understanding (WeberI976,
versible-anynational is a foreignerto any othernation cited by Brubakeri992).
in a world of nation-states,forto possess a nationality Immigrantsare seen as threateningto bringabout a
is in the natureof things.This formalconceptualpolar- "crisis of citizenship" (Leca I992:3I4)9 in both a juridi-
ity-nationals as againstforeigners-ischargedwithpo- cal and a politico-ideologicalsense. In the modernworld
liticalmeaning.Bymanipulatingthe ambiguouslink be- nationalityas the preconditionforcitizenshipis inher-
tween national belonging and cultural identity,the entlybounded as an instrumentand an object of social
notion of xenophobia infusesthe relationshipbetween closure (Brubakeri992).10 In this respect,nationalityis
thetwo categorieswith a specificand substantivepoliti- not all that different fromthe kinship principlesthat
cal content.Because the propensityto dislike strangers operatedin so-called primitivesocieties to definegroup
is sharedbyforeigners, it also becomes legitimateto fear membership.In the modernworld of nation-states,na-
that the latter,by theirdisloyalty,mightthreatenthe tionality,citizenship,culturalcommunity,and stateare
national community.When the "problem"posed by ex- conflatedideologically(Beaud and Noiriel I99I:276) and
tracommunitarianimmigration is conceptualized in endow immigrants'cultural distinctivenesswith sym-
termsof self-evidentculturaldifference and incommen- bolic and political meaning.
surability,the root causes of immigration,namely,the It will, of course,be objectedthat not all immigrants
deepening effectsof North-Southinequality, are ex- or foreignersare treatedwith animosity.This is obvi-
plained away. ously true.But then,equality and difference are not ab-
Culturalfundamentalisminvokesa conceptionofcul- solute categories.The politico-ideologicalrepertoireon
turecontradictorily inspiredbothbytheuniversalistEn- which the modernnation-stateis built providesthe raw
lightenmenttraditionand by the Germanromanticism materialsfromwhich culturalfundamentalismis con-
that marked much of the igth-centurynationalistde- structed.Specificpowerrelationshipswiththecountries
bate. Bybuildingits case fortheexclusionofimmigrants from which extracommunitarianimmigrantsproceed
on a trait shared by all humans alike ratherthan on and the exploitationtheyhave undergoneexplain why
an unfitnessallegedlyintrinsicto extracommunitarians, "they" ratherthan, forexample, North Americans are
culturalfundamentalism,by contrastwith racist theo- the targetsin Europe of this rhetoricof exclusion. Hos-
ries, has a certain openness which leaves room forre- tilityagainstextracommunitarian immigrantsmayhave
quiringimmigrants,iftheywish to live in our midst,to racistovertones,and metaphorscan certainlybe mixed.
assimilate culturally.And because of the otherimpor- Yet, as somebodyremarkedto me recently,immigrants
tant idea in modernWesternpolitical culture,namely, carrytheirforeignnessin theirfaces. Phenotypetends
thatall humans are equal and free,anti-immigrant rhet- now to be employed as a markerof immigrantorigin
oric is polemical and open to challenge,which is why ratherthan "race's" being construedas the justification
existingformsof exclusion, inequality,and oppression foranti-immigrant resentment.
need to be rationalizedideologically.
At the core of this ideology of collective exclusion
predicatedon the idea of the "other" as a foreigner,a
stranger,to the bodypolitic is the assumptionthatfor- 9. Leca distinguishes twowaysofdefining nationality
as a prerequi-
mal political equalitypresupposesculturalidentityand site forcitizenship,namely,in "biological"and in "contractual"
terms,butregrettably
hence culturalsameness is the essentialprerequisitefor plications does notpursuethepolitico-ideological
im-
ofthesedistinctmodalities.
access to citizenshiprights.One should not confusethe io. Brubakerrightlyremarkson the surprising absenceofstudies
useful social functionof immigrantsas scapegoats for ofthemodernconceptofcitizenshipin the social sciences.
STOLCKE Talking Culture I 9
FrenchRepublican Assimilationversus nalize a more or less exclusive idea of the nation and of
BritishEthnic Integration citizenship.A comparisonofFrenchand Britishpostwar
experiencesand treatmentsof the immigration"prob-
For the sake of clarityI have so farneglectedmajor dif- lem" will serve to make this point (see Lapeyronnie
ferencesin dealing with the immigration"problem" I993 fora different interpretation).
amongEuropeancountrieswhich have been pointedout The Frenchdebateoverimmigrationsince the sevent-
repeatedly (WieviorkaI993; RoulandI993:I6-I7; La- ies reveals the ambivalence underlyingthe Republican
peyronnieI993). "It is an almost universal activityof assimilationist conception of nationalityand citizen-
themodernstateto regulatethemovementofthepeople ship. The firstgenuine Frenchnationalitycode was en-
across its national boundaries" (Evans I983:4), but this acted in I889, at a time when foreigners, predominantly
can be done in diverseways. The Dutch and the British of Belgian, Polish, Italian, and Portuguese origin,had a
governmentswere the firstto acknowledgethepresence large presence in the country, by contrast with Ger-
in theircountriesof so-called ethnicminorities.By the many,and drew a sharpline betweennationals and for-
eightiesall WesternEuropeanstateswere curbingimmi- eigners.12It consecrated the jus sanguinis, thatis, de-
grationand attemptingto integrateimmigrantsalready scent from a French father (sic) and, in the case of an
in theirmidst.Dependingon theirpolitical culturesand illegitimate child, from the mother, as the firstcriterion
histories,differentcountriesdesignedtheirimmigration of access to Frenchnationality,but simultaneouslyit
policies differently.The Frenchmodel, informedby the reinforcedthe principleof jus soli, accordingto which
traditionalRepublicanformulaofassimilationand civic childrenofforeigners bornon Frenchsoil were automat-
incorporation, contrastedsharplywith the Anglo-Saxon ically French (Brubaker I992:94-II3, I38-42; see also
one, which leftroom forculturaldiversity,althoughby Noiriel I988:8I-84). The relativeprominencegiven to
the eightiesa confluencecould be detectedbetweenthe jus soli in the code has been interpretedas a "liberal,"
two countries' anti-immigrant rhetoricand restrictive inclusive solution (Noiriel I988:83; Brubakeri992). On
policies. closerinspectionthis combinationof descentand birth-
The entryand settlementof immigrantsin Europe place rules can also be interpreted, however,as a clever
poses again the question ofwhat constitutesthemodern compromise struck for military and ideological reasons
nation-stateand what are conceivedas the prerequisites (in the context of the confrontation over Alsace-Lorraine
foraccess to nationalityas the preconditionforcitizen- followingthe Frenchdefeatin the Franco-GermanWar
ship. Three criteria-descent (jus sanguinis),birthplace and the establishmentof the German Empire)between
(jus soli), and domicile combined with diverse proce- an organicist and a voluntarist conception which,
duresof "naturalization"(note the term)-have usually thoughcontradictory, were intrinsicto the Frenchcon-
been wielded to determineentitlementto nationalityin ceptionof the nation-state.
the modernnation-states.[us sanguinis constitutesthe The nationalitycode of I889 did not apply to the
most exclusive principle.The prioritygivenhistorically French colonies until Frenchcitizenshipwas extended
to one or anothercriterionhas dependednot only,how- to all colonial territoriesafterWorld War II (Werner
ever, on demographic-economicand/or military cir- I935). As soon as Algeriagainedits independence,how-
cumstancesand interestsbut also on conceptionsofthe ever,Algeriansbecame foreigners, while inhabitantsof
national communityand the substantialties of nation- the French overseas departments and territoriesre-
hood. The classical opposition between the French mained fully French, with right of entryinto France.
Staatsnation and the German Kulturnation(Meinecke Those Algerianswho were livingin France at indepen-
I919; Guiomari99o:i26-3o) has oftenobscuredthees- dence had to opt forFrenchor Algeriancitizenship.For
sentialist nationalism present also in i gth-century obvious political reasons most of them rejectedFrench
Frenchthoughtand debate on nationhoodand national nationality,though their French-bornchildrencontin-
identityand hence the part played by the Republican ued to be definedas Frenchat birth,as were the French-
formulaof assimilationin the Frenchconceptionof the born children of the large numbers of immigrantsto
Republic." There has been almost fromthe starta ten- Francein the decade followingthe war ofindependence
sion between a democratic,voluntarist,and an organi- (Weil i988). By the midseventies the regulation of
cist conceptionofbelongingin the continentalEuropean Frenchnationalityand citizenshipbecame inseparable
model-by contrastwith the Britishtradition-of the fromimmigrationpolicy.As opinion grewmorehostile
modernnation-statewhich,dependingon historicalcir- toward immigrants,especially fromNorth Africa,the
cumstances,has been drawnon to formulateand ratio- jus soli came underincreasingattackfromthe rightfor
turningforeigners into Frenchmenon paperwithouten-
between"ethnicmoments"(understood
i i. By distinguishing as
moments"in igth-century
racist)and "assimilationist Frenchfor- I 2. The termetrangerhad alreadybeenintroduced duringtheglori-
mulationsofnationalitylaw, Brubaker(i992:esp. chap. 5), in his ous revolution totherevolu-
to designatepoliticalenemies,traitors
otherwiseinformative comparativestudyofcitizenshipin France tionarycause-the Frenchnobilityplottingagainstthepatriotes
andGermany, disregardsthefundamentalistassumptionon which and the Britishsuspectedof conspiring to reimposeroyalrulein
the assimilationistidea rests,namely,thatformallegal equality Paris.This associationoftheetrangerwithdisloyalty to thenation
amongcitizenspresupposesculturalhomogeneity. has been especiallypowerfulin timesofwar (WahnichI988).
IO I CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY Volume 36, Number i, FebruaryI995
suringthattheywere "Frenchat heart" (Brubakeri992: merelyaccidental connection to France as well as the

I43). A controversialcitizenshiplaw reformsubmitted will to belongand because of its expansivenessand feu-
in I983 and designedto abolish the automatic acquisi- dal roots(Brubaker
i992:90). Butthemeaningand con-
tion of French nationalityby French-bornchildrenof sequences ofjural normsdependon theirhistoricalcon-
immigrants,requiringan explicit declaration instead, text. The traditional British concept of subjecthood
was neverthelessdefeatedin I986 because of strongop- based on birthon Britishsoil, which establishedan indi-
position to the traditionalFrench assimilationistcon- vidual verticalbond of allegiance to the crown and its
ception by proimmigrantorganizationsand the left.In parliament,unaltereduntil i962, allowed immigrants
I993 the new conservative governmentfinally suc- fromthe colonies freeentryinto the countryas British
ceeded,however,in passinga reformto the same effect, subjectsregardlessoftheirculturaland/orphenotypical
which restrictsthe jus soli rule, therebygiving new The Home Office(quoted by Segal i99i:9)
difference.'7
prominenceto jus sanguinis.13 arguedin the I930S as follows:
Until the mideightiesthe antiracistmovement and it is a matterof fundamentalimportanceboth for
proimmigrantorganizationsin France had advocated a
the United Kingdomand forthe Empireas a whole,
multiculturalistmodel of integrationbased on respect if thereis to be such an organizationat all based in
for immigrants'cultural diversity,respondingthus to the last resorton a common sentimentof cohesion
the right'sculturalfundamentalism.The heated debate which exists,but cannot be created,that all British
over immigrants'"right to difference"was typically subjects should be treatedon the same basis in the
French.'4Thereafterprogressiveopinionbegan to swing
United Kingdom.... It is to the advantageof the
around,callingfor"a returnto the old republicantheme United Kingdomthat personsfromall partsof the
of integrationaccordingto which membershipin the
Empireare attractedto it.
nation is based not on an identitybut on citizenship,
which consistsin individualadherenceto certainmini- Despite postwarconcernsoverfreeand unrestrictedim-
mal but precise universal values" (Dossier I99I:47- migration'sloweringthe quality of the Britishpeople
48).15The "republicanmodel ofintegration"which con- (DummettandNicol I990:I74), theBritishNationality
ditions citizenship on shared cultural values and Bill of I948 ruled thatBritishsubjecthoodwas acquired
demands cultural assimilation became the progressive byvirtueofbeinga citizenofa countryofthe Common-
political alternativeto the right'sculturalfundamental- wealth.Yet, as largenumbersofimmigrantsarrivedand
ism.16 demandsforcontrolincreased,the CommonwealthIm-
Britishimmigrationdebate and experiencedeveloped migrantsAct of i962 introducedthe firstspecial immi-
quite differently.Accordingto the traditionalnational- gration controls. It did not explicitly discriminate
itylaw of England,later extendedto Britain,everyper- againstnonwhiteimmigrants,but it lefta largeamount
son born within the domain of its king was a British of discretionfor immigrationofficersto select immi-
subject. Nineteenth-centuryFrench advocates of jus grantsat a time when it went withoutsayingthatCom-
sanguinishad alreadyrejectedas inappropriatethe Brit- monwealthimmigrantswere not white (Dummett and
ish unconditionaljus soli rule because forthemcitizen- Nicol 1990:183-87; Segal i99i:9). In I98I, finally,
the
ship reflectedan enduringand substantialratherthan Conservativegovernmentpassed theBritishNationality
Act, which broughtnationalitylaw in line with immi-
I 3. It shouldbe notedthat CharlesPasqua, the GaullistFrench
grationpolicy and limitedthe ancientunconditionaljus
ministeroftheinterior who drafted
thereform, was also a staunch soli, concluding the process of "alienation" of New
opponentoftheMaastrichtagreement andEuropeanpoliticalinte- Commonwealthimmigrantsby transforming theminto
grationduringthe campaignin Franceforits approvalby referen- aliens(EvansI983:46; Dummettand Nicol I990:238-
dum.Pasqua explainedhis oppositionby arguingrevealingly, "In 5 '). Those who had been hostilizedearlieras "black sub-
France,the rightto vote is inseparablefromcitizenshipand this
fromnationality. Thereare 5 millionforeigners here,I.5 million jects" are now excluded as "cultural aliens."''8
ofthemcommunitarians. Ourcommunitarian guestsarewelcome,
butwe arenotwillingto shareournationalsovereignty withthem.
Franceis an exceptionalpeopleand not an amalgamoftribes"(El I 7. In thelate sixtiestheformerliberalToryhomesecretary Regi-
Pais, September I4, I992, P. 4). The Euro-sceptics in the British nald Mauldingrevealingly arguedthat"while one talkedalways
Conservative partyaresimilarlyconcernedwithEuropeanintegra- and rightly abouttheneed to avoiddiscrimination betweenblack
tion'schallengingBritishsovereignty. and whiteit is a simplefactofhumannaturethatfortheBritish
I4. Guillaumin (1i992:89) points to an importantpolitical distinc- people thereis a greatdifference betweenAustraliansand New
tionbetweenclaiming" a rightto difference," whichimpliesan Zealanders,forexample,who come ofBritishstock,andpeopleof
appealbyimmigrants forauthorization bythestateto be different Africa,the Caribbean,and the Indian Sub-Continentwho are
fromnationals,by contrastwithpostulating"the rightof differ- equallysubjectsoftheQueen and entitledto totalequalitybefore
ence,"whichassumesa universal,inherentright. the law when establishedhere,but who in appearance,habits,
I5. This dossierprovidesextensivecoverageofthe Frenchdebate religionand cultureweretotallydifferent fromus. The problem
on immigrationfroman assimilationistperspective.See also of balancingthe moralprincipleof non-discrimination withthe
"Quels discourssur l'immigration?" (i988) foran earlier,con- practicalfactsofhumannaturewas not an easyone,and thedan-
trastingviewwhichfocusescriticallyon thereform ofFrenchna- gersthatarisefrommistakesofpolicyin thisfieldwereveryreal
tionalitylaw in theeighties. indeed"(quotedbyEvans i983:2I, myemphasis).
i6. In I99I the socialistgovemmentset up a Ministryof Social i8. In I969 EnochPowellwas proposing a Ministry ofRepatriation
Affairsand ofIntegration and a StateSecretariatforIntegration to andreferring to Commonwealth immigrants as "aliens"in thecul-
promote immigrants'assimilation (Perrotiand Th6paut i99i:io2). turalsense (Dummettand Nicol i990:i96).
STOLCKE Talking Culture I i
Britain'scommon law traditionand the absence of a Immigrantchildrenwere to receivestandardEnglished-

code of citizenshiprightshad providedspace forimmi- ucation,and uniformlegal treatmentwas to be accorded
grantsubjects' culturalvalues and needs. Tolerance for them(ParekhI99i). Thus as Europeevolvedintoa su-
culturaldiversityformedpart of the historyof Britain, pranationalpolity,a continentalnation-stateparadoxi-
acknowledgedas a multiculturalpolity,untilin the late cally emergedout of the ashes of the Britishmulticul-
seventiesan English-centricreinventionof that history turalthoughracist empire.
began to prevail (Kearneyi99I; Clark I99Ia, b). This
does not mean thatBritain'spostwarimmigrationexpe-
rience was not beset with social conflict. Anti- The Nation within the State
immigrantsentimentwas alive and aggressionswere
frequent,but theywere racist. Until the late seventiesAs I indicatedearlier,the debateoverimmigrants'"right
the controversyover immigrationwas predominantly to difference"unleashed singular passions in France.
phrasedin racist terms.As Dummett and Nicol (I990: The characterand reasonsforthiscontroversy transcend
2I3)19 have pointedout, the polarized political climate over the immigration
"problem." They express a historicaltension inherent
Justas the advocates of strictimmigrationcontrol in the FrenchuniversalistRepublicanconceptionofthe
were exclusivelyconcernedwith non-whiteimmigra- modern nation-state.In a world of emergingnation-
tion,so the supportersof liberalisationattackedra- states,the early cosmopolitanrevolutionaryspiritwas
cial discriminationfirstand foremostand perceived soon erodedby a crucial dilemma,namely,how to build
immigrationpolicy as the drivingforcebehind this a nation-stateendowedwith a distinctand boundedciti-
discrimination.It had become psychologicallyimpos- zenry.Ethnicgroupdifferences were,in principle,alien
sible forboth sides to thinkof "immigration"in any to the revolutionarydemocraticpoint of view. But, as
sense, or any context,except as a verbal convention Hobsbawm(I990:I9, see also CranstonI988:IOI) has
forreferringto the race situationin Britain. identifiedthe problem,
Legal provisions to combat discriminationtypically The equation nation = state = people, and espe-
aimed at ensuringsubjects fromthe ex-colonies equal cially sovereignpeople, undoubtedlylinked nation
opportunitiesindependentof their"race."20As long as to territory,since structureand definitionof states
immigrantsfromthe ex-colonies were Britishsubjects were now essentiallyterritorial.It also implied a
theywerefellowcitizens,albeit consideredas ofan infe- multiplicityof nation-statesso constituted,and this
riorkind. Anti-immigrant prejudiceand discrimination was indeed a necessaryconsequence of popularself-
were rationalizedin classical racistterms.Formallegal determination.... But it said little about what con-
equality was not deemed incompatible with immi- stituted"the people." In particulartherewas no logi-
grants'differentculturaltraditionsas longas thesetradi- cal connectionbetween a body of citizens of a
tions did not infringebasic human rights.The right's territorialstate,on one hand, and the identification
demandforculturalassimilationconstituteda minority of a "nation" on ethnic,linguisticor othergrounds
opinion.Liberals defendedintegrationwith due respect or of othercharacteristicswhich allowed collective
forcultural diversityand the particularneeds of "eth- recognitionof groupmembership.
nic" minorities.A key instrumentof liberalintegration
policy was multiculturaleducation. As I have shown The advocates of an idea of the "nation" based on a
above, when the Tory governmenttook up the banner freelyenteredcontractamongsovereigncitizensusually
of curbingimmigrationit began to rationalizeit, invok- invoke Renan's celebratedmetaphor"The existence of
ing,by contrastwith earlierracist arguments,national- a nationis a plebisciteofeveryday." Renan's "Qu'est-ce
cum-culturalunityand callingforthe culturalassimila- qu'unenation?"(i992 [i882])21 is in factoftentakenfor
tion of immigrant communities "in our midst" to the expressionofa conceptionofthe nationparticularly
safeguardtheBritish"nation" withits sharedvalues and well suitedto moderndemocraticindividualism.22 They
lifestyle.Immigrantcommunitiesneeded to be broken tend to overlook,however,that Renan simultaneously
up so thattheirmembers,once isolated,would cease to uses another culturalist argumentto resolve the dif-
pose a culturaland political threatto the Britishnation. ficultyof how to circumscribethe "population" or
I 9. The voluminous on "racerelations"is another

Britishliterature 2i. It is importantto notethatRenanwrotethisessayat thetime
indicationoftheprominenceofracismin relationto immigrants. of the Franco-German conflictoverAlsace-Lorraine,
claimedby
2o. To outlawracialdiscrimination in publicplaces,housing,and Germany on thegroundsthatitspopulationwas ofGermanculture
employment, successiveBritishgovernments passed a series of and spoketheGermanlanguage.
Race RelationsActsin I965, I968, and I976 (DummettandNicol 22. It is worthnotingherethatLouisDumontis amongthosewho
I990, Layton-Henry I99I, Parekhi99i). The I976 Race Relations haveneglectedtheorganicist elementsin Renanwhenhe contrasts
Act repealedearlierlaws and createdthe CommissionforRacial thatscholar'swritingswiththoseofHerderand Fichteand goes
Equality,an administrative bodyresponsibleforimplementing the on to establishan unwarrantedly sharpoppositionbetweenFrench
equal opportunitiespolicieslaid downin theact (Lustgarten I980, voluntaristtheoryand the Germanethnicconception(Dumont
Jenkins and SolomosI987, Walkerand RedmanI977). I979; also i99i).
I1 CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY Volume 36, Number i, FebruaryI995
"people" entitled to partake in this plebiscite (i992 Conclusion

L-QQQ1 A.c
To conclude,let me now returnto the tasks and tribula-

A nation is a soul, a spiritualprinciple.Two things tions of anthropology.Social and culturalanthropology
which in realitymake up no more than one consti- have had a privilegedrelationshipwith cultureand cul-
tute that soul, that spiritualprinciple.One is in the tural differences. turnin the
The critical,self-reflexive
past, the otherin the present.One is the sharedpos- past decade in anthropology has rightlycalled into ques-
session of a richheritageof memories;the otheris tion the political and theoreticalimplications of the
the presentconsent,the desireto live together,the taken-for-granted boundednessand isolation of cultures
will to continueto sustain the heritageone has re- in classical ethnographicrealism. There is no longera
ceived undivided.... The nation,the same as the in- generallyaccepted view of cultures as relativelyfixed
dividual,is the realizationof an extendedpast of en- and integratedsystemsof sharedvalues and meanings.
deavors,of sacrificeand of devotion.The cult of the Enhanced"postmodern"awarenessofculturalcomplex-
ancestorsis among all the most legitimate;the an- ities and cultural politics and of the situatedness of
cestorshave made us what we are.... knowledge in poststructuralistanthropologyentails,
Two contradictorycriteria,one political (freeconsent) however, a paradox. Despite pronouncementsto the
and one cultural (a shared past), are thus constitutive contrary,"culture critique," no less than the cultural
ofthe"nation"(TodorovI989:I65-26i; NoirielI9:27- constructionist mode, by necessitypresupposesthe sep-
28; see also Gellner i987:6-28 fora different, function- arateness of cultures and their boundedness (Kahn
alist interpretationand, fora wittytake-offon French I989).24 Only because thereare "other"ways ofmaking
republicanmythology, GattyI 99 3). Renan's difficulty in sense of the world can "we" pretendto relativize"our
definingthe "nation" in purelycontractual,consensual own" cultural self-understandings. Similarly,when a
termsis just one illustrationof a fundamentaldilemma systematicknowledgeof "others" as much as of "our-
thathas beset continentalEuropeanstate building.The selves" is deemedimpossible,thisis so because "we" no
"principle of nationality,"which identifiedthe state, less than "others" are culture-bound.Thus, the present
the people, and the law with an ideal vision of society culturalistmood in anthropology ends up bypostulating
as culturallyhomogeneous and integrated,became the a world of reifiedcultural differences(see Gupta and
novel, though unstable, formof legitimationin igth- Fergusoni992, Keesing I994, TurnerI993). Parallelsbe-
centurystrugglesforstate formation. tween this and culturalfundamentalism,as I have ana-
Contemporarycultural fundamentalismunequivo- lyzed it above, should make us beware of the dangers,
cally roots nationalityand citizenshipin a shared cul- forfurthering understandingbetween peoples, of a new
tural heritage.Though new with regardto traditional sortof culturalrelativism.
racism,it is also old, forit draws forits argumentative Not fora moment do I mean to deny different ways
forceon this contradictoryigth-centuryconception of of organizing the business of life and differentsystems
the modernnation-state.The assumptionthatthe terri- ofmeaning.Humans have, however,always been on the
torialstate and its people are foundedon a culturalheri- move, and cultureshave provedfluidand flexible.The
tagethatis bounded,compact,and distinctis a constitu- new global order,in which bothold and new boundaries,
tive part of this, but thereis also, as I have argued,an farfrombeing dissolved,are becomingmore active and
important conceptual difference.Nineteenth-century exclusive, poses formidablenew questions also foran-
nationalismreceivedenormousreinforcement fromthe thropology.A crucial issue that should concernus is,
elaboration of one central concept of social theory, then,the circumstancesunderwhich cultureceases to
"race." With heightenedenmitybetweennation-states, be somethingwe need forbeinghuman to become some-
nationalism was often activated and ratifiedthrough thingthat impedes us fromcommunicatingas human
claims to racial superiorityof the national community. beings. It is not cultural diversityper se that should
Because racistdoctrineshave become politicallydiscred- interest anthropologistsbut the political meanings
ited in the postwarperiod,culturalfundamentalismas with which specificpolitical contextsand relationships
the contemporaryrhetoricof exclusion thematizes,in- endow cultural difference.Peoples become culturally
stead, relations between cultures by reifyingcultural entrenchedand exclusive in contexts where there is
boundariesand difference. domination and conflict. It is the configurationof
sociopolitical structuresand relationshipsboth within
and between groups that activates differencesand
23. "Une nationest une ame, un principespirituel.Deux choses
shapes possibilitiesand impossibilitiesof communicat-
qui, a vraidiren'en fontqu'un,constituent cetteame,ce principe ing. In orderto make sense of contemporarycultural
spirituel.L'une est dansle pass6,l'autredansle pr6sent.L'une est politics in this interconnectedand unequal world,we
la possessionen commund'un richelegs de souvenirs;l'autreest need transcendour sometimes self-serving relativisms
le consentement actuel,le d6sirde vivreensemble,la volont6de and methodological uncertaintiesand proceed to ex-
continuer a faire valoir l'h6ritage qu'on a recu indivis. . . . La
nation,commel'individu,est l'aboutissantd'un longpass6 d'ef-
forts,de sacrificeset de devouements.
Le cultedes ancetresest de
tous les plus 1egitime;ancetresnous ont faitsce que nous som- 24. Kahn,however,commitsthe errorI discussedearlierofinter-
mes." pretingculturalessentialismas a formofracism.
ST O L C KE Talking Culture I I 3
plore,in a creativedialogue with otherdisciplines,"the Stolcke's comparativeanalysisofthe immigrationde-

processesofproductionofdifference" (Gupta and Fergu- bate in Britainand in Franceis useful,and she is original
son I992:I3-I4). and,I think,accuratein notingtherecentrevivalof "xe-
Genuine toleranceforculturaldiversitycan flourish nophobia" as an explanatoryterm. She is also surely
withoutentailingdisadvantagesonlywhere societyand correctin declaringthatit has no scientificbasis. Minor
polityare democraticand egalitarianenough to enable weaknessesin an otherwisecloselyarguedpaperemerge
people to resistdiscrimination(whetheras immigrants, in the claim that the "root causes" of immigrationare
foreigners, women,blacks) and developdifferences with- the deepening"effects"ofNorth-Southinequality(trac-
out jeopardizingthemselvesand solidarityamongthem. ing the chain of causation back to an abstractionwhich
I wonderwhetherthis is possible withinthe confinesof itselfneeds explanation)and in a somewhat limp con-
the modernnation-stateor,forthatmatter,ofany state. clusion which appearsto imaginepolitywithouta state.
To press Stolcke's argumenta littlefurther, it would
appear likely that steps taken to tryto reduce North-
South inequalities-for instance,throughany campaign
Comments formorefrugallivingin the North-will have the effect
ofaggravating economic recessionin the Northand con-
sequent protectionism and xenophobia. There will
JONATHAN BENTHALL surely be a dialectical relationshipbetween political
Royal AnthropologicalInstitute,5o FitzroySt., campaignson behalf of the South and revivals of neo-
London WIP 5HS, England. 2I vII 94 Poujadism.
With regard to the nation-state,opposition to the
I am delightedthat Stolcke finds anthropologyto be "cultural fundamentalism"diagnosed by Stolcke leads
growingout of its estrangementfromreality,forsurely necessarilyto a critiqueof ethno-nationalism. But since
the alternativewould have been seclusion in some twi- so fewactual nation-statesare monoethnicand the con-
lighthome. As Alex de Waal has recentlyput it, "An- sequences of breakingup multiethnicstates into small
thropologydeals with issues of immediateimportance, entities appear to be frequentlyso disastrous,many
and its practitionershave a greaterrole than theymay commentatorsconclude that largenation-statescan do
realize"(deWaal I994:28). more good than harm,particularlyin protectingthe se-
Stolcke suggeststhatdoctrinalracism,which posits a curityof minorities.The last seven words of Stolcke's
hierarchyofmerit,has been neutralized,but it has prob- lecture suggest that she wants all state power to be
ablygoneunderground to appearin new forms.The con- weakened,which sounds utopian.
ceptofgeneticdistance,which appearsto put thepeople
ofAfricaon a genealogicalbranchof theirown, has not
yet surfacedin political discourse but could easily be PIETRO CLEMENTE
thusabused. The growingtendency,too,ofsome anthro- Via Napoli 7, 53 IOO Siena,Italy.30 vII 94
pologists (following through the intellectual conse-
quences of Darwinism) to blur ratherthan sharpenthe Stolcke's essay is bold and stimulating.It coversmany
differencebetween human beings and other primates of anthropology'stroublespots and examines theirrela-
could lead politicallynot onlyto more seriousconsider- tionship to currenttrends in contemporarythought.
ation of the "rights" of chimpanzees and gorillas but While I do not concur with all aspects of her thesis, I
also to an erosion of the concept of human rightsand a admire its ambition. I appreciatethe essay's civil and
return-such as the rightis always hankeringfor-to political passion and its anthropologicalapproach to
the more traditionalloyaltiesof kin,ethnicity,and reli- macroscopic analytical objects. I stronglyapprove of
gion. Again, an intra-African racist doctrine,the Hami- both the use of unusual sources (such as the reportsof
tic hypothesis,was disseminatedthroughthe republish- the European Communityand the political-judicialde-
ing of old anthropologicaltextsin Britainwell into the bates on nationalityand citizenship)and thereconstruc-
I970S and, accordingto de Waal, bears some indirect tion of Frenchand Britishtendenciesin the past decade
responsibility forthegenocidein Rwanda. Constantpro- regarding nationalidentityand its relationshipto immi-
fessionalvigilance is needed. gration.
To go back in history,the consequences of nazi race- The theses of Taguieffand the Frenchdebate on "dif-
science are known to all, but is it widely remembered ferentialracism" are well known in Italy. While many
thatanthropologicalknowledgeis enshrinedin the Mu- shareTaguieff'sviewpoint,I findit more appropriateto
nich Agreementof I938 on the Sudetenlandissue? The focus on the workingsof "excess identity,"Stolcke's
agreementstipulatedthat whereas the "predominantly "cultural fundamentalism."I do not, however, agree
German"territory ofCzechoslovakia was to be occupied about its alarmingpolitical implications.To beginwith,
immediatelyby German troops,a commissionof repre- I have some difficulty with the depictionof so general-
sentativesofthe fourBig Powerswould arrangeforpleb- ized a left and a right.In addition,it seems unfairto
iscites in the regions"where the ethnographicalcharac- attributerefinedtraditionsof thoughtsuch as those of
ter was in doubt"-a pledge that was never in fact Franz Boas and Hans-Georg Gadamer to a rightwing
carriedout (ShirerIg64:s Ion). whose statementsare generallyroughand prosaic. My
I4 CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY Volume 36, Number i, February1995
own researchhas contributedto the rediscoveryoftheir use the proverb"The whole world is a town." Foreign-
local and historical identityof people who had aban- ers' main limitationis lack of culturalidentity;simply
doned rituals and customs in the confrontationwith put, they do not exist culturally,as in the model of
advancing modernization.I myselfhave assessed the Christian sainthood: they are foreignersin this world
cultural patrimony of craftsmenand country folk, because theyare partof anotherone. Having a "cultural
defendingtheirtutelagein the name of the concept of homeland" as a place of memories, affection,roots,
"culturalheritage."The currentdebateraisestheethical allows fora less abstractrenderingof the notion of hu-
question whetherthroughmy work I have fosteredcul- mankind and of the individual in society,but thereis
tural fundamentalismin myselfand in others,on the no tradition,heritage,or memorythat does not admit
one hand resistinganomie and the loss of identityand of intermixing.By oscillatingbetween these two poles
historicalmemoryto the urbanized world but on the and learningby trialand error,one sees wherethe world
other hand contributingto the creation of barriersto is going.In a vision of Utopia the "culturalhomeland"
new culturalencounters.I believe I can say that every- and the universalists'"world of men" mightcoincide,
one needs cultural "roots" of dialect, symbolic form, as in thebeautifulanarchistsong: "Our homelandis the
identity,and that these are not what produces xeno- entireworld,our law is liberty."But these are not times
phobia. fordreams.
Italy is a nation crisscrossedthroughoutby inter-
nal territorialdifferentiation. Its strengthis more pro-
nounced on the local than on the national level. The PETER FITZPATRICK
theme of a "cultural homeland" was dear to our most Darwin College, Universityof Kent at Canterbury,
notedpostwarscholar,ErnestoDe Martino,who linked Canterbury,Kent CT2 7NY, England. 3 VIII 94
it withthe necessary"criticalethnocentrism"ofthe an-
thropologist(De MartinoI977). The dean ofour African Some supplements,not all of them dangerous,to Stol-
studies,BernardoBernardi(I994), reproposesthe notion cke's rich and revelatoryaccount: For a start,the cul-
of "ethnocentrism,"which,followingboth W. G. Sum- turalfundamentalismofEuropeanrhetoricsofexclusion
ner and De Martino,he considersthe basis forunder- is inherentlyuntenable.It entails,as Stolcke indicates,
standingof the collective workingsof encounter,ex- an essential relationbetween being and cultureand an
change, and cultural mixing. Stolcke would probably absolute incommensurabilitybetween cultures.To be
object to the use of Italy as a case in point. Here the valid in theirown terms,thesenostrumsofculturalfun-
nationalisticplatformof the rightis not very sophis- damentalismcan onlybe ofa culture.They cannotbe, as
ticated: it has relaunched liberal modernism, its theyassert,of all cultures.Being bounded by a distinct
Reaganismneeds no culturalistfinesse,and the rightist culture,we cannot know thatwe know or do not know
tendenciesofthe territorial leagues which seek to create othercultures-and, what is particularlydelicious, we
a Republic of NorthernItaly bypass cultural issues in cannot know thatpeople of otherculturesdo not know
favorof financial ones. Criticism of the new cultural us.
fundamentalismcould applyto regionalor ethnicmove- Then there may be possibilities of virtuein incom-
ments (Occitanists, Sardists,Altoatestins,and others) mensurability.Not all notions of incommensurability
and the new localisms which sometimes tend to build are foundedon the mutual hostilityand oppressionthat
mythsof originand unmixed purity,but these are not typifyculturalfundamentalism.The EuropeanEnlight-
on the agendain thepoliticaldebatethatStolckeis deal- enment and its Romantic aftermathwhich Stolcke
ing with. evokes did have representatives, Diderot and Herder,for
Stolcke's critique is also veryuseful forcertainspe- example,who advancedincommensurability as a benign
cificfieldsof anthropologicalwork,forexample,immi- counter to colonialism and slavery. And is there not
grationresearchin urbanareas. In this case it is helpful honorhere in anthropologyalso?
to begin with the understandingthat the immigrantis Stolcke sees culturalfundamentalismas distinctand
an individualwho oscillates betweentwo worldsand is perhaps even taking over fromracism. In this, nation
stimulatedto change. Contact with the values, rules, becomes the locus of culture.It seems difficult to me to
and heritageofthis ancientand oppressiveworldofours make this claim withoutsayingmore about the history
is formanypeople ofunderpriviledged societiesa libera- of racism-about its persistence and protean forms.
tion and an opportunityto develop new configurations. There are many indications in the paper that cultural
I have always liked FrantzFanon's expression"envision fundamentalismin its exclusion and oppressionof the
the universethroughthe particular."This "particular," strangermay be a formof racism,and thereare intima-
in my opinion,is a matterofmemoryand traditionand tions that racism exceeds Stolcke's subordinationof it
not necessarilyone ofnation. Stolckeis essentiallycon- to a supportfornationalism.
cerned with national identity,and perhaps I approach As Stolcke recognises,not all strangersare equally
thesubjectfroma different position.It maynevertheless strange.Indeed,the proponentsofculturalfundamental-
be interestingto conclude with a model of an identity ism have little or no trouble acceptingthe representa-
that oscillates between foreignerand "culturalpatriot" tives of some cultures.Yet in Stolcke's argument,the
(as De Martinowould put it). Being a foreigner may in- xenophobiathatfoundsculturalfundamentalismis, un-
volve cosmopolitanism,moving in and out of cultures like racism,uniformand comprehensivein its opposi-
exchangingand gainingenoughexperienceto be able to tion to all othercultures.In this scheme culturesrelate
STOLCKE Talking Culture|I i5
to each otherin ways thatarenon-hierarchical or simply as theforcescreatingand promotinga multilingualenvi-

spatial.In the firstslice ofculturalfundamentalismthat ronmentproduceda reactionfromthose who resented
Stolckeprovides,however,Thatcher'sevocationto such and contestedthe transformation.
political effectof the threatof "swamping" by "people Stolcke compellinglyargues that the contemporary
witha different culture,"what seems crucialis the exac- politicalmovementon the rightthatrationalizesimmi-
titude,the territorial precision,with which such people grationrestrictionson thebasis ofculturalfundamental-
are designatedin Thatcher'sspeech just beforethe part ism is racism in a new and different garb. It remains
used by Stolcke: these potential swampersare "people racismbecause its targetsare the same, thosecommonly
ofthe New Commonwealth"[thatis, "black" people]or glossed as "people of color." It is different
fromracism,
"Pakistan"-which countryhad to be specificallyadded however,in that its justificationis not biological but
because it had leftthe Commonwealth.Such people so cultural. She concludes by beseeching anthropologists
carefullyspecifiedare thencounterposedto "the British not to committhe same logical and politicalerroras the
character"which "has done so much fordemocracy,for culturalfundamentalists-notto submitto a fundamen-
law, and done so much throughoutthe world." Divi- tal cultural relativism that reifies cultural difference
sions of this kind, as Stolcke aptly notes, providethe ratherthan seeking even if incompletelyto understand
"cultural" unityand uniformity of the nation,a nation and overcomeit. We anthropologists shouldreclaimcul-
which in realitycontains a diversityof cultures.They tural studies fromnonanthropologistsand incorporate
"reterritorializecultures." Such divisions are racist the insightsof postmodernawareness of culturalcom-
ratherthan non-hierarchicalor simply spatial. It may plexities and politics to address issues of domination,
helpto note,withBhabha(I994:99-IOO), that"etymo- conflict,and culture.
logically . . . 'territory'derives fromboth terra(earth) Contests over power and meaning expose the fragile
and terrree(to frighten)whence territorium,'a place and superficialnature of cultural consensus and har-
fromwhich people are frightened off."' Only some are mony.Cities undergoingrapid,integralreformations of-
ostracized,degraded,murdered,or, in short,terrorized. ferinsights.Miami is one such city.In the early I98os,
The claims of nation also extend beyond the non- those with powerand influence,the local elite,were all
hierarchicaland the simplyspatial,beyondbeingmerely white Americans.They lived in a citythathad quickly
the locus of one culture among many. Nationalism in become heavilyLatinofollowingCastro's Cuban revolu-
the igth centuryservedto markoffa collectivityof cer- tion and the subsequent U.S.-sponsoredmigrationof
tain nations as exemplaryof the universal and as the nearlyio% of Cuba's population.Most immigrantsset-
impetusof all thatwas becominguniversal.That eleva- tled in Miami and with the help of generousU.S. bene-
tion was and still is effectedin racist terms.The ex- fits and the experience and capital they broughtwith
cluded are now also invitedas nations to come within them quickly established a successful immigranten-
therealmoftheuniversaland the exemplary.To accom- clave. Most whiteAmericanswelcomed theseprimarily
modate the ambivalent identitythat results fromthe white,middle-class,well-educated,state-sponsoredim-
call to be the same and the exclusion as different, na- migrantseven as they bemoaned the new immigrants'
tions and culturesare stretchedbetweenvariouspolari- continuationof theirculturaldifferences, theirpropen-
ties-the developedand theunderdeveloped,thenormal sity to speak Spanish in public, and their right-wing,
and the backward,the usual list. The excluded serveto sometimes violent politics. Yet, they expected that
organiseand classifytheworldalong a spectrumranging these immigrantswould be like other,earlierwhite im-
fromthe most "advanced" liberaldemocraciesto barely migrants in assimilating to American culture, soon
coherentnations always about to slip into the abyss of speakingonly Englishin public,ignoringthe politics of
ultimatealterity. theirhomelandin favorofthose oftheirnew locale, and
buyingwhite-Americanproductsand services.
Throughthe I98os, Cubans rapidlyascended to posi-
ALEX STEPICK tionsofpowerand influence.They became the majority
Immigrationand EthnicityInstitute,Florida on the city council. They enteredthe state legislature.
InternationalUniversity,Miami, Fla. 33 I99, U.S.A. They became top developers and builders. Soon the
28 VII 94 whiteAmericansadmittedthemto the most influential
clubs and committees.Yet, thenew immigrantshad not
While thosewho studyimmigrationin anthropology are assimilated as quickly or as thoroughlyas the white
increasinglycalling for a transnationalapproach (e.g., Americanelite had envisioned.Many stillspoke Spanish
Glick-Schillerand Basch i992, Glick-Schiller,Basch, in public,and these were not the parkinglot attendants
and Szanton Blanc I994), the political rightinsists on but thosewhose carswerebeingparked,not thebusboys
the opposite-the need for and alleged naturalnessof and waitressesbut those orderingthe food,not the un-
cultural,alongwithpolitical,boundaries.The contradic- skilled workersbut those who owned the companies.
tion is not merely coincidental. Miami spawned the The Miami Herald played a key role in reflectingand
contemporarybilingual-educationmovement in the shaping a profoundtransformation of dominantwhite
mid-ig60s,and in I980 it spearheadedthe English-only American attitudes. Cultural concerns dominated its
backlash that subsequentlyswept throughall the states discourse, but the rapid loss of subscriberswho no
with significantSpanish-speakingminorities (Castro longerwanted an English-onlynewspaperalso heavily
1992). A more distinctdialectic could not be imagined influencedthe Herald's position. During the mid- and
6 CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY Volume 36, Number i, February1995
late i980s, the discourse of the Herald and prominent a phenomenonin itself.In one sense thisis what anthro-
whiteAmericanleaderschanged.Ratherthansuggesting pologistshave always wanted-not the particularreifi-
that Cubans would soon assimilate, white American cations,of course,which theyfeel theyhave outgrown
leaders applauded the multiculturalmix thatpermitted (culturesas bounded,internallycoherentwholes, etc.),
Miami to become the capital of the Caribbeanand even but its objectification,that is, culture as an object of
all of Latin America. Spanish-speakers,in this new vi- thought(theirunderstandingof what gives identityand
sion, were central to Miami's prosperityin that they distinctivenessto human lives). The openness of the
providedsmooth business links to the region'sprimary concept of culture,as she points out, makes it disarm-
tradingpartners(Portesand Stepick I993). Not all cul- ingly"friendly"to use, appealing to human universals
turaldiversitywas so championed.Black Haitian immi- in apparentlynon-exclusionaryterms;afterall, we "all"
grantsnever receivedthe welcome accordedwhite Cu- have culture.This is the benignsense in which anthro-
bans. Instead, the U.S. governmentrepeatedly and pologistshave promotedit. The importanceof Stolcke's
relentlesslysought to deter Haitians' arrival and per- historicalworklies in elucidatingits role as an idiom of
suade those in Miami to returnhome (Stepick i992). exclusion-the new possibilitiesit affordsforwhat can
Race and power,so inextricablymeldedin the United be utteredin public.Culturehas become all too utterable.
States and apparentlyin Europe, determinewhere the It is interestingthat along with the emphasis on the
boundariesare drawn-who is welcomed as a member socially constructednatureofloyaltiessubsumedunder
of the culturaland political communityand who is ex- appeals to culturegoes an emphasis on a primordialor
cluded. Culture plays an independent,critical role in naturalstate of affairs.Far fromappearingas contradic-
both discourse and action. Cubans were conceived as toryoropposed,both"nature"and "culture"carryweight
differentand treated differently because they spoke in thewaythenew exclusionsareframed.It is thecongru-
Spanish and much of theirpolitical attentionwas di- ence or conflationofthese thatgivesculturalfundamen-
rected to their homeland. Yet, those differenceswere talism such power-a demonstrationthat in turngives
toleratedat firstbecause the U.S. federalgovernment powerto Stolcke'sargument.This is a brilliantexposition
providedresourcesto amelioratethe costs of addressing and,as one would expectfromtheauthor,an anthropolog-
them and later because those whose economic base re- ical projectdirectedtowardsa pressingsocial issue. Its
mained in South Florida had no choice but to accept significanceis not to be underestimated.
them.Those who could not do so eitherfledor resisted The only commentto make is that if the strengthof
by foundingthe English Only movement.Black immi- the paper lies in its social contextualization(Stolcke is
grants,in contrast,could never obtain sufficientpower ascribingthese ideas not to some vague "culture" but
to effecttheirincorporationinto the local community. to specificpolicies and practices)one would not want
Much like the native AfricanAmericans,they remain to be carried(reassured?)by the idea thatculturalfunda-
marginal,appealing to the American ideologyof equal mentalism is a right-wingplot. It may be veryuseful
treatmentregardlessof race and succeeding enough to forright-wing political language,but such politics also
permitthe formationof a Haitian communitybut not draws on usages more generallycurrent.Althoughone
enough to provideit with the firm,powerfulbase that should not underplaythe differences betweenEuropean
Cubans enjoy. governmentsthat she sketches,dogmas of culturaldif-
Thus, culture and power determinethe evolution of ference(and she makes this apparent)suit a whole spec-
community-who is included or excluded.The shallow trumofpositions.Thus, as we mightexpectto findin the
historyof South Florida and of all the United States Ig80s/I990s, theysuit both right-wing and left-wing
comparedwith Europe precludes a deeply organiccon- platforms. While immigrationpolicies mayoffer particu-
ception of the nation-state.Cultural markersmust be lar evidence of right-wing political thinking,theyhold
used, and theycan easily be extendedor withdrawnand waterpreciselybecause oftheirsaliency.Indeed,cultural
are always contestedin responseto the emergingpower fundamentalismis too flexiblea conceptby farforcom-
ofnew groups.Yet, race remainsforemost.Whileracism fort.As she says,it is new and old at the same time,as it
may be discreditedpoliticallyand no longeradmissible gathersto itselfboth social constructionisttheoriesand
in public discourse,it continuesto guide the policies of ideas aboutnaturalbondsand universalhumantraitsand
people. facilitates ideologies of assimilation and integration
alike. Differentpolitical regimesspeak in its common
language.Anthropologistshave had theirhand in this:
MARILYN STRATHERN Stolcke'sdemonstrationis bothedifyingand disturbing.
Departmentof Social Anthropology,Universityof
Cambridge,Cambridge CB2 3RF, England. 3 vIII 94
rERENCE TURNER
This is an importantpaper.By hercarefulhistoricalexe- DepartmentofAnthropology,Universityof Chicago,
gesis,Stolcke makes it verydifficultforthe anthropolo- Chicago,Ill. 60637, U.S.A.23 vIII 94
gist to dismiss what she so aptlycalls "culturalfunda-
mentalism"as no more than a misguidedmanifestation Stolcke's article makes importantpoints about the na-
of racist thinking.On the contrary,she points out all tureofthe culturalnationalismcurrently beingchampi-
the ways in which culturaldiscriminationhas become :ned by the European right.I thinkshe is rightto em-
ST O L C KE Talking Culture I I 7
phasize the differencesbetween the new "cultural a right-wing populistidiom ofprotestbylower-classand

fundamentalism"and racism while recognizingthat marginalelementsofEuropeannational societies,an of-
both reflect,in differentways, the contradictionin ear- ten equally fundamentalistmulticulturalismis becom-
lier formsof liberal nationalismbetween universalistic ing the preferredidiom in which minorityethnic and
values and the need to limit the nation to its territorial racialgroupsare assertingtheirrightto a full and equal
boundaries.I also agree with her that it is essential for rolein the same societies.These groupsand movements
anthropologyto take account of the ways in which the overtlyassert their cultural, ethnic, and/or national
new political movementsand conditionsto which she "identities"as the legitimizingbasis of claims to inclu-
refersare changingthe meaningof "culture" and to re- sion on an equal footingin multiethnicnational societ-
flecton the implications of these changes forits own ies (or,in extremecases, claims to separateexistenceas
theoreticalconceptof culture.In this connection,she is independentnations) ratherthan as calls forthe exclu-
correct,in myview, to stressthatrecentanthropological sion of culturallydifferent groups.Rightistexclusionist
formulationsin the postmodernist"culture-critique" cultural nationalism and left-orientedinclusionist
vein only recastin different termsand do not transcend mnulticulturalism, I suggest,should be understoodas
the reificationof culturaldifferencetypicalof older an- complementaryrefractionsof the same conjunctureof
thropologicalapproaches to cultures as bounded iso- social and political-economicforces.
lates. There are two fundamentalreasonsthatculturaliden-
While Stolcke's discussion contains importantin- tityhas emergedas the idiom of choice forexpessions
sightsinto the new culturalnationalism,she does not ofsocial discontentby marginalizedor downwardlymo-
claim to presentan exhaustiveaccount ofthe phenome- bile elements of national populations.The firstis that
non or an analysisofits political and social causes. Tak- it is virtuallythe only aspect of their relation to the
ing her stimulatingtreatmentas a point of departure,I national society that they still own and control-the
would suggestthata fulleranalysiswould addressissues onlyone, by the same token,beyondthe controlof na-
such as the following: tional political and cultural elites. The second is the
First,culturalnationalism is not merelyor even pri- politicalpotencyof the conceptionof national identity
marilyexclusionaryand xenophobic,and theforeignim- intrinsicto modernEuropean nationalismfromits ori-
migrantsand Gastarbeitertowardswhom it is ostensi- gins in the i8th and igth centuries.As Stolcke points
bly directedare not its primarytargets.It is a claim out,boththe liberalrepublican(French)and reactionary
forinclusion and integrationon more favorablesocial, culturalist(German) formsof nationalism rested on a
political, and economic terms directed at dominant conceptionof national identityas the expressionof a
political and technobureaucraticgroups by relatively distinctive historical and cultural heritage shared
disenfranchised,dominated elements of the national zquallyby all individualmembersof the national com-
population. This is why the new cultural nationalist munity.The result has been to legitimize a cultural
movementscannot simplybe understoodas expressions 3ense of national identitynot only as an inalienable
ofthe political right,even thoughit is the rightthathas property of everyindividual,and hence beyondthe con-
effectively co-optedthem.What must also be accounted trolof elites, but also as the justificationforpolitical
foris theirpopulist characteras the social and political Alaimsmade in the name of the nation and the unifor-
protestsof subordinatesocial strata against the domi- mityof its legal normsor social mores.
nantpolitical-economicand culturalorderthatexcludes What is now happeningis that subordinateand mar-
themfromfullparticipationin the national life.In this 3-inalelements of the national societies of Europe are
wider perspectivethe implicit ultimate end of these not for the first time) picking up this ideological
movementsis not the "culturalcleansing"ofthe nation weaponand usingit againstthehegemonicliberalestab-
throughthe expulsion offoreigners but theirown fuller Lishmentsand state governmentsthat have presided
integrationinto and more equitable participationin the wverthe erosion of theireconomic and social condition
social and economic life of the nation. Opposition to n therecentperiodofthe consolidationoftransnational
foreignersand immigrantsis an apt means to this end :apitalism.The responsesofnational establishmentsto
because foreignmigrantsand guest-workers arethemost -heprotestsof the "cultural fundamentalists"have of-
visible,accessible,and vulnerableextensionofthehege- -enironicallyreflectedthe assertionsof the protesters,
monic political and technoeconomic system that the is when multiculturalistclaims are resistedby cultural
protestersfeel oppressesand excludes them. Calling for iuthoritiesin the name of the need forculturalunifor-
the exclusionofforeignelementson nationalistgrounds nity as the basis of national political integration.
is a convenientway of stressingthe common ground In the past, similarmovementsofnationalist"funda-
the protestersshare with the dominantelementsof the nentalism," such as fascism,have seized upon race or
nationalsociety-the bureaucracyand thepoliticallead- )therissues as the specificvehicles oftheircauses. Stol-
ership-and thus gainingmoral leverage over them to ,ke is correctto stress the relative uniqueness of the
compel themto take more account ofthe protestersand ,urrentwave of "culturalist" movements in this re-
theirdemands. ;pect. The question is why "culture" in the contempo-
Any attemptto understandthe new formsof cultural ary sense of a common "identity"or universeof dis-
and ethnic nationalism must account forthe fact that ,ourse and social standardsratherthan "race" or even
while xenophobicculturalfundamentalismis becoming SYemeinschaft in the older German sense of a historic
folk communityhas now become the focus of the new genuinelycritical perspectiveon "culture" capable of
movements.The answeris to be foundin the dominant revealingthe continuityand interdependenceof forms
socioeconomic conditions of the historical period in ofsocial consciousnessand the materialsocial relations
which the new movementshave emerged. thatgive rise to them.
As the governmentsof nation-statesare increasingly
redefinedas local committeesof an ever more power-
fullyorganizedtransnationalcapitalistsystemof finan- WALTER P. ZENNER
cial institutions,labor movements,circulatingcapital, DepartmentofAnthropology,State Universityof New
and commodityflows,theirpolitical and economic in- Yorkat Albany,Albany,N.Y. I2222, U.S.A. I I VII 94
stitutionsbecome increasinglyinaccessibleto influence
by the mass of their populations. As the traditional In her interestinganalysis of the new "rhetoricsof ex-
meaning of political citizenship withers away under clusion" in WesternEurope,Stolckelimitsherselfto the
these circumstances,the abilityof national regimesto responseof respectableconservativepolitical leaders to
guaranteetheircitizens access to commodityconsump- the new "extracommunitarianimmigration" rather
tion on a scale commensuratewith theirsocial aspira- than dealing with "popular reactionsand sentiments."
tions has become theirprimarybasis of political legiti- She also links these ideological changes to the ways in
mation. Consumption of commodities has thus which Britain and France in particularhave absorbed
supplantedthe exerciseof the traditionalpolitical func- immigrantsin the past four decades and to the view
tions of citizenshipas the main mode of the construc- of the "nation" in the two countries.The authoritative
tion-and thus control-of personalidentity.The indi- appeal to "culturaldifference" ratherthanto race recalls
vidualisticformof this identityconstruction,however, a similar response by post-World War II imperialists.
is limited and orientedby the social values of the na- The late Melville J.Herskovitsin his lecturesreferred
tional society;it thus constitutesa culturalformofpar- to this as "culturalism,"but Stolcke's "culturalfunda-
ticipationin the national identity,the formthat now mentalism"is a more stylishrubric.
provides the most immediate and satisfyingsense of While the notion of "new rhetoricsof exclusion" can
power over the termsof personal and social existence. to some extentbe appliedto theUnited States,thismust
Cultural identityand national cultural identityas its be done carefully.Stolcke's political referenceto the
most fundamental,socially shared aspect thus become rightand to conservativeliberals is limited to a Euro-
the most politicallyfraughtidiom of solidarityand pro- pean context.The so-calledrightin the United Statesis
test alike in contemporarycapitalistsocieties. splitalong severallines, includingthe "Christianright"
What are the implicationsof these developmentsfor and ex-liberal "neoconservatives." The latter include
the anthropologicalconcept of culture?Firstand most "environmentaloptimists" like JulianSimon and Ben
obvious,"culture" cannotbe theorizedin isolationfrom Wattenbergwho tendto favoropen immigration.Those
the social conditionsin which it arises and vice versa. on the leftmay employa "rhetoricofexclusion" oftheir
Secondly,the attemptto do so, characteristicof most own. Slogans of class conflictare an example of this,
anthropologicaltheorizingabout culture fromthe Bo- and Anglophobiaand anti-Americanismare xenophobic
asians to the contemporary proponentsof anthropology views which have been used by both the left and the
as ethnographicwriting,should be recognizedas a con- right.
tinuationof the fundamentalideological mystification WhileI tendto agreewith Stolckethatwe shouldtake
centralto the originsof the cultureconceptin German the "nonracist"rhetoricof these "culturists"seriously,
Romanticnationalism."Culture" as nationalisticideol- we must do so with care. Unlike anthropologists, politi-
ogy servedto sever consciousness of the unequal social cians and ideologues have no all-embracingtheoryof
roots of the new orderof bourgeoispolitical-economic culture.How do people acquire the "national conscious-
dominationbyprojectingit as an expressionofuniversal ness" that theyenvision?Is it by earlysocialization,as
ideal principlesof liberty,equality,and fraternity
or,al- theBoasians believe,or is acquisitionpracticallybiolog-
ternatively,of volkische Gemeinschaft,even as it ex- ical? The formermightbe accomplishedthroughlimited
plicitlyopposed the idealized concept of the new order immigrationand assimilationisteducation,but the lat-
to the obsolete social orderof monarchicalfeudalism. ter would simply be racist. We should rememberthat
The abstractionof ideal principlesas culturalrepresen- manytheoristshave not internalizedFranzBoas's gener-
tations of uniformlyshared social qualities frommate- alization that there is no one-to-onerelationshipbe-
rial social relationsand conditionsand an almost Man- tweenrace, language,and culture.Racists like Sombart
ichaean opposition of the formerto the latter thus gaveculturalas well as biologicalexplanationsfordiffer-
became a foundationalprincipleof modernsocial con- ences between ethnicgroupsand nations. It is not hard
sciousness, including nationalism and anthropological to imaginethatmodernculturistsdo not excludebiolog-
conceptsof cultureamong its variantforms.The fright- ical explanationsbut simply do not bringthem to the
eningresurgenceof right-wing movements,both in Eu- fore.
rope and in America,based on formsof culturalfunda- Of greaterweightare two omissions by Stolcke. Her
mentalism that mystifythe real social causes of the decision not to discuss popular anti-immigration senti-
discontenton which theyfeedshouldpromptanthropol- mentis unfortunate, since one can assume thatpolitical
ogiststo recognizethe urgencyof the need to develop a leadersfindimmigrationa veryfruitful issue to exploit.
STOLCKE Talking Culture I
The interactionbetween the political class and other forma paradoxicalpart of modernityratherthan being
classes on immigrationfeeds the resentmentof immi- an anachronismin modernsocietyor a residue of their
grants.It is also a test ofa theoreticalexplanationofthe slave past-a point I have stressedsince my early re-
importanceof certainframesof economic problems. search on Igth-centuryCuba (II974). As Goldberg
Stolcke tends to dismiss the social scientificstudyof (I993:4) has persuasivelyput it, "This is a centralpara-
ethnocentrism(xenophobia)by viewing it primarilyas dox, the ironyperhaps,of modernity:The more explic-
a componentof a conservativeideology. She does not itlyuniversalmodernity'scommitments,the moreopen
differentiate between the two. The factthathuman be- it is to and the more determinedit is by the likes of
ings may love and hate "other peoples" differentially racial specificityand racial exclusivity." Less clear,
and serially seems to prove that ethnocentrismis not however,is the specificcharacterofthese new attitudes
a human universal.In this regard,her dismissal of the and rhetoricof exclusion and theirroots,partlyperhaps
Bosnian case is particularlyshallow. She refersto the because ofa certaindifficulty in overcomingestablished
fact that up to the present wars the various ethnic notionsofmodernsociety,culture,identity,and racism
groupsof thatunfortunateland had good neighborlyre- itself.
lations, without considerationof the long and compli- In view ofthe noveltyand complexityofthe phenom-
cated historyof the Yugoslav lands. She also does not enon,I have advisedlychosen to focuson onlyone mani-
referto sophisticatedsocial scientificstudies of xeno- festation,namely, right-wingrhetorics of exclusion
phobia such as that conductedby Donald T. Campbell, whose targetsare extracommunitarian immigrants.The
RobertA. LeVine,and theirassociates,in whichhypoth- comments on my paper are not only most helpfulin
eses derivedfromthe Spencer-Sumnerformulationof a clarifying my definitionsbut also raise a numberofper-
universal syndromeof ethnocentrismwere developed tinentquestions that,by goingbeyondthe limitedaims
and tested cross-culturally.While the study was too of my analysis,are usefulforexpandinganthropology's
broadto summarizehere and too incompleteto support researchagenda regardingthe political and theoretical
finalconclusions,it is worthnotingthatethnocentrism challenges posed by the new global disorderand espe-
in thisview beginswithhighself-regard, which in fairly cially its ideological "overpinnings."
intricateways is tied to fearand hatredof some outsid- I fully agree with Fitzpatrick'ssubstantiveobserva-
ers (LeVine and Campbell I972, Brewerand Campbell tion that cultural fundamentalists'postulated incom-
I976). mensurabilityof culturesis, in the end, nonsensical-
I agreewith Stolcke thatwe should tryto understand thoughperhapsno less so than some ofthe postmodern
thefluidityand flexibilityofhumanways oflifeand that radical-relativist ethnographicendeavours.Yet, ideolog-
the political meaningsof culturaldifferences should be ical postulatesdo not have to have cognitivecoherence
a majorfocus of our work.It is easy to forget,however, to be politically effective.The integrationiststrandin
thatmanyofour professionalforebearsunderstoodthis. Cuban and Brazilianpolitical racismwhich sustaineda
Forinstance,Herskovits,who was known as a principal hierarchyofraces but advocatedmiscegenationto over-
proponentof culturalrelativism,also showed how peo- come potential sociopolitical conflicts between the
ples of differentbackground borrow and transform "races'' could also be considereduntenable in a strict
elements of each other's culture (Herskovits I964: sense. In addition,it is no noveltythat a notion,in this
i59-2i2). Edward Spicer (i980:287-362), as a result case incommensurability between cultures,may be put
of his lifelong work on the Yaqui and the western to different uses and have differentmeaningsand conse-
U.S.-Mexican borderlands,showed how some ethnic quences depending on socio-historicalcontexts. Cul-
boundariesare preservedin spite ofgreatchangesin cultural relativism,when it was firstdefendedby Boas
ture.The persistenceof ethnicidentity,in fact,is often againstracistand otherethnocentricdeterminisms, was
inverselycorrelatedwith changes in culture. I thank progressivein the colonial context.In the contemporary
Stolckeforchallengingus to reconsiderthese questions. crisis-ridden postcolonialworld,radical culturalrelativ-
ism spells exclusion. As Taguieffhas shown,moreover,
the new rightin France adoptedthe idea of incommen-
surabilityinstead of orderingcultureshierarchicallyto
Reply avoid the negativeinegalitarianconnotationof the lat-
ter. In practice,culturalfundamentalismof course op-
pressesimmigrantseconomicallyand socially,is applied
VERENA STOLCKE onlyto subalternstrangers, and producesand reproduces
Barcelona, Spain. 26 IX94 inequality.Yet, as I argue,socioeconomic exclusion and
inequalityare now a consequence of immigrationcon-
The resurgenceof "racism" in contemporary Europehas trols defendedand implementedby conservativesand
generateda wealth ofresearchthathas enrichedbut also the rightratherthan being thematizedin theirrhetoric
challengedtraditionalnotions ofracism.The categories of exclusion. In theory,and again forthe sake of argu-
applied to its classical period have proved insufficient mentativecoherence,the targetis any extracommuni-
to account forthese new essentialistdoctrinesof exclu- tarianimmigrant,but in practiceit is the Third World
sion. Central to this revisionof earliertheorizationsof poor whose exclusion is legitimatedbecause it is they
"racism" is the gradual awareness that such doctrines ratherthan,forexample, an Arab oil magnatewho are
.201 CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY Volume 36, Number i, FebruaryI995
seen as threateningsocial orderin the contextof eco- duce new contradictionsand tensions. Liberal capital-
nomic recession. Stepick's observations on the con- ism is inherentlyincapable of makingeveryonehappy.
trastingexperienceofCuban and Haitian immigrantsin Turner and Zenner regretthat I have not discussed
Florida,thoughreferring to the specificcontextof the popular attitudesvis-a-visimmigrants.Turner's obser-
United States,providea suggestiveexample ofthe com- vations qualifyingand extendingmy analysis are espe-
plex intersectionbetween economic power and essen- cially valuable. Of course, any theoryof exclusion has
tialistdifferentiation. its obverse,althoughit is oftennot recognizedthatiden-
Thatcher's famous statement is admittedly less tity,be it ethnic,cultural,national,political,and/orof
clearlyculturalistthan I have wanted to make out, but gender,is a relationshipand logically always implies a
the fact that the "people of the New Commonwealth" contrastingother.Nationalityrules,forexample,at first
and of Pakistan,who are its targets,are phenotypically sight are about the prerequisitesforacquiringcitizen-
nonwhiteis not sufficientreason to extrapolateracism ship,thatis, inclusion,in a statebut implicitlyofcourse
fromit. Instead of supposingthat classical racism is at also definewho are noncitizens.Explicit emphases on
work every time those who are discriminatedagainst exclusion or inclusion depend,however,on the "prob-
are phenotypicallydifferent, we now need seriouslyto lem" posed. Recent researchon citizenshipin relation
ask ourselveswhat is in a face nowadays.What does it to human rights,for example, in Latin America, has
mean, forexample,thatforeigners ofNorthAfricanori- tendedto be inward-looking, neglectingthe conceptual-
gin are systematicallystopped by the French police ization ofnationalityas its precondition.The alarmover
searchingforillegal immigrantsbecause theyhave "the extracommunitarian immigrationin contemporaryEu-
wrongface" (Dubet I989, citedby SilvermanI992: I36)? rope,by contrast,has enhancedthe visibilityof the for-
There is, indeed,a growingawarenessamongscholars eign "other" and the debate over politics of exclusion
that contemporary Europeanpolitics and policies of ex- while, nonetheless, revitalizingcommonsense under-
clusion are informedby claims of nation. Nineteenth- standingsof national belonging,identity,and citizen-
centurynationalismand late-2oth-century culturalfun- ship rights.The postwar welfare state in Europe cer-
damentalism,as I have analyzedit, sharethe conflation tainly reinforcedthe populations' ideas of national
of people-nation-territory. By contrast with igth- entitlementwhich are now being eroded by economic
century typically hierarchical racist nationalism, recession. The ensuing frustrationsare oftenbut not
however, contemporarycultural fundamentalism,by necessarilyalways and by everyonedirectedagainstex-
emphasizing cultural-national incommensurability, tracommunitarianimmigrants.Particularnational his-
fragments the planet into separateuniversesratherthan tories complicate the picture.In the case of Spain, for
explicitly invoking underdevelopmenton account of example, the experience of emigrationto France and
backwardnessto deny that "we" have anythingto do Germanyin the sixties of almost 3 million labouring
with the ever-growinginequality between "us" and men and women often serves as an antidote to anti-
"them" so as not to be takenforracists.Perhapsit needs immigrantsentiments.One immigrantfromAndalucia
stressing once more that to challenge racist reduc- recentlyinsisted to me, however,that he was not an
tionisms in contemporaryanalyses of anti-immigrant immigrantbut a forastero(roughly,"stranger,"though
rhetoricis in no way to minimize the horrorsthat this the termpreciselylacks the national connotation),obvi-
implies for"them." The extentto which racist catego- ously seeking to distance himself from the stigma
ries continueto shape people's attitudeseven iftheyare attached to extracommunitarian immigrants,although
not publiclyadmitted(Stepick)is a matterforresearch until veryrecentlyAndalucian immigrantswere called
which above all must pay carefulattentionto argumen- and called themselvessimply"immigrants."
tativestructuresin particularcontextsand political tra- Much more complicated is, however, the way in
ditions. which rhetoricsof political elites interactwith under-
Benthallrightlypoints to the absence in my paper of standingsof the dominatedmajorityof the population.
an explanationof the North-SouthinequalitythatI cite The political success of the anti-immigrant platforms
as the "root cause" of cultural fundamentalism.But of the political right-to the extentthat not only con-
then,I suggesta more complicatedset ofdialecticinter- servativebut also social-democraticgovernmentshave
actionsbetweenideologicalconstructsand materialrea- adoptedan exclusionaryrhetoricand policies-and the
sons ratherthan a single "cause"-a dialectic between hostilityand recurrentaggressionagainstimmigrantson
sociopoliticaltensionsgeneratedby the economicreces- the part of "ordinarypeople" provide ample evidence
sion in advancedcapitalistEuropeand ideologicalscape- that neitherare the politicians preachingin the desert
goatingof extracommunitarian immigrantswhich is in- nor is cultural fundamentalismmerely a perversefig-
formedby new and old ideas of national entitlement, mentofthe imaginationofsmall extremistgroupsas, in
inclusion,and exclusion in the guise, forreasons of po- fact,earlyreportson the resurgenceofracismin Europe
litical expediency,of a radicallyrelativistculturalistid- maintained.It is also well known that the production
iom. These timesofeconomic crisisare evidentlyaverse ofan externalenemyand threatgeneratesinternalsocio-
to progressiveprogramsof change,but it seems equally economic cohesion. The powerofpatriotism,especially
evident that any piecemeal reformwithin prevailing duringWorld War I, in bridgingclass divisions is only
structuresof power and inequalitywill inevitablypro- one example. Contemporaryculturetalk has, as Strath-
STOLCKE Talking Culture 2i
2
ernrecentlyobserved,contributedto obscuringsociety. replacementof the idea of "race" in differentialdis-

To understandthe politics of culturalfundamentalism course by the obviously ambivalent term "ethnicity"
we requiremuch moredetailedresearchon popularself- andlatelyby"culture"(Barkani992, StolckeI993). The
understandings regardingpolitical-nationaland cultural issue is not, however,only one of words but, as I have
identityand identifications.Central in this respect is attemptedto show, one of the assumptionsand concep-
a properhistoricalperspectivethat pays due attention tual structuresof new culturalistrhetorics.
preciselyto the "dialogue" betweenideologuesand sub- The idea that humans are inherentlyethnocentricis,
alternsectorsand to theeconomic contextwithinwhich as I argue,the naturalisticand hence universalistideo-
culturalfundamentalismflourishes.My hope is thatmy logical assumption on which contemporaryEuropean
paper may stimulate investigationsof this kind. The culturalfundamentalismis built. This does not mean
vast literatureon the socioeconomiccircumstancesthat that,as Zenner seems to think,I dismiss the studyby
gave rise to fascismmay providevaluable insightshere, the social sciences of ethnocentrismand xenophobia-
but again one should beware of easy reductionisms. nota bene, as historical phenomena. Anthropologists
Turnerand Stratherndrawattentionto thewide polit- have traditionallyinvestigatedcommunities,peoples,or
ical spectrumthat nowadays endorsesor is receptiveto culturesas isolates. They may therefore be ill-equipped
cultural fundamentalistideas in Europe of the kind I to offerinsights into interrelationshipsbetween cul-
discuss, and Clemente rightlyinsists on the need to tures,but we need urgentlyto incorporatea relational
identifyin more detail the tendencieswithin the right approach,not least to interrogateearliersocial science
and the left.Multiculturalismis an importantcase in formulationsof a "universal syndromeof ethnocen-
point, as are certain strands of defensive ethno- trism"which,forreasons I have spelled out, I regardas
nationalismon the left.Forexample,in Catalunya,anti- highlysuspect.
statistnationalistsof the extremeleftmay be heardve- Finally,on thenation-stateand its prospects:Benthall
hementlydefendingnational cultural identityas the mentionsthe widespreadidea amongscholarsthatlarge
onlyeffectivesourceofsocial cohesionin the contempo- nation-statesmay be less oppressiveforminorities,but
raryaggressivelyindividualistworld;hence, theyargue, again this depends on the context.The United States,
extracommunitarian immigrantsmust assimilate.They forexample,does not appear to me to excel in its toler-
entirelydisregard, however,thefactthatneoliberalcapi- ance with regardto its multiple"minorities."There are
talist consumer society, by reinforcingindividualism, those who argue that transnationalcapitalism,by de-
fragmentssociety and the consequences of this, as privingit ofits traditionaleconomic-politicalfunctions,
pointedout byTurner,and thefactthatculturalidentity spells doom forthe nation-state.The EuropeanCommu-
and oppressionare producedhistorically. nity is celebratedas one outstandingexample of this.
An argued critique of contemporarycultural funda- Yet, while capital and commoditiesnowadaysknow no
mentalism,I believe, does not (as Clemente seems to national frontiers,the movementof people is quite an-
think)precludeanthropologicalresearchinto particular othermatter.One crucial functionof the nation-state,
cultural processes and reinventionsas long as this is namely,controllingthe movementofpeople across bor-
not done (again, as Turner observes)in isolation from ders,has been revitalizedby the restructuring of indus-
historicalsociopolitical conditions.Of course, cultural trial production. Industries may organize production
identitydoes not producexenophobiabut ratherthe re- across borders,seeking to reduce productioncosts and
verse. That "everyoneneeds cultural 'roots"' is, how- increase profits.But structuralunemployment,espe-
ever,fartoo generala statementand prejudgesthe cru- cially in the North, and its political consequences are
cial issues regardingthe prerequisitesof identityand of deepeningnational divisionsratherthan dissolvingbor-
the productionof differencewhich anthropologistsur- ders. Not even the foundationaldocument of the new
gentlyneed to investigate. democratic postwar world order,the United Nations
I have limitedmyselfto comparingFranceand Britain Universal Declaration of Human Rights, consecrates
because I am aware ofhow importantspecifichistorical people's rightto free choice of their residence. While
and contextualconditionsand relationsare in endowing "everyonehas the rightof freedomof movementand
sociopoliticalprocesseswithmeaning.In thissense Italy residencewithin the bordersof each state," movement
strikesme as especially interestingconsideringits re- betweenstates is limitedto the rightto leave any coun-
cent political history.Stepickand Zenner offerinterest- try,includingone's own, and returnto one's country.
ing comments from the vantage point of the United Nowadays, European citizens as workerscannot move
States.I would, however,be veryhesitantto extendthe completelyfreelywithinthe EuropeanCommunity.Yet
notion of cultural fundamentalismwithout qualifica- even those rightsenjoyedby Europeansare denied alto-
tionto NorthAmerica,not least because ofits historical getherto long-settledresidentswho happen to be third-
past in slavery and postemancipationracism. Boasian countrynationals. Analyses oftentend to pay attention
cultural anthropologywas a momentous reaction to to the flowof capital and goods to the neglectof thatof
this. The opposition to nazism duringWorld War II people. Despite radically changed economic circum-
shaped in a dramaticfashionthe refutationofracismas stances,the problemposed by the formationofthe mod-
a legitimateintellectualand political stance. The civil ernnation-statein the earlyigth century,how to bound
rightsstrugglesof the sixties contributedfurtherto the the citizenry,remainswith us.
2| CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY Volume 36, Number i, FebruaryI995
My conclusion is admittedlyutopian, but then, as I99 Ib. Sovereignty: The Britishexperience.TimesLiter-

Goya showed so powerfullyin his caprichos,"Phantasy arySupplement, November29, pp. I5-I6.
abandoned by reason produces impossible monsters: COHN-BENDIT, DANIEL, AND THOMAS SCHMID. i99i. Wenn
derWestenunwiderstehlich wird.Die Zeit,November22, p. 5.
united with reason it is the motherof the arts and the 1I992.HeimatBabylon:Das Wagnisdermultikulturellen
originof marvels." Demokratie.Hoffman und Campe.
COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES. i987. A
freshboostforculturein theEuropeanCommunity.Communi-
cation,DecemberI4.
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Univer-
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izationofruralFrance,I870-1914. Stanford:
sityPress. GesprachmitPieroBassettiiiberEinwanderung
und Invasion.
Kursbuch,no. I07, pp. I20-30.
editors
ArnoldI. Davidson,andHarryHarootunian,
JamesChandler,
Surprisingly has beendirectedtowardthecentralconcernof what
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Helsinger, R. C. Lewontin,
Fran9oise MaryPoovey,
Meltzer,
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DonaldPreziosi, Richards,LawrenceRothfield, JoanW. Scott,Eve
SimonSchaffer,
KosofskySedgwick, BarbaraHerrnsteinSmith, Pierre
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CURRENT ANTHROPOLOGY Volume 36, Number i, FebruaryI995

(D.Phil.,I970). She conductedfieldand archivalresearchin Cuba

Talking Culture Market,editedby K. Young,C. Wolkowitz,and R. McCullagh

theseinsidiousinfluences.How these "others"are being the slogan "ForeignersOut!" There is a growingsense

povertyand insteadjustifyaggressivepopulationcontrol immigrantcommunitiesand its call fora curbon immi-

Homoxenophobicus 5. Scholarshavenotedincreasingly frequent reference to xenopho-

tural fundamentalismwhat the bio-moral concept of portunityforall in the marketplaceand socioeconomic

threatens"our" national-cum-cultural uniqueness and prevailingsocioeconomicills withtheway in whichim-

suringthattheywere "Frenchat heart" (Brubakeri992: merelyaccidental connection to France as well as the

Britain'scommon law traditionand the absence of a Immigrantchildrenwere to receivestandardEnglished-

I 9. The voluminous on "racerelations"is another

"people" entitled to partake in this plebiscite (i992 Conclusion

To conclude,let me now returnto the tasks and tribula-

plore,in a creativedialogue with otherdisciplines,"the Stolcke's comparativeanalysisofthe immigrationde-

to each otherin ways thatarenon-hierarchical or simply as theforcescreatingand promotinga multilingualenvi-

phasize the differencesbetween the new "cultural a right-wing populistidiom ofprotestbylower-classand

ernrecentlyobserved,contributedto obscuringsociety. replacementof the idea of "race" in differentialdis-

My conclusion is admittedlyutopian, but then, as I99 Ib. Sovereignty: The Britishexperience.TimesLiter-

CRANSTON, MAURICE. I988. "The sovereignty and thena-

TODOROV, TZVETAN. I989. Nous et les autres: La r6flexion

Availableatbookstores orfromThe University ofChicago Press, 11030S. LangleyAve.,

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