ABSTRACT

This chapter explores comparative methodological and theoretical reflections on doing anthropological research on political change in two different urban settings on the western and eastern Adriatic shores; respectively, Brindisi and Durrs. Research in Brindisi addressed the corruption of a parliamentary democracy into a partitocrazia and various forms of opposition to such corruption. Field-research in Durrs aimed at studying regime change from a Communist dictatorship to a Liberal democracy. The chapter shows that ethnographic-based urban research plays a significant role in understanding the processes that mark the contemporary geopolitical situation. It argues for the relevance of empirical evidence to theory, which greatly helps to avoid deterministic assumptions on the relationship between individuals and society and between micro and macro-processes. The chapter paraphrases Arendt's statement on truth to suggest that the strength of ethnographic methodology rests on a scientific model' conceived as an ever-changing pattern of working hypotheses.