ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book explores the European Community's (EC) 1992 project as both a symbol of and the processes towards the cultural integration of the EC. Contrary to a great deal of media-inspired popular expectation throughout the world, at the close of business on 31 December 1992, Europe, or to be precise, the twelve member states of the EC, will not be transformed into a "New Europe." The book offers anthropological perspectives on the transformations of European culture and community which both result from the processes of EC integration and which may affect those same processes. Anthropologists are witnessing the EC's evolution in areas where the EC is effecting great cultural changes; these areas are also the least explored by the EC itself, namely the communities which define Europe's cities, regions, ethnic groups, and nations.
