ABSTRACT
“The anthropology of Europe” was primarily the invention of American anthropologists carrying out research in geographical Europe, and their work was novel for its departure from the common disciplinary focus on distant Others. This chapter describes the long tradition of study of and in Europe by North American academics, including anthropologists. Anthropologists of Eastern Europe have produced theoretical work that has not yet featured in general debates in social anthropology, while their ethnographic work rarely merits criticism from traditional empiricists, postmodernists, and engaged anthropologists. The processes of European integration and the development of European government have vast effects for countries and individuals: they influence production and consumption practices, shape migration flows, result in compliance, negotiation, or resistance that changes people’s lives. The anthropology of Europe falls within a stream of anthropological research on policies and institutions that has gained importance as anthropology has become more engaged with research “at home”.
