ABSTRACT
The nomadic force drives anthropologists from one idea to another, transcends boundaries, shifts involvements and transforms commitments until it is finally arrested and shaped in the published text. Aware of the experience and culture of actual nomadic people, the critical consciousness of the nomadic anthropologist 'resists settling into socially coded modes of thought and behavior'. Furthermore, anthropological nomadism is neither an aimless wandering as in the postmodern condition, nor is it the 'real' nomads' planned journey towards a desired destination. The central role of discovery in anthropological practice is discussed by Ugo Fabietti. Hence, the prevalence of that self-indulgent literary turn in cultural anthropology tends to position the anthropologist as the ringmaster of an anthropological reality-show in which she plays herself as a proverbial 'other'. The analytic tension between the two is often resolved in anthropological discourse by resorting to preset consciousness under the guise of untainted experience.
