Urbanities,
Vol. 3
·
No 2
·
November 2013
© 2013
Urbanities
137
This discussion about agency is not related to the Mediterranean region only. It is adopted
by the majority of the contributors to both volumes, who engage with globalizing processes
without forgetting the ability of people to face, resist and adjust to change.
There are a few methodological implications of these works which I would like to
highlight. First, they bring back a comparative perspective to the anthropological debate. Second,
they prioritise ethnography but they are courageous enough to face grander issues in the wider
society. Finally, these two books may be seen as crossing boundaries and interests among
disciplines, but they are instead the kind of anthropology that challenges boundaries, frontier
zones and ideas of marginality.
While I was writing this article, another event was reported as responsible for a
‘breakdown in trust’ (Hamilos 2013) among Western countries. Edward Snowden’s revelations
about the mass surveillance action by the US National Security Agency have generated a gigantic
diplomatic crisis. Watching the news and reading about this event in a renewed light thanks to the
debate about legitimacy, citizenship and trust in these volumes, I had to reconsider my initial
question. I first asked myself why these books were relevant in the contemporary anthropological
discourse. I now believe that an ethnographically informed discussion about authority and power
can further our understanding of the contemporary world when placed in such a thought-
provoking and stimulating theoretical background. I think the anthropological contributions of
the two volumes show us the way for a more in-depth understanding of the societies we live in.
