The book addresses key concepts of modern anthropology like "difference" and "identity" in the light of ethnographic evidence from various local settings stretching from Morocco to Indonesia. As the antagonistic and destructive aspects of social identification are also discussed, the book is a contribution to conflict theory, it provides elements of orientation in a world marked by a proliferation of ethnic movements and of nationalisms which become more narrow and more aggressive.
Günther Schlee is Director of the Max Planck Institute for Anthropology in Halle.
