Foregrounding the Muslim periphery ( At anthropology today )

Foregrounding the Muslim periphery  ( At anthropology  today )

Guest Editorial by Jonathan Benthall

 Social anthropology has intermittently succeeded in claiming a seat at the top tables of international affairs, but its spiritual home remains at the margins. Hence the temptation to become a sectarian enclave. An alternative response – because so many of the peoples that have been its traditional focus of enquiry are suffering severely – is to engage in activism, like Survival International. Suppose, though, that an intellectual formulation were found that could bring anthropology to the heart of momentous discussions in Western foreign ministries and the White House, while also foregrounding the predicament of mar­ginal peoples as a reproach to the West’s moral conscience?