Culture and citizenship in Europe: Questions for anthropologists

Culture and citizenship have frequently been regarded as concepts for separate disciplines and the anthropological focus on culture has distracted attention from the concept of citizenship. Although sociologists have traditionally neglected the cultural dimension of citizenship, I argue that citizenship is an inherently cultural concept, which projects it firmly into the realm of anthropology. Whether the relationship between citizenship and culture is explicit as in the Baltic States, or denied as in the case of France, I argue that the concept of 'culture-blind' citizenship is impossible and that anthropologists can have a significant input into the understanding of contemporary citizenship. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)