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There are two meanings attached to the concept 'Europeanist' when applied within the boundaries of our discipline. The term can be used to refer to the practice of anthropology in Europe (e.g. Grillo 1980; Macdonald 1993). This usage primarily indicates the region where fi eldwork and research is carried out, as when we label other such fi elds of anthropological practice 'Africanist' or 'Americanist'. It is thus a mere indication of the regional focus of interest. A more circumscribed usage would take Europeanist anthropology as the anthropology of Europe (e.g. Goddard, Llobera and Shore 1994; Barrera- González 2005). The broader object of study being Europe itself, the term could not be properly applied to whatever piece of research and writing done on some part of Europe. Instead, it would entail studies with a substantial comparative dimension and/or a regional outlook.
In a still more restrictive sense, Europeanist research might be defi ned as the investigation of the processes of Europeanization in any of its multiple dimensions. Over the last twenty years or so there has been growing interest in the anthropological study of the institutions of Europe and the processes of its political constitution (Abélès 1992, 1996; Borneman and Fowler 1997; Bellier and Wilson 2000; Shore 2000). These are primarily the endeavours of applying anthropological theory and methodologies to the studies of European politics and efforts of bringing about a supranational polity. One main aim of a Europeanist anthropology in this sense would be to trace the characteristic features of the whole region, in order to grasp some ideas and imageries of Europe, broach the investigation of new emerging social and cultural realities (cf. Malmborg and Stråth 2000; Pagden 2002). However, a Europeanist approach to research where Europe is the primary object of study ought necessarily to have an interdisciplinary character, because it touches on issues of philosophy, history, political science and sociology, semiotics, narrative studies and the like.
If we are to take up the concept 'Europeanist' in the most circumscribed sense, we will have to face important theoretical and epistemological challenges. Is Europe an overarching idea, a concept that has a currency only in the domain of high culture, or is it rather a cluster of experiences shared by a set of diverse...