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A group of fifty scholars met in May 2004 at the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Lisbon to discuss what the future of social anthropology would be. A similar debate was held fifteen years ago when it was concluded that in a newly unified Europe, social anthropology had an important role to play, and when a whole new region of Europe enters into the European Union, bringing with it its own specific intellectual traditions and perspectives, it seems particularly appropriate to re-launch the debate.

Issues concerning secularism in the practice of anthropology are examined. Topics include anthropological theory, western perspectives of secularism, and secularism as it relates to politics.

Many social anthropology texts use the term 'ethnographic present' inaccurately. This phrase is most accurately applied to awareness of all ethnography's conjunctural nature.