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Twentieth-century anthropology has been operating with the assumption of one nature and many cultures, one reality experienced and lived in many different ways. Its primary job, therefore, has been to render the otherness of the other understandable, to demonstrate that although different it is also the same; in short, to show that although other, others are people like us. The latest theoretical paradigm, known as the ‘ontological turn’, appears to reverse this assumption and to posit many natures and one culture. Whether it does in fact reverse it and constitutes a meta-ontology, as critics have pointed out, or it is only a heuristic, methodological device, as some of the proponents of the ‘turn’ have recently argued, the contention of my article is the same: first, this move – the ontological – is made in the hope of doing a better job in redeeming otherness than earlier anthropological paradigms; second, it fails as they did – in the same way and for the same reasons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay explores that resurgence of religion in the Greek-speaking world popularly known as 'neo-Orthodoxy'. It distinguishes between two versions, one that broadly conforms to the stereotype of revitalised religion as a particularistic, exclusive and intolerant phenomenon and one that challenges the stereotype by maintaining a universalistic and inclusive attitude. The essay argues that although the latter version may appear as something of a paradox, there is nothing paradoxical or extraordinary about it. Christianity is a rationalised, universalised vision of the world and by definition it includes all, even the 'misguided'. Nor is there anything extraordinary about the fact that its universalism is often compromised by historicity and the situatedness of life. Rationalised, universalised visions of the world are inherently unstable in this sense, but this predicament is not unique to Christianity or other religious traditions. It befalls also the tradition that presents itself as the very embodiment of tolerance and understanding, namely, Western humanism and its posthumanist version exemplified by environmentalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay reflects on the postcolonial condition in Cyprus and argues that political independence does not mean the end of colonialism. Power is not merely what prevents people from doing what they wish to do but also, and more importantly, what colonises the mind and predisposes them to think and act in specific ways. The main contention of the essay is that 'independent' Cyprus is ruled by the idea of Europe and the desire to be recognised and confirmed as a modern European society. The essay further argues that it is largely because of this idea that Greek and Turkish Cypriots have not managed to live together on this island. They have been trying to reach this phantom destination -- modernity -- travelling apart. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with the hegemonic relations between Europe and the Greek-speaking world as these are reflected in Greek perceptions of the Self and Others. It argues that how Greeks think about Turks—the stereotypical religious, ethnic and cultural Other—cannot be understood outside the context of Greek cultural dependence on Europe. As European attitudes to Others change from blatant ethnocentrism to patronizing multiculturalism, so do, in a similar vein, Greek attitudes towards Turks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the theory of 'reflexive modernization' which is primarily associated with the names of Anthony Giddens and Ulrich Beck. It examines the pressures under which the re-definition of modernity as 'pure' reflexivity emerged and suggests that among these, poststructuralism has been the most fundamental. It also examines how the theory, by refashioning modernity, strives to maintain western identity over and above its other, the traditional, as well as to retain the privileges that this identity bestows. The article concludes by arguing that the theory constructs a mythical reality which, however, cannot be taken seriously even as a myth. Its narrators are unaware of what their story does but, unlike the narrators of native myths, they utterly contradict themselves by claiming to be guided by 'wholesale' reflexivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Argues that people who make recourse to the notion of magic to explain particular events and actions are employing a strategy aimed at redefining problematic situations to their advantage. Interviews conducted in Paphos in western Cyprus and Nicosia; Practice of magic in Cyprus; Magic as explanation for marital conflicts; Basic village assumptions about marriage and the roles of men and women in society.