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AbstractDrawing on ethnographic research with radical right-wing activists in Italy and Poland, my article reflects on the ways in which the Gramscian framework may enhance our understanding of the present-day political landscape. Gramsci's role in the article is threefold. First, since he was a keen observer of fascist developments, I relate his observations on fascism and inquire into their relevance for understanding the rise of the far right today. Second, I explore the agendas of the movements I studied through the Gramscian lens. Inspired by the special issue's editors, I examine the extent to which Gramsci's concept of "common sense" is helpful for analyzing contemporary far-right activism. Third, I relate my own ethnographic observation to analyses of a broader terrain of far-right politics to shed light on the phenomenon of "far-right Gramscianism." Bringing together all these observations on the radical right, "common sense" and Gramsci's legacy, I reflect on the complex interrelationship between the radical right and the radical left.

AbstractBased on long-term ethnographic research, this article contributes to the growing scholarship on far-right social movements by presenting an in-depth account of the Italian far-right scene. In presenting personal accounts of three activists and situating them within the milieus in which they are active, it sheds light on a variety of factors that push youth to engage in far-right militancy. Many researchers of far-right extremism have asserted the need to provide more in-depth knowledge on far-right militants, yet there remain important gaps that this article strives to address. First, it demonstrates the value of the ethnographic approach in the study of far right, which offers unique insights into the motivations for involvement and the relations between ideas, beliefs, and practices. Second, it shows the importance of situating present-day activism in a historical context, not only by looking for long-term patterns but also by paying attention to the ways studied actors engage with historical comparisons. Third, in engaging critically with some commonsensical approaches to far-right activists, the paper suggests that ethnographic studies of far-right activism can give us fresh perspectives on broader social phenomena beyond the far right per se.

Drawing on ethnographic and archival materials, this paper examines the ethnic politics of the Second Polish Republic by taking into account the experiences of the Lemko-Rusyn population, a minority East Slavic group inhabiting the peripheral mountainous area in southern Poland. It illustrates the changing policies towards Lemko-Rusyns and discusses the different responses of the local population to these policies, demonstrating the inadequacy of categories imposed from above as well as manifold motivations behind people's political views, choices of national identification, and religious conversions. In so doing, the article has three main objectives. First, in line with recent critical scholarship on nationalism in the Second Polish Republic, it attempts to problematize the – frequently exaggerated – difference between 'federational' and 'assimilationist' conceptions, exposing the discriminatory nature of interwar minority politics, as experienced locally. Second, moving beyond the interwar period, the article presents the long-term consequences of the interwar policies and the events of the Second World War, including a series of ethnic cleansings that took place in the aftermath of the war as well as present-day discourses on and policies towards ethnic and national minorities. And third, in discussing state actors' agency in the domain of minority policies, it calls for a more thorough recognition of the agency of the people who are the target of those policies. The article considers all these issues by presenting a history of a Lemko-Rusyn locality and its inhabitants, as recorded in school records, state reports, and oral histories.

Departing from an overview of current mass media discourse on the far right, this article suggests why and how social scientists could contribute to a better understanding of current socio-political changes. In presenting an anthropological perspective, it discusses methodological, conceptual, and ethical challenges to conducting research on and with radical right-wing activists and supporters.

AbstractThis article addresses the problem of the present‐day historical discourse in Poland by taking under scrutiny one specific event: the historical re‐enactment of the ethnic cleansing of Polish villagers by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, staged in a small town in southeastern Poland, Radymno, in the summer of 2013. It is based on research, carried out by the author and a group of students in Radymno and its surroundings in the period preceding and following the performance, as well as on content analysis of the press. The comparison of the top‐down political and mass media discourse with local responses to the idea of re‐enactment and, more broadly, local understandings of Polish–Ukrainian relations, reveal many contradictions. In attempting to understand them, the article discusses broader ramifications of the 'democratization of history': the political contestation, class rhetoric and societal tensions that are tangled up in historical debates.

How pluralism becomes hierarchical? Debating pluralism in contemporary PolandThis article discusses the multifaceted nature of religious pluralism. More specifically, it seeks to answer the question why, while advancing the claims of equality and diversity, the idea of pluralism reproduces inequalities and naturalizes hierarchies. In order to illuminate this problem, the article first presents a theoretical discussion and then refers it to the ethnographic evidence from a yearlong fieldwork in a multireligious locality in southeast Poland. It analyzes the impact of the discourse on "multiculturalism" on minorities' plights and it exposes the processes in which religion, reconfigured as "culture" or "tradition," is used as a discriminatory tool. By combining an exploration of a concrete ethnographic setting with an investigation of the broader implications of locally observed phenomena, it demonstrates the importance of anthropological perspective in the study of pluralism, or rather: the importance of a thorough dialogue between theory and ethnography. Dlaczego pluralizm hierarchizuje? Dyskusja na temat pluralizmu we współczesnej PolsceArtykuł podejmuje problem pluralizmu religijnego. Jego celem jest udzielenie odpowiedzi na pytanie dlaczego, mimo iż "pluralizm" promuje różnorodność i równość, równocześnie prowadzi do reprodukowania nierówności i czyni "naturalnymi" hierarchiczne relacje. W tym celu, artykuł w pierwszej kolejności przedstawia teoretyczną dyskusję, następnie zaś łączy ją z obserwacjami z rocznych badań terenowych prowadzonych w wieloreligijnej gminie w południowo-wschodniej Polsce. Poddaje analizie wpływ dyskursu na temat "wielokulturowości" na sytuację mniejszości oraz wyjaśnia, jak religia – rozumiana jako "kulturowy zasób" lub "tradycja" – staje się narzędziem dyskryminacji. łącząc analizę konkretnego przypadku z refleksją na temat szerszych implikacji badanych zjawisk, artykuł dowodzi znaczenia antropologicznej perspektywy w badaniu pluralizmu, a mówiąc precyzyjniej: znaczenia dialogu między teorią a etnografią.

Non-whites, non-males and other non-genuine citizens. The reproduction of social inequalities as seen in Karen Brodkin's 'How Jews Became White Folks and What That Says about America'The article offers a review of Karen Brodkin's How Jews Became White Folks and What That Says about America. Brodkin analyses the social and political transformations in America and puts the analysis in the context of her own autobiography. The first issue that Brodkin investigates are the processes that led to the change in the social status of Jews and other immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe in the 20th century. Second, Brodkin tries to understand her own origins, as well as different life styles and ways of perceiving the Jewish identity present in her family. Beside the analysis itself, Brodkin also offers many interesting remarks on the construction of racial and ethnic categories, discrimination, and the interactions between the ethnic, class and gender aspects of one's identity. Niebiali, niemężczyźni i inni nieprawdziwi obywatele. O reprodukcji społecznych nierówności w książce Karen Brodkin "How Jews Became White Folks and What That Says about Race in America"Artykuł ten stanowi recenzję książki amerykańskiej antropolożki Karen Brodkin, zatytułowanej How Jews Became White Folks and What That Says about Race in America ('Jak Żydzi stali się białymi i co mówi to o zjawisku rasy w Ameryce'), która łączy analizę przemian społeczno-politycznych w Stanach Zjednoczonych z autobiograficznym studium własnych doświadczeń autorki. Tym samym Brodkin podejmuje dwa zasadnicze problemy. Pierwszym z nich jest próba zrozumienia procesów, które doprowadziły do zmiany statusu społecznego Żydów oraz innych imigrantów ze wschodniej i południowej Europy w dwudziestowiecznej Ameryce. Drugą analizowaną kwestią jest próba zrozumienia przez autorkę jej własnego pochodzenia, sytuacji rodzinnej, obowiązujących w jej rodzinie rożnych modeli życia i rożnych sposobów postrzegania tożsamości żydowskiej. Podejmując wymienione zagadnienia, Brodkin oferuje szereg cennych refleksji dotyczących konstrukcji kategorii rasowych i etnicznych, zjawiska dyskryminacji oraz relacji pomiędzy tożsamością etniczną, klasową i genderową.

Non-whites, non-males and other non-genuine citizens. The reproduction of social inequalities as seen in Karen Brodkin's 'How Jews Became White Folks and What That Says about America'The article offers a review of Karen Brodkin's How Jews Became White Folks and What That Says about America. Brodkin analyses the social and political transformations in America and puts the analysis in the context of her own autobiography. The first issue that Brodkin investigates are the processes that led to the change in the social status of Jews and other immigrants from Eastern and Southern Europe in the 20th century. Second, Brodkin tries to understand her own origins, as well as different life styles and ways of perceiving the Jewish identity present in her family. Beside the analysis itself, Brodkin also offers many interesting remarks on the construction of racial and ethnic categories, discrimination, and the interactions between the ethnic, class and gender aspects of one's identity. Niebiali, niemężczyźni i inni nieprawdziwi obywatele. O reprodukcji społecznych nierówności w książce Karen Brodkin "How Jews Became White Folks and What That Says about Race in America"Artykuł ten stanowi recenzję książki amerykańskiej antropolożki Karen Brodkin, zatytułowanej How Jews Became White Folks and What That Says about Race in America ('Jak Żydzi stali się białymi i co mówi to o zjawisku rasy w Ameryce'), która łączy analizę przemian społeczno-politycznych w Stanach Zjednoczonych z autobiograficznym studium własnych doświadczeń autorki. Tym samym Brodkin podejmuje dwa zasadnicze problemy. Pierwszym z nich jest próba zrozumienia procesów, które doprowadziły do zmiany statusu społecznego Żydów oraz innych imigrantów ze wschodniej i południowej Europy w dwudziestowiecznej Ameryce. Drugą analizowaną kwestią jest próba zrozumienia przez autorkę jej własnego pochodzenia, sytuacji rodzinnej, obowiązujących w jej rodzinie rożnych modeli życia i rożnych sposobów postrzegania tożsamości żydowskiej. Podejmując wymienione zagadnienia, Brodkin oferuje szereg cennych refleksji dotyczących konstrukcji kategorii rasowych i etnicznych, zjawiska dyskryminacji oraz relacji pomiędzy tożsamością etniczną, klasową i genderową.

This article discusses the problem of neighborly coexistence in religiously and ethnically diverse settings. It tackles some widespread assumptions regarding the importance of religious/ethnic factors in shaping neighborly relations as well as the question of broader sociopolitical contexts and their impact on neighborly coexistence. In so doing, it argues against those approaches that place 'neighborhood' at the center of debates on the breakdown of societal coexistence and use it as a tool of explanation of interethnic and interreligious conflicts. More specifically, the article engages critically with the way the idea of 'neighborhood' is used in debates on Polish history. It argues that the idea of past harmony and peaceful coexistence in 'multicultural' settings reinforces the image of the Polish society as tolerant and diversity-friendly and stresses that the harmonious neighborly coexistence was brought to an end by 'outsiders.' As a result, not only does it serve the dominant group rather than minorities, but it precludes the understanding of the dynamics of ethnic/religious pluralism. The article therefore suggests that the studies of diversity in Poland should pay closer attention to the context of the dominant-Polish and Catholic-culture in which the diversity has been accommodated. Striving to address this problem, it presents some findings from an ethnographic study of a multireligious and multiethnic neighborhood in rural Poland and provides some comparative insights. [Reprinted by permission of Sage Publications Inc., copyright the American Council of Learned Societies.]

This article discusses the problem of neighborly coexistence in religiously and ethnically diverse settings. It tackles some widespread assumptions regarding the importance of religious/ethnic factors in shaping neighborly relations as well as the question of broader sociopolitical contexts and their impact on neighborly coexistence. In so doing, it argues against those approaches that place "neighborhood" at the center of debates on the breakdown of societal coexistence and use it as a tool of explanation of interethnic and interreligious conflicts. More specifically, the article engages critically with the way the idea of "neighborhood" is used in debates on Polish history. It argues that the idea of past harmony and peaceful coexistence in "multicultural" settings reinforces the image of the Polish society as tolerant and diversity-friendly and stresses that the harmonious neighborly coexistence was brought to an end by "outsiders." As a result, not only does it serve the dominant group rather than minorities, but it precludes the understanding of the dynamics of ethnic/religious pluralism. The article therefore suggests that the studies of diversity in Poland should pay closer attention to the context of the dominant—Polish and Catholic—culture in which the diversity has been accommodated. Striving to address this problem, it presents some findings from an ethnographic study of a multireligious and multiethnic neighborhood in rural Poland and provides some comparative insights.