Paper short abstract:

In an age of rising majoritarianism and xenophobia, are anthropology's empathetic methods powerless to fathom such sentiments? Or is anthropological fieldwork itself part of the movement towards mutuality? Can the very process of anthropological research play a role in dissolving hate?

Paper long abstract:

Electoral politics has rewarded hate-mongering and majoritarianism in recent times -- as in the election of Narendra Modi as India's Prime Minister in 2014, and the Brexit vote and the Trump victory in 2016, to name a few of the most alarming instances. The xenophobia and anti-minority sentiment that underlies these developments is profoundly at odds with an anthropological sensibility, which exults in difference and enthusiastically seeks out the unfamiliar. Given this bleak landscape, anthropologists are now having to investigate hate-filled and often paranoid majority populations. It is a necessary first step that precedes the movement towards mutuality. But are our empathetic methods of research well suited to this endeavour? Can ethnography enable us to understand those with whom we fundamentally disagree? Or is the very process of this kind of anthropological research itself part of the movement towards mutuality? By taking unsavoury ideas seriously, can anthropological fieldwork play a role in dissolving them?