Paper short abstract:

From three locations of marginality within the EU (a home town in Wales, a field site in rural Hungary, and a workplace in a poor corner of rich Germany) the contribution will explore varying forms of populism, which has comparable contemporary salience in all three places.

Paper long abstract:

The tensions that have resulted in Brexit take different forms elsewhere in the European Union, but comparisons can be instructive, e.g. between postindustrial South Wales and postsocialist rural Hungary. Even within Germany, the dominant power of the EU, the distribution of populist "countermovements" (Karl Polanyi) can be at least partially explained in terms of political economy. Anthropologists need to grasp emotional dimensions as well as material causalities. When studying those who support populist forms of protest we need to proceed with empathy (Einfühlung), as with other subjects: even if this risks academic colleagues in other disciplines suspecting our own values.