A thousand Nagdis (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate)

A tributary of the Banas, the Nagdi River flows through the old market town of Jahazpur in Bhilwara District, Rajasthan. Unlike India's major sacred waterways such as the Ganga and the Yamuna which have the status of goddesses, the Nagdi was never deified. However, it figures in Jahazpur's origin legend, reaching back to the epic Mahabharata. Due to a complex convergence of conditions unique to this place but resonant with ecological tragedies the world over, the Nagdi's flow has dwindled and its waters are badly polluted. Everyone in Jahazpur with whom the authors spoke during fieldwork in 2010–11 mourned the end of their river. Once proud of the Nagdi's beauty and miraculous properties, Jahazpur residents were aware of having lost an important part of their environmental and cultural heritage. This article explores the complex causalities of the Nagdi's deterioration and emergent possibilities for its restoration.     

Iraq: The state‐of‐nature effect (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate)

In the civil strife of ancient Greek cities that was the model for Hobbes' state of nature, the intervention of the larger forces of Athens and Sparta, proclaiming unconditional causes‐to‐die‐for, transformed local social differences into lethal factional enmities. Death then raged from many quarters. The same effect of anarchic violence has followed from imperial conquer‐and‐divide policies in modern colonial and post‐colonial societies. The present paper documents the processes by which the American intervention in Iraq transformed a plural nation into a bellum omnium contra omnes. Historically, the state of nature appears as the effect of the subversion of the social contract rather than its precondition.     

Ratko Mladić: Relativism,myth and reality (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate)

This editorial explores the context of the arrest and subsequent extradition to the ICTY at the Hague of Ratko Mladi?, former Bosnian Serb Army Commander. As Mladi? acquired an almost mythical status among the Serbs, the issue of dealing with the recent past is important, especially when relativized in relation to recent events. This offers an excellent opportunity for the anthropology of violence and reconciliation processes, as well to re‐examine some of the old debates of the relationship between universalism and relativism when it comes to human rights. Since some of these issues have been present there for a number of years, Serbia offers a unique opportunity to further our understanding of some of these processes.     

Branding halal: A photographic essay on global Muslim markets (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate)

In the rapidly expanding global market for halal products, Malaysia and Singapore hold a special position as the only two countries in the world where state bodies certify halal products, spaces (shops, factories and restaurants) as well as work processes. In these two countries and in shops all around the world, consumers can find state halal‐certified products that carry distinctive halal marks. This photographic essay explores the properties of halal marks in Malaysia and Singapore within a framework of visual systems and the conditions of their interpretation, relating the particular systems to the complexities of which they are a part. More specifically, I explore the visual systems of halal marks on products, advertisements, shops as well as restaurants.     

The Gaza Freedom Flotilla: Ethnographic notes on ‘othering violence’ (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate)

This narrative recounts the events that unfolded around the Gaza Freedom Flotilla as witnessed by an anthropologist invited onboard one of its ships. It shows a pervasive preoccupation of neocolonial states with Othering violence. This is defined as the ability to transform spaces of liberation and solidarity into spaces of deviation and imprisonment. The choice to be an outspoken participant‐observer opens up novel spaces for reflection and research otherwise left to the sensationalist tendencies of journalism and the propaganda machinery of states. Moreover, acting as witnesses to events such as these, in our professional academic as well as in our personal capacity, could also be a last line of defence against expanding Othering violence.     

‘Bongo Bongo’ and reconfiguring the ‘other’ (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate)

Fear of immigration has brought about a shift in UK politics. In this new climate, diversity is no longer welcome and the Home Office's message is clear: ‘go home or face arrest’. This editorial addresses the overlap between legal and ethnic categories in this politics of alterity and argues that what is at stake in these debates is nothing less than the reconfiguration of a fit‐and‐proper UK citizen.     

‘Spreading grace’ in post‐Soviet Russia (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate)

The article addresses the revival of Russian Orthodoxy as a prominent domain in the lives of many Russians. The six authors are interested in the underlying question: What makes Russian Orthodoxy a relevent and modern source of morality and identity? The circumstances of this branch of Christianity significantly differ from what has been discussed in recent years as ‘the anthropology of Christianity’. The article proposes a thematic approach in order to connect the exploration of Russian Orthodoxy to the study of other denominations. A key‐area is the disctinctive articulation between continuity and change, which is crucial to the understanding of some branches of Protestantism as well.