W(h)ither anthropology? Opening up or closing down (Respond to this article at http://www.therai.org.uk/at/debate)

This editorial provides a brief overview of the place of anthropology in the work of International Financial Institutions (IFI) and argues for a more central role for the subject in building a more sustainable and equitable future. Anthropologists have always wanted to open things up, rather than close them down ‐ to explore ambiguities and possibilities rather than impose externally conceived solutions. The editorial argues for the development of a science of morality based on anthropological perspectives that reach back to enlightenment thinkers and that reconfigure premises developed and informed by a linear perspective on the meaning of development. This is particularly important at this time because of the recent failures of financial institutions and a growing recognition that the millennium development goals are unattainable in the terms in which they have been conceived.     

Immigration and the making of place in Paris

Since the late nineteenth century, France has been a destination for people outside its borders. In recent decades, most immigrants have come from outside of Europe, often from ex-colonies in Northern Africa, West Africa, and Indochina. The Parisian area has welcomed a disproportionate share of these immigrants and neighborhoods have been shaped and reshaped to reflect their presence. This paper examines three neighborhoods in Paris—Belleville, the Triangle de Choisy, and the Goutte d'Or—which are each composed of and shaped by separate ethnic populations. To a great extent, these neighborhoods are imprinted by commercial activity, often involving customers who come from well outside the neighborhood and networks that extend beyond the nation. They also show patterns of multiethnicity which allows for difference between groups to be maintained, even as the space shared between them is effectively negotiated.