Antropologia e cultura di destra. Introduzione

This introduction frames the thematic issue Anthropology and the Culture of the Right by addressing the profound reconfiguration of political categories that has marked the early twenty-first century. It starts from the growing electoral and cultural shift of popular and subaltern groups toward right-wing movements in Europe and beyond and asks how anthro- pology – historically aligned with emancipatory and egalitarian projects – can interpret and respond to this transformation. Through a reflexive and historically grounded perspective, the text explores the complex entanglements between anthropology, political ideologies, and regimes of power, including fascism, nationalism, and populism. Rejecting simplistic binaries between «right» and «left», it highlights the ambivalence of key anthropological concepts such as culture, tradition, identity, and relativism, and calls for renewed analytical rigor in confronting contemporary illiberal trends.