Europe in crisis: grassroots economies and the anthropological turn

This article proposes a new approach to economic processes, one that is grounded in anthropological knowledge. The chaotic management of the crisis expresses the failure of the dominant “economic” paradigm. The time seems ripe for a new methodology and a different theoretical framework altogether. It is time for “Economic” knowledge to address an entire realm of economic behavior that is central to how people deal with their material needs and expectations. Going back to the origins of anthropological approaches to economic practices, we need to observe and listen; we need to hear what people are saying with their actions and arguments about their actions. At the same time we also need to articulate these practices and understandings with other scales of action and meaning, with other logics.