Post-Zionism and Israel's 'new anthropologists': interview with Professor Dan Rabinowitz and Professor Khaled Furani

In this interview with Professors Dan Rabinowitz and Khaled Furani we reflect on the article regarding ‘The ethnographic arrival of Palestine’ that was published in the Annual Review of Anthropology in 2011. The aim of this interview is to open a debate regarding how Palestine has become an anthropological subject of inquiry in the last few decades. It is also interesting to reflect on which events have given relevance to the interpretation of the two authors. Both have different approaches in their views of the study of Palestine with regards to the ethnographical methods. In Italian universities these issues are hardly studied, except for a few collaborations between young PhD students and Israeli scholars, so this interview will be the first step in a larger process of translation and collaboration between Israeli and Palestinian scholars. The two authors start their reflections by explaining the four modalities that they have individualised: Biblical Palestine, Oriental Palestine, Absent Palestine and Post-structural Palestine. Their survey yielded 420 relevant articles, chapters and books by anthropologists, written in English. Their interview also takes into consideration the evolving perspectives of future collaborations and the role that anthropology can play in describing emergent fields of knowledge and power regarding Palestine and Israel.