Ethics without Borders: Solidarity and Difference in Inter-community Dialogue

Egorova, Yulia

Abstract

The article offers an ethnographically embedded analysis of a UK-based Jewish-Muslim inter-community network to contribute to anthropological research into the ethical efforts that groups seen as polarized invest in negotiating boundaries of difference. The article makes two sets of arguments. First, it suggests that sometimes such groups have to negotiate not one but several ‘borders across difference’ and follow diverse ethical routes to navigate them depending upon how they conceptualize these borders. Second, it shows that in negotiating different sets of boundaries, network members often use techniques that at first glance appear to be artificial or even superficial in that they build on formal rules and/or contain no promise of achieving a consensus on issues important for the participants. However, I argue that these seemingly superficial efforts could still be seen as ethical endeavours underpinned by a strong commitment to inter-group solidarity and that they could be best understood as what Ruth Sheldon has described in her recent intervention in the ethics of Jewish ethnography as the movement between surface and depth.

Citation

Egorova, Y. (2023). Ethics without Borders: Solidarity and Difference in Inter-community Dialogue. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.14057

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 3, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Nov 20, 2023
• Publication Date: Nov 20, 2023
• Deposit Date: Jul 13, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 21, 2025
• Journal: Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
• Print ISSN: 1359-0987
• Electronic ISSN: 1467-9655
• Publisher: Wiley
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.14057
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1168806