Conversazioni con Clifford Geertz

This contribution presents a 1993 interview with Clifford Geertz, originally published in «Ossimori» and edited by Andrea Borsari. The conversation addresses key themes of interpretive anthropology: the role of Wittgenstein and hermeneutics, the debate around Writing Culture, religion as a cultural system, the relationship between text and dialogue in ethnographic practice, multiculturalism and ethnic conflict, and the challenges facing anthropology in a world of accelerating cultural entanglement — challenges that, three decades later, have lost none of their urgency. The interview situates Geertz’s work within debates on power, practice, and cultural plurality central to contemporary anthropological theory. The publication of these conversations is preceded by a substantial introduction, written specifically for this occasion, which, drawing on the themes discussed there, explores and presents the works published by the American anthropologist from 1993 until his death in 2006.