That philanthropy perpetuates the conditions that cause inequality is an old argument shared by thinkers such as Karl Marx, Oscar Wilde and Slavoj Žižek. I recorded variations of the same argument in local conversations regarding growing humanitarian concern in austerity-ridden Greece. Local critiques of the efficacy of humanitarianism, which I explore here ethnographically, bring to the fore two parallel possibilities engendered by the 'humanitarian face' of solidarity initiatives: first, their empowering potential (where solidarity initiatives enhance local social awareness), and second, the depoliticisation of the crisis (a liability that stems from the effectiveness of humanitarianism in ameliorating only temporarily the superficial consequences of the crisis). These two possibilities -which I treat as simultaneous and interrelated -can help us appreciate the complexity and social embeddedness of humanitarian solidarity in times of austerity.

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The introduction to this special collection examines five dilemmas about the use of the concept of authenticity in anthropological analysis. These relate to 1) the expectation of a singular authenticity "deep" in oneself or beyond the surface of social reality, 2) the contradictions emerging from the opposition of authenticity with inauthenticity, 3) the irony of the notion of invention of tradition (which deconstructs, but also offends), 4) the criteria involved in the authentication of the age of objects (with a consideration of their materiality), and 5) authenticity's simultaneity, its contemporaneous multiple conceptualizations in context. I argue for a perspective on the study of authenticity that acknowledges the simultaneous co-existence of more than one parallel manifestation of authenticity in any given negotiation of the authentic.

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3 dismal failure; François Burgat, who sees it as a contestation of Western domination reliant on quasi-indigenous values but not necessarily incompatible with modernity; and Olivier Carré, who explores the potential for an Islamic secularism. Adelkhah sees some merit in all these arguments but, like the good anthropologist she is, finds them all over-generalized and over-stressing the importance of religion as a social determinant.If there is one limitation which makes even the best Middle East ethnography of the 1970s seem dated now, it is its media blindness. Publications such as those mentioned here should help not perhaps directly to predict the future in this particularly complex and volatile region, but towards setting up a framework of interpretation so that the social sciences will not be quite as taken aback by events as they were twenty years ago. !