In this article I discuss two domains of knowledge that my Serbian informants labelled as impenetrable to Western knowledge: carousing in Gypsy bars (a practice called lumpovanje) and Serbian history. ‘This is something only Serbs can understand’ is what my friends and informants would tell me over and over again. Uncovering the realms of lived experience that inform this sense of being definitely Other, I will explore the theoretical implications of this obstinate otherness for the anthropological project.
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