To highlight the overlapping fields of social poetics and cultural familiarity – an original processing with which, inspired by the example of Greece, Michael Herzfeld has left his mark on anthropological thought – Michael Herzfeld starts from the dichotomy between the official standards of national culture and the experiences of ordinary citizens: more specifically, from the paradox that arises when many of them reject state-sanctioned rules, yet in moments of crisis prove to be the most faithful defenders of them.

“Michael Herzfeld shows us, beyond any doubt, that ‘cultural familiarity’ is an essential aspect of national politics in everyday life … The implications of this work for anthropology and political theory more generally are fertile, provocative, and morally complex.” Andrew Shryock, University of Michigan

“The concept of 'cultural familiarity' has resonated with scholars from various fields and today … seems destined to be included in the circle of seminal concepts such as Anderson’s 'imagined community' and Foucault’s 'governmentality' as an essential element of any theoretical discourse surrounding nationalism and the concept of the nation-state.” Peter S. Allen, Rhode Island College