Must all knowledge and practice be conceived of as ‘cultural’? Does all difference ultimately reduce to cultural difference (and is this an essential form of difference in the constitution of humankind)? Do all notions of citizenship inevitably protect and promote particular cultures (and groups) over and above others? These are some of the questions that Máiréad Nic Craith's article stimulates us to address.

The meaning of citizenship in any given historical period and in any nation-state resides in the way that people conceive of the relationship between themselves and the state. The nature of this relationship has historically been inextricably tied to questions of democracy and where sovereignty lies. Within the modern period, at least since the Levellers in England in the 1640s and 1650s, rival conceptions of the equality of citizens and the sovereignty of the people have been the site of moral and political conflict and, in some famous instances, revolution. Throughout the French revolution, ideas of citizenship were continually being revised and fought over. Even within the relatively narrow confines of France's Second Republic (1848–51), rival conceptions of citizenship implying quite distinct notions of civil equality and political liberty fed deep political struggles. ‘The democrats’ desire was to incorporate social equality into republican citizenship, while the socialists believed it to be inseparable from revolution in relation to capital and labour' (Furet 1995:425). Smashing the ancien régime was only the beginning of a long and bloody struggle for equality before the law.

It is always encouraging when an essay generates discussion and particularly when it attracts reactions from such eminent academics as Catherine Neveu, Nigel Rapport, Alexandra Ouroussoff and Christina Toren. The significance of culture for citizenship is a topic of relevance for anthropologists and sociologists alike, and all of the responses endorse the central theme of my essay, which is to suggest that anthropologists can make a particularly useful contribution to the study of citizenship. However they do not necessarily support all aspects of the case I make, and I am grateful to the editor for permission to include a very brief rejoinder here.

Kochakova, Natalia B. (ed.). 2002. Ethnologica africana. In memory of Dmitri Alexeyevich Olderogge (in Russian, with English summaries). Moscow: Muravei. 384 pp. No price given. ISBN: 5 89737 129 6.

Kemper, Steven. 2001. Buying and believing. Sri Lankan advertising and consumers in a transnational world. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. x + 264 pp. Pb.: $20.00. ISBN: 0 226 43041 3. Malefyt, Timothy de Waal and Brian Moeran (eds.). 2003. Advertising cultures. Oxford: Berg. xiv + 220 pp. Pb.: £16.99/$24.95. ISBN: 1 85973 678 5. Mazzarella, William. 2003. Shoveling smoke. Advertising and globalisation in contemporary India. Durham NC: Duke University Press. xxii + 365 pp. Pb.: $22.95. ISBN: 0 8223 3145 4.