This study's main theme involves the delineation of the possible ethical implications of certain forms of deconstructive anthropological research into ethnicity, nationalism, and cultural identity. To explore this general theme in a more concrete way, a specific case study was chosen--the Zionist movement in Palestine. This decision was made in recognition of the movement's status as arguably one of the most successful of the many recent attempts at melding ethnic group identification with the idea of deliberately constructing both a modern nation-state and particular cultural identity. The choice of this social movement, bound up as it is with such politically sensitive issues as anti-Semitism, European colonialism, and the current Israeli-Palestinian conflict, also has the added advantage of explicitly highlighting the more ethically problematic aspects of some forms of social research, aspects that can be all too easily ignored when they involve other indigenous or minority groups of lesser social status and political influence vis-a?-vis the Euro-American academic system.
