This month, papers all over the world spread the news about the first halal car insurance launching in the UK. Needless to say, much appreciated by the somewhat 1, 6 million Muslim UK inhabitants. Coincidently, Sweden is simultaneously getting lots of attention for a similar act. Since last week Avanza is offering a global fond attuned with the laws of Sharia and Folksam, who has been offering insurance that adheres to Sharia law for a while, is now pushing this further by trying to cooperate with a major bank. It is always interesting to study public reactions to major social and culture changes in our society. When financial institutions change their core business idea, such as usury, it’s much more than a simple business opportunity that’s occurring. It’s a significant token for the fact that sociocultural forces will impact concepts that always have been regarded as fixed. That’s exciting!

I held a lecture at Hyper Island and one of the students asked me: “Uh, I don’t really understand, are you together with the people in their lives?”. We take it for granted, but for many people it’s odd. The anthropological research method is all about spending a lot of time together with people in their natural environment, in their places, together with their friends and family. By being there it’s possible to observe at close range and participate in their lives as much as possible. It’s called participant observation.