Preface: An anthropologist of the contemporary
Preface: An anthropologist of the contemporary This Festschrift presents essays from a symposium organized in honor of Paul Rabinow. Our hope is that, collectively, the essays offer a sense of…
Paul Rabinow, midst anthropology’s problems
Paul Rabinow, midst anthropology’s problems Paul Rabinow’s essay “Midst anthropology’s problems,” published in Cultural Anthropology in 2001, is both a midpoint and a point of inflection in Rabinow’s intellectual trajectory.…
Fieldwork: Problems we are still required to think
Fieldwork: Problems we are still required to think This article re-engages with Paul Rabinow’s Reflections on fieldwork in Morocco, originally published in 1977, to consider the ways in which social…
When we were modern
When we were modern This essay situates Paul Rabinow’s work on modernist planning relative to the discipline of anthropology at the end of the 1980s, recalling the significance of treating…
The burden of choice and the triumph of the event: Freedom in the Yemeni revolution
The burden of choice and the triumph of the event: Freedom in the Yemeni revolution In the anthropology of ethics there has been a growing interest in the concept of…
Censorship, foreclosure, and the three deaths of Fengzhen
Censorship, foreclosure, and the three deaths of Fengzhen This article draws on Judith Butler’s distinction between censorship and foreclosure, and on Saidiya Hartman’s work about how to narrate the silences…
Twilight states: Comparing case studies of hysteria and spirit possession
Twilight states: Comparing case studies of hysteria and spirit possession This article compares two case studies: that of Anna O., whose hysteria helped found psychoanalysis, with that of possessed Wolof…
Born again, again: Witchcraft, Pentecostal conversions, and spiritual rebirth in the Trobriand Islands
Born again, again: Witchcraft, Pentecostal conversions, and spiritual rebirth in the Trobriand Islands In the Trobriand Islands of Papua New Guinea (PNG), yoyowa (consistently translated as “witches” by English-speaking Trobrianders)…
“I like you being here”: To understand and be understood through illustration
“I like you being here”: To understand and be understood through illustration In this article, I establish some reasons why neurodivergent (ND) people are unlocatable in anthropology and examine a…
Data witnessing: Making sense of urban air in Copenhagen, Denmark
Data witnessing: Making sense of urban air in Copenhagen, Denmark Taking air pollution in Copenhagen as a case of environmental change, this article discusses the different ways that data are…
Tools for an efficient witness: Deskilling science and devaluing labor at an agro-environmental research institute
Tools for an efficient witness: Deskilling science and devaluing labor at an agro-environmental research institute Expectations that research should not only generate real-world impacts but do so in a way…
Connectionwork: “Connection” in the practices and perspectives of Israeli neoforagers
Connectionwork: “Connection” in the practices and perspectives of Israeli neoforagers Despite their centrality to foundational conceptions of relations in anthropology and their casual use in contemporary discourse, “connections” are only…
Situated inconveniences and short-term temporalities: Experiences of living close to a waste facility site
Situated inconveniences and short-term temporalities: Experiences of living close to a waste facility site This article investigates people’s experiences of residing close to a municipal waste facility site. Its focus…
Found again in translation? Standardizing the authenticity of guaraná among the Sateré-Mawé people (Brazilian Amazon)
Found again in translation? Standardizing the authenticity of guaraná among the Sateré-Mawé people (Brazilian Amazon) This article analyzes a certification process undertaken by Sateré-Mawé indigenous people from the Brazilian Amazon,…
Witnessing from within: Hyperobjects and climate activism in Poland
Witnessing from within: Hyperobjects and climate activism in Poland This article explores practices of witnessing global warming developed in recent years by climate movements in Poland. Timothy Morton’s concept of…
We’ve never seen anything like it: Witnessing coral death and resurrection
We’ve never seen anything like it: Witnessing coral death and resurrection The last “global coral bleaching event” lasted three years (2014–2017), solidifying the plight of the world’s coral reefs as…
Smoke’s screens: Media, fire, and the politics of apprehension
Smoke’s screens: Media, fire, and the politics of apprehension This article analyzes the relationship between media, fire ecology, and Indigenous fire management in the context of Australia’s catastrophic fire events…
Noise viscerality: Navigating relations in a sonic climate
Noise viscerality: Navigating relations in a sonic climate By hearing and identifying a noise problem, residents in Taiwan transmute the visceral experience of noise in relation to neighbors, the state,…
Gridlock: Vigilance and early warning in the shadow of climate change
Gridlock: Vigilance and early warning in the shadow of climate change This article examines how Guyana’s storm early warning system shapes political imaginaries of climate adaptation. Specifically, it focuses on…
Nature itself
Nature itself Go to Source