Neoliberal globalization, the punitive, and the pastoral
Neoliberal globalization, the punitive, and the pastoral In this contribution I draw on long-term ethnographic fieldwork in Malaysia and provide an overview of the punitive trends in legal spheres and…
Spiritual economy as mesoanalytics: An ethnography of a global problem space in Indonesia
Spiritual economy as mesoanalytics: An ethnography of a global problem space in Indonesia This essay develops the method of mesoanalysis to comprehend problems shared at divergent sites, but that are…
Global anthropology and the art of the middle range
Global anthropology and the art of the middle range Over the past forty years, Aihwa Ong has invented a remarkable collection of powerful concepts, delivered in compact and vivid terms,…
Ideological blackening, masculinity and comparative racialization: Situating Southeast Asian Americans
Ideological blackening, masculinity and comparative racialization: Situating Southeast Asian Americans This contribution uses a comparative racialization framing to revisit Aihwa Ong’s notion of ideological blackening as applied to Southeast Asian…
The devil’s in the detail: Consequences, intent, and moral futures in anthropology
The devil’s in the detail: Consequences, intent, and moral futures in anthropology Go to Source
Warning against and experimenting with morality
Warning against and experimenting with morality Go to Source
Ethics, morality, and moralizing in anthropological research
Ethics, morality, and moralizing in anthropological research In response to papers by Langlitz on the position of the devil’s advocate and Van Dinther on morality and advocacy, I try to…
Volunteering for the environment in China: The urban as a terrain of problematization
Volunteering for the environment in China: The urban as a terrain of problematization This contribution argues that Aihwa Ong’s approach to the urban as problem-space is a powerful and underutilized…
The ethnography of the global after globalization
The ethnography of the global after globalization This collection of essays seeks to reinvigorate ethnographic investigation of the contemporary global. At a moment afflicted by transnational pandemic, political chauvinism, and…
Reflections on ethnographic fieldwork across a lifetime
Reflections on ethnographic fieldwork across a lifetime Ethnography, Ahead of Print. In this ‘Tale from the Field’, I reflect on the practice of ethnographic fieldwork with folk puppeteers over time,…
Destruction or dialectics: Other iconoclasms and the new heritage culture industry
Destruction or dialectics: Other iconoclasms and the new heritage culture industry This essay examines Zoë Strother’s efforts to historicize recent debates about the repatriation of cultural heritage while also situating…
Devil’s advocate: Sketch of an amoral anthropology
Devil’s advocate: Sketch of an amoral anthropology This essay polemicizes against contemporary anthropology’s ubiquitous moralism and its demand for engagement. It does so by trying on the glasses of evolutionary…
Iconoclasms as sites for the production of knowledge
Iconoclasms as sites for the production of knowledge Go to Source
Rising tides and anthropological morals
Rising tides and anthropological morals Drawing on debates in southern African anthropology, I suggest that where knowledge claims themselves are in question, comparison, uncertainty, and play may be critical in…
Moral anthropology: A critique of criticism
Moral anthropology: A critique of criticism The anthropology of morality continues to be met with resistance. Opposition rests on the perception that one cannot study morals without moralizing or advocating…
Further thoughts on iconoclasm
Further thoughts on iconoclasm Inspired by the thoughts of Zoë Strother, in this short piece I rethink my previous work on iconoclasm in West Africa, saluting her invitation to consider…
Iconoclasm and the restitution of African cultural heritage What role for the communities of owners?
Iconoclasm and the restitution of African cultural heritage What role for the communities of owners? Go to Source
Iconoclasm and restitution: Between denial and cultural realism
Iconoclasm and restitution: Between denial and cultural realism The destruction or loss of objects belonging to African cultural heritage, usually the result of historical antecedents, has had a serious impact…
Passions and pathogens: Notes on the uncertainty of heritage
Passions and pathogens: Notes on the uncertainty of heritage This response to Zoë Strother’s “Iconoclasms in Africa,” specifically its attention to the historical entanglement of museums and iconoclasm, reflects on…
The Wambɲug emblem of the University Félix Houphouët-Boigny and its implications for contemporary iconoclasm in Côte d’Ivoire
The Wambɲug emblem of the University Félix Houphouët-Boigny and its implications for contemporary iconoclasm in Côte d’Ivoire The present reflections are intended as a contribution to the theme of the…