Migration, village sociality, and mistrust: An exploration
Migration, village sociality, and mistrust: An exploration This article examines the phenomenon of migration in India’s villages. Drawing on research in Jharkhand and Maharashtra and selected village ethnographies it illustrates…
There was no future in the past: Time and the environment in rural Namibia
There was no future in the past: Time and the environment in rural Namibia To explain how Namibian pastoralists envision the future of the climate and the environment, I develop…
Video footage and the grain of practice
Video footage and the grain of practice In his essay on the cockfight, Clifford Geertz charted a now familiar course in anthropological argument. He showed how the minute details of…
Ethnography as creative improvisation: Exploring methods in (post) pandemic times
Ethnography as creative improvisation: Exploring methods in (post) pandemic times This article discusses the possibilities and limitations of digital creative methods developed by the author in response to lockdown and…
Uncanny ethics: Locating the coordinates of the ethical in the COVID-19 pandemic
Uncanny ethics: Locating the coordinates of the ethical in the COVID-19 pandemic The recent anthropological focus on “ordinary ethics” emerges out of a concern to attend to the ethical aspect…
The sacred unbound: Insufficient rituals, excess life, and divine agency in rural Tamil Nadu
The sacred unbound: Insufficient rituals, excess life, and divine agency in rural Tamil Nadu Dissonances between human expectations and actual experiences of sacred presence and actions—as materialized in unexplained deaths,…
Home as a second skin: A contribution to a theory of magic (of tidying)
Home as a second skin: A contribution to a theory of magic (of tidying) In this article, I describe a “magical” dimension in the work of home organizers (HOs) in…
The logic of magic: Reading Wittgenstein’s remarks on Frazer’s The golden bough
The logic of magic: Reading Wittgenstein’s remarks on Frazer’s The golden bough This article centers on a close reading of Ludwig Wittgenstein’s Remarks on Frazer’s The golden bough, showing how…
Economy, emulation, and equality: Sociogenesis in the postsocialist capitalocene: Gudeman Lecture, University of Minnesota, March 21, 2022
Economy, emulation, and equality: Sociogenesis in the postsocialist capitalocene: Gudeman Lecture, University of Minnesota, March 21, 2022 Economy and emulation are freighted concepts. They draw attention to universal phenomena, the…
Magic, metaphysics, and methods
Magic, metaphysics, and methods Go to Source
Reflections on Unwritten Letters and the neorealism of contingency
Reflections on Unwritten Letters and the neorealism of contingency Go to Source
Reflections on the healing power of collaborative filmmaking: The case of Unwritten Letters
Reflections on the healing power of collaborative filmmaking: The case of Unwritten Letters Go to Source
Relational filmmaking: Reflections in response to comments on Unwritten Letters
Relational filmmaking: Reflections in response to comments on Unwritten Letters Go to Source
Time, grief, and hope on film
Time, grief, and hope on film Go to Source
Catharsis after the hangover: A focus on Unwritten Letters
Catharsis after the hangover: A focus on Unwritten Letters Go to Source
At the track: Gambling on the science of anthropology
At the track: Gambling on the science of anthropology Go to Source
Untamed Amazonia: Comments on an enchanted book
Untamed Amazonia: Comments on an enchanted book Go to Source
Life-giving and death-dealing powers
Life-giving and death-dealing powers Go to Source
Brotherhood at times of war: Reviewing the film Unwritten Letters
Brotherhood at times of war: Reviewing the film Unwritten Letters Go to Source
Filming as being, images as evidence
Filming as being, images as evidence When is film taken as evidence of the past and of truths in the world and when does the content become less significant than…