Diasporic baraka
Diasporic baraka In this paper I reflect on two interconnected phenomena associated with Lebanese migration: a high incidence of gambling among immigrants and the experience of migration itself as a…
Gambling and divining are not similar but “neighboring practices”
Gambling and divining are not similar but “neighboring practices” In a paper published in 1926, Lévy-Bruhl suggests a close affinity between the mentality of the gambler and the diviner, putting…
Seeing numbers: Interpretations of dream images and urban uncertainty
Seeing numbers: Interpretations of dream images and urban uncertainty This article explores the interpretive and divinatory practices and strategies used in the South African street-based lottery game fafi. The game,…
Reincarnation redux
Reincarnation redux Jarillo et al.’s attempted refutation of Malinowski’s claims as to Trobrianders’ “universally” shared belief in baloma reincarnation fails. Contrary to their claims, Malinowski’s “Baloma” article (1916) documented wide,…
Introduction: “Lévy-Bruhl on gambling”
Introduction: “Lévy-Bruhl on gambling” After his most successful book, La mentalité primitive (), Lévy-Bruhl published in The Criterion, a journal then directed by poet T. S. Elliott, an article entitled…
Primitive mentality and games of chance
Primitive mentality and games of chance Go to Source
Believing the unbelieved: Reincarnation, cultural authority, and politics in the Trobriand Islands
Believing the unbelieved: Reincarnation, cultural authority, and politics in the Trobriand Islands Go to Source
“Signs that herald the future”: Lévy-Bruhl and games of chance
“Signs that herald the future”: Lévy-Bruhl and games of chance The response addresses Lévy-Bruhl's 1926 essay, “Primitive mentality and games of chance,” focusing on the gambler's role as an interpreter…
Brexit as postindustrial critique
Brexit as postindustrial critique Anthropologists and other commentators struggle to make sense of pre-COVID-19 political developments in the postindustrial Global North. Various narratives were created to explain these dramatic events…
Brexit and the decolonization of Ireland
Brexit and the decolonization of Ireland The response to Brexit in Ireland needs to be considered in relation to the long-term and short-term histories of the relationship between Ireland and…
The rebirth of an old question: A comment on “Where are our ancestors? Rethinking Trobriand cosmology”
The rebirth of an old question: A comment on “Where are our ancestors? Rethinking Trobriand cosmology” Jarillo et al. have offered an insightful rethinking of the role of baloma in…
Malinowski as ancestor
Malinowski as ancestor Jarillo et al. present evidence showing that Trobrianders today do not espouse rebirth, contrary to Trobriand views as described by Malinowski. Closer attention to Malinowski, however, shows…
Where are our ancestors? Rethinking Trobriand cosmology
Where are our ancestors? Rethinking Trobriand cosmology Reincarnation has been a fundamental tenet of anthropologists’ representations of Trobriand cosmology since Bronislaw Malinowski published “Baloma; The spirits of the dead in…
Reflecting on Hong Kong protests in 2019–2020
Reflecting on Hong Kong protests in 2019–2020 Mass protests erupted in June 2019 in Hong Kong due to widespread anger about a proposed amendment to the extradition law. As a…
Black bloc against red China: Tears and revenge in the trenches of the new Cold War
Black bloc against red China: Tears and revenge in the trenches of the new Cold War During the mass protest movement, Hong Kong has witnessed intense and disturbing levels of…
Amidst backward-walking somnambulists
Amidst backward-walking somnambulists This Currents section provides accounts of Britain’s exit (Brexit) or departure from the European Union (EU)—a decision based on a closely won referendum in June 2016, and…
Brexit and the temporalities of racism in British higher education
Brexit and the temporalities of racism in British higher education Brexit has brought into visibility various strands of racist thinking and practice that have, for many years, simmered under the…
Andrew’s white cross, Hussain’s red blood: Being Scottish Shia in Brexit’s no-man’s-land
Andrew’s white cross, Hussain’s red blood: Being Scottish Shia in Brexit’s no-man’s-land Brexit was a project shaped at the fringes of official politics. Unusually, however, it maintained its fringe-like qualities,…
Youth political agency in Hong Kong’s 2019 antiauthoritarian protests
Youth political agency in Hong Kong’s 2019 antiauthoritarian protests The Anti-Extradition Law Amendment Bill (Anti-ELAB) protests have witnessed unprecedented levels, both in terms of size and violence expressed by the…
Hong Kong identities and the friends and enemies of recent protests
Hong Kong identities and the friends and enemies of recent protests This essay analyzes the current protests in Hong Kong from the perspective of the friends/enemies dialectic. It depicts the…