Mathematical traditions in Ancient Greece and Rome
Mathematical traditions in Ancient Greece and Rome There were different ways of doing mathematics in the ancient Greek and Roman world. This essay will explore historiographical approaches to this diversity,…
A clash of ontologies? Time, law, and science in Papua New Guinea
A clash of ontologies? Time, law, and science in Papua New Guinea Stimulated by recent discussions of temporality, this essay is about abrupt transitions. What is happening when such transitions…
Inventing nature: Christianity and science in indigenous Amazonia
Inventing nature: Christianity and science in indigenous Amazonia Based on long-term ethnographic research among the Wari’ Indians from Amazonia, this essay aims to analyze the ontological and moral changes related…
Different clusters of text from ancient China, different mathematical ontologies
Different clusters of text from ancient China, different mathematical ontologies Sources attesting to mathematical activities in ancient China form at least four distinct clusters of texts, bespeaking at least four…
New publishing demands new magic
New publishing demands new magic Go to Source
The clash of ontologies and the problems of translation and mutual intelligibility
The clash of ontologies and the problems of translation and mutual intelligibility We face interlocking questions: (a) of translatability/mutual intelligibility and (b) ontology/reality—that is, what is there to be understood.…
What is a polity? 2018 Lewis H. Morgan Lecture
What is a polity? 2018 Lewis H. Morgan Lecture In this revised text of the 2018 Lewis Henry Morgan Lecture, we encounter two communities—one a village in highland Crete, the…
Deconstructing anthropology: First Annual Stephen F. Gudeman Lecture
Deconstructing anthropology: First Annual Stephen F. Gudeman Lecture This lecture makes a start at deconstructing some of anthropology’s most venerable avatars. Classical theories invoked a certain kind of person as…
Future orientations
Future orientations Go to Source
The semi-scholars
The semi-scholars Go to Source
Introduction to The semi-scholars, by Arnold van Gennep
Introduction to The semi-scholars, by Arnold van Gennep Go to Source
Total social phenomena and social dynamics
Total social phenomena and social dynamics Go to Source
Precariousness and prosperity among Javanese fish traders
Precariousness and prosperity among Javanese fish traders Fish traders in a port on the north coast of Central Java say that they work as hard as they do so that…
Time-rich: 1960s counterculture and time as affluence in a dropout community in Hawai‘i
Time-rich: 1960s counterculture and time as affluence in a dropout community in Hawai‘i What does it mean to be rich? This paper explores prosperity from the perspective not of material…
“The vulture without fear”: Exploring the noble Muslim in contemporary rural Mali
“The vulture without fear”: Exploring the noble Muslim in contemporary rural Mali This article explores the relationship between religiosity and prosperity through a particular ethnographic case from Mali and interrogates…
In search of dignity: Political economy and nationalism among Palestinian camp dwellers in Amman
In search of dignity: Political economy and nationalism among Palestinian camp dwellers in Amman This article aims to problematize the well-rehearsed argument that the rise of the neoliberal tide has…
Multiplication through division: Value, time, and prosperity in Indonesia
Multiplication through division: Value, time, and prosperity in Indonesia The paper explores contemporary practices of value multiplication among Muslims in Indonesia, paying particular attention to the rise to public prominence…
Forms of life and life itself: Reflections on human relations with ideas, artworks, and other species
Forms of life and life itself: Reflections on human relations with ideas, artworks, and other species This essay explores experiences that lie ambiguously between the inchoate, the intuitive, and the…
Life on the cusp of form: In search of worldliness with Palestinian refugees in Tyre, Lebanon
Life on the cusp of form: In search of worldliness with Palestinian refugees in Tyre, Lebanon This essay argues for making worldliness a question for anthropological inquiry, and a heuristic…
Anthropological investigations of vitality: Life force as a dimension distinct from space and time
Anthropological investigations of vitality: Life force as a dimension distinct from space and time In what ways do anthropologists study vitality? Located in a familiar anthropological predicament—a return to a…