Karma and grace: Rivalrous reckonings of fortune and misfortune
Karma and grace: Rivalrous reckonings of fortune and misfortune Karma and grace are grammars for material and moral being, each offering onto-cosmological justification for the vicissitudes of destiny. Beyond their…
Life, domesticated and undomesticated: Ghosts, sacrifice, and the efficacy of ritual practice in early China
Life, domesticated and undomesticated: Ghosts, sacrifice, and the efficacy of ritual practice in early China This article explores classical Chinese conceptions of and practices surrounding life and vitality. Focus is…
Amerindian political economies of life
Amerindian political economies of life Elaborating on the notion of “political economy of life,” first developed in a 2009 book on indigenous forms of slavery and servitude, I argue that…
Contemporary counterconduct
Contemporary counterconduct In this lecture delivered at Stanford University in February 2019, I explore—in a writing style that I call, following Adorno, “late style”—a conduct that counters pressures to behave…
Climaxing in other ways and other places: From plant spasms to psychopomp pillows
Climaxing in other ways and other places: From plant spasms to psychopomp pillows Taking as a point of departure the status accorded to sexual orgasm in Western societies, we take…
Valueless value: The question of production in Cofán shamanism
Valueless value: The question of production in Cofán shamanism In this essay, I analyze the production of value in the shamanic complex of the indigenous Cofán people of eastern Ecuador.…
Greek divination from an Amerindian perspective: Reconsidering “nature” in mantike
Greek divination from an Amerindian perspective: Reconsidering “nature” in mantike This article explores and reconfigures certain epistemological patterns of oracles and divination (mantike in ancient Greek), concepts of relevance in…
Road animism: Reflections on the life of infrastructures
Road animism: Reflections on the life of infrastructures In recent contributions to the emerging anthropology of infrastructure, the issue of agency often plays the role of the proverbial elephant in…
The river grew tired of us: Spectral flows along the Mekong River
The river grew tired of us: Spectral flows along the Mekong River Along the Mekong, where it creates the border between Thailand and Laos, distant hydropower projects have triggered a…
Mistrust and trust: Conjoined twins?
Mistrust and trust: Conjoined twins? Comment on Carey, Matthew. 2017. Mistrust: An ethnographic theory. Chicago: Hau Books. Go to Source
No need of trust
No need of trust Go to Source
Teungku Sum’s dilemma: Ethical time, reflexivity, and the Islamic everyday
Teungku Sum’s dilemma: Ethical time, reflexivity, and the Islamic everyday This article analyzes a dilemma faced by a young religious teacher in the Indonesian province of Aceh—namely, whether to continue…
Magic is science: Atheist conjuring and the exposure of superstition in South India
Magic is science: Atheist conjuring and the exposure of superstition in South India This article examines so-called Miracle Exposure Programs conducted by Atheist activists in South India as a performance…
The digitalia of everyday life: Multi-situated anthropology of a virtual letter by a “foreign hand”
The digitalia of everyday life: Multi-situated anthropology of a virtual letter by a “foreign hand” The article considers the transmissions and effects of a digital letter, and its implications for…
Vital infrastructures
Vital infrastructures Go to Source
Inquiries raised by the dead
Inquiries raised by the dead Many people continue to maintain links with deceased relatives or friends, often in surprisingly inventive ways: doing things the deceased used to do while alive;…
Inquiries raised by the living
Inquiries raised by the living Go to Source
The ends of the dead
The ends of the dead Go to Source
Mistrusting knowledge
Mistrusting knowledge Go to Source
Exploring the Implications of Culturally Relevant Teaching: Toward a Pedagogy of Liberation
Exploring the Implications of Culturally Relevant Teaching: Toward a Pedagogy of Liberation Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, Ahead of Print. Schools in America may provide opportunities for upward mobility while also…