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Zusatztext "An elegantly composed and rigorously argued ethnography." Informationen zum Autor Matthew S. Hull is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Michigan. His research focuses on the nexus of representation, technology, and institutions. Klappentext “Drawing inspiration from actor-network theory, science studies, and semiotics, this brilliant book makes us completely rethink the workings of bureaucracy as analyzed by Max Weber and James Scott. Matthew Hull demonstrates convincingly how the materiality of signs truly matters for understanding the projects of ‘the state.’” - Katherine Verdery, author of What was Socialism, and What Comes Next? “We are used to studies of roads and rails as central material infrastructure for the making of modern states. But what of records, the reams and reams of paper that inscribe the state-in-making? This brilliant book inquires into the materiality of information in colonial and postcolonial Pakistan. This is a work of signal importance for our understanding of the everyday graphic artifacts of authority.” - Bill Maurer, author of Mutual Life, Limited: Islamic Banking, Alternative Currencies, Lateral Reason "This is an excellent and truly exceptional ethnography. Hull presents a theoretically sophisticated and empirically rich reading that will be an invaluable resource to scholars in the field of Anthropology and South Asian studies. The author’s focus on bureaucracy, “corruption," writing systems and urban studies (Islamabad) in a post-colonial context makes for a unique ethnographic engagement with contemporary Pakistan. In addition, Hull’s study is a refreshing voice that breaks the mold of current representation of Pakistan through the security studies paradigm." - Kamran Asdar Ali, Director, South Asia Institute, University of Texas Zusammenfassung In the planned city of Islamabad, order and disorder are produced through the ceaseless inscription and circulation of millions of paper artifacts among bureaucrats, politicians, and property owners. What are the implications of such paper mediation of relationships among people, things, places, and purposes? This book explores this question. Inhaltsverzeichnis LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PREFACE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS INTRODUCTION Writing of the Bureaucracy Signs of Paper Associations of Paper Background of the Study 1. THE MASTER PLAN AND OTHER DOCUMENTS Splendid Isolation The Dynapolis and the Colonial City Communities of All Classes and Categories From Separation to Participation 2. PARCHIS! PETITIONS AND OFFICES At Home in the Office Parchis! Connections! and Recognition Petitions: Citizens! Bureaucrats! and Supplicants Parchis! Petitions! and Influence 3. FILES AND THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF PAPER The Materiality Cases Individual Writers and Corporate Authority Tactics of Irresponsibility and the Byproduct of the Collective Particular Projects and Collective Agency A Contest of Graphic Genres 4. THE EXPROPRIATION OF LAND AND THE MISAPPROPRIATION OF LISTS Problematics of Reference and Materiality Early Planning and Failed Opposition Shifting Houses and Dummy Houses Demolition Certificates Package Deals and Individual Signatures Loose Lists Mediating like a State 5. MAPS! MOSQUES! AND MASLAKS A Mosque for Every Community A Mosque for Every Maslak Claims on the Map Temporality of Maps and Islamic Adverse Possession Squatting according to Plan CONCLUSION: PARTICIPATORY BUREAUCRACY NOTES REFERENCES INDEX ...
