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Who do "we" anthropologists think "we" are? And how do forms and notions of collective disciplinary identity shape the way we think, write, and do anthropology? This volume explores how the anthropological "we" has been construed, transformed, and deployed across history and the global anthropological landscape. Drawing together both reflections and ethnographic case studies, it interrogates the critical-yet poorly studied-roles played by myriad anthropological "we" ss in generating and influencing anthropological theory, method, and analysis. In the process, new spaces are opened for reimagining who "we" are - and what "we," and indeed anthropology, could become.
List of contents
List of Figures
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Who Are 'We'?
Liana Chua and Nayanika Mathur PART I: REVISITING THE ANTHROPOLOGICAL 'WE' Chapter 1. Anthropology at the Dawn of Apartheid: Radcliffe-Brown and Malinowski's South African Engagements, 1919-1934
Isak Niehaus Chapter 2. The Savage Noble: Alterity and Aristocracy in Anthropology
David Sneath PART II: ALTERITY AND AFFINITY IN ANTHROPOLOGY'S GLOBAL LANDSCAPE Chapter 3. The Anthropological Imaginarium: Crafting Alterity, the Self, and an Ethnographic Film in Southwest China
Katherine Swancutt Chapter 4. The Risks of Affinity: Indigeneity and Indigenous Film Production in Bolivia
Gabriela Zamorano Villarreal Chapter 5. Shifting the 'We' in Oceania: Anthropology and Pacific Islanders Revisited
Ty P. Kawika Tengan PART III: WHERE DO 'WE' GO FROM HERE? Chapter 6. Crafting Anthropology Otherwise: Alterity, Affinity, and Performance
Gey Pin Ang and Caroline Gatt Chapter 7. Towards an Ecumenical Anthropology
João de Pina-Cabral Afterword Mwenda Ntarangwi Index
About the author
Liana Chua is Tunku Abdul Rahman University Associate Professor in Malay World Studies at the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge. Her publications include The Christianity of Culture (Palgrave, 2012) and co-edited volumes on evidence, power in Southeast Asia and Alfred Gell’s theory of art.
Nayanika Mathur is Professor of Anthropology and South Asian Studies at the University of Oxford. Her publications include Paper Tiger: Law, Bureaucracy, and the Developmental State in Himalayan India (Cambridge, 2016) and Crooked Cats: Beastly Encounters in the Anthropocene (Chicago,2021) as well as co-edited volumes on anthropological methods and Indian politics.
Summary
Who do “we” anthropologists think “we” are? And how do forms and notions of collective disciplinary identity shape the way we think, write, and do anthropology? This volume explores how the anthropological “we” has been construed, transformed, and deployed across history and the global anthropological landscape. Drawing together both reflections and ethnographic case studies, it interrogates the critical—yet poorly studied—roles played by myriad anthropological “we” ss in generating and influencing anthropological theory, method, and analysis. In the process, new spaces are opened for reimagining who “we” are – and what “we,” and indeed anthropology, could become.
Additional text
“[This volume] raises awareness about existing inequalities in knowledge production, and at the same time contributes to the theoretical discussions on knowledge production in anthropology.” · Michal Buchowski, Adam Mickiewicz University
