The Future Of Anthropological Knowledge

The Future of Anthropological Knowledge the chapters explore the question of the nature of social knowledge from a variety of perspectives and locations such as China, Africa, the USA and elsewhere. By examining the changing nature of anthropological knowledge and of the production of that knowledge, this book challenges the notion that only western societies have produced social theories of modernity and of global scope. Knowledge of society can no longer be restricted to a knowledge of face-to-face social relations but must encompass the effect of technology, global consumption patterns and changing geo-political configurations. The Future of Anthropological Knowledge will be of interest to anthropologists and students of culture and society.

Is anthropology relevant to our lives today? Does anthropology have anything to contribute in the coming time? How are anthroplogists responding to the post-colonial, post-modernist world? Leading anthroplogists attempt to answer these questions, identifying and exploring key issues where anthropology connects with the problems of the contemporary scene.

Argues that socio-cultural anthropology can grow beyond its reputation as the study by Europeans of non-Europeans, and become relevant to people's lives in a post-colonial, most-modernist world. Anthropologists and professionals in related fields set out an agenda for the future of the discipline that includes the study of HIV/AIDS research, ethnic cleansing, cultural imperialism and the media, science, feminism and masculinity, tourism and heritage, ageing, and overseas development. Paper edition (unseen), $25.00. Distributed in the US by Humanities Press. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

In this compact volume two of anthropology’s most influential theorists, Paul Rabinow and George E. Marcus, engage in a series of conversations about the past, present, and future of anthropological knowledge, pedagogy, and practice. James D. Faubion joins in several exchanges to facilitate and elaborate the dialogue, and Tobias Rees moderates the discussions and contributes an introduction and an afterword to the volume. Most of the conversations are focused on contemporary challenges to how anthropology understands its subject and how ethnographic research projects are designed and carried out. Rabinow and Marcus reflect on what remains distinctly anthropological about the study of contemporary events and processes, and they contemplate productive new directions for the field. The two converge in Marcus’s emphasis on the need to redesign pedagogical practices for training anthropological researchers and in Rabinow’s proposal of collaborative initiatives in which ethnographic research designs could be analyzed, experimented with, and transformed. Both Rabinow and Marcus participated in the milestone collection Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography. Published in 1986, Writing Culture catalyzed a reassessment of how ethnographers encountered, studied, and wrote about their subjects. In the opening conversations of Designs for an Anthropology of the Contemporary, Rabinow and Marcus take stock of anthropology’s recent past by discussing the intellectual scene in which Writing Culture intervened, the book’s contributions, and its conceptual limitations. Considering how the field has developed since the publication of that volume, they address topics including ethnography’s self-reflexive turn, scholars’ increased focus on questions of identity, the Public Culture project, science and technology studies, and the changing interests and goals of students. Designs for an Anthropology of the Contemporary allows readers to eavesdrop on lively conversations between anthropologists who have helped to shape their field’s recent past and are deeply invested in its future.

Anticipation -- Expectation -- Speculation -- Potentiality -- Hope -- Destiny.

Anthropology poses an explicit challenge to standard notions of scientific knowledge. It claims to produce genuine insights into the workings of culture in general on the basis of individual social experience in the field. Social Experience and Anthropological Knowledge traces the process from the ethnographic experience to the analytical results, showing how fieldwork enables the ethnographer to arrive at an understanding, not only of `culture' and `society', but also of the processes by which cultures and societies are transformed. The contributors challenge the distinction between subjectivity and objectivity, redefine what we should mean by `empirical' and demonstrate the complexity of present-day epistemological problems through concrete examples. By demystifying subjectivity in the ethnographic process and re-emphasizing the vital position of fieldwork, they do much to renew confidence in the anthropological project of comprehending the world.

Since its inception, modern anthropology has stood at the confluence of two mutually constitutive modes of knowledge production: participant-observation and theoretical analysis. This unique combination of practice and theory has been the subject of recurrent intellectual and methodological debate, raising questions that strike at the very heart of the discipline. How Do We Know? is a timely contribution to emerging debates that seek to understand this relationship through the theme of evidence. Incorporating a diverse selection of case studies ranging from the Tibetan emotion of shame to films of Caribbean musicians, it critically addresses such questions as: What constitutes viable “anthropological evidence”? How does evidence generated through small-scale, intensive periods of participant-observation challenge or engender abstract theoretical models? Are certain types of evidence inherently “better” than others? How have recent interdisciplinary collaborations and technological innovations altered the shape of anthropological evidence? Extending a long-standing tradition of reflexivity within the discipline, the contributions to this volume are ethnographically-grounded and analytically ambitious meditations on the theme of evidence. Cumulatively, they challenge the boundaries of what anthropologists recognise and construct as evidence, while pointing to its thematic and conceptual potential in future anthropologies.

This book examines the concepts of the Anthropocene and globalisation in our society and the changes that these are bringing about in education and human learning. The book argues that there needs to be reflexive approach to issues that affect the fate of the planet and the future of humans, brought about by an education that looks to the future. Wulf argues that a change in education and socialization can only succeed based on an understanding of previous educational ideas, and considers the significance of Confucianism and spiritual education that emerged in the East. The book traces key educational ideas throughout history to show how education and human knowledge are closely linked, highlighting the need for us to pay careful attention to repetition, mimesis and the imagination in learning. It shows how a future-oriented education must engage with issues of peace and violence, global citizenship and sustainable development. This timely and compelling book will be of great interest to researchers, academics and students in the fields of philosophy of education, the history and anthropology of education, sustainability education and global citizenship education