Description
Book Synopsis The present book is no ordinary anthology, but rather a workroom in which anthropologists and philosophers initiate a dialogue on trust and hope, two important topics for both fields of study. The book combines work between scholars from different universities in the U.S. and Denmark. Thus, besides bringing the two disciplines in dialogue, it also cuts across differences in national contexts and academic style. The interdisciplinary efforts of the contributors demonstrate how such a collaboration can result in new and challenging ways of thinking about trust and hope. Reading the dialogues may, therefore, also inspire others to work in the productive intersection between anthropology and philosophy.
Trade Review “The dialogues within this volume are theoretically dense and ethnographically rich, each providing unique avenues of thought that would perhaps warrant books in themselves.” • Social Anthropology/Anthropologie sociale
“While this book is seemingly aimed primarily at an anthropological audience, there exists a clear desire to make a contribution to both disciplines. As a result, this book is incredibly valuable for those interested in producing scholarship in either discipline, in addition to interdisciplinary work. Moreover, the dialogues that make up the majority of the text demonstrate the possibility, as well as the difficulty, of putting two importantly distinct disciplines in conversation with one another. It demonstrates the possibility of making explicit the intellectual companionship between anthropology and philosophy, ensuring that this text is a resource for both disciplines.” • Anthropology Book Forum
“This volume is a serious, innovative, and patient attempt to meet disciplinary difference with candour, and to work beyond it; it is imbued with the sobriety and good faith of its contributors. It also upholds a kind of tradition in (what might now be termed) ‘thinking outside the box’ that characterises, certainly on the anthropological side of the fence, the work of some of the most innovative and inspirational figures.” • Anthropos
“Anthropology & Philosophy: Dialogues on Trust and Hope is a thoughtful and thought-provoking read that is a significant and highly recommended addition to academic library Anthropology and Philosophy reference collections and supplemental studies reading lists.” • Midwest Book Review
Table of Contents Acknowledgments
Introduction: Trust and Hope: An Introduction
Esther Oluffa Pedersen & Sune Liisberg
Dialogue I: Practical Philosophy and Hope as a Moral Project among African-Americans
Cheryl Mattingly & Uffe Juul Jensen
Joint Statement
What Can We Hope For? An Exploration in Cosmopolitan Philosophical Anthropology
Cheryl Mattingly & Uffe Juul Jensen
Dialogue II: Existential Anthropology and the Category of the New
Michael D. Jackson & Thomas Schwarz Wentzer
Joint Statement
The Reopening of the Gate of Effort: Existential Imperatives at the Margins of a Globalized World
Michael D. Jackson
The Eternal Recurrence of the New
Thomas Schwarz Wentzer
Joint Afterword
Dialogue III: Intentional Trust in Uganda
Esther Oluffa Pedersen & Lotte Meinert
Joint Statement
An Outline of Interpersonal Trust and Distrust
Esther Oluffa Pedersen
Tricky Trust: Distrust as a Point of Departure and Trust as a Social Achievement in Uganda
Lotte Meinert
Dialogue IV: Trust, Ambiguity, and Indonesian Modernity
Sune Liisberg & Nils Bubandt
Joint Statement
Trust in an Age of Inauthenticity: Power and Indonesian Modernity
Nils Bubandt
Trust as the Life Magic of Self-Deception: A Philosophical-Psychological Investigation into Tolerance of Ambiguity
Sune Liisberg
Dialogue V: Gift-Giving and Power between Trust and Hope
Sverre Raffnsøe & Hirokazu Miyazaki
Joint Statement
Empowering Trust in the New: Trust and Power as Capacities
Sverre Raffnsøe
Hope in the Gift—Hope in Sleep
Hirokazu Miyazaki
Dialogue VI: With Kierkegaard in Africa
Anders Moe Rasmussen & Hans Lucht
Joint Statement
Self, Hope, and the Unconditional: Kierkegaard on Faith and Hope
Anders Moe Rasmussen
Kierkegaard in West Africa: Hope and Sacrifice in a Ghanaian Fishing Village
Hans Lucht
Epilogue: Anthropology and Philosophy in Dialogue?
Anne Line Dalsgård & Søren Harnow Klausen
Notes on Contributors
