Description
Book SynopsisThe contributors to
Unfinished explore the ethnographic essay's expressive potentials by pursuing an anthropology of becoming, which attends to the contingency of lived experience and provides new means to represent what life means and how it can be represented.
Trade Review"
Unfinished: The Anthropology of Becoming promises to contribute to our understanding of this current moment of political and epistemological uncertainties, and will be of great interest to scholars, researchers, and writers from across the social and natural sciences and the humanities." -- Onur Günay and Heath Pearson * Somatosphere *
"As complex and ambitious as it is masterfully conceived. . . . A sign of renaissance in anthropology." -- Roberto Costa * The Australian Journal of Anthropology *
"Bringing the theme of becoming to the center of the anthropological debate is particularly timely in a context in which institutions, as well as the public, are discussing and interpreting society in ways that rely heavily on deterministic forms of schematism and simplification. . . .
Unfinished could be an intriguing choice for professionals looking for a source of inspiration for new analytical approaches to study the dynamism of social phenomena." -- Michele Fontefrancesco * Anthropology in Action *
"Although theoretically complex, the contributors never lose sight of the individuals at the heart of ethnography. . . . What stands out is its intricate and intimate representation of human experience, which imbues it with authority and stays with the reader for a long time." -- Heather Montgomery * Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute *
Table of ContentsForeword. Unfinished / João Biehl and Peter Locke ix
Introduction. Ethnographic Sensorium / João Biehl and Peter Locke 1
1. The Anthropology of Becoming / João Biehl and Peter Locke 41
2. Becoming Aggrieved / Laurence Ralph 93
3. Heaven / Angela Garcia 111
4. Rebellious Matter / Bridget Purcell 133
5. Witness / Naisargi N. Dave 151
6. I Was Cannibalized by an Artist / Lilia M. Schwarcz 173
7. On Negative Becoming / Lucas Bessire 197
8. Time Machines / Elizabeth A. Davis 217
9. Horizoning / Adriana Petryna 243
10. Meantime / Peter Locke 269
11. Hereafter / João Biehl 278
Afterword. Zen Exercises: Anthropological Discipline and Ethics / Michael M. J. Fischer 293
Acknowledgments 317
Bibliography 319
Contributors 353
List of Illustrations 357
Index 359
