ISSN 2562-9948
Colonial propaganda that masks “humanitarianism” behind self-interest, and breeds euphemisms that are inversions of reality, constitute the recurring subjects of the critiques produced on Zero Anthropology. Little of what we encounter in the present is either new or “original”: much of the “foreign policy” language of elite geopolitical strategists is in fact derived from much […]
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Abstract What is “silencing” and is it out of place in the contemporary North American university? How do “silencing” and “public anthropology” intersect? What are the roles of academic power and academic capital? Readers are invited to explore the proposition that “silencing” is really about the political economy of value—the destruction or creation of value, […]
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EE: Report #9, 01—07 January 2011 Encircling Empire Reports is a selection of essays, blog posts, and news reports covering a given time period. They are intended to be useful for those interested in: ● contemporary and critical political anthropology ● public anthropology ● imperialism and imperial decline ● militarism/militarization ● the political economy of the […]
Read More…EE: Report #6, 09—16 October 2010 Encircling Empire Reports is a selection of essays, blog posts, and news reports covering a given time period. They are intended to be useful for those interested in: ● contemporary and critical political anthropology ● public anthropology ● imperialism and imperial decline ● militarism/militarization ● the political economy of […]
Read More…EE: Report #1, 03—11 September 2010 Encircling Empire Reports is a selection of essays, blog posts, and news reports covering a given time period, which can usually be glimpsed in raw form at zero.collected. They are intended to be useful for those interested in: ● contemporary and critical political anthropology ● public anthropology ● imperialism […]
Read More…Al Jazeera Arabic invited me to participate in its hour-long program, In Depth (19 April 2010; 3:00-4:00pm EST), and I was happy to do so via satellite earlier this evening, hosted by Ali Al-Dafiri, with my fellow guest, Mohamad Takriti. One of the main topics that the host of the program, Ali Al-Dafiri, asked me […]
Read More…This is my animation of a musical spoken word poem by my late friend and collaborator, Dr. Roi Kwabena. The piece is titled “Deep Obeah” and is perhaps the most musical and most sung of the pieces that he produced and that made its way onto his Y42K album. Also, so far this is the […]
Read More…How about that? Foreign Policy has released its rankings, based on ballots cast, of the world’s top 100 public intellectuals, and Columbia University based, Ugandan anthropologist Mahmood Mamdani is ranked 9th — well ahead of the likes of Stephen Colbert who is sure to make some fuss about his lesser status. You can see the […]
Read More…Anthropology finally gets some much needed public recognition, even admiration and praise…but wait, what’s this? An assortment of some of the English-speaking world’s most prominent newspapers recently described ANTHROPOLOGY in the following terms — no this is not a joke: “Anthropology is very funny and very sharp” (The Times) “Despite being written from a male […]
Read More…Elitists, isolated in their ivory towers, serving out life terms in self-imposed exile. It’s a great image, if you are writing a comedic novel, or perhaps aiming to produce a take on Great Expectations applied to an academic setting, or likewise some rendition of One Hundred Years of Solitude. One can indeed think of how […]
Read More…“The choice to rely … on cultural anthropologists in the rebuilding of a defeated enemy has particular resonance now as the United States struggles to rebuild a stable and viable Iraq. … As the occupation of Iraq appears more complex by the day, where are the new Ruth Benedicts, authoritative voices who will carry weight […]
Read More…In connection with the items below, see: “NOT RADICAL ENOUGH”: DISENGAGED ANTHROPOLOGY Newly published articles: American Anthropologist March 2008, Vol. 110, No. 1, pp. 53-60 Posted online on May 8, 2008. (doi:10.1111/j.1548-1433.2008.00008.x) The Quest for Anthropological Relevance: Borgesian Maps and Epistemological Pitfalls MATTI BUNZL Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Urbana, IL 61801 […]
Read More…NO DIVIDE Owen Wiltshire has a very thought provoking blog at nodivide.wordpress.com that shares his research project on anthropological collaboration through new media, anthropological blogging, and the decolonization of anthropological practice. It is a very unique and innovative research project that is essentially an anthropological study of anthropology itself. The guiding principle of his work […]
Read More…I have had the pleasure to revisit the pages of the Public Anthropology program launched by Professor Robert Borofsky. I will not be adding any commentary below, just cutting and pasting some key sections from “Defining Public Anthropology–A Personal Perspective (Rob Borofsky)“, and refer back to these in related posts in the future. Incidentally, his […]
Read More…Background Information on the Yanomami Controversy (From Borofsky et al 2005:3-19) Reproduced from http://www.publicanthropology.org/forum/ At first glance, the Yanomami controversy might be perceived as being focused on a narrow subject. It centers on the accusations made by the investigative journalist Patrick Tierney against James Neel, a world-famous geneticist, and Napoleon Chagnon, a prominent anthropologist, regarding […]
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