Michael Taussig is emeritus professor of anthropology at Columbia University. He is the author of several books, including Mastery of Non-Mastery in the Age of Meltdown and Palma Africana, both published by the University of Chicago Press.

“With Taussig’s essays, the reader feels like a participant in wide-ranging conversations about the contours of meaning and the synchronicity of ideas across time and discipline. Each essay is a trip, literally and figuratively, of experiential knowledge—ecstatic, tactile, strange, revelatory, and unpredictable—taken in the company of friends. Taussig’s note-taking, with its musings, asides, and fresh impressions, combines with his experience on the ground and in full engagement with the situations encountered, to offer a new and dynamic circuitry of critical thought.”

• Author’s Note1 The Manglewort: In Which the Content Becomes the Form2 Mooning Texas3 Tom the Naturalist4 Darkness at Noon5 Kobane: Mastery of Non-Mastery6 War Games7 Unpacking My Library8 Lost & Found9 And the Garden Is You: A Sketch10 Cities of Yagé: “Larval Entities Waiting for a Live One”11 The Cry of the DonkeyOrigins & Publication Status of the EssaysNotesIndex

Michael Taussig is emeritus professor of anthropology at Columbia University. He is the author of several books, including Mastery of Non-Mastery in the Age of Meltdown and Palma Africana, both published by the University of Chicago Press.

“With Taussig’s essays, the reader feels like a participant in wide-ranging conversations about the contours of meaning and the synchronicity of ideas across time and discipline. Each essay is a trip, literally and figuratively, of experiential knowledge—ecstatic, tactile, strange, revelatory, and unpredictable—taken in the company of friends. Taussig’s note-taking, with its musings, asides, and fresh impressions, combines with his experience on the ground and in full engagement with the situations encountered, to offer a new and dynamic circuitry of critical thought.”

• Author’s Note1 The Manglewort: In Which the Content Becomes the Form2 Mooning Texas3 Tom the Naturalist4 Darkness at Noon5 Kobane: Mastery of Non-Mastery6 War Games7 Unpacking My Library8 Lost & Found9 And the Garden Is You: A Sketch10 Cities of Yagé: “Larval Entities Waiting for a Live One”11 The Cry of the DonkeyOrigins & Publication Status of the EssaysNotesIndex