Experiments in Holism

Ton Otto is Professor of Anthropology and Ethnography at Aarhus University, Denmark, and Professor and Research Leader at The Cairns Institute, James Cook University, Australia. His most recent publications include the co-edited volumes Tradition and Agency: Tracing Cultural Continuity and Invention (2005, with Poul Pedersen) and Warfare and Society: Archaeological and Social Anthropological Perspectives (2006, with Henrik Thrane and Helle Vandkilde). Nils Bubandt is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Aarhus University and co-editor-in-chief of Ethnos. He is the co-author of Imagining Nature: Practices of Cosmology and Identity (2003, with Andreas Roepstorff and Kalevi Kull), and has published numerous articles on topics such as forgery, witchcraft, globalization, and conflict.

• Acknowledgments viiList of Contributors ix1. Anthropology and the Predicaments of Holism 1 Nils Bubandt and Ton OttoPart 1 Rethinking Holism in Ethnographic Practice 172. Beyond the Whole in Ethnographic Practice? Introduction to Part 1 19 Ton Otto and Nils Bubandt3. Holism and the Expectations of Critique in Post-1980s Anthropology: Notes and Queries in Three Acts and an  Epilogue 28 George E. Marcus4. Worlding the Matsutake Diaspora: Or, Can Actor–Network Theory Experiment With Holism? 47 Anna Tsing5. The Whole Beyond Holism: Gambling, Divination, and Ethnography in Cuba 67 Martin HolbraadPart 2 Beyond Cultural Wholes? Wholes are Parts, and Parts are Wholes 876. Beyond Cultural Wholes? Introduction to Part 2 89 Ton Otto and Nils Bubandt7. The Whole is a Part: Intercultural Politics of Order and Change 102 Marshall Sahlins8. Lingual and Cultural Wholes and Fields 127 Alan Rumsey9. Deep Wholes: Fractal Holography in Trobriand Agency and Culture 150Mark MoskoPart 3 Beyond Structural Wholes? Encompassment, Collectives, and Global Systems 17510. Beyond Structural Wholes? Introduction to Part 3 177 Nils Bubandt and Ton Otto11. Louis Dumont and a Holist Anthropology 187 Bruce Kapferer12. From Wholes to Collectives: Steps to an Ontology of Social Forms 209 Philippe Descola13. Holism and the Transformation of the Contemporary Global Order 227 Jonathan FriedmanPart 4 Beyond Social Wholes? Holistic Practice: Cosmology, History, and the Continuity of Life 24914. Beyond Social Wholes? Introduction to Part 4 251 Nils Bubandt and Ton Otto15. Proportional Holism: Joking the Cosmos Into the Right Shape in North Asia 262 Rane Willerslev and Morten Axel Pedersen16. One Past and Many Pasts: Varieties of Historical Holism in Melanesia and the West 279 Eric Hirsch and Daniele Moretti17. Drawing Together: Materials, Gestures, Lines 299 Tim IngoldIndex 314