Uncaring, Intricate World

Pamela Reynolds is Professor Emerita of Anthropology at Johns Hopkins University, Honorary Professor at the University of Cape Town, and author of War in Worcester: Youth and the Apartheid State.Todd Meyers is Associate Professor of Anthropology at New York University, Shanghai.

“Pamela Reynolds's ethnography-diary The Uncaring, Intricate World elegantly captures the vicissitudes of life in a setting of breathtaking sunsets, stunning moon rises, brutal gusts of night wind, and the ceaselessly annoying high pitch of the mosquito's whine. In the pages of this wonderful book she presents a complex cast of memorable characters whose life challenges underscore both the fragility and resilience of the human condition as well as the small pleasures of sipping brandy after a long day of being-in-the-world.” - Paul Stoller, author of (Adventures in Blogging: Public Anthropology and Popular Media) “The dated entries in The Uncaring, Intricate World bring into view not what is hidden and occult but what is before our eyes. Pamela Reynolds's writings are renowned for showing us that children haunt anthropological texts even as they go unacknowledged-yet this book adds an entirely new dimension to Reynolds's work by revealing the child who hides in the anthropologist.” - Veena Das, Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Anthropology, Johns Hopkins University "Reynolds engages with familiar fieldwork dilemmas – ethical, practical, methodological, social – with thoughtful candour." - Hayley Macgregor (Times Literary Supplement) "Uncaring, Intricate World is well-structured, easy to read and intellectually stimulating. . . . It presents us with a different ethnographic form from the monograph, a deeply immersive, descriptive, everyday sense of what anthropologists do and what anthropology is and can be." - Joshua Matanzima (Journal of Southern African Studies) "As we read, we cannot help but conclude that the book’s title is very appropriate. We come to know the culture and relationships of the Tonga people as extremely intricate. . . . Reynolds helps us see these intricacies, and we finish reading caring about these people." - David W. Restrick (African Studies Quarterly) "A wonderful book to read. . . . While this diary documents happenings from nearly forty years ago, many of the observations are still relevant today. This is a vital source of insight for current students and researchers. It is beautifully written and edited and provides glimpses into a world many of us who study and write on Zimbabwe are familiar with." - Rory Pilossof (African Studies Review)

• Acknowledgments  ixForeword. The Unsubstantial Territory / Todd Meyers  xiIntroduction  1A Field Diary  31Afterword. Noticing Life, Matters Arising / Jane I. Guyer  173Afterword. Sitting Quietly, Traveling in Time / Julie Livingston  175Glossary  179Bibliography  185Index  189