Detachment

Matei Candea is Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Cambridge; Jo Cook is Lecturer in Anthropology at University College London; Catherine Trundle is Lecturer in Cultural Anthropology at Victoria University of Wellington; Tom Yarrow is Senior Lecturer in Anthropology at Durham University

'By now detachment has been thoroughly dethroned as a general ideal for modern subjects. This makes it possible for the authors assembled in this compelling volume to present subtle, detailed explorations of practices of detachment in different contexts -from pig farming in Britain to monastery life in Tibet. Like attaching, detaching, too, emerges as an art that is situationally worthwhile, necessary, or unavoidable. Start reading and - can I say this? - you will be hooked.'Annemarie Mol, Professor of Anthropology of the Body at the University of Amsterdam.'This book quite brilliantly exposes the imperative of connection that drives so much of contemporary theory. Taking their distance from this imperative, the contributors develop a sophisticated and insightful proposal for the potentiality of detachment or disconnection as an ethical and epistemic practice. The proposal is at once measured and provocative; social scientists of all kinds will be stirred by Detachment.'Alain Pottage, Professor of Law, London School of Economics‘The value of these essays lies in their empirical detail – reminding us that our discursive habit of hypostatizing key terms seldom illuminates, but tends to blind us to the dynamic processes and ever-changing experiences of social existence, which define, after all, the original raisons d’ˆetre of anthropological inquiry.’Michael D. Jackson Harvard Divinity School, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute

• Introduction: Matei Candea, Jo Cook, Catherine Trundle and Thomas YarrowPart I: Professionalism and expertise 1. Some merits and difficulties of detachment – Maryon MacDonald2. Virtuous detachments in engineering practice – on the ethics of (not) making a difference – Penny Harvey and Hannah Knox3. Artisanal affection: detachment in human-animal relations within intensive pig production in Britain – Kim Crowder4. Comment – Veena DasPart II: Ritual and religion 5. Engaged disbelief: problematics of detachment in Christianity and in the anthropology of Christianity – Joel Robbins6. Detachment and ethical regard – James Laidlaw7. Detachment, difference and separation: Levi-Strauss at the wedding feast – Caroline Humphrey 8. Comment – Michael CarrithersPart III: Detaching and situating knowledge 9. The capacity for re-description: environments for hyphens – Alberto Corsín Jiménez10. Test sites: attachments and detachments in community-based ecotourism – Casper Bruun Jensen and Brit Ross Winthereik11. Learning to experience the truth: the role of detachment in mindfulness-based therapy in Thailand – Joanna Cook12. Ignorance and the ethics of detachment among Mongolian Tibetan Buddhists in Inner Mongolia, China – Jonathan Mair 13. Comment – Marilyn Strathern Index