Time permeates language, society, and individual lives, but time eludes definition. From grand scales of geologic time to the exasperation of waiting in endless bureaucratic lines, from the unifying sense of ancestral presence at an ancient monument to the imminent question of climate resilience, this volume presents conceptions of time through a kaleidoscope of cultures and disciplines. Accessible to students and scholars alike, the book demonstrates that far from natural, stable, or singular, time is culturally dependent, historically contingent, socially constructed, and disciplinarily specific – and that multidisciplinary and cross-cultural conversations transform our understanding of time.
