Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute Special Issue Book Series – serie

Unique in focus and international in scope, this book brings together 10 essays about the material, metaphorical, and symbolic importance of blood. An interdisciplinary study that unites the work of noted historians and anthropologistsIncorporates insights from recent work in symbolism, kinship studies, medical anthropology, the anthropology of religion, the sociological study of finance, and textual analysisCovers topics such as Medieval European conceptions of blood; blood and the brain; blood and the cultural study of finance; and blood types, identity, and association in twentieth-century America

Doubt, Conflict, Mediation is an interdisciplinary examination and reassessment of standard assumptions in social theory about modern time. Rethinks capitalist and neo-liberal conceptions of time from both a sociological and anthropological perspectiveBlends innovative and rich ethnographic studies from around the world with clear theoretical approachesExamines the timescapes of a variety of institutions and social movements, such as biotech laboratories, civic organizations, planning offices, global sea-trade, urban squatting, and state bureaucracies

The Power of Example is an interdisciplinary examination of the integral role that examples and exemplification play in anthropological theory and practice. Explores the evocative and persuasive power, both positive and negative, of ‘exemplary examples’ in social lifeIncludes contributions from established and up-and-coming anthropologists, as well as leading scholars of religious and cultural studiesFeatures an international array of case studies on exemplification from Left radical activists in Denmark to scientific metrological practice in Brazil

Concerns about the exploitation of limited resources, optimum development trajectories, and climate change draw attention to the temporal horizons of our environment - Environmental Futures is a curated collection of essays that explores different ways of knowing the future and how these futures shape contemporary social worlds. Includes a range of detailed case studies, from ice melting in Antarctica to coal mining in Bangladesh, flooding in Colombia to climate modelling in EgyptApproaches prognosis as a cultural, political, and material processReveals the ways in which authority and expertise may be reinforced, circumscribed, or contested in the process of making a prediction and its aftermathOffers novel insights on how and why futures come to be significant in the present

This book is an exploration of how this remarkably efficient and familiar form of gathering operates, in different times and places, and how it comes to be recognised by those who experience or deploy it. Throws the spotlight on the epistemological and ontological basis of coming together through formal meetings of different kindsDemonstrates how meetings - socially and institutionally prescribed spaces for coming together - are important and ubiquitous organisational forms in various political, religious and economic settings Shows how meetings feature prominently in classic anthropological accounts, and in more contemporary ethnography, particularly in relation to studies of documents, organizations, policy, development, politics, and science and technology

The contributors to this volume interrogate the labour/capital relation exploring the ways in which industrial outsourcing and subcontracting transform the conditions, possibilities and politics of work. Discusses the effects of economic deregulation on agricultural economies and on local marketsInvestigates the manner in which migration changes understandings of productive power in places that once depended on the physical and social energies of people who now labour elsewhereShows how the appearance and/or disappearance of waged work alters not only the foundational notions of the relationship between productive and reproductive labour, but also of personhood, citizenship and placeDeploys the concept of dislocation to extend the repertoire of labour analysis beyond that of dispossession and/or disorganizationArgues that a renewed focus on ‘labour,’ as both a social category and a social practice, offers a window for grasping key contemporary material, affective, moral, social and political processes

This volume presents a much-needed rethinking and proposes a more nuanced, inclusive, and capacious approach to energy ethics that will help us grapple with some of the most pressing issues of our time. The contributors demonstrate how ethics emerge through people’s everyday thoughts and practices, whether they work in renewables, nuclear, or fossil fuels; whether they work in industry, policy, or advocacy; whether they produce, distribute, or consume energyIt shows how to create an analytical space in which we can attend to people’s own experiences and evaluations without uncritically imposing judgements of how we would like the world to beBy attending to the broader political and economic contexts in which these everyday energy encounters take place, this volume draws attention to the plurality and complexity that characterises the multiple and overlapping ‘ethical worlds’ in which we, our interlocutors, and other beings participate

Does the way we think about our minds matter? Our judgements about what counts as thought are so intimate that we may not even realize that we make them. But we do – and the way we make them has consequences for our sense of the real.  The Mind and Spirit project (presented in this volume) finds that the way people think about thinking, shapes the way they experience (what they take to be) gods and spiritsAuthors are a team of anthropologists and psychologists who worked together for two years across sites in the United States, Ghana, Thailand, China, and VanuatuArgues that there are cultural differences in the way social worlds represent ‘the mind’ – we call these local theories of mind – and that these differences affect whether and how people, for instance, hear the voices of the dead or feel the presence of GodDiscusses how the ways people think about thought and interiority can alter human sensory experience itself

This volume presents a set of theoretically inventive pieces that engage with data across its many locations, from government databases to ecological field stations, from kitchen tables to concrete bunkers. Contributors demonstrate how thinking with data can be conceptually generative for anthropology, prompting us to reconsider our understanding of topics including bodies, persons, and the social itselfShows how 'big' data which may have once seemed limited to business or high tech, ethnographers are now finding data – and its attendant values and practices – in their field sites around the worldExamines how data has motivated a sweep of dystopian visions, signaling the invasion of privacy, political manipulation, or shadowy data doublesDiscusses how anthropologists have been cautious in taking data itself as an object of theoretical interest, even as the effects of data become manifest in our ethnographiesBy putting data in its place, the chapters collected here develop conceptual tools that will prove useful for anthropologists who find 'data' in their data

On Irreconciliation focuses on the less examined but frequent ethnographic instances when survivors refuse to forgive in response to persistent impunity of past injustices, particularly, in the face of absence-presence of the rule of law and staged processes of justice which serve the powerful. An ethnographically-informed, interdisciplinary theorisation which makes irreconciliation visible in the contexts of Northern Ireland, Papua New Guinea, Mozambique, Bangladesh, Canada, Argentina, Sri Lanka, Colombia, USA and UKTriangulates a discussion of the rule of law within processes of unresolved genocidal injustices, debates relating to statues of slave owners, racial prejudice and institutional responses Contributors demonstrate the relationship of irreconciliation with law, aesthetics, temporality, resistance and the limits of the conceptMakes a theoretical and ethnographic case for irreconciliation as both a social and political phenomenonProposes an understanding of the past based on a positive commitment to ‘irreconciliation’ which might interest anthropologists, historians, philosophers, critical legal and political theorists, peace, conflict resolution and transitional justice scholars

Part of The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute Special Issue Book Series, this landmark volume assesses the contribution of recent work in ethnobiology to anthropological thought. Considers the ways in which the subject matter and methodologies of ethnobiological research address core anthropological questions.Contributors explore a wide range of themes, such as our understanding of those processes which transform the environment, and the evolution of the cultural mind.Addresses anthropological issues of general interest, from biology to reflexivity. Helps to develop the productive relationship between ethnobiology and anthropology.

Published as part of The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute Special Issue Book Series, and through a series of thought-provoking articles, Wind, Life, Health: Anthropological and Historical Perspectives examines the richness of human ideas surrounding wind in all its manifestations - breath, spirit, sentiment, life, and health. Examines the richness of human ideas and practices surrounding wind, life, and healthFeatures articles covering a wide range of themes including landscape, weather, body, perception, emplacement, climate, seasons, song, and musicConveys how different peoples have grappled with winds and spirits and how their experiences have shaped their worldExplores a range of cultures: hunters and gatherers in the polar regions, inhabitants of the Malaysian rain forest, Andaman Islands, ancient India, China, Greece, Muslim East Africa, Victorian England, and mountain-dwelling Swiss

Part of The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute Special Issue Book Series, the contributors to this volume share the conviction that anthropology can no longer afford to ignore the importance of the concept of evidence, either for the ways in which anthropologists carry out their work (methodology) or present and justify their findings (epistemology). Demonstrates that evidence is something that all anthropologists must possessShows how the collection of evidence in the field is still, without doubt, one of the main ingredients of what Bronislaw Malinowski once referred to as 'the ethnographer’s magic'Reveals how the concept of evidence has received little sustained attention in print – especially when compared to related concepts, such as 'fieldwork', 'truth', 'facts', and 'knowledge'Argued from a variety of theoretical perspectives and a rarity in its ability to orchestrate some many different – and vibrant – paradigms and points of view