HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory
Not a member yet
1288 research outputs found
Sort by
Heathen hermeneutics: Or, radical “radical interpretation”
No full textTranslation—both multi- and intra-lingual—is vital to anthropological method. Drawing a distinction between two opposing modes of translation (“domesticating” versus “foreignizing”), this paper considers the ontological and ethical consequences of these two interpretative strategies, in particular by critically engaging with the doctrine of Donald Davidson, the theoretical inspiration for João Pina-Cabral’s work, World. I argue, instead, in favor of a “pagan” or pluralizing conceptual method, inspired by Feyerabend, Lyotard, and Hans Peter Duerr, and I suggest that their approaches demonstrate that even the polymodal ontology of Latour is lacking in plurality. In conclusion, I consider how the notion of foreignizing translation relates to the method associated with the ontological turn in anthropology
Body art: Living in and leaving the body behind
No full textBody painting uses a three-dimensional living canvas. While a widespread activity that can be characterized as a creative cultural scene, it has not yet merited anthropological attention. Even though body painting is closely related to the body, it is ultimately often about overcoming this very body. This process already takes place during the creation of the painting, when the model’s body is transformed into someone or something else, but even more so when it comes to the resulting visual representations, the photographs, in which the person’s body recedes into the background in favor of the overall picture, the artwork. The twofold staging—becoming a three-dimensional work of art and then being staged for a two-dimensional photograph—gradually distances the body from the model and gives them the chance to appreciate the photograph of their painted body in a different light. While physically and emotionally challenging for the model, body painting is also experienced as psychologically beneficial. Such research findings open up new possibilities for art therapy
A “normal” day under authoritarian rule: An ethnographic account of the Turkish-Kurdish conflict
No full textThis article examines how a “normal” day passes under a conflicted and authoritarian governmentality in an ethnically diverse city in Turkey. When there is no space or tolerance for different ethnic and religious practices, where oppression against Kurds and other minority groups has become almost normal, pluralism is pushed underground. In this article, the examination of the state and understanding everyday life is mainly derived from ethnographic field research among regular people in the city of Mardin. The perspectives of the oppressor and oppressed in people’s voiced accounts are not just a reflection of the political climate and lives being lived, but also offer a historical account of how future generations will see the politics of our current times
Comparative urbanism and collective methodologies: Restoration projects in West Bengal and South East London
No full textAsking who gets to compare, this paper advocates inclusive research methodologies through a discussion of comparison and collaboration in urban anthropology. It reports on difficulties in trying to include otherwise excluded perspectives that have particular importance for port city heritage redevelopment, while asking how ethical ethnographic research can still be done. It evaluates ongoing research on two recent maritime restoration projects by considering comparative urban and heritage studies within the framework of collaborative ethnography with informal workers, the unemployed, and other local residents. It asks how to engage “new” researchers in the community to study that community—in this case, those impacted by heritage redevelopment at two sites: in South East London and West Bengal. The paper is conceived as a contribution to ethnographic methodologies in urban anthropology, arguing in support of inclusive and responsive approaches to knowledge creation in the social sciences
“By name and no other”: The COVID masks portrait project
No full text“‘By Name and No Other’: The COVID masks portrait project” is a series of images of the photographer’s family made in the early days of the COVID-19 quarantines in Seattle. These portraits document an uncertain moment, creating both a visual archive of an unfolding event and the occasion for reflection on how portraiture works as an ethnographic tool
Reality remodeled: Practical fictions for a more-than-empirical world
No full textMost ethnographers have little use for models and other formal abstractions, yet even a staunch empiricist such as Franz Boas could appreciate the “aesthetic” advantages of idealization and simplification. These advantages have been largely ignored in recent decades, as anthropologists have come to favor ever more intricate and encompassing accounts. The resulting “ethnographic involution,” I suggest, has steadily diminished anthropology as a source of usable, socially shared knowledge. Much the same problem, interestingly, was confronted long ago by Max Weber, who developed the method of “ideal types” precisely as a way to grasp, represent, and investigate the complexity of historical reality. Weber converged in this regard with his contemporary at Halle, the neo-Kantian philosopher Hans Vaihinger (1852–1933). Since the late twentieth century, Vaihinger’s “fictionalism” has attracted renewed interest within philosophy and beyond. Yet his notion of “as-if” reasoning—a via media, I would argue, between particularism and positivism—remains virtually unknown within anthropology
Fateful rite of passage: Charismatic ratification of elite merit in China’s National College Entrance Exam
No full textThis article argues that China’s National College Entrance Exam, the Gaokao, provides routinized charismatic ratification of elite merit and state authority. In his writings, Max Weber differentiates between original and routinized charisma. Whereas original charisma disrupts social orders, routinized charisma legitimizes them by preserving a spark of the extraordinary and the divine. Based on long-term ethnographic research in Chinese high schools, this article examines a mode of charisma preservation that Weber ignored: routinized fateful rites of passage like the Gaokao. Despite being routinized, such events are chancy, their outcomes contingent and undetermined. This indeterminacy is indexed by magical concepts like fate and luck, which lend charismatic authority a divine imprimatur. This analysis illuminates the importance of indeterminacy in understanding the compulsion of charisma, contributes to understanding the dialectical interplay between original and routinized charisma, and explains the Gaokao’s magical-charismatic role in preserving the moral authority of China’s ruling elite