Customer Reviews

Designs for an Anthropology of the Contemporary

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Reviewing several axial moments of canonical anthropology, Rabinow and Marcus challenge ethnographers to reimagine what fieldwork is and to reconceptualize long accepted methods in ethnographic research. Building on Nietzsche's notion of the untimely, Rabinow urges his readers not to overdetermine the role of history in shaping the contemporary. As Rabinow understands it, the contemporary is an atemporal space determined not so much by history as by rapid technological innovations. Both Marcus and Rabinow agree that instituting new methods and approaches that attempt to interpret the contemporary must begin with pedagogy. For those interested in radical reconceptualizations of social space and the means to interpret it, this book is highly recommended.

When I bought this book I was looking for a discussion on anthropology's challenges and metamorphoses that would guide me on designing a research on contemporary politics. The book accomplishes that, in a certain way, and offers something more. The "authors" discuss their works, their methodologies and the difficulties they have faced with contemporary anthropological research, and offer ideas and possible paths in pursuing new questions, places and objects. This is not a research manual, of course (and many of my questions and doubts remain unanswered), but the dialogues between scholars and friends point to new concerns and directions. Though the discussion is not linear, the reader may catch an idea or two between lines. The dialogues are easy to follow and both the introduction and the afterword are useful to understand the particularities of the discussion and the general context in which anthropology is set. Though a common reader may profit from this book, it is rather an academic reading.