Experiments in Holism: Theory and Practice in Contemporary Anthropology

Experiments in Holism: Theory and Practice in Contemporary Anthropologypresents a series of essays that critically examine the ongoing relevance of holism and its theoretical and methodological potential in today′s world. Contributions from a diverse collection of leading anthropologists reveal how recent critiques of the holistic approach have not led to its wholesale rejection, but rather to a panoply of experiments that critically reassess and reemploy holism. The essays focus on aspects of holism including its utilization in current ethnographic research, holistic considerations in cultural anthropology, the French structuralist tradition, the predominantly English tradition of social anthropology, and many others. Collectively, the essays show how holism is simultaneously central to, and problematically a part of, the theory and practice of anthropology. Experiments in Holism reveals how contemporary attempts to rescale and retool anthropology entail new ways of coming to terms with anthropology’s heritage of holism, seeking to obviate its current excesses while recapturing its critical potential to meet the challenges of our contemporary world.

Spis treści:
Acknowledgments.
Introduction.
01. Anthropology and the Predicaments of Holism (Nils Bubandt and Ton Otto).
Part I. Rethinking Holism in Ethnographic Practice.
02. Beyond the Whole in Ethnographic Practice? Introduction to Part I (Ton Otto and Nils Bubandt).
03. Holism and the Expectations of Critique in Post–1980s Anthropology: Notes and Queries in Three Acts and an Epilogue (George Marcus).
04. Worlding the Matsutake Diaspora, or, Can Actor–Network Theory Experiment with Holism? (Anna Tsing).
05. The Whole Beyond Holism: Gambling, Divination and Ethnography in Cuba (Martin Holbraad).
Part II. Beyond Cultural Wholes? Wholes are Parts, and Parts are Wholes.
06. Beyo nd Cultural Wholes? Introduction to Part II (Ton Otto and Nils Bubandt).
07. The Whole is a Part: Intercultural Politics of Order and Change (Marshall Sahlins).
08. Lingual and Cultural Wholes and Fields (Alan Rumsey).
09. Deep Wholes: Fractal Holography in Trobriand Agency and Culture (Mark Mosko).
Part III. Beyond Structural Wholes? Encompassment, Collectives, and Global systems.
10. Beyond Structural Wholes? Introduction to Part III (Nils Bubandt and Ton Otto).
11. Louis Dumont and a Holist Anthropology (Bruce Kapferer).
12. From Wholes to Collectives: Steps to an Ontology of Social Forms (Philippe Descola).
13. Holism and the Transformation of the Contemporary Global Order (Jonathan Friedman).
Part IV. Beyond Social Wholes? Holistic Practice: Cosmology, History and the Continuity of Life.
14. Beyond Social Wholes? Introduction to Part IV (Nils Bubandt and Ton Otto).
15. Proportional Holism: Joking the Cosmos into the Right Shape in  North Asia (Morten Axel Pedersen and Rane Willerslev).
16. One Past and Many Pasts: Varieties of Historical Holism in Melanesia and the West (Eric Hirsch and Daniele Moretti).
17. Drawing Together: Materials, Gestures, Lines (Tim Ingold).

Nota biograficzna:
Ton Otto is Professor of Anthropology and Ethnography at Aarhus University, Denmark, and Professor and Research Leader at The Cairns Institute, James Cook University, Australia. His most recent publications include the co–edited volumes: Tradition and Agency: Tracing Cultural Continuity and Invention (2005, with Poul Pedersen) and Warfare and Society: Archaeological and Social Anthropological Perspectives (2006, with Henrik Thrane and Helle Vandkilde).
Nils Bubandt is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Aarhus University and co–editor–in–chief of Ethnos. He is the co –author of Imagining Nature: Practices of Cosmology and Identity (2003, with Andreas Roepstorff and Kalevi Kull), and has published numerous articles on topics such as forgery, witchcraft, globalization, and conflict.

Okładka tylna:
Experiments in Holism: Theory and Practice in Contemporary Anthropologypresents a series of essays that critically examine the ongoing relevance of holism and its theoretical and methodological potential in today′s world. Contributions from a diverse collection of leading anthropologists reveal how recent critiques of the holistic approach have not led to its wholesale rejection, but rather to a panoply of experiments that critically reassess and reemploy holism. The essays focus on aspects of holism including its utilization in current ethnographic research, holistic considerations in cultural anthropology, the French structuralist tradition, the predominantly English tradition of social anthropology, and many others. Collectively, the essays show how holism is simultaneously central to, and problematically a part of, the theory and practice of anthropology. Experiments in Holism reveals how contemporary attempts to rescale and retool anthropology entail new ways of coming to terms with anthropology’s heritage of holism, seeking to obviate its current excesses while recapturing its critical potential to meet the challenges of our contemporary world.