Duke University Press Anthropos and the Material

The destructive effects of modern industrial societies have shaped the planet in such profound ways that many argue for the existence of a new geological epoch called the Anthropocene. This claim brings into relief a set of challenges that have deep implications for how relations between the human, the material, and the political shape contemporary social worlds. The contributors to Anthropos and the Material examine these challenges by questioning and complicating long-held understandings of the divide between humans and things. They present ethnographic case studies from across the globe, addressing myriad topics that range from labor, economics, and colonialism to technology, culture, the environment, agency, and diversity. In foregrounding the importance of connecting natural and social histories, the instability and intangibility of the material, as well as the ways in which the lively encounters between the human and the nonhuman challenge conceptions of liberal humanism, the contributors point to new understandings of the capacities of people and things to act, transform, and adapt to a changing world. Review "This book underscores that the Anthropocene poses challenges that far exceed disciplinary or methodological boundaries, just as they exceed the bounds of the anthropos or the material. The contributors take us far in imagining analytical frameworks, sensibilities, and political possibilities that are 'more than human' at a time when anthropocentrism is confronting the consequences of its hubris."--Nidhi Subramanyam "Geographical Review" (11/16/2020 12:00:00 AM) Review “If you want to understand the politics of vibrant matter without being absorbed into the very circumstances you struggle against, look to ethnography. That's the invigorating message Anthropos and the Material brings to an era of climate change and cryptocurrencies, as humans increasingly confront their entanglements—destructive, creative, indifferent—with the materialities of a world that exceeds them. An inspiring example of what anthropology can be, or become, once liberal humanism has been well and truly displaced.” Author: Kath Weston, author of Source: Animate Planet: Making Visceral Sense of Living in a High-Tech Ecologically Damaged World From the Author Penny Harvey is Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Manchester and Professor II in the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo. Christian Krohn-Hansen is Professor in the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo. Knut G. Nustad is Professor in the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo. About the Author Penny Harvey is Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Manchester and Professor II in the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo. Christian Krohn-Hansen is Professor in the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo. Knut G. Nustad is Professor in the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo.