Anthropology in the Margins of the State (School of American Research Advanced Seminar Series) (School for Advanced Research Advanced Seminar Series) - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1930618417 ISBN 13: 9781930618411

Publisher: SAR Press, 2004

Synopsis

The very form and reach of the modern state are changing radically under the pressure of globalization. Featuring nine of the leading scholars in the field, this innovative exploration of these transformations develops an ethnographic methodology and theoretical apparatus to assess perceptions of power in three regions where state reform and violence have been particularly dramatic: Africa, Latin America, and South Asia. Rather than a geographic border, the term "margin" describes areas far from the centers of state sovereignty in which states are unable to ensure implementation of their programs and policies. Understanding how people perceive and experience the agency of the state; who is of, and not of, the state; and how practices at the margins shape the state itself are central themes. Drawing on fieldwork in Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Peru, Guatemala, India, Chad, Colombia, and South Africa, the contributors examine official documentary practices and their forms and falsifications; the problems that highly mobile mercenaries, currency, goods, arms, and diamonds pose to the state; emerging non-state regulatory authorities; and the role language plays as cultures struggle to articulate their situation. These case studies provide wide-ranging analyses of the relationship between states and peoples on the edges of state power's effective reign.

About this title

Review:

'This is an innovative collection on a seminal theme....Of particular importance is...the emphasis that the "margin" are not peripheral to the working of the state but, on the contrary, highlight crucial aspects of its everyday functioning.' - Peter Geschiere, University of Amsterdam Veena Das is Professor of Anthropology at the Johns Hopkins University; Deborah Poole is Professor of Anthropology at the Johns Hopkins University.

About the Author:

Veena Das is the Krieger-Eisenhower Professor of Anthropology at Johns Hopkins University.

About this edition

• Publisher: SAR Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1930618417
• ISBN 13: 9781930618411
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 354
• Editor: Veena Das