States of Imagination

Ethnographic Explorations of the Postcolonial State

Nonfiction, History, World History, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Anthropology
Cover of the book States of Imagination by George Steinmetz, Julia Adams, Duke University Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: George Steinmetz, Julia Adams ISBN: 9780822381273
Publisher: Duke University Press Publication: December 12, 2001
Imprint: Duke University Press Books Language: English
Author: George Steinmetz, Julia Adams
ISBN: 9780822381273
Publisher: Duke University Press
Publication: December 12, 2001
Imprint: Duke University Press Books
Language: English

The state has recently been rediscovered as an object of inquiry by a broad range of scholars. Reflecting the new vitality of the field of political anthropology, States of Imagination draws together the best of this recent critical thinking to explore the postcolonial state. Contributors focus on a variety of locations from Guatemala, Pakistan, and Peru to India and Ecuador; they study what the state looks like to those seeing it from the vantage points of rural schools, police departments, small villages, and the inside of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Focusing on the micropolitics of everyday state-making, the contributors examine the mythologies, paradoxes, and inconsistencies of the state through ethnographies of diverse postcolonial practices. They show how the authority of the state is constantly challenged from the local as well as the global and how growing demands to confer rights and recognition to ever more citizens, organizations, and institutions reveal a persistent myth of the state as a source of social order and an embodiment of popular sovereignty. Demonstrating the indispensable value of ethnographic work on the practices and the symbols of the state, States of Imagination showcases a range of studies and methods to provide insight into the diverse forms of the postcolonial state as an arena of both political and cultural struggle.
This collection will interest students and scholars of anthropology, cultural studies, sociology, political science, and history.

Contributors. Lars Buur, Mitchell Dean, Akhil Gupta, Thomas Blom Hansen, Steffen Jensen, Aletta J. Norval, David Nugent, Sarah Radcliffe, Rachel Sieder, Finn Stepputat, Martijn van Beek, Oskar Verkaaik, Fiona Wilson

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

The state has recently been rediscovered as an object of inquiry by a broad range of scholars. Reflecting the new vitality of the field of political anthropology, States of Imagination draws together the best of this recent critical thinking to explore the postcolonial state. Contributors focus on a variety of locations from Guatemala, Pakistan, and Peru to India and Ecuador; they study what the state looks like to those seeing it from the vantage points of rural schools, police departments, small villages, and the inside of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Focusing on the micropolitics of everyday state-making, the contributors examine the mythologies, paradoxes, and inconsistencies of the state through ethnographies of diverse postcolonial practices. They show how the authority of the state is constantly challenged from the local as well as the global and how growing demands to confer rights and recognition to ever more citizens, organizations, and institutions reveal a persistent myth of the state as a source of social order and an embodiment of popular sovereignty. Demonstrating the indispensable value of ethnographic work on the practices and the symbols of the state, States of Imagination showcases a range of studies and methods to provide insight into the diverse forms of the postcolonial state as an arena of both political and cultural struggle.
This collection will interest students and scholars of anthropology, cultural studies, sociology, political science, and history.

Contributors. Lars Buur, Mitchell Dean, Akhil Gupta, Thomas Blom Hansen, Steffen Jensen, Aletta J. Norval, David Nugent, Sarah Radcliffe, Rachel Sieder, Finn Stepputat, Martijn van Beek, Oskar Verkaaik, Fiona Wilson

More books from Duke University Press

Cover of the book World-Systems Analysis by George Steinmetz, Julia Adams
Cover of the book History after Apartheid by George Steinmetz, Julia Adams
Cover of the book Fat Art, Thin Art by George Steinmetz, Julia Adams
Cover of the book Junot Díaz and the Decolonial Imagination by George Steinmetz, Julia Adams
Cover of the book Tropical Renditions by George Steinmetz, Julia Adams
Cover of the book Waves of Decolonization by George Steinmetz, Julia Adams
Cover of the book Redress for Historical Injustices in the United States by George Steinmetz, Julia Adams
Cover of the book Psychosomatic by George Steinmetz, Julia Adams
Cover of the book Racial Revolutions by George Steinmetz, Julia Adams
Cover of the book Where Is Ana Mendieta? by George Steinmetz, Julia Adams
Cover of the book The United States and the Genocide Convention by George Steinmetz, Julia Adams
Cover of the book The Aesthetics of Resistance, Volume I by George Steinmetz, Julia Adams
Cover of the book Birth of an Industry by George Steinmetz, Julia Adams
Cover of the book Biblical Porn by George Steinmetz, Julia Adams
Cover of the book City of Suspects by George Steinmetz, Julia Adams
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy