State, Resistance, Transformation : Anthropological Perspectives On The Dynamics Of Power In Contemporary Global Realities

The territorially sovereign nation-state - the globallydominant political formation of Western modernity - is incrisis. Though it is a highly heterogeneous assemblage,moulded by different histories involving myriad socio-cultural processes, itsterritorial integrity and sovereignty are always contingent and related to thedistribution and organization of authority and power, and the state's position withinencompassing global dynamics.This volume attends to these contingencies as they are refracted by thecommunities and populations that are variously incorporated (in conformity orresistance) within their ordering processes. With ethnographically groundedanalyses and thick description of locales as various as Russia, Lebanon andIndonesia, a vital conversation emerges about forms of state control underchallenge or in transition.It is clear that the politico-social configurations of the state are still taking newdirections, such as extremist populism and a general dissatisfaction with thecorporatism of digital and technological revolutions. These are symptoms of thedilemmas at the peripheries of capital growth coming home to roost at theircentres. Such transformations demand the new forms of conceptualization that theanthropological approaches of the essays in this volume present.A fascinating and timely collection that dwells on the unsettled nature of contemporaryrelationships between 'state' and 'society'. Drawing on case studies from beyond theheartland of political theory, contributors refuse to treat global phenomena as generic andfocus instead on the specific social relations that constitute the varied possibilities and limitsof contemporary state power.Penny Harvey, Professor of Social Anthropology, University of ManchesterThis is political anthropology on a truly large canvas. The standing question about how 'state'and 'society' relate, and whether the distinction between them makes sense in the first place,is tackled deftly through the lenses of varying conceptions and practices of power andresistance.Martin Holbraad, Professor of Social Anthropology, University College London

• | Author: Bruce Kapferer, Bruce Kapferer
• | Publisher: Sean Kingston Publishing
• | Publication Date: May 30, 2018
• | Number of Pages: 372 pages
• | Language: English
• | Binding: Paperback
• | ISBN-10: 1907774491
• | ISBN-13: 9781907774492