Porous Becomings
Anthropological Engagements with Michel Serres
Published on 29. March 2024
Book
Paperback/Softback
344 pages
978-1-4780-3028-7 (ISBN)
Description
One of the foremost intellectuals of his generation, French philosopher of science Michel Serres (1930-2019) broke free from disciplinary dogmas. His reflections on science, culture, technology, art, and religion have proved foundational to scholars across the humanities. The contributors to Porous Becomings bring the inspirational and enigmatic world of Serres to the attention of anthropology. Through ethnographic encounters as diverse as angels and religious conversion in Ethiopia, the percolation of war in Bosnia, and incarcerated bodies crossing the Atlantic, the contributors showcase how Serres's interrogation of the fundamentals of human existence opens new pathways for anthropological knowledge. Proposing the notion of "porosity" to characterize permeability across boundaries of time, space, literary genre, and academic discipline, they draw on Serres to map the constellations that connect humans, time, technology, and planet Earth. The volume concludes with a conversation between the editors and Vibrant Matter author Jane Bennett.
Contributors. Andreas Bandak, Jane Bennett, Tom Boylston, Steven D. Brown, Matei Candea, Alberto CorsIn JimEnez, David Henig, Michael Jackson, Daniel M. Knight, Celia Lowe, Morten Nielsen, Stavroula Pipyrou, Elizabeth Povinelli, Andrew Shryock, Arpad Szakolczai
Contributors. Andreas Bandak, Jane Bennett, Tom Boylston, Steven D. Brown, Matei Candea, Alberto CorsIn JimEnez, David Henig, Michael Jackson, Daniel M. Knight, Celia Lowe, Morten Nielsen, Stavroula Pipyrou, Elizabeth Povinelli, Andrew Shryock, Arpad Szakolczai
Reviews / Votes
"This book will send many readers in search of what Michel Serres's work might illuminate in the present condition of the world. The authors unravel some of anthropology's conceptual straightjackets, thereby suggesting the discipline's potential for rethinking the Anthropocene. Serres, they hint, saves the baby of an adventurous humanism while draining away the politically dirtied bathwater of disciplinary intolerance." - Michael Herzfeld, Harvard University "Porous Becomings teems with immersive connectivity, opening new registers of sensemaking, flourishing, potentiality, and flux. This urgent and extraordinary collection traverses strata of existence that far exceed the human, yet slows the trip to inspire vital anthropological imaginations for our troubled times." - Adriana Petryna, author of (Horizon Work: At the Edges of Knowledge in an Age of Runaway Climate Change) "In Porous Becomings, a stellar roster of anthropologists takes up the thought of philosopher Michel Serres. . . . this well-timed contribution from anthropology is clearly a labor of love. . . . It invites us to dive in and explore connections across its lively chapters, following the whorls and eddies of Serres's thought becoming anthropological. The portal is open." - Michael Degani (American Anthropologist)More details
Language
English
Place of publication
North Carolina
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
5 illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 152 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
553 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-4780-3028-7 (9781478030287)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
02/2024
1st Edition
De Gruyter
€36.99
Available for download
Persons
Andreas Bandak is Associate Professor in the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies at the University of Copenhagen and author of Exemplary Life: Modelling Sainthood in Christian Syria.
Daniel M. Knight is Reader in Social Anthropology at the University of St. Andrews and author of Vertiginous Life: An Anthropology of Time and the Unforeseen.
Daniel M. Knight is Reader in Social Anthropology at the University of St. Andrews and author of Vertiginous Life: An Anthropology of Time and the Unforeseen.
Content
Preface / Andreas Bandak and Daniel M. Knight ix
Acknowledgments xiii
Angel Hair Anthropology with Michel Serres / Andreas Bandak and Daniel M. Knight 1
Part I. Of Parasites and Contracts
1. Three Tales on the Arts of Entrapment: Natural Contracts, Melodic Contaminations, and Spiderweb Anthropologies / Alberto CorsIn JimEnez 33
2. Under the Sign of Hermes: Transgression, the Trickster, and Natural Justice / Michael Jackson 49
3. Keeping to Oneself: Hospitality and the Magical Hoard in the Balga of Jordan / Andrew Shryock 69
Chapter 3 Postscript: Connective Tissue / Andrew Shryock 91
4. Serres, the Sea, the Human, and Anthropology / Celia Lowe 99
Part II. Bodies in Time
5. Variations of Bodies in Motion and Relation / Elizabeth A. Povinelli 117
6. When War Percolates: On Topologies of Earthly Violence in a Planetary Age / David Henig 135
7. Feeling Safe in a Panbiotic World / Steven D. Brown 153
8. Michel Serres and Gregory Bateson: Implicit Dialogue about a Recognitive Epistemology of Nature / Arpad Szakolczai 175
Part III. Knowledge Quests
9. Angelology / Tom Boylston 199
10. Forms of Proximity / Stavroula Pipyrou 215
11. Comedic Transubstantiation: The Hermesian Paradox of Being Funny among Stand-Up Comics in New York City / Morten Nielsen 233
12. Michel Serres, Wisdom, Anthropology / Matei Candea 253
Afterword: Conversations with Jane Bennett / Jane Bennett, Andreas Bandak, and Daniel M. Knight 273
References 289
Contributors 311
Index 315
Acknowledgments xiii
Angel Hair Anthropology with Michel Serres / Andreas Bandak and Daniel M. Knight 1
Part I. Of Parasites and Contracts
1. Three Tales on the Arts of Entrapment: Natural Contracts, Melodic Contaminations, and Spiderweb Anthropologies / Alberto CorsIn JimEnez 33
2. Under the Sign of Hermes: Transgression, the Trickster, and Natural Justice / Michael Jackson 49
3. Keeping to Oneself: Hospitality and the Magical Hoard in the Balga of Jordan / Andrew Shryock 69
Chapter 3 Postscript: Connective Tissue / Andrew Shryock 91
4. Serres, the Sea, the Human, and Anthropology / Celia Lowe 99
Part II. Bodies in Time
5. Variations of Bodies in Motion and Relation / Elizabeth A. Povinelli 117
6. When War Percolates: On Topologies of Earthly Violence in a Planetary Age / David Henig 135
7. Feeling Safe in a Panbiotic World / Steven D. Brown 153
8. Michel Serres and Gregory Bateson: Implicit Dialogue about a Recognitive Epistemology of Nature / Arpad Szakolczai 175
Part III. Knowledge Quests
9. Angelology / Tom Boylston 199
10. Forms of Proximity / Stavroula Pipyrou 215
11. Comedic Transubstantiation: The Hermesian Paradox of Being Funny among Stand-Up Comics in New York City / Morten Nielsen 233
12. Michel Serres, Wisdom, Anthropology / Matei Candea 253
Afterword: Conversations with Jane Bennett / Jane Bennett, Andreas Bandak, and Daniel M. Knight 273
References 289
Contributors 311
Index 315