Abstract

Two decades after the publication of Clifford and Marcus’ volume Writing Culture, this collection provides a fresh and diverse reassessment of the debates that this pioneering volume unleashed. At the same time, Beyond Writing Culture moves the debate on by embracing the more fundamental challenge as to how to conceptualise the intricate relationship between epistemology and representational practices rather than maintaining the original narrow focus on textual analysis. It thus offers a thought-provoking tapestry of new ideas relevant for scholars not only concerned with ‘the ethnographic Other’, but with representation in general.

Karsten Kumoll is Programme Manager at the German Council of Science and Humanities (Wissenschaftsrat), advising the Federal and State (Länder) governments on the system of higher education and research. He obtained his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Freiburg. Its subject was Marshall Sahlins’ complete works and it was subsequently published as: Kultur, Geschichte und die Indigenisierung der Moderne: Eine Analyse des Gesamtwerks von Marshall Sahlins (Bielefeld, 2007).

“…an excellent recent example [of less ideologically driven analyses of Writing Culture]… this volume is the only one … that presents a serious, sustained analysis of the intersections between epistemology and representational practice…More so than the edited volumes on this topic that preceded it, Beyond Writing Culture attempts to strike a balance between acknowledging the contribution of Writing Culture and trying to learn from its mistakes.”  ·  Collaborative Anthropologies

“This volume represents the collection of a number of arguments presently raging in the halls of academia regarding the future of ethnography. By returning to Writing Culture over two decades after its first appearance, Zenker and Kumoll attest to the persistence of the landmark book’s ideas. While not an introduction to Writing Culture, this book is highly recommended to scholars interested in the current state of anthropology and the future potential of ethnographic work to move ‘beyond’ Writing Culture without abandoning its important contribution altogether.”  ·  Anthropology and Education Quarterly

“This is a book that will attract a great deal of attention among anthropologists and social scientists in general. It is a great advance on earlier critiques of Writing Culture (1986) that have emerged at intervals, a large number of them cited by the contributors. Its strength lies particularly in its transdisciplinary perspectives and the clarity of both critique and new representations. The prologue is a tour de force.”  ·  Joan Vincent, Professor Emerita, Barnard College/Columbia University

Olaf Zenker is Junior Professor at the Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Freie Universität Berlin. He received his PhD from the Martin Luther University and the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle/Saale, Germany, and obtained his habilitation from the University of Bern, Switzerland. His publications include the co-edited volume Irish/ness Is All Around Us: Language Revivalism and the Culture of Ethnic Identity in Northern Ireland (Berghahn Books, 2013).