Experiments in Holism

Experiments in Holism Experiments in Holism: Theory and Practice in Contemporary Anthropology presents a series of essays that critically examine the ongoing relevance of holism and its theoretical and methodological potential in today’s world. Contributions from a diverse collection of leading anthropologists reveal how recent critiques of the holistic approach have not led to its wholesale rejection, but rather to a panoply of experiments that critically reassess and reemploy holism. The essays focus on aspects of holism including its utilization in current ethnographic research, holistic considerations in cultural anthropology, the French structuralist tradition, the predominantly English tradition of social anthropology, and many others. Collectively, the essays show how holism is simultaneously central to, and problematically a part of, the theory and practice of anthropology. Experiments in Holism reveals how contemporary attempts to rescale and retool anthropology entail new ways of coming to terms with anthropology’s heritage of holism, seeking to obviate its current excesses while recapturing its critical potential to meet the challenges of our contemporary world.

Acknowledgments vii List of Contributors ix 1. Anthropology and the Predicaments of Holism 1  Nils Bubandt and Ton Otto Part 1 Rethinking Holism in Ethnographic Practice 17 2. Beyond the Whole in Ethnographic Practice? Introduction to Part 1 19  Ton Otto and Nils Bubandt 3. Holism and the Expectations of Critique in Post-1980s Anthropology: Notes and Queries in Three Acts and an  Epilogue 28  George E. Marcus 4. Worlding the Matsutake Diaspora: Or, Can Actor–Network Theory Experiment With Holism? 47  Anna Tsing 5. The Whole Beyond Holism: Gambling, Divination, and Ethnography in Cuba 67  Martin Holbraad Part 2 Beyond Cultural Wholes? Wholes are Parts, and Parts are Wholes 87 6. Beyond Cultural Wholes? Introduction to Part 2 89  Ton Otto and Nils Bubandt 7. The Whole is a Part: Intercultural Politics of Order and Change 102  Marshall Sahlins 8. Lingual and Cultural Wholes and Fields 127  Alan Rumsey 9. Deep Wholes: Fractal Holography in Trobriand Agency and Culture 150 Mark Mosko Part 3 Beyond Structural Wholes? Encompassment, Collectives, and Global Systems 175 10. Beyond Structural Wholes? Introduction to Part 3 177  Nils Bubandt and Ton Otto 11. Louis Dumont and a Holist Anthropology 187  Bruce Kapferer 12. From Wholes to Collectives: Steps to an Ontology of Social Forms 209  Philippe Descola 13. Holism and the Transformation of the Contemporary Global Order 227  Jonathan Friedman Part 4 Beyond Social Wholes? Holistic Practice: Cosmology, History, and the Continuity of Life 249 14. Beyond Social Wholes? Introduction to Part 4 251  Nils Bubandt and Ton Otto 15. Proportional Holism: Joking the Cosmos Into the Right Shape in North Asia 262  Rane Willerslev and Morten Axel Pedersen 16. One Past and Many Pasts: Varieties of Historical Holism in Melanesia and the West 279  Eric Hirsch and Daniele Moretti 17. Drawing Together: Materials, Gestures, Lines 299  Tim Ingold Index 314