Dominic Boyer (DB): More so than most of us, Ulf, you are truly an “anthropologist of the world.” And it so happens that these are very challenging times, but also in some ways very inspiring times, for the world. The Washington Consensus, for example, seems more fragile than ever before, and an anthropologist is set to lead the World Bank for the first time. Yet austerity reigns, and the eurozone is in turmoil. Latin America is blossoming with new social and political experiments. Yet the United States seems in the grip of a slow and possibly very ugly decline. I wanted to ask you to reflect on anthropology’s role in today’s world. Or, not to be so parochial, what the ethnographic and conceptual work of transnationally oriented human scientists (forgive the German conceit!) could contribute to the navigation of times like these. Is this a good time to resurrect the...
Ulf Hannerz
Ulf Hannerz is professor emeritus of social anthropology, Stockholm University, Sweden. He has held visiting appointments at many American, European, Asian, and Australian universities and research centers and is a former chair of the European Association of Social Anthropologists. His research has focused on urban anthropology, media anthropology, and transnational cultural processes, with field studies in West Africa, the Caribbean, and the United States. His study of the work of news media foreign correspondents included multisite research on four continents. His books include Soulside (1969), Exploring the City (1980), Cultural Complexity (1992), Transnational Connections (1996), Foreign News (2004), and Anthropology’s World (2010).
Dominic Boyer is professor of anthropology, Rice University; director of the Center for Energy and Environmental Research in the Human Sciences; and editor of the book series Expertise: Cultures and Technologies of Knowledge for Cornell University Press. His research interests range from media anthropology and the anthropology of knowledge to studying intersections of energy and political power. His most recent book is The Life Informatic: Newsmaking in the Digital Era (2013).
Dominic Boyer; Ulf Hannerz. Public Culture 1 January 2014; 26 (1 (72)): 187–199. doi: https://doi.org/10.1215/08992363-2346295
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