Journal•ISSN: 0094-0496
American Ethnologist
Wiley-Blackwell
About: American Ethnologist is an academic journal published by Wiley-Blackwell. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Politics & Kinship. It has an ISSN identifier of 0094-0496. Over the lifetime, 3655 publications have been published receiving 108502 citations. The journal is also known as: AE.
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identify two principles that are key to state spatialization: vertically (thestate is "above" society) and encompassm ent (state "encompasses" its localities).
Abstract: In this exploratory article, we ask how states come to be understood as entities with particular spatial characteristics, and how changing relations between practices of government and national territories may be challenging long-established modes of state spatiality. In the first part of this article, we seek to identify two principles that are key to state spatialization: vertically (thestate is "above"society) andencompassm ent (thestate "encompasses" its localities). We use ethnographic evidence from a maternal health project in India to illustrate our argument that perceptions of verticality and encompassment are produced through routine bureaucratic practices. In the second part, we develop a concept of transnational governmentality as a way of grasping how new practices of government and new forms of "grassroots" politics may call into question the principles of vertical ity and encompassment that have long helped to legitimate and naturalize states' authority over "the local." [states, space, governmentality, globalization, neoliberalism, India, Africa] Recent years have seen a new level of anthropological concern with the modern
1,955 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors attempt to do an ethnography of the Indian state by examining the discourses of corruption in contemporary India, focusing on the practices of lower levels of the bureaucracy in a small north Indian town as well as on representations of the state in the mass media.
Abstract: In this article I attempt to do an ethnography of the state by examining the discourses of corruption in contemporary India. I focus on the practices of lower levels of the bureaucracy in a small north Indian town as well as on representations of the state in the mass media. Research on translocal institutions such as “the state” enables us to reflect on the limitations of participant-observation as a technique of fieldwork. The analysis leads me to question Eurocentric distinctions between state and civil society and offers a critique of the conceptualization of “the state” as a monolithic and unitary entity. [the state, public culture, fieldwork, discourse, corruption, India]
1,694 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that resistance should be used as a diagnostic of power, and show what the forms of Awlad ‘Ali Bedouin women's resistance can reveal about the historically changing relations of power in which they are enmeshed as they become increasingly incorporated into the Egyptian state and economy.
Abstract: Resistance has become in recent years a popular focus for work in the human sciences. Despite the theoretical sophistication of many anthropological and historical studies of everyday resistance, there remains a tendency to romanticize it. I argue instead that resistance should be used as a diagnostic of power, and I show what the forms of Awlad ‘Ali Bedouin women's resistance can reveal about the historically changing relations of power in which they are enmeshed as they become increasingly incorporated into the Egyptian state and economy. [resistance, power, Bedouins, women, the state, Egypt]
1,580 citations
TL;DR: Flexible Citizenship: The Cultural Logics of Transnationality by Aihwa Ong as discussed by the authors is a seminal work in the field of transnationality. ix. 322 pp., notes, bibliography, index.
Abstract: Flexible Citizenship: The Cultural Logics of Transnationality. Aihwa Ong. Durham, NIC: Duke University Press, 1999. ix. 322 pp., notes, bibliography, index.
1,517 citations
TL;DR: Chakrababaity et al. as mentioned in this paper, Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference Dipesh Chakrabaity Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000 ix + 301 pp, notes, index
Abstract: Provincializing Europe: Postcolonial Thought and Historical Difference Dipesh Chakrabaity Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000 ix + 301 pp, notes, index
1,430 citations