ABSTRACT

The Future of Anthropological Knowledge the chapters explore the question of the nature of social knowledge from a variety of perspectives and locations such as China, Africa, the USA and elsewhere. By examining the changing nature of anthropological knowledge and of the production of that knowledge, this book challenges the notion that only western societies have produced social theories of modernity and of global scope. Knowledge of society can no longer be restricted to a knowledge of face-to-face social relations but must encompass the effect of technology, global consumption patterns and changing geo-political configurations. The Future of Anthropological Knowledge will be of interest to anthropologists and students of culture and society.

chapter |33 pages

Anthropology, China and modernities

The geopolitics of cultural knowledge

chapter |17 pages

Chimpanzees, diamonds and war

The discourses of global environmental change and local violence on the Liberia-Sierra Leone border

chapter |17 pages

Afterword

Affirmative theory: voice and counter-voice at the Oxford decennial