Anthropology in the Margins of the State (School of American Research Advanced Seminar Series)
This is an innovative collection on a seminal theme....Of particular importance is...the emphasis that the 'margins' are not peripheral to the working of the state but, on the contrary, highlight crucial aspects of its everyday functioning. --Peter Geschiere, University of AmsterdamThe contributors show how we can theorise and analyse the spectral presence of the state on its margins, and how issues of hermeneutic power, representation, justice and citizenship involve an interplay of competing force-fields at such liminal locations as check-points, border crossings, military lines, black markets, bureaucratic counters and international frontiers. --Michael Jackson, Anthropological Forum, Vol. 16, no. 1 (March 2006)This engaging, thoughtful book presents and sustains a distinctively anthropological perspective on the contemporary state and its relations to citizenship, identity, power, and daily lifeâ€¦.The authors' attention to the margins of state power leads us to consider the difficulty of drawing a line that separates zones within and without state control-insights that grow increasingly timely. --Ben Orlove, Univ. of California-DavisThe contributors show how we can theorise and analyse the spectral presence of the state on its margins, and how issues of hermeneutic power, representation, justice and citizenship involve an interplay of competing force-fields at such liminal locations as check-points, border crossings, military lines, black markets, bureaucratic counters and international frontiers. --Michael Jackson, Anthropological Forum, Vol. 16, no. 1 (March 2006)This engaging, thoughtful book presents and sustains a distinctively anthropological perspective on the contemporary state and its relations to citizenship, identity, power, and daily life….The authors' attention to the margins of state power leads us to consider the difficulty of drawing a line that separates zones within and without state control-insights that grow increasingly timely. --Ben Orlove, Univ. of California-Davis