Pimp my fluff: A Thousand Plateaus and other theoretical extravaganzas
| Résumé |
This article is fueled by irritation with obscurantism in and
posturing around ‘theory’ in contemporary anthropology. It examines
three examples of contemporary anthropological production that build
on what has become a cult reference in this regard, the
incomprehensible A Thousand Plateaus by Gilles Deleuze and Félix
Guattari. These examples involve the reconceptualization of
crafting (Ingold), of causation (Remme) and of the rhizome
(Mueller), each of which mobilizes Deleuze and Guattari’s
conceptual lexicon in a specific and distinct way. Nourished by
these examples, and despite her initial skepticism, the author
concludes that the obscurity of Deleuze and Guattari’s overwrought
prose can nonetheless lead to interesting anthropological analyses
that engage variously with this work to produce real theoretical
and empirical insights. The article concludes, however, that the
disciplinary economy of this production values ‘theory’ over and
above attempts to describe ‘reality’. Then, building on Boltanski’s
distinction between ‘reality’ and ‘the world’, it proposes what the
author argues is a more useful mobilization of theory, dedicated to
producing more accurate and just descriptions of the world we live
in. |
| Mots-clés |
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| Citation | Hertz, E. (2016). Pimp my fluff: A Thousand Plateaus and other theoretical extravaganzas. Anthropological Theory, 16(2-3), 146-159. |
| Type | Article de périodique (Anglais) |
| Date de publication | 2016 |
| Nom du périodique | Anthropological Theory |
| Volume | 16 |
| Numéro | 2-3 |
| Pages | 146-159 |
| URL | https://doi.org/10.1177/1463499616654830 |