Beyond Agatha Christie: Relationality and critique in anthropological theory.

Eckert, Julia (2016). Beyond Agatha Christie: Relationality and critique in anthropological theory. Anthropological theory, 16(2-3), pp. 241-248. Sage Publications 10.1177/1463499616662574

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Critical anthropological theory needs to be a theory of relationality. Only through a relational theory can we come to a perception of our fundamental commonality and conceptualise difference as being given significance by the unequal relations that we stand in towards each other. A relational theory needs concepts that reflect on the asymmetrical interdependence that shapes the dynamics of power relations, which give rise to institutions of ‘significant difference’. I propose Luc Boltanski’s notion of ‘situation’ as a concept that enables us to grasp the structured contingency that shapes our mutual interdependence. Situation, by making possible the micro-analysis of macro-relations, also provides the conceptual tools to think beyond that which is, towards that which is possible.

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