Presence as ground for the future: an interview with Julia Eckert

    (Background) Could you say a bit about your own trajectory, and research interests? I had two research interests quite independent from each other from the very beginning as an undergraduate student: the role of law in social and political life; and political participation in all its ambiguity. I actually started studying political science, public law… Read more

Political theory through conversations with mum: an interview with Fazil Moradi

      (Special issue special question): what motivated the special issue / what were some of the challenges in putting it together    My scholarly interest is within the anthropology of modernity, with a particular emphasis on various but entangled fields such as political, legal, feminist, and medical anthropology and anthropology of art or… Read more

Projecting the future and the self ... through projects: an interview with Damien Droney

(Background) Could you say a bit about your own trajectory, and research interests?   My work is mostly concerned with understanding the politics of health science and technology in the context of postcolonial Ghana. A major part of that is thinking about the continuing influence of colonialism on science and medicine, but I’m perhaps even… Read more

Theorizing amidst Nakbas: an Interview with Arpan Roy

    (Background) Could you say a bit about your own trajectory, and research interests? Broadly speaking, I am interested in peripheral social phenomena that can be subversive to established modes of thought. I am also interested in classical anthropological concepts like kinship, religion, cognition, and language; and their interaction with philosophical concepts. I did… Read more

On the queerness of norms: an interview with Thomas Hendriks

ed note: as part of our on-going initiative examining how theory gets made, we are featuring interviews with recent Anthropological Theory authors, inquiring into their writing and thinking process. This interview, with Thomas Hendriks (KU Leuven, Belgium) about his article “On the surprising queerness of norms: Anthropology with Canguilhem, Foucault, and Butler″ (2023), is the… Read more

Challenges in Empire: an interview with Vida Savoniakaitė

ed note: as part of a new initiative examining how theory gets made, we are featuring interviews with recent Anthropological Theory authors, inquiring into their writing and thinking process. This interview, with Vida Savoniakaitė (Lithuanian Institute of History)  about her article “Challenges in empire: Eduards Volters’ ethnography on Lithuania, 1882–1918" (2023), is the fifth of… Read more

Interview: Human Remains and Essentialist Assumptions

ed note: as part of a new initiative examining how theory gets made, we are featuring interviews with recent Anthropological Theory authors, inquiring into their writing and thinking process. This interview, with Jonatan Kurzwelly (University of Göttingen, Germany and University of the Free State) and Malin S Wilckens ( Leibniz-Institute for European History) about their… Read more

Dialectics of Decolonization: interview with two time AT author Stephen Campbell

ed note: as part of a new initiative examining how theory gets made, we are featuring interviews with recent Anthropological Theory authors, inquiring into their writing and thinking process. This interview, with Stephen Campbell (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) about his article "In defence of ideological struggle against neocolonial self-justifications"  (2023), is the third of these… Read more

Common Difference: an interview with AT author Yulia Egorova

ed note: as part of a new initiative examining how theory gets made, we are featuring interviews with recent Anthropological Theory authors, inquiring into their writing and thinking process. This interview, with Yulia Egorova (Durham University) about her article "Common Difference: Conceptualising Simultaneity and Racial Sincerity in Jewish-Muslim Relations in the United Kingdom” (2023), is… Read more

Aristotle and Animism: an Interview with AT author Jeff Kochan

ed note: as part of a new initiative examining how theory gets made, we are featuring interviews with recent Anthropological Theory authors, inquiring into their writing and thinking process. This interview, with Jeff Kochan about his article "Ingold, hermeneutics, and hylomorphic animism" (2023), is the first of these interviews.   1. Could you say a… Read more

Capturing the Imagination: An Interview with James W. Fernandez

David E. Sutton and James W. Fernandez

James W. Fernandez has made a lasting impact on the theoretical approaches of anthropology through his work on metaphor and other tropes that shape human experience. He has been a leading figure in interpretive and symbolic anthropology for over 5 decades, and he has developed key concepts around the notions of tropes and figurations, and… Read more