Tag Archives: hope
Futile Political Gestures: The False Hope of International Law in Palestine
Lori Allen
As analysts, we can only describe political acts or efforts as futile if there is a defined purpose against which to assess them. As Adolfo Estalella notes in his contribution to this collection, ‘to assess the futility of political actions requires making political judgments’. Doing so can present a problem to anthropologists, however, as weRead more
Futile Political Gestures: The Reversible World: the Brazilian election as a method of hope
Maya Mayblin
Oustinova-Stjepanovic asks why ‘we are admonished against assuming futility or succumbing to despair in politics’? The question, to me, is both a welcome critique of the anthropological compunction to read intention, or at the very least, coherence into social life, and an (Aristotelian) plea that we return tragedy and failure to their rightful place inRead more