The Anthropology of Ignorance An Ethnographic Approach

The question of ignorance occupies a central place in anthropological theory and practice. This volume argues that the concept of ignorance has largely been pursued as the opposite of knowledge or even its obverse. Though they cover wide empirical ground - from clients of a fertility treatment center in New York to families grappling with suicide in Greenland - contributors share a commitment to understanding the concept as a productive, social practice. Ultimately, The Anthropology of Ignorance asks whether an academic commitment to knowledge can be squared with lived significance of ignorance and how taking it seriously might alter anthropological research practices.

Casey High is a lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at Goldsmiths, University of London. His research with the Waorani communities of Amazonian Ecuador focuses on memory, violence, language, and indigenous politics. He is co-editor of the volume How Do We Know? Evidence, ethnography, and the making of anthropological knowledge (2008) and his recent articles have been published in American Ethnologist and the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. Ann H. Kelly is a lecturer in Anthropology at The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine at the University of London. Her work explores the production of scientific facts in Africa, with special attention to the built-environments, material artifacts, and practical labors of experimentation. Her work has recently been published in Social Science and Medicine the journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Biosocieties, and the Journal of Cultural Economy. Jonathan Mair is a lecturer in Social Anthropology at Manchester University and held a research fellowship at St. John's College, Cambridge while he was working on this book. He has conducted field research in China, Taiwan, and the UK and writes on Buddhism, ethics, belief, and ignorance. His recent work is an ethnographic account of the contemporary revival of Tibetan Buddhism in the Mongolian regions of northern China.