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The Anthropology of Ambiguity
Paperback
PhilosophyAnthropologyGeneral Sociology
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ISBN10: 1526195771
ISBN13: 9781526195777
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Published: Jan 20 2026
Pages: 264
Weight: 0.82
Height: 0.55 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English
ISBN13: 9781526195777
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Published: Jan 20 2026
Pages: 264
Weight: 0.82
Height: 0.55 Width: 6.14 Depth: 9.21
Language: English
This volume puts ambiguity and its generative power at the centre of analytical attention. Rather than being cast negatively as a source of confusion, bewilderment or as a dangerous portent, ambiguity is held as the source of the dynamic between knowledge and experience and of certainty amid uncertainty. It positions human life between the realms of mystery and mastery where ambiguity is understood as the experience and expression of life and part of navigating the human condition. In turn, the tension between the tradition in anthropology of examining cultural certitudes through ethnographic description and efforts to challenge dominant expressions of incertitude are explored. Each chapter presents ethnographic accounts of how people engage individually and collectively with the self, the other, human-made institutions and the more-than-human to navigate ambiguity in a world affected by viral contagion, climate change, economic instability, labour precarity and (geo)political tension.
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