INDETERMINACY
Wyse Series in Social Anthropology
Editors:
James Laidlaw, William Wyse Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge, and Fellow of King’s College, Cambridge
Maryon McDonald, Fellow in Social Anthropology, Robinson College, University of Cambridge
Joel Robbins, Sigrid Rausing Professor of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge, and Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge
Social Anthropology is a vibrant discipline of relevance to many areas – economics, politics, business, humanities, health and public policy. This series, published in association with the Cambridge William Wyse Chair in Social Anthropology, focuses on key interventions in Social Anthropology, based on innovative theory and research of relevance to contemporary social issues and debates.
Volume 1
Sociality: New Directions
Edited by Nicholas J. Long and Henrietta L. Moore
Volume 2
The Social Life of Achievement
Edited by Nicholas J. Long and Henrietta L. Moore
Volume 3
The State We’re In: Reflecting on Democracy’s Troubles
Edited by Joanna Cook, Nicholas J. Long, and Henrietta L. Moore
Volume 4
The Patient Multiple: An Ethnography of Healthcare and Decision-Making in Bhutan
Jonathan Taee
Volume 5
Moral Engines: Exploring the Ethical Drives in Human Life
Edited by Cheryl Mattingly, Rasmus Dyring, Maria Louw, Thomas Schwarz Wentzer
Volume 6
After Difference: Queer Activism in Italy and Anthropological Theory
Paolo Heywood
Volume 7
Indeterminacy: Waste, Value, and the Imagination
Edited by Catherine Alexander and Andrew Sanchez
INDETERMINACY
Waste, Value, and the Imagination
Edited by
Catherine Alexander and Andrew Sanchez
First published in 2019 by
Berghahn Books
www.berghahnbooks.com
© 2019, 2020 Catherine Alexander and Andrew Sanchez
First paperback edition published in 2020
All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purposes of criticism and review, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system now known or to be invented, without written permission of the publisher.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Alexander, Catherine, editor. | Sanchez, Andrew (Anthropologist), editor.
Title: Indeterminacy : waste, value, and the imagination / edited by Catherine Alexander and Andrew Sanchez.
Description: New York : Berghahn Books, 2019. | Series: WYSE series in social anthropology ; 7 | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2018018981 (print) | LCCN 2018038818 (ebook) | ISBN 9781789200102 (ebook) | ISBN 9781789200096 (hardback : alk. paper)
Subjects: LCSH: Social evolution. | Marginiality, Social. | Waste products--Social aspects. | Determinism (Philosophy) | Civilization, Modern--Social aspects.
Classification: LCC GN360 (ebook) | LCC GN360 .I52 2019 (print) | DDC 306--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018018981
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978-1-78920-009-6 hardback
ISBN 978-1-78920-755-2 paperback
ISBN 978-1-78920-010-2 ebook
Contents
Introduction. The Values of Indeterminacy
CATHERINE ALEXANDER AND ANDREW SANCHEZ
1. Kept in Suspense: The Unsettling Indeterminacy of US Landfills
JOSHUA O. RENO
2. Experiments in Living: The Value of Indeterminacy in Trans Art
ELENA GONZALEZ-POLLEDO
3. The Production of Indeterminacy: On the Unforeseeable Futures of Postindustrial Excess
FELIX RINGEL
4. Human Waste in the Land of Abundance: Two Kinds of Gypsy Indeterminacy in Norway
CATHRINE MOE THORLEIFFSON AND THOMAS HYLLAND ERIKSEN
5. Waste People/Value Producers: Ambiguity, Indeterminacy, and Postsocialist Russian-Speaking Miners
EEVA KESKÜLA
6. Indeterminate Classifications: Being “More than Kin” in Kazakhstan
CATHERINE ALEXANDER
ELISABETH SCHOBER
Epilogue. Indeterminacy: Between Worth and Worthlessness
NIKO BESNIER AND SUSANA NAROTZKY
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