Ton Otto & Nils Bubandt 
Experiments in Holism 
Theory and Practice in Contemporary Anthropology

Experiments in Holism

Experiments in Holism: Theory and Practice in Contemporary Anthropology presents a series of essays that critically examine the ongoing relevance of holism and its theoretical and methodological potential in today’s world. Contributions from a diverse collection of leading anthropologists reveal how recent critiques of the holistic approach have not led to its wholesale rejection, but rather to a panoply of experiments that critically reassess and reemploy holism. The essays focus on aspects of holism including its utilization in current ethnographic research, holistic considerations in cultural anthropology, the French structuralist tradition, the predominantly English tradition of social anthropology, and many others. Collectively, the essays show how holism is simultaneously central to, and problematically a part of, the theory and practice of anthropology. Experiments in Holism reveals how contemporary attempts to rescale and retool anthropology entail new ways of coming to terms with anthropology’s heritage of holism, seeking to obviate its current excesses while recapturing its critical potential to meet the challenges of our contemporary world.

Table of Content

Acknowledgments vii

List of Contributors ix

1. Anthropology and the Predicaments of Holism 1
Nils Bubandt and Ton Otto

Part 1 Rethinking Holism in Ethnographic Practice 17

2. Beyond the Whole in Ethnographic Practice? Introduction to Part 1 19
Ton Otto and Nils Bubandt

3. Holism and the Expectations of Critique in Post-1980s Anthropology: Notes and Queries in Three Acts and an Epilogue 28
George E. Marcus

4. Worlding the Matsutake Diaspora: Or, Can Actor-Network Theory Experiment With Holism? 47
Anna Tsing

5. The Whole Beyond Holism: Gambling, Divination, and Ethnography in Cuba 67
Martin Holbraad

Part 2 Beyond Cultural Wholes? Wholes are Parts, and Parts are Wholes 87

6. Beyond Cultural Wholes? Introduction to Part 2 89
Ton Otto and Nils Bubandt

7. The Whole is a Part: Intercultural Politics of Order and Change 102
Marshall Sahlins

8. Lingual and Cultural Wholes and Fields 127
Alan Rumsey

9. Deep Wholes: Fractal Holography in Trobriand Agency and Culture 150
Mark Mosko

Part 3 Beyond Structural Wholes? Encompassment, Collectives, and Global Systems 175

10. Beyond Structural Wholes? Introduction to Part 3 177
Nils Bubandt and Ton Otto

11. Louis Dumont and a Holist Anthropology 187
Bruce Kapferer

12. From Wholes to Collectives: Steps to an Ontology of Social Forms 209
Philippe Descola

13. Holism and the Transformation of the Contemporary Global Order 227
Jonathan Friedman

Part 4 Beyond Social Wholes? Holistic Practice: Cosmology, History, and the Continuity of Life 249

14. Beyond Social Wholes? Introduction to Part 4 251
Nils Bubandt and Ton Otto

15. Proportional Holism: Joking the Cosmos Into the Right Shape in North Asia 262
Rane Willerslev and Morten Axel Pedersen

16. One Past and Many Pasts: Varieties of Historical Holism in Melanesia and the West 279
Eric Hirsch and Daniele Moretti

17. Drawing Together: Materials, Gestures, Lines 299
Tim Ingold

Index 314

About the author

Ton Otto is Professor of Anthropology and Ethnography at Aarhus University, Denmark, and Professor and Research Leader at The Cairns Institute, James Cook University, Australia. His most recent publications include the co-edited volumes Tradition and Agency: Tracing Cultural Continuity and Invention (2005, with Poul Pedersen) and Warfare and Society: Archaeological and Social Anthropological Perspectives (2006, with Henrik Thrane and Helle Vandkilde).

Nils Bubandt is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Aarhus University and co-editor-in-chief of Ethnos. He is the co-author of Imagining Nature: Practices of Cosmology and Identity (2003, with Andreas Roepstorff and Kalevi Kull), and has published numerous articles on topics such as forgery, witchcraft, globalization, and conflict.