Table of Contents

Foreword. Unfinished / JoÃo Biehl and Peter Locke  ix
Introduction. Ethnographic Sensorium / JoÃo Biehl and Peter Locke  1
1. The Anthropology of Becoming / JoÃo Biehl and Peter Locke  41
2. Becoming Aggrieved / Laurence Ralph  93
3. Heaven / Angela Garcia  111
4. Rebellious Matter / Bridget Purcell  133
5. Witness / Naisargi N. Dave  151
6. I Was Cannibalized by an Artist / Lilia M. Schwarcz  173
7. On Negative Becoming / Lucas Bessire  197
8. Time Machines / Elizabeth A. Davis  217
9. Horizoning / Adriana Petryna  243
10. Meantime / Peter Locke  269
11. Hereafter / JoÃo Biehl  278
Afterword. Zen Exercises: Anthropological Discipline and Ethics / Michael M. J. Fischer  293
Acknowledgments  317
Bibliography  319
Contributors  353
List of Illustrations  357
Index  359

About the Author

JoÃo Biehl is Susan Dod Brown Professor of Anthropology at Princeton University and the author of Vita: Life in a Zone of Social Abandonment and Will to Live: AIDS Therapies and the Politics of Survival.

Peter Locke is Assistant Professor of Instruction in Global Health Studies and the Department of Anthropology at Northwestern University.

Reviews

"Unfinished: The Anthropology of Becoming promises to contribute to our understanding of this current moment of political and epistemological uncertainties, and will be of great interest to scholars, researchers, and writers from across the social and natural sciences and the humanities." - Onur Günay and Heath Pearson (Somatosphere) "As complex and ambitious as it is masterfully conceived. . . . A sign of renaissance in anthropology." - Roberto Costa (The Australian Journal of Anthropology) "Bringing the theme of becoming to the center of the anthropological debate is particularly timely in a context in which institutions, as well as the public, are discussing and interpreting society in ways that rely heavily on deterministic forms of schematism and simplification. . . . Unfinished could be an intriguing choice for professionals looking for a source of inspiration for new analytical approaches to study the dynamism of social phenomena." - Michele Fontefrancesco (Anthropology in Action) "Although theoretically complex, the contributors never lose sight of the individuals at the heart of ethnography. . . . What stands out is its intricate and intimate representation of human experience, which imbues it with authority and stays with the reader for a long time." - Heather Montgomery (Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute)