The Qualities of Time Anthropological Approaches

This book explores the relevance of classical ideas in the anthropology of time tothe way we understand history, participate in the events around us, and experienceour lives. Time is not just an abstract principle we live by or a local cultural construct: it is shaped, punctuated, organized, and suffered in complex ways by real people negotiating their lives and relations with others. Space may be opened up for politics, violence or revolutionary change within the framework of ceremonial markers of social time: holy days, festivals and carnivals. People create and recreate patterns in the way they imagine the past, present and future at such moments, through material objects, language, symbolic action and bodily experience. The rhythms of social life, including periodic episodes of sacred or special time, interact with 'historical events' in strange ways. They are fundamental not only to the human condition but to the making andremembering of history, as well as to what we recognize as the unexpected or abnormal. The Qualities of Time brings anthropologists and archaeologists together in a new conversation about the 'patterns' of our understanding and experience of time. The authors reflect on how we should interpret evidence about the distant past, andhow far the structuring of social time is a human universal. They also consider whether anthropology itself has been so oriented to the present it has still to develop ways of dealing with temporality. The interactions of time-structures, ceremonials, and specific historical events, including violence inspired by the millennium, are interrogated. The experience of individuals who feel the times are for them 'out of joint' is also examined. By combining socio-cultural, philosophical and historical approaches, thisthought-provoking book moves anthropological debates about time's qualities wellbeyond existing studies.This book explores the relevance of classical ideas in the anthropology of time toth

Introduction: From Representation to Action in the Flow of Time (Wendy James, University of Oxford and David Mills)Part I: Objects and Places as Signs of the Past The Material Culture of Memory (Paul Lane) 'Varimu Valale': Rock Art as World Heritage in a Ritual Landscape of Central Tanzania (Jasper Chalcraft) The Time of Place in West Mexico (Trevor Stack, University of Aberdeen) Part II: Mythical Times, Presentism and the Critique from History A Tiger in an African Palace (Richard Fardon, School of Oriental and African Studies) 'Time, Too, Grows on the Moon': Some Evidence for Knight's Theory of a Human Universal (Ian Watts, University of Cape Town)Historical Time Versus the Imagination of Antiquity: Critical Perspectives from the Kalahari (Chris Wingfield) Kingship, Revolution and Time: Perspectives on Materiality and Modernity (David Wengrow, Christ Church College, University of Oxford)Part III: Modern Times?Time Inscribed in Space, and the Process of Diagnosis in African and Chinese Medical Practices (Elisabeth Hsu, Green College, University of Oxford)Time and the Work Ethic in Post-Socialist Romania (Monica Heintz, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Germany)Part IV: Counterpointing the Metanarratives Quartering Sheep at Carnival in Sud Lopez, Bolivia (Maggie Bolton, University of Manchester) Bandits and Heroes: Past and Present in Central China (Mary Rack)The Persistence of Multiple-Religious Ceremonies in South-West Ethiopia (Tadesse Wolde, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Germany) Time-Shapes and Cultural Agency Among West African Craft Specialists (Roy Dilley, University of St Andrews)Part V: Cosmologies and the Making of History The 'Rounds' of Time: Time, History and Society in Boran Oromo (Gemetchu Megerssa, University of Addis Ababa and Aneesa Kassam, University of Durham)Cutting Time: Beads and Songs in the Making of Samburu Memory (Bilinda Straight, Western Michigan University) Old System, New Conflicts: Age, Generation, and Discord Among the Meru, Kenya (Anne-Marie Peatrik, CNRS, University Paris X-Nanterre) The Kanungu Fire: Millenarianism and the Millennium in South-Western Uganda (Richard Vokes, University of Oxford)Part VI: Persons In and Out of Time Life Made Strange: On the Re-Inhabitation of Bodies and Landscapes (Andrew Irving, University College London and Royal Free Hospital)Embodied Memories: Displacements in Time and Space (Julia Powles, St. Catherine's College, University of Oxford) Living in Time's Shadow: Pollution, Purification and Fractured Temporalities in Buddhist Ladakh (Martin Mills, University of Aberdeen)Introduction: From Representation to Action in the Flow of Time--Wendy James, University of Oxford and David MillsPart I: Objects and Places as Signs of the Past * The Material Culture of Memory--Paul Lane * 'Varimu Valale': Rock Art as World Heritage in a Ritual Landscape of Central Tanzania--Jasper Chalcraft * The Time of Place in West Mexico--Trevor Stack, University of Aberdeen Part II: Mythical Times, Presentism and the Critique from History * A Tiger in an African Palace--Richard Fardon, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) * 'Time, Too, Grows on the Moon': Some Evidence for Knight's Theory of a Human Universal--Ian Watts, University of Cape Town * Historical Time Versus the Imagination of Antiquity: Critical Perspectives from the Kalahari--Chris Wingfield * Kingship, Revolution and Time: Perspectives on Materiality and Modernity-- David Wengrow, Christ Church College, University of OxfordPart III: Modern Times? * Time Inscribed in Space, and the Process of Diagnosis in African and Chinese Medical Practices--Elisabeth Hsu, Green College, University of Oxford * Time and the Work Ethic in Post-Socialist Romania--Monica Heintz, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, GermanyPart IV: Counterpointing the Metanarratives * Quartering Sheep at Carnival in Sud Lípez, Bolivia--Maggie Bolton, University of Manchester * Bandits and Heroes: Past and Present in Central China-- Mary Rack * The Persistence of Multiple-Religious Ceremonies in South-West Ethiopia--Tadesse Wolde, Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Germany * Time-Shapes and Cultural Agency Among West African Craft Specialists--Roy Dilley, University of St AndrewsPart V: Cosmologies and the Making of History * The 'Rounds' of Time: Time, History and Society in Boran Oromo--Gemetchu Megerssa, University of Addis Ababa and Aneesa Kassam, University of Durham * Cutting Time: Beads and Songs in the Making of Samburu Memory--Bilinda Straight, Western Michigan University * Old System, New Conflicts: Age, Generation, and Discord Among the Meru, Kenya--Anne-Marie Peatrik, CNRS, University Paris X-Nanterre * The Kanungu Fire: Millenarianism and the Millennium in South-Western Uganda--Richard Vokes, University of OxfordPart VI: Persons In and Out of Time * Life Made Strange: On the Re-Inhabitation of Bodies and Landscapes--Andrew Irving, University College London and Royal Free Hospital * Embodied Memories: Displacements in Time and Space--Julia Powles, St. Catherine's College, University of Oxford * Living in Time's Shadow: Pollution, Purification and Fractured Temporalities in Buddhist Ladakh--Martin Mills, University of Aberdeen

Wendy James is Professor of Social Anthropology at the Institute for Social and Cultural Anthropology, University of Oxford.David Mills is Anthropology Co-ordinator at the Centre for Learning and Teaching Sociology, Anthropology and Politics at the University of Birmingham.