In the Event Toard an Anthropology of Generic Moments [Paperback]

Events are generative moments in at least three senses: events are created by and condense larger-scale social structures; as moments, they spark and give rise to new social processes; in themselves, events may also serve to analyze social situations and relationships. Based on ethnographic studies from around the worldvarying from rituals and meetings over protests and conflicts to natural disasters and managementthis volume analyzes generative moments through events that hold the key to understanding larger social situations. These eventsincluding the Ashura ritual in Bahrain, social cleavages in South Africa, a Buddhist cave in Nepal, drought in Burkina Faso, an earthquake in Pakistan, the cartoon crisis in Denmark, corporate management at Bang & Olufsen, protest meetings in Europe, and flooding and urban citizenship in Mozambiqueare not simply destructive disasters, crises, and conflicts, but also generative and constitutive of the social.

Bruce Kapfereris Professor of Anthropology at the University of Bergen and Honorary Professor at University College London. He has held academic positions in Zambia, Manchester, Adelaide, London, and Queensland, and carried out extensive fieldwork in Zambia, Sri Lanka, India, Australia, and South Africa. His major publications includeThe Feast of the Sorcerer(University of Chicago Press) andLegends of People, Myths of State(Berghahn Books).

Introduction:In the Eventtoward an Anthropology of Generic Moments
Bruce Kapferer

Chapter 1.Ashura in Bahrain: Analyses of an Analytical Event
Thomas Fibiger

Chapter 2.Burying the ANC: Post-apartheid Ambiguities at the University of Limpopo, South Africa
Bjarke Oxlund

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