Professor James Laidlaw

Biography

My career in anthropology began somewhat by accident. I was admitted to read Law at King’s College, Cambridge in 1981, but the enlightened Director of Studies at that time required me to choose something else to study in the first year, on the basis purely of intellectual interest. I chose the old Archaeological and Anthropological Tripos (‘Arch & Anth’), quickly fell in love with Social Anthropology, and decided to stick with that, so I never did study law, and have had the great good fortune to remain in the Department of Social Anthropology at Cambridge ever since. Finding my PhD research topic was almost equally serendipitous: my undergraduate supervisor, Caroline Humphrey, gave me an introduction to a PhD student who was in the city of Jaipur, and my doctoral project on religion and ethics among the Jains in northern India developed from meeting her friends and contacts there. My attempts to understand Jainism, with its strikingly complex and exacting ethical thought and practice, led me to a more general interest in the question of how anthropology might better conceptualize and understand the ethical dimension of human life, and how we might develop productive dialogue with moral philosophers and others. Meanwhile, over the years, I have conducted ethnographic research in various parts of Buddhist Asia, focusing latterly on the Foguangshan (Buddha’s Light Mountain, 佛光山), a global movement promoting Humanistic Buddhism, based in Taiwan.

Research

Ethnographically, my research began in India, where fieldwork among Jain religious communities in Rajasthan and Gujarat resulted in a series of publications: The Archetypal Actions of Ritual (1994), a jointly-authored book on ritual theory; Riches and Renunciation (1995), a study of Jain religion, morality, and social life; and several articles, including ‘A Free Gift Makes No Friends’ (2000), a contribution to classic anthropological debates on the gift and exchange.

Working on Jainism led me to the view that anthropological theory (and social theory more generally) was not well equipped to comprehend the ethical dimension of human life, and that new conceptual resources were required to enable productive dialogue with moral philosophy and psychology. An invitation to deliver the Malinowski Memorial Lecture in 2001 gave me an opportunity to develop this line of thought, and from there developed my work in the anthropology of ethics. The lecture was published as ‘For an Anthropology of Ethics and Freedom’ (2002), and has been followed by a series of further publications including The Subject of Virtue: An Anthropology of Ethics and Freedom (2014), and The Cambridge Handbook for the Anthropology of Ethics (2023).

In the meantime, following participation in collaborative research projects on Buddhism in the Inner Mongolia region of China and in Bhutan, I have conducted research, mostly with my colleague Jonathan Mair, on ethical self-cultivation in the Taiwan-based, but now fast-growing global Buddhist movement, Foguangshan (Buddha’s Light Mountain, 佛光⼭).

From 2017 to 2022, I was one of the Directors of the Max-Cam Centre, a research project jointly funded by the University and the Max Planck Society, for the study of ethics, ritual and social change. The Max-Cam supported the work of a brilliant team of early career researchers, and hosted a number of workshops and conferences. Other research interests over the years have included: the relation between the anthropology of religion and cognitive science (e.g., Ritual and Memory, 2004; Religion, Anthropology, and Cognitive Science, 2007; ‘Anthropology and Cognitive Science’, 2014); and aspects of the history of anthropology (e.g., The Essential Edmund Leach, 2 volumes, 2000).

Publications

Books and edited volumes

2018: Recovering the Human Subject: Freedom, Creativity and Decision. Edited by James Laidlaw, Barbara Bodenhorn and Martin Holbraad. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108605007

2014. The Subject of Virtue: An Anthropology of Ethics and Freedom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781139236232
Chinese translation published 2022.

2007. Religion, Anthropology, and Cognitive Science. Edited by Harvey Whitehouse and James Laidlaw. Durham NC: Carolina Academic Press. https://cap-press.com/pdf/1516.pdf

2004. Ritual and Memory: Toward a Comparative Anthropology of Religion. Edited by Harvey Whitehouse and James Laidlaw. Walnut Creek CA: AltaMira. https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780759106178/Ritual-and-Memory-Toward-a-Comparative-Anthropology-of-Religion

2000. The Essential Edmund Leach. Volume I: Anthropology and Society. Edited by Stephen Hugh-Jones and James Laidlaw. London: Yale University Press.

2000. The Essential Edmund Leach. Volume II: Culture and Human Nature. Edited by Stephen Hugh-Jones and James Laidlaw. London: Yale University Press. https://yalebooks.co.uk/page/detail/the-essential-edmund-leach/?k=9780300085082

1996. Lévi-Strauss, by Edmund Leach. Second Edition [originally published 1972], Revised and Updated by James Laidlaw. London: HarperCollins.

1995. Riches and Renunciation: Religion, Economy, and Society among the Jains. Oxford: Clarendon Press. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/riches-and-renunciation-9780198280422?cc=gb&lang=en&

1994. The Archetypal Actions of Ritual: A Theory of Ritual Illustrated by the Jain Rite of Worship. By Caroline Humphrey and James Laidlaw. Oxford: Clarendon Press. https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-archetypal-actions-of-ritual-9780198279471?cc=gb&lang=en&

Articles, book chapters, and reviews

2021. ‘Afterword’, in Morgan Clarke and Emily Corran (eds.), Rules and Ethics: Perspectives from Anthropology and History. Manchester: Manchester University Press: 234-42. https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9781526148902/

2019. ‘Imperfect Accomplishment: The Fo Guan Shan Short-Term Monastic Retreat and Ethical Pedagogy in Humanistic Buddhism’, by James Laidlaw and Jonathan Mair. Cultural Anthropology, 34 (3): 328-358. https://journal.culanth.org/index.php/ca/article/view/4074

2018. ‘The Anthropological Lives of Michel Foucault’, in Matei Candea (ed.), Schools and Styles of Anthropological Theory. Routledge: London: 173-184. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315388267

2018. ‘Interpretive Cultural Anthropology: Geertz and His “Writing-Culture” Critics’, in Matei Candea (ed.), Schools and Styles of Anthropological Theory. Routledge: London: 148-158. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315388267

2018. ‘Fault Lines in the Anthropology of Ethics’, in Cheryl Mattingly et al (eds.), Moral Engines: Exploring the Ethical Drives in Human Life. Oxford: Berghahn: 174-93. https://www.berghahnbooks.com/title/MattinglyMoral

2017. 'Ethics / Morality'. In The Open Encyclopedia of Anthropology.

2017. ‘An Axial Essay’, in Andrew Sanchez et al, ‘The Indian Gift: A Critical Debate’. History and Anthropology, 28/5: 553-583.

2017. ‘Review Article: Holbraad, M. and M. A. Pedersen 2017. The ontological turn: an anthropological exposition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press’. Social Anthropology/Anthropologie Sociale (2017) 25, 3 396–402.

2016. ‘Through a Glass Darkly: Comment on Ortner, Sherry. 2016. “Dark Anthropology and Its Others: Theory Since the 1980s”’. HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory, 6 (2): 17-24. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.14318/hau6.1.024

2016. ‘Can We Be Both Modern and Virtuous?’. Religion and World Affairs Series, Institute on Culture, Religion & World Affairs (CURA), Boston University. http://www.bu.edu/cura/files/2016/04/Laidlaw-paper.pdf.

2016. ‘The Interactional Foundations of Ethics and the Formation and Limits of Morality Systems: Comment on Keane, Webb. 2016. Ethical Life: Its Natural and Social Histories. Princeton NJ: Princeton University Press’. HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory, 6 (1): 455-61. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.14318/hau6.1.024

2016. ‘A Well-Disposed Anthropologist’s Problems with the Cognitive Science of Religion’. Anthropology Of This Century, 16. http://aotcpress.com/articles/welldisposed-social-anthropologists-problems-cognitive-science-religion/.

2015. ‘Detachment and Ethical Regard’, in Matei Candea, Joanna Cook, Catherine Trundle, and Thomas Yarrow (eds.), Detachment: Essays on the Limits of Relational Thinking. Manchester: Manchester University Press: 130-146. https://manchesteruniversitypress.co.uk/9780719096853/

2015. Thomas Hylland Eriksen, James Laidlaw, Jonathan Mair, Keir Martin, Soumhya Venkatesan, ‘The concept of neoliberalism has become an obstacle to the anthropological understanding of the twenty-first century’. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 21/4: 911-923. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9655.12294

2014. ‘Significant Differences: Response to HAU Book Symposium on Laidlaw, James. 2014. The subject of virtue: An anthropology of ethics and freedom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press’. HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory, 4: 497-506. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.14318/hau4.1.032

2014. ‘The Undefined Work of Freedom: Foucault’s Genealogy and the Anthropology of Ethics’, in James D. Faubion(ed.), Foucault Today: Current Perspectives in Foucault Studies. Cambridge: Polity Press: 23-37.

2014. ‘Anthropology and Cognitive Science: A Two-Way Street?’. Anthropology of This Century, Issue 9. http://aotcpress.com/articles/anthropology-cognitive-science-twoway-street/.

2013. ‘Ethics’, in Janice Boddy and Michael Lambek (eds.), A Companion to the Anthropology of Religion. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons: 171-188. https://www.wiley.com/en-ie/A+Companion+to+the+Anthropology+of+Religion-p-9781118605936

2013. ‘One More Turn and You’re There’, by James Laidlaw and Paolo Heywood. Anthropology of This Century, Issue 7. http://aotcpress.com/articles/turn/.

2013. ‘A Generous Pluralism: Commentary on Lloyd, G. E. R. 2012. Being, Humanity, and Understanding. Oxford: Oxford University Press’. HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory, 3: 197-200. http://www.haujournal.org/index.php/hau/article/view/288/326.

2012. ‘Ontologically Challenged’. Anthropology of This Century, Issue 4. http://aotcpress.com/articles/ontologically-challenged/.

2011. ‘Morality and Honour’. Anthropology of This Century, Issue 1. http://aotcpress.com/articles/morality-honour/.

2010. ‘Agency and Responsibility: Perhaps You Can Have Too Much of a Good Thing’, in Michael Lambek (ed.), Ordinary Ethics: Anthropology, Language, and Action. New York: Fordham University Press: 143-64. https://www.fordhampress.com/9780823233175/ordinary-ethics/

2010. ‘Ethical Traditions in Question: Diaspora Jainism and the Environmental and Animal Liberation Movements’, in Anand Pandian and Daud Ali (eds.), Ethical Life in South Asia. Bloomington: Indiana University Press: 61-80. https://iupress.org/9780253222435/ethical-life-in-south-asia/

2010. ‘Social Anthropology’, in John Skorupski (ed.), The Routledge Companion to Ethics. London: Routledge: 369-83. https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/edit/10.4324/9780203850701/routledge-companion-ethics-john-skorupski

2010. ‘Ethics, Anthropology of’, in Alan Barnard and Jonathan Spencer (eds.), The Routledge Encyclopedia of Social and Cultural Anthropology. Second Edition. London: Routledge: 238-40. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203866474

2009. ‘Review of Zigon, Jarrett. 2008. Morality: An Anthropological Perspective. Oxford: Berg.’. Ethnos, 74 (3): 435-7. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00141840903311859

2009. ‘What if There is No Elephant? Towards a Conception of an Un-sited Field’, by Joanna Cook, James Laidlaw, and Jonathan Mair, in Mark-Anthony Falzon (ed.), Multi-Sited Ethnography: Theory, Praxis, and Locality in Contemporary Social Research. London: Ashgate: 47-72. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315596389

2007. ‘Introduction’, by James Laidlaw and Harvey Whitehouse, in Harvey Whitehouse and James Laidlaw (eds.), Religion, Anthropology, and Cognitive Science. Durham NC: Carolina Academic Press: 3-34. https://cap-press.com/pdf/1516.pdf

2007. ‘A Well-Disposed Social Anthropologist’s Problems with the Cognitive Science of Religion’, in Harvey Whitehouse and James Laidlaw (eds.), Religion, Anthropology, and Cognitive Science. Durham NC: Carolina Academic Press: 211-246. https://cap-press.com/pdf/1516.pdf

2007. ‘The Intension and Extension of Wellbeing: Transformation in Diaspora Jain Understandings of Non-Violence’, in Alberto Corsín Jiménez (ed.), Culture and Well-Being: Anthropological Approaches to Freedom and Political Ethics. London: Pluto: 156-179. https://issuu.com/heconversa/docs/alberto_corsin_jimenez_culture_and_

2007. ‘Sacrifice and Ritualization’, by Caroline Humphrey and James Laidlaw, in Evangelos Kyriakidis (ed.), The Archaeology of Ritual. Los Angeles: Costen Institute: 255-276. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/2r21b9wc#article_main

2006. ‘Action’, by James Laidlaw and Caroline Humphrey, in Jens Kreinath, Jan Snoek and Michael Stausberg (eds.),Theorizing Rituals: Vol. I: Issues, Topics, Approaches, Concepts. Leiden: Brill: 265-283. https://brill.com/display/book/9789047410775/BP000012.xml

http://www.ub.unibas.ch/tox/IDSLUZ/000592226/PDF

2005. ‘A Life Worth Leaving: Fasting to Death as Telos of a Jain Religious Life’. Economy and Society, 34/2: 178-199. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03085140500054545

2004. ‘Introduction’, in Harvey Whitehouse and James Laidlaw (eds.), Ritual and Memory: Toward a Comparative Anthropology of Religion. Walnut Creek CA: AltaMira: 1-9. https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780759106178/Ritual-and-Memory-Toward-a-Comparative-Anthropology-of-Religion

2004. ‘Embedded Modes of Religiosity in Indic Renouncer Religions’, in Harvey Whitehouse and James Laidlaw(eds.), Ritual and Memory: Toward a Comparative Anthropology of Religion. Walnut Creek CA: AltaMira: 89-109. https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780759106178/Ritual-and-Memory-Toward-a-Comparative-Anthropology-of-Religion

2004. ‘Humphrey, Caroline’, in Veera Amit (ed.), Biographical Dictionary of Social and Cultural Anthropology. London: Routledge: 252-253.http://196.188.170.250:8080/jspui/bitstream/123456789/1395/1/Biographical%20Dictionary%20of%20Socaial%20and%20Cultural%20anthropology.pdf

2004. ‘Leach, Sir Edmund Ronald (1910-1989)’, in H. C. G. Matthew & Brian Harrison (eds.), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford: Oxford University Press. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/39978.

2004. ‘Informal Collaborations as an Aspect of Urban Anthropological Fieldwork: Experiences from Jaipur City’, in Vinay Kumar Srivastava (ed.), Methodology and Fieldwork. New Delhi: Oxford University Press: 208-239.

2002. ‘For an Anthropology of Ethics and Freedom’ (The Malinowski Memorial Lecture, 2001). Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. 8: 311-332. Abridged version reprinted in Didier Fassin (eds.), Moral Anthropology: A Critical Reader. London: Routledge (2013). https://rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-9655.00110

2000. ‘A Free Gift Makes No Friends’. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 6/4: 617-634. Expanded version reprinted as ‘A Free Gift Makes No Friends’, in Mark Osteen (ed.), The Question of the Gift: Essays Across Disciplines. London: Routledge: 45-66 (2002). https://rai.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-9655.00036

1999. ‘On Theatre and Theory: Reflections on Ritual in Imperial Chinese Politics’, in Joseph P. McDermott (ed.), State and Court Ritual in China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 399-416. https://www.cambridge.org/af/academic/subjects/history/regional-and-world-history-general-interest/state-and-court-ritual-china

1994. ‘Review of Kendal W. Folkert (1993) Scripture and Community: Collected Essays on the Jains’. Atlanta GA: Scholars Press. Man: The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (NS), 29: 738-9. https://www.academia.edu/33434772/Scripture_and_Community_Collected_Essays_on_the_Jains

1994. ‘Review of Michael Carrithers and Caroline Humphrey (eds.) (1991) The Assembly of Listeners: Jains in Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; and Padmanabh S. Jaini (1991) Gender and Salvation: Jaina Debates on the Spiritual Liberation of Women. Berkeley: University of California Press’. South Asian Studies, 10: 131-4. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02666030.1994.9628484

1991. ‘Review of Susan Bayly (1989) Saints, Goddesses and Kings: Muslims and Christians in South Indian Society, 1700-1900. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press’. South Asian Studies, 7: 180-2. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02666030.1991.9628438

1990. ‘Review of Richard Gombrich and Gananath Obeyesekere (1989) Buddhism Transformed: Religious Change in Sri Lanka. Princeton: Princeton University Press’. South Asian Studies, 6: 255-7. https://doi.org/10.1080/02666030.1990.9628418

1984. ‘Profit, Salvation, and Profitable Saints’. Cambridge Anthropology, 9: 50-70. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23816238