Senior Seminar

Entangled Sovereignties: New Land Markets and the aspirations of a 'Criminal Caste' in Gurugram, Haryana (India) Professor Sanjay Srivastava (SOAS, University of London) professor_sanjay_srivastava.png Over the past three decades, the largely rural district of Gurugram in Haryana has witnessed intense urbanisation and land...

Cathedrals in the blood; Anglican places and Protestant kinships Professor Fenella Cannell (London School of Economics) This article addresses a longstanding blindspot in anthropology, arguing that Western Protestant kinships have been overlooked in literature on both Christianity and English kinship. It is suggested that...

An ethnography of ‘overdiagnosis’: The ethics and epistemics of criticising cancer screening Dr. Elspeth Davies (University of Oxford) elspeth_photo_300x300.png For decades, public health campaigns in the UK and elsewhere have promoted the idea that ‘cancer early detection saves lives’. This paper explores a growing field...

Salvage Expertise: The Making of ‘Movable Nature’ for Post-Submergence Life Dr Ekin Kurtiç (University of Cambridge) e.k_350x350.png This talk explores the environmental salvage projects undertaken in the frontier landscapes of northeastern Turkey by focusing on political and technoscientific actors who design and...

The Present and the Future in the Present: Religion, Values, and Climate Change Professor Joel Robbins (University of Cambridge) joel_350x350.png Many people have come to the conclusion that simply sharing the scientific data on global warming with the public has not been enough to motivate the kind of consistent action...

Our Past, Their Myths: Dynamics of Stranger Incorporation and Mutual Misunderstanding in Maluku, East Indonesia Dr Geger Riyanto (Universitas Indonesia) geger_profile_photo_350x350.png A major theme in study of Austronesian landscapes has been cultural alliances with strangers, and incorporation of immigrants into local...

Afterlives of Revolution: Everyday Counterhistories in Southern Oman Dr Alice Wilson (University of Sussex) alice_wilson_300x300.png The Dhufar Revolution was fought between 1965-1976 in an attempt to depose Oman's British-backed Sultan and advance social ideals of egalitarianism and gender equality. But following...

Language, pragmatic standardization, and the affective political economy of late capitalism in an “out-of-the-way place” Professor Aurora Donzelli (University of Bologna) The goal of this talk is to reflect on the role of discursive genres in producing political and affective transformations. Since the millennium...

Dr Natalia Buitron (University of Cambridge) An Amazonian Subjunctive: How to Change the World by Playing Others What is the role of the subjunctive for social change? For festive events in Shuar villages of Upper Amazonia, relatives send written invitations, teachers give lectures to the community, and villagers stage...

Dr Iza Kavedžija (University of Cambridge) Embodying Emptiness: Enskilment and the artistic imagination in Japan How is ‘skill’ to be understood when art practitioners deliberately seek to destabilize their practice and avoid treading familiar ground? Enskilment in general is usefully approached as an education of...