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Wisdom From the Edge describes what anthropologists can do to contribute to the social and cultural changes that shape a social future of wellbeing and viability. Paul Stoller shows how anthropologists can develop sensuously described ethnographic narratives to communicate powerfully their insights to a wide range of audiences. These insights are filled with wisdom about how respect for nature is central to the future of humankind. Stoller demonstrates how the ethnographic evocation of space and place, the honing of dialogue, and the crafting of character depict the drama of social life, and borrows techniques from film, poetry, and fiction to expand the appeal of anthropological knowledge and heighten its ability to connect the public to the idiosyncrasies of people and locale. Ultimately, Wisdom from the Edge underscores the importance of recognizing and applying indigenous wisdom to the social problems that threaten the future

In this collection of selected blog posts, Stoller models good writing while sharing his insights on politics (including the emergence of "Trumpism" and the impact of ignorance on US political practices), higher education, social science, media, and well-being

Intro -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Prologue: The Story of Yaya's Story -- Part One: A Life Story in Commerce -- 1 - Belayara -- 2 - Three Brothers and the Work of Art -- 3 - New York City and Transnational Trade -- Part Two: A Life Story in Anthropology -- 4 - Silver Spring -- 5 - Stumbling into Anthropology in Niger -- 6 - New York City, Immigration, and the Warehouse -- Part Three: Awakenings -- 7 - The Shadow of Sickness -- 8 - Three Years in the Shadows -- 9 - A Remarkable Convergence -- Epilogue: The Quest for Well-Being in the World -- Personae -- Notes -- References -- Index.

A study of the West African Hauka - spirits that grotesquely mimic and mock ""Europeans"" of the colonial epoch. The author considers spirit possession as a set of embodied practices with serious social and cultural consequences. Embodying Colonial Memories is the first in-depth study of the West African Hauka, spirits in the body of (human) mediums which mimic and mock Europeans of the colonial epoch. Paul Stoller, who was initiated into a spirit possession troupe, recounts an insider's tale of the Hauka with respect and ""brotherly"" deference. He combines narrative description, historical a

In Sensuous Scholarship Paul Stoller challenges contemporary social theorists and cultural critics who - using the notion of embodiment to critique both Eurocentric and phallocentric predispositions in scholarly thought - consider the body primarily as a text that can be read and analyzed. He argues that this attitude is in itself Eurocentric and is particularly inappropriate for anthropologists, who often work in societies in which the notion of text, and textual interpretation, is foreign. In many of these societies not only are reading and writing unimportant but vision is not the central perceptual mode. Instead, the "lower" senses are central to the metaphoric organization of experience. Throughout Sensuous Scholarship Stoller argues for the importance of understanding the "sensuous epistemologies" of many non-Western societies so that we can better understand the societies themselves and what their epistemologies have to teach us about human experience in general

Introduction: A return to the senses -- pt. I. Tastes in anthropology: The taste of ethnographic things -- pt. II. Visions in the field: Eye, mind, and word in anthropology -- "Gazing" at the space of Songhay politics -- Signs in the social order: Riding a Songhay bush taxi -- Son of Rouch: Songhay visions of the other --pt. III. Sounds in cultural experience: Sound in Songhay possession -- Sound in Songhay sorcery -- pt. IV. The senses in anthropology: The reconstruction of ethnography -- Detours

"This ethnography is more like a film than a book, so well does Stoller evoke the color, sight, sounds, and movements of Songhay possession ceremonies."-Choice "Stoller brilliantly recreates the reality of spirit presence; hosts are what they mediate, and spirits become flesh and blood in the 'fusion' with human existence. . . . An excellent demonstration of the benefits of a new genre of ethnographic writing. It expands our understanding of the harsh world of Songhay mediums and sorcerers."-Bruce Kapferer, American Ethnologist "A vivid story that will appeal to a wide audience. . . . The voic

It is the anthropologist's fate to always be between things: countries, languages, cultures, even realities. But rather than lament this, anthropologist Paul Stoller here celebrates the creative power of the between, showing how it can transform us, changing our conceptions of who we are, what we know, and how we live in the world. Beginning with his early days with the Peace Corps in Africa and culminating with a recent bout with cancer, The Power of the Between is an evocative account of the circuitous path Stoller's life has taken, offering a fascinating depiction of how a career is shaped