Thinking with the Impersonal: an Ethnographic View from Iran
This essay approaches the impersonal as a set of concrete relational forms that cannot be made sense of through the dominant logic of personhood. Drawing on three ethnographic settings of my long-term fieldwork in Iran, I describe how the actions of managers in a teachers’ training course, the opera...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Ledizioni
2019-04-01
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| Series: | Antropologia |
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| Online Access: | https://www.ledijournals.com/ojs/index.php/antropologia/article/view/1531 |
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| _version_ | 1850105603425304576 |
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| author | Setrag Manoukian |
| author_facet | Setrag Manoukian |
| author_sort | Setrag Manoukian |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This essay approaches the impersonal as a set of concrete relational forms that cannot be made sense of through the dominant logic of personhood. Drawing on three ethnographic settings of my long-term fieldwork in Iran, I describe how the actions of managers in a teachers’ training course, the operations of an optical mechanism that channels consumption practices, and the existential relationship poets have to their craft is best captured by paying attention to the impersonal forces that are unfolded in the process. This opens the way for a different interpretation of politics, consumption and poetry in Iran, but also for a different understanding of anthropology and, perhaps, life. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-da599810c68944f0b8e5649fc4fba9b5 |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2281-4043 2420-8469 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2019-04-01 |
| publisher | Ledizioni |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Antropologia |
| spelling | doaj-art-da599810c68944f0b8e5649fc4fba9b52025-08-20T02:39:02ZengLedizioniAntropologia2281-40432420-84692019-04-0161 N.S10.14672/ada20191531199-2151189Thinking with the Impersonal: an Ethnographic View from IranSetrag ManoukianThis essay approaches the impersonal as a set of concrete relational forms that cannot be made sense of through the dominant logic of personhood. Drawing on three ethnographic settings of my long-term fieldwork in Iran, I describe how the actions of managers in a teachers’ training course, the operations of an optical mechanism that channels consumption practices, and the existential relationship poets have to their craft is best captured by paying attention to the impersonal forces that are unfolded in the process. This opens the way for a different interpretation of politics, consumption and poetry in Iran, but also for a different understanding of anthropology and, perhaps, life.https://www.ledijournals.com/ojs/index.php/antropologia/article/view/1531ImpersonalIranManagementConsumptionPoetryDesire |
| spellingShingle | Setrag Manoukian Thinking with the Impersonal: an Ethnographic View from Iran Antropologia Impersonal Iran Management Consumption Poetry Desire |
| title | Thinking with the Impersonal: an Ethnographic View from Iran |
| title_full | Thinking with the Impersonal: an Ethnographic View from Iran |
| title_fullStr | Thinking with the Impersonal: an Ethnographic View from Iran |
| title_full_unstemmed | Thinking with the Impersonal: an Ethnographic View from Iran |
| title_short | Thinking with the Impersonal: an Ethnographic View from Iran |
| title_sort | thinking with the impersonal an ethnographic view from iran |
| topic | Impersonal Iran Management Consumption Poetry Desire |
| url | https://www.ledijournals.com/ojs/index.php/antropologia/article/view/1531 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT setragmanoukian thinkingwiththeimpersonalanethnographicviewfromiran |