Beyond Description: Anthropologies of Explanation

Beyond Description brings together anthropologists and social scientists to examine the problem of explanation, exploring what it can add, who it serves, and how it is produced. In a world of competing voices and post-hoc accounts, the book offers critical examinations of changing norms and forms of explanation in contemporary political, medical, artistic, religious, and bureaucratic settings.

Format: Hardback
Length: 264 pages
Publication date: 15 December 2023
Publisher: Cornell University Press

Beyond Description is a groundbreaking collection of essays that brings together anthropologists and other social scientists to explore the complex issue of explanation. What exactly is an explanation? What value does it bring? How can it be authoritative, clarifying, or misleading? Who does it serve, and how is it produced? These fundamental questions lie at the heart of recent public crises of confidence in expertise, political representation, and classic liberal visions of whom we can rely on for true and trustworthy accounts. In a world where events and processes often defy expert predictions of their impossibility, and post-hoc accounts often feel more like rationalizations than explanations, competing voices vie for public presence and seek to silence one another.

Anthropology and the social sciences are not immune to these challenges, making contemporary explanatory practice both an empirical and a reflexive endeavor. To address these questions, the essays in Beyond Description offer critical examinations of changing norms and forms of explanation in the world and within anthropology itself.

Through ethnographic studies of practices of explanation in a diverse range of contemporary political, medical, artistic, religious, and bureaucratic settings, the contributors to this volume provide a wealth of insights into the complexities and nuances of explanatory practices. They explore how explanations are constructed, contested, and transformed in different contexts, and how they shape our understanding of the world around us.

One of the key themes that emerges from the essays is the importance of context in understanding explanatory practices. The contributors argue that explanations are not universal or timeless, but are shaped by the specific cultural, social, and historical contexts in which they are produced. They highlight the ways in which different cultures and societies have different ways of explaining the world, and how these differences can lead to misunderstandings and conflicts.

Another theme that is explored in the essays is the role of power in shaping explanatory practices. The contributors argue that power plays a crucial role in determining who has access to and control over explanations, and how they are interpreted and used. They explore how power dynamics can create hierarchies of knowledge and authority, and how these hierarchies can limit the ability of marginalized voices to be heard and to contribute to explanations.

The essays in Beyond Description also offer critical examinations of the ways in which explanations are used to justify and perpetuate social inequalities and injustices. The contributors argue that explanations can be used to obscure the underlying causes of social problems, and to reinforce existing power structures. They highlight the ways in which explanations can be used to marginalize certain groups and to perpetuate harmful stereotypes and biases.

In conclusion, Beyond Description is a groundbreaking collection of essays that offers a wealth of insights into the complex issue of explanation. By combining ethnographic studies of practices of explanation in a range of contemporary settings, the contributors to this volume provide a critical examination of changing norms and forms of explanation in the world and within anthropology itself. The essays offer a valuable contribution to our understanding of the role of explanation in shaping our understanding of the world, and of the challenges and opportunities that arise from competing voices and perspectives.

Weight: 907g
Dimension: 229 x 152 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781501771569