Anthropology Now and Next

"The cosmopolitan anthropologist Ulf Hannerz has been engaged for forty years on a multi-site ethnography of the intricate web of relationships that he calls the global ecumene. To this ambitious, protean project he has brought remarkable erudition, the insights of the social sciences, and the style and sensibility of a humanist." · Adam Kuper, London School of Economics


"One of anthropology's most prescient, capacious, and original thinkers, Hannerz is unique in his worldliness, his genial humanity. He has long epitomized the genius of his discipline to cast light on a culturally complex, translocal world." · Jean Comaroff, Harvard University


"This work provides an enormously valuable temporal perspective (in the double sense of both retrospects and prospects) on some key ideas from the very distinguished career of Ulf Hannerz. While all the chapters are clearly influenced by Hannerz, some of them push his seminal ideas in exciting new directions." · A. Jamie Saris, National University of Ireland, Maynooth


"The chapters bring to light the visionary work of Ulf Hannerz, not only presenting a set of thoughtful essays about current and future anthropological practice, but also highlight Hannerz's nuanced and visionary thinking, an event that in my view will be of deep disciplinary significance." · Paul Stoller, West Chester University


The scholarship of Ulf Hannerz is characterized by its extraordinary breadth and visionary nature. He has contributed to the understanding of urban life and transnational networks, and the role of media, paradoxes of identity and new forms of community, suggesting to see culture in terms of flows rather than as bounded entities. Contributions honor Hannerz' legacy by addressing theoretical, epistemological, ethical and methodological challenges facing anthropological inquiry on topics from cultural diversity policies in Europe to transnational networks in Yemen, and from pottery and literature to multinational corporations.


Thomas Hylland Eriksen is Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Oslo. His research in complex societies ranges from identity politics to the cultural implications of new information technology, and he now studies local responses to global crises. His books include Ethnicity and Nationalism (1993/2010), Engaging Anthropology (2006) and Globalization: The Key Concepts (2007/2014).


Christina Garsten is Professor of Social Anthropology at Stockholm University and Professor of Globalization and Organization at Copenhagen Business School. She is also Chair of Stockholm Centre for Organizational Research. Her recent books include Transparency in a New Global Order (2008, co-edited with Monica Lindh de Montoya), and Organisational Anthropology (2013, co-edited with Anette Nyqvist).


Shalini Randeria is Professor of Anthropology and Sociology at the Graduate Institute for International and Development Studies. Her research addresses issues of changing contours of law, policy and governance; the interplay between international organizations; and the state and social movements in India. Her recent co-edited volumes include Border Crossings: Grenz- verschiebungen und Grenzüberschreitungen in einer globalisierten Welt, (2014) and Jenseits des Eurozentrisumus (2002/2013).