Towards a Political Theology of Vulnerability Anthropological and Theological Propositions

Abstract

Recent experiences of terror, violence, and catastrophe, such as the terror attacks in Norway in 2011 or the Peshawar School Massacre leaving 132 children and nine staff dead on December 16, 2014, strengthen the sense of the fundamental vulnerability in human existence. In this article, it is argued that political theology, in responding to such experiences, should aim at perceiving and protecting vulnerability as a value. For this purpose, basic propositions for a theological anthropology of vulnerability are put forward. Likewise, propositions for interpreting God as vulnerable are presented, criticizing the traditional theistic concept of God as immutable and hence unable to suffer. The relevance of these propositions for political theology is finally addressed.     

Collecting,Collections, and Practice in the Anthropologies of Health and Disease

Anthropologists studying health and disease collect data ranging from human remains to peoples’ lived experiences. Each of the books reviewed here reveals the social processes that shape how disease phenomena are observed, assessed, classified, and interpreted, both by the individuals who experience them and the researchers who study them. The classic anthropological themes of collection, exchange, circulation, social relations, and reciprocity resonate throughout. Theoretical and methodological differences aside, anthropologists remain united by a commitment to holistic and integrative approaches and the shared goal of providing historically and socially contextualized, nuanced understandings of the human condition.     

Uncommon Ground: Holism and the Future of Anthropology

Anthropology has long been a contested field with roots in both scientific and humanistic discourse. The “four-field” approach in American anthropology has been used by some as a means of suppressing conflict and enforcing a false sense of unity. While critiques of the four-field approach are warranted, in fact holism represents anthropology's greatest strength. Anthropology gains a competitive advantage over other disciplines in its ability to combine biological and cultural approaches. Moreover, the four-field model, while historically contingent, is well suited to the institutional and political realities of the American academy, especially the public research university.     

The Politics of Knowledge: Julian Steward,Leslie White,Melville Herskovits,and L. Luca Cavalli-Sforza

Biographies of four important figures in the history of anthropology—Julian Steward, Leslie White, Melville Herskovits, and L. Luca Cavalli-Sforza—illustrate that current “public anthropology” has deep historic roots and that anthropology, even subfields that involve the basic sciences, like genetics, are shaped by personal and political experience as much as by intellect. All the biographical subjects discussed here had first-hand experience with racism, fascism, and bigotry, whether in their home or public lives, and resisted those forms of hegemony by fashioning anthropological theories to explain and appreciate human diversity.     

“Tooting One's Horn” and Lauding One's Fellow in the Construction of a History of Anthropological Theory

The notion of lobbying for a place in the history of anthropological theory is used to frame the importance of the autobiography, collected works, Festschrift essays, and biography reviewed here. Ranging from bottom-up historicism, behavioral paleoanthropology, and French structural Marxism to historical particularism, the books by or about Stocking, Freeman, Godelier, and Mead emphasize the contributions of each while staking out a new or extended intellectual territory or status in the fluid (re)writing of the theoretical history of the discipline.     

Bioarchaeological Investigation of Possible Gunshot Wounds in 18th Century Human Skeletons from Korea

Notwithstanding the relative abundance of bioarchaeological evidence of pre‐20th century gunshot wounds discovered at European and American archaeological sites, similar findings in East Asian countries have been very rare. In this study, we report evidence of possible gunshot wounds sustained by two individuals buried in Joseon tombs of Korea. The shapes of the trauma seemed to indicate low‐velocity projectiles, most likely musket balls. To our knowledge, this is the first bioarchaeological report specifically concerning possible gunshot‐wound evidence in East Asian skeletons recovered from archaeological fields. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

旅游软实力初论

旅游软实力是一种文化软实力,指旅游目的地在主客双方的文化对比、形象营销和旅游产品竞争中形成的,使旅游者认同和服膺旅游目的地文化,修正其文化偏好的能力。中国古代有过很好的旅游软实力。西方现有反客为主的单向度旅游文化空间建构模式违反了旅游软实力以主为主,以目的地真实的日常生活为理想景观的文化结构模式,是主客冲突的根源之一。彰显文化主体性是构建我国现代旅游软实力的核心工作。当前应从重建旅游实践美学、重组旅游产业结构、再造旅游管理理论等方面入手强化我国旅游软实力。     

1. INDIA IN A WORLD: DILEMMAS OF SOVEREIGNTY

Azfar Moin's The Millennial Sovereign: Sacred Kingship and Sainthood in Islam prompts a consideration not only of the histories of Islam and early modern connected histories of Central and South Asia, but also of current debates about local and global history‐writing. Moin's work intersects with a strand of comparative world history—following Victor Lieberman's Strange Parallels—but also engages strands of historical anthropology, bringing to light a range of compelling stakes for global historians, historians of South Asia, and scholars of nationalism alike. Though Moin's work pushes the boundaries of connected histories centered on South Asia, his focus on a trans‐regional millennial science avoids questions of the local within new global histories.     

2. OF SOVEREIGNS,SACRED KINGS,AND POLEMICS

In its emphasis on ritual and sacred kingship, Azfar Moin's The Millennial Sovereign bears the imprint of anthropological theory, but Moin addresses this inheritance only obliquely. This essay seeks to draw out that tradition and to place theories of sovereignty and sacred kingship in their intellectual and historical context. Ultimately, it questions the value of these theories to the study of political authority.