Commentary: ethnography, critique and the state. Some thoughts on “fiscal anthropological insights into the heart of contemporary statehood”¹

Abstract

This commentary explores the assets and liabilities of anthropology for the study of core functions of statehood (such as taxation) that increasingly become a matter of transnational negotiation and norm-making. It takes issue with some anthropologists’ counter-hegemonic self-positioning, calling upon anthropologists to think harder about the conditions and challenges of studying highly formalized expert knowledge and the epistemological reflection this requires.

Keywords:

• Anthropology of the state
• expert knowledge
• ethnography
• ‘studying up’

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 I thank Heath Cabot, Larissa Vetters and Johanna Mugler for extensive comments on the first draft of this comment. Within the space constraints of this short text, references had to be kept to a minimum.

2 In the Global South, for example in Africa, this anti-hegemonic pretense of anthropology seems ironic, as there the discipline has been suspicious because of its colonialist connotations.

3 This was the impression I gained at the recent (2018) American Anthropological Association’s meeting in San Jose, CA.