Marking Time: On the Anthropology of the Contemporary

by Paul Rabinow

In Marking Time , Paul Rabinow presents his most recent reflections on the anthropology of the contemporary. Drawing richly on the work of Michel Foucault, John Dewey, Niklas Luhmann, and, most interestingly, German painter Gerhard Richter, Rabinow offers a set of conceptual tools for scholars examining cutting-edge practices in the life sciences, security, new media and art practices, and other emergent phenomena. Taking up topics that include bioethics, anger and competition among molecular biologists, the lessons of the Drosophila genome, the nature of ethnographic observation in radically new settings, and the moral landscape shared by scientists and anthropologists, Rabinow shows how anthropology remains relevant to contemporary debates. By turning abstract philosophical problems into real-world explorations and offering original insights, Marking Time is a landmark contribution to the continuing re-invention of anthropology and the human sciences.

Genres: Anthropology

168 pages, Paperback

First published October 29, 2007

Reviews

[Andrew]

Those who accuse the whole Foucauldian set of unclear writing ought to give Paul Rabinow a shot. He doesn't really seem to have any kind of central thesis, but he does give us a number of very insightful meditations. Ostensibly, it has to do with the whole concept of bioethics and how that relates to the human genome project, but for some reason, he pins a long essay about the art of Gerhard Richter at the end. Even if it seemed out of place, I still liked reading it, so whatever. However, it's in his discussion of bioethics that he is especially insightful, and it's really probably the reason to read the book.

[Charlie Mansfield · Rating 5 out of 5]

Develops idea of the adjacent in anthropology research