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Volume 36
Methodology & History in Anthropology
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Engaging Evil
A Moral Anthropology
Edited by William C. Olsen and Thomas J. CsordasAfterword by David Parkin
322 pages, index
ISBN 978-1-78920-213-7 $135.00/£99.00 Hb Published (May 2019)
eISBN 978-1-78920-214-4 eBook
Reviews
“The various contributions offer a rich and highly variegated overview of how anthropologists have dealt with ‘evil’ and thus give a good idea of the baffling variety hiding behind this notion.” • Peter Geschiere, University of Amsterdam
Description
Anthropologists have expressed wariness about the concept of evil even in discussions of morality and ethics, in part because the concept carries its own cultural baggage and theological implications in Euro-American societies. Addressing the problem of evil as a distinctly human phenomenon and a category of ethnographic analysis, this volume shows the usefulness of engaging evil as a descriptor of empirical reality where concepts such as violence, criminality, and hatred fall short of capturing the darkest side of human existence.
William C. Olsen is a lecturer for anthropology and African studies at Georgetown University.
Thomas J. Csordas is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and James Y. Chan Presidential Chair in Global Health at the University of California, San Diego.