Posthumanism

A clear, insightful, and compelling introduction to the emerging field of posthumanism, and an essential pedagogical and scholarly resource for anthropology as it adapts its theories and methods for the so-called Anthropocene, a time in which human and nonhuman futures can no longer be thought of as seperate. -- Eduardo Kohn, McGill University A fascinating and thoughtful exploration of disparate domains that are all too rarely juxtaposed. -- Anand Pandian, Johns Hopkins University

Designed to explain posthumanism to those outside of academia, this brief and accessible book makes an original argument about anthropology's legacy as a study of "more than human."Designed to explain posthumanism to those outside of academia, this brief and accessible book makes an original argument about anthropology's legacy as a study of "more than human." Smart and Smart return to the holism of classic ethnographies where cattle, pigs, yams, and sorcerers were central to the lives that were narrated by anthropologists, but they extend the discussion to include contemporary issues like microbiomes, the Anthropocene, and nano-machines, which take holism beyond locally bounded spaces. They outline what a holism without boundaries could look like, and what anthropology could offer to the knowledge of more-than-human nature in the past, present, and future.