Reflections on Imagination

’An important and timely volume that brings together different perspectives on the surprisingly little explored topic of the imagination. In its ambitious scope and rich ethnographic detail, it promises to become essential reading for anthropologists and those working in related fields of enquiry.’ Anna Grimshaw, Emory University, USA ’Arguably the single faculty that sets humanity most decisively apart from the rest of the animal kingdom, the imagination enters into our lives at every stage, enabling humans to create invisible connections, conjure up possible and impossible worlds, expand their horizons and produce metaphors and theories. This strikingly original volume convincingly demonstrates the importance of the imagination in ethnographic observation, anthropological analysis and the local lives under scrutiny. It showcases anthropology as a fundamental humanistic discipline.’ Thomas Hylland Eriksen, University of Oslo, Norway ’The contributors to this intriguing collection of essays criss-cross the terrain designated by the English terms imagination, the imagined, and the imaginary, and their (approximate) equivalents in other languages. The reader is guided helpfully through a variety of learned genealogies of the imagination and treated to much evocative ethnography. Classic views, going back to Kant and beyond, are brought into conversation with the most contemporary anthropological theory, and anyone who aspires to practise ethnography will be challenged to rethink the role of the imagination in that rather peculiar enterprise. Highly recommended.’ David N. Gellner, University of Oxford, UK