Abstract
This essay dwells on the intersection of three historical contemporaries: (1) American anthropology's 'reflexive turn'; (2) the rise of Michel Foucault's motif of 'the gaze' within anthropology; and (3) the spread of the aesthetics of 'white nihilism.' The intersection materializes in the visual trope of self-reflexivity. White nihilism, according to one account, is a self-loathing kind of reflexive gaze, preemptive of criticism and desirous of self-possession. The paper argues that Foucault's idea of the panoptic gaze had a similar effect on anthropological self-reflexivity. The essay contrasts the American reception of Foucault with the case of Francophone anthropology - including 'the Other Foucault' - in which self-reflexivity involves self-loss or self-division.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 470-488 |
Number of pages | 19 |
Journal | Ethnos |
Volume | 71 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 2006 |
Keywords
- Conspiracy theory
- Nihilism
- Self-reflexive gaze
- Whiteness