Comments on: WC25: Clifford and Marcus Reflect

By: WC25: Jackson, Taussig, and Rutherford | Savage Minds

WC25: Jackson, Taussig, and Rutherford | Savage Minds — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 22:08:44 +0000

[…] the conference for Savage Minds last fall. You can read my introduction here. Ayla’s piece on George Marcus and Jim Clifford’s papers are here. And my post on Hugh Raffles and Kim Fortun’s presentations is here. Rex also contributed some […]

By: John McCreery

John McCreery — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 00:07:50 +0000

Clifford’s noting that ‘”confidence in our uncertainty” in which his confidence is now shaken is a point worth pondering. Looking back what I see is what I would call the thrill of unmasking and a totally misplaced confidence that if only people could see what we appear to see so clearly, the world would change for the better. Opening up our minds to new possibilities is a great first move, but without an answer to “And then what?” it provides no program for scholarly or political action. It leaves us stuck.

By: Matt Thompson

Matt Thompson — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 03:03:05 +0000

Here are some excepts from George Marcus and James Clifford's talks. If more video is made available, I'll link to it as well.

By: Liz Marks

Liz Marks — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 19:25:59 +0000

Thank you for this overview. It helped mitigate my sadness at not being able to attend this event. As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, I’m an anthropologist with a creative writing and art/design background so WC has a special place in my heart. Interesting to read where the authors thought they were being arrogant (in hindsight), or unperceptive. I can imagine something like WC must be challenging to go back and read.
As a snapshot of a culture- it reminds me not just of the 1980s though, but a certain intellectual climate that I found in the humanities throughout the 1990s as new technology led to new kinds of experimentation. Thanks, Ayla!