Memory against Culture

“Memory against Culture is a book worth reading; in fact, it probably requires at least two readings, since many of the themes in the first few chapters convey their full import only after the reader has seen what comes later. To anthropologists trained since the late 1980s, much of Fabian's thought will seem natural, almost obvious, but that only testifies to his influence in the discipline. While anthropologists were probably never as unaware of the problems of presence, memory, and representation as Fabian sometimes implies, anthropology is certainly a better and more profound field of inquiry thanks to the contribution of Fabian and others with his perspective.” - Jack David Eller, Anthropology Review Database

“Memory against Culture is in many ways an act of memory, rather than one of publishing, and it is worthwhile to reflect on this in a Fabianesque manner: to take seriously, theoretically and methodologically, every layer of this onion of knowledge production in which we engage as contributing to the shaping of that very knowledge we desire to produce.” - Christopher Kelty, American Anthropologist

“Fabian’s work continues to invite the direction of critical thought towards aspects of ethnographic inquiry, to the co-production of knowledge, and to broader theoretical concerns in anthropology. This collection simultaneously serves to remind us of his intellectual contributions to anthropology, and to see these contributions as continuing and growing.” - Katie Glaskin, Anthropological Forum

“Johannes Fabian has been one of the most original and important thinkers in anthropology since the 1970s. . . . [T]hese chapters are, in my view, indispensible reading for those of us who have learned so very much from this engaged and creative anthropological thinker.” - Daniel A. Segal, American Ethnologist

“The sometimes provocative potential of Fabian’s thinking is stimulating, refreshing and timely in its relevance to current research into what could be called an anthropology of mind. . . . [T]he book will also be found very useful and thought provoking in contexts outside of the discipline of anthropology, such as in cultural studies or the social sciences where recently a wealth of studies and publications engage with a rather dynamic understanding of memories in diverse cultural contexts.” - Martha Blassnigg, Leonardo Reviews

“In these easy-reading conversational essays, studded with jewels of ethnographic provocation, Johannes Fabian continues his language-centered anthropological meditations on denials of recognition, the study of popular culture as recognition of Africa’s vigor and contemporaneity, and the pragmatics of speech: ‘Who can talk straight when even using Belgian rather than French ways of counting (“septante-deux” not “soixante-douze”) could be denounced as anti-revolutionary?’ Fabian’s focus on terms of encounter, the work of commentary, and Internet archiving as ethnographic collaboratories disturbs our pious conventions.” - Michael M. J. Fischer, author of Emergent Forms of Life and the Anthropological Voice