Ethnographies of Moral Reasoning : Living Paradoxes of a Global Age

Rather than measure the actions of their subjects by reference to either universal rationality or cultural relativism, contributors in this volume describe ordinary people as they value human relationships and reason through the commonplace contradictions of their local way of life in a global age. Rather than measure the actions of their subjects by reference to either universal rationality or cultural relativism contributors in this volume describe ordinary people as they value human relationships and reason through the commonplace contradictions of their local way of life in a global age Front Matter....Pages i-x Front Matter....Pages 1-1 Residence: Moral Reasoning in a Common Place—Paradoxes of a Global Age....Pages 3-40 Front Matter....Pages 41-41 Privatization: Jokes, Scandal, and Absurdity in a Time of Rapid Change....Pages 43-65 Charity: Conversations about Need and Greed....Pages 67-89 Front Matter....Pages 91-91 Custom: The Limits of Reciprocity in Village Resettlement....Pages 93-116 Corruption: Insights into Combating Corruption in Rural Development....Pages 117-135 Front Matter....Pages 137-137 Fakes: Fraud, Value-Anxiety, and the Politics of Sincerity....Pages 139-160 Sacra: Rumors about the Moral Force of Ritual Objects as Public Art....Pages 161-185 Front Matter....Pages 187-187 After Words: From Ethos to Pathos....Pages 189-201 Back Matter....Pages 203-206 These astute essays describe the way ordinary people value human relationships and reason through the commonplace contradictions of their local way of life in a global age, rather than measure the actions of their subjects as evidence of either universal rationality or shared cultural beliefs. Each contributor conveys the ways in which people challenge the ascribed moral standards of custom, religious belief, bureaucratic policies through passionate words such as anecdotes, joke, rumors, and gossip. By evaluating moral reasoning at a local level, contributors work to answer the question, what is a good life "Anthropologists have become used to people's voices, 'analyses' even - this book breaks new ground by listening to 'arguments'. Arguments over what's best or right, moments of doubt or paradox about what's worthwhile, conundrums that need reasoning through. The approach is an enriching one, offering a novel purchase on the predicaments of social values in flux." - Marilyn Strathern, Professor of Social Anthropology, Cambridge University