Governing Cultures : Anthropological Perspectives on Political Labor, Power, and Government

By assembling original, ethnographically-grounded research in legislatures, executives, and bureaucracies, this volume illuminates and unpacks the structures, practices, and values of government actors in local, regional, and national contexts. Governments are formal political institutions, places of work for thousands of women and men, and powerful social, cultural, and economic sites that shape the lives of all people. This collection demonstrates how anthropologists enrich our understandings of government by exploring the labor of those who govern, and how the dynamics of culture are at the heart of government actions that justify, modify, and reproduce political action. By assembling original, ethnographically-grounded research in legislatures, executives, and bureaucracies, this volume illuminates and unpacks the structures, practices, and values of government actors in local, regional, and national contexts. It will be of interest to scholars and students in anthropology, as well as sociology, political science, policy studies, and labor studies Front Matter....Pages i-viii Government Matters....Pages 1-19 Navigating the Illegible State....Pages 21-46 A Project of Governing and its Contradictions....Pages 47-67 Governing Beef....Pages 69-92 Selling Clear Red Water....Pages 93-109 Legislative Authenticity and the Politics of Recognition....Pages 111-135 Gendering Government....Pages 137-157 The Work of being Governed....Pages 159-181 The Will to end Hunger in the Age of Security....Pages 183-208 The Work of Governing....Pages 209-231 Back Matter....Pages 233-238