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164-165 | 2021
Ethnographier la liberté

Ethnographier la liberté. Couverture. JDA 164-165. 2021
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Credits: Couverture réalisée par : Célio Paillard ; Illustration de couverture : Pascal Boyart - pboy-art.com/dons-bitcoin
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“Freedom”. This term is everywhere proclaimed, sung, claimed, whereas, in reality, the space of freedom seems to be shrinking, besieged from side to side, sometimes even by policies claiming to promote it. As this first quarter of the 21st century draws to a close, the words of Claude Lévi-Strauss resonate with all their force: one could say that “freedom is absent in its presence”. Anthropology is renowned for its scepticism towards the notion of freedom. Indeed, it seems more inclined to study forms of domination and power. With rare exceptions, the discipline struggled to construct “the ways of being free” as an object of ethnography. On the one hand, this is because the notion of freedom seems to lack a descriptive or analytical relevance. On the other hand, it can be seen as a consequence of a certain conception of anthropology itself as a critical method, driven by a quest for freedom and liberation. This volume proposes to question the ways in which the discipline can take hold of the question of freedom. What critical message can the discipline convey about this notion in these uncertain times when freedom seems endangered?

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