Elliott Prasse-Freeman
@epf.bsky.social
anthropologist at NUS | editing at Anthropological Theory [@anthrotheory.bsky.social] with focus on new short-form theory space ATC | Burma Studies knowledge mgmt https://burmastudiesgroup.com/ | editing at Humanity | newish book: Rights Refused
Some nice back and forth on an important set of questions about researchers’ responsibility to communities
Anthro Theory + Commons@anthrotheory.bsky.social · 3mo agoIs ethnographic research inherently extractive? Two pieces debate this issue in ATC. www.at-commons.com/articles (1/3)
“Vampires thus illustrate the relationship of black culture to the dominant culture in America, the blues, funk, techno, and hip hop, have all entered into mainstream society, but they do so in a way that is often disconnected from the individuals and the living experiences which shaped them”
Jason Read@jasonread.bsky.social · 8mo agoI don’t care about the Oscars but I would like to see Sinners win. www.unemployednegativity.com/2025/04/the-...
Julia Eckert writes here on how fascist "rituals enabl[e] people to join into the suprematist project, and to prefiguratively produce it"
Anthro Theory + Commons@anthrotheory.bsky.social · 8mo ago📢 new on ATC 📢 Julia Eckert writes on the need to contend with the joys of fascism www.at-commons.com/pub/mg782jp2...
It's been a long time coming. After several years of revisions, my book Emotional Filipinos is coming out on April 15th. Please share and retweet! It would really mean a lot to me. Preorder sales available here: ugapress.org/978082037545...
And now a review of it: ddec1-0-en-ctp.trendmicro.com/wis/clicktim...
Arms Politics: Becoming and Being a Weapon in the Borderlands of Myanmar
Published in Journal of Contemporary Asia (Ahead of Print, 2025)
ddec1-0-en-ctp.trendmicro.com
Elliott Prasse-Freeman@epf.bsky.social · last yr.Excited to dig into this one! Congrats to FB
Matan Kaminer provides a personal review of Balthasar's "Citizens of the Whole World: Anti-Zionism and the Cultures of the American Jewish Left," a book that feels particularly vital given the "genocide in Palestine... and supercharged McCarthyism in the US." www.at-commons.com/pub/c058ru1q...
An Account of Ourselves
at-commons.com
📢 Don't miss the next Book Launch @ SEA Junction! Global Battlefields: Memoirs of a Global Activist by Walden Bello. 🗓 24 Sept 2025 | 🕠 5:30–7:00 PM | 📍 BACC, Bangkok More info at: seajunction.org/event/book-l... #GlobalSouth #BookLaunch #Memoirs
this is particularly interesting essay for me, as I found in my fieldwork in Myanmar that people tend to talk about "rights", if they do at all, in fundamentally different ways than ppl do in Anglo-American contexts, and that this difference pivots on alienability [1/3]
Anthro Theory + Commons@anthrotheory.bsky.social · last yr.In ATC, Adrienne Cohen considers how conceptions of inalienability - what parts of you can you never lose, can you never give away? - are fundamental for understanding various human conceptions of personhood. www.at-commons.com/pub/8wem4ske...
today in Ghostly Lessons we have two contributions considering the treatment of human remains: * Thiago Barbosa and Amanda Domingues on human remains identification methods www.at-commons.com/pub/x2v2mu1j... * Trevor Engel on how museums hold bodies www.at-commons.com/pub/bi2wxnk4...
Transinstitutionalization and the Ghosts of the Boston Society for Medical Improvement
at-commons.com
Anthro Theory + Commons@anthrotheory.bsky.social · last yr.two more in Ghostly Lessons! * Ricardo Roque considers the ghostly dynamic of the historical archive www.at-commons.com/pub/u9q4ocbz... * Lisette Jong asks if orangutans can speak and whether they conjure ghosts of human evolution science www.at-commons.com/pub/pneeteps...
The many authors of this forum have worked very hard to generate important insights into the very hot topic of haunting (and, tbc, they developed it well before AAA announced haunting would be this year’s meeting theme)
Anthro Theory + Commons@anthrotheory.bsky.social · last yr.we are thrilled to announce Ghostly Lessons, a new special Theory Forum at ATC, edited by Emma Kowal and Amanda Domingues. Their intro is here www.at-commons.com/pub/k3r17d8f... and keep checking our @ as the entire Forum will be rolled out in the next two weeks here: www.at-commons.com/ghosts
I comment here on the USA's ambiguous relationship with Myanmar (and the so-called developing world) more generally, including: "As the US continues to fund and support Israel’s genocide in Gaza today, it seems nothing less than absurd to recommend more US engagement in places around the world."
The Monitor@uscnpm.bsky.social · last yr.After the earthquake in Myanmar, China may be filling a role once occupied by USAID, writes Miranda Wilson. However, while humanitarian aid is welcome, China's aid regime may be as much about buying influence as America's. @hmarston.bsky.social @epf.bsky.social open.substack.com/pub/uscnpm/p...
‼️❗️ Deadline is approaching❗️ If your group or organization is working for earthquake affected areas of Myanmar , please try to apply these small grant proposal. Deadline -30 May 2025 Submit to info@seajunction.org Please read eligibilities &priorities➡️ seajunction.org/small-grant-...
AI here thinking that I run an inter generational hardware store in Duluth with my non existent male progeny
watch Dunn's genius here. He digs to help so must recover - which means Murray's about to dust him. But watch what he does next: He’s about to do a spin move to recover as JM drives, but then JM anticipates and steps back + so Dunn never flips his hips! He's playing d with his back to the player!
Dallas crowd during Luka's return: managed to pull off a celebration of their guy AND a biting condemnation of their betrayer (the regime who traded him). The love displayed in the former helped leaven the anger, producing something kinda lovely (or at least it seemed so on TV)
Depending on how this was edited, at the end you can hear the interview get interrupted by a student occupation of the university building I was in there in Paris. Apropos, given the book’s topic.
Stanford University Press@stanfordpress.bsky.social · 2y agoNew listening: @epf.bsky.social spoke about his book Rights Refused on the Southeast Asia Crossroads podcast. #ReadUP
For helping Mandalay earthquake, check this vetted and pretty comprehensive list: karenvinalay.notion.site/Myanmar-dona...
Myanmar donation links (updated 1 April 2025) | Notion
This list is collated and vetted by Karen Vinalay
karenvinalay.notion.site
I’ve taught college for 30 years so I am confident saying that the students being abducted by ICE from our campuses are our best. They are the ones we stay up late for, writing elaborate comments on their brilliant work, hoping they will feel our respect and gratitude
re-upping this, for your reconsideration.
Elliott Prasse-Freeman@epf.bsky.social · 2y agosome titles to consider: Future of Revolution: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/646905... Cybernetic Capitalism: www.fordhampress.com/978153150893... Massumi's new one: buff.ly/42wmnUx Ranciere: www.wiley.com/en-sg/Uncert... on Extinction: www.versobooks.com/en-gb/produc...
i really like how Mattingly stresses the dialectical negotiation between abstraction and ethnography as imperative for making anthropological theory.
Anthro Theory + Commons@anthrotheory.bsky.social · 2y agoAT author Cheryl Mattingly reflects on how she does theory www.at-commons.com/pub/pcmcrp4w..., examining how anthro takes on phenomenology can assist in grasping how we think about stigma and disability. Her interview continues our series with AT authors, see here: www.at-commons.com/interviews
Long, very interesting (and informative) interview with two members of the Endnotes collective about the history of the journal: chuangcn.org/2025/02/neit...
chuangcn.org
some titles to consider: Future of Revolution: www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/646905... Cybernetic Capitalism: www.fordhampress.com/978153150893... Massumi's new one: buff.ly/42wmnUx Ranciere: www.wiley.com/en-sg/Uncert... on Extinction: www.versobooks.com/en-gb/produc...
Cybernetic Capitalism
A Conceptual Interrogation of Capital in a Cybernetic Environment Cybernetic Capitalism presents a groundbreaking synthesis of Niklas Luhmann's systems theor...
fordhampress.com
Anthro Theory + Commons@anthrotheory.bsky.social · 2y agowe are soliciting anthropologists to review books of theory for how they apply to anthro (see here www.at-commons.com/reviews). Pitch us, and we'll get you a book for your trouble (press willing)
