Interview with James (Jim) Ferguson conducted by Fernando Rabossi and Roberto Kant de Lima in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

In 2010, James Ferguson visited Brazil at the invitation of the Instituto Nacional de Ciência e Tecnologia – Instituto de Estudos Comparados em Administração Institucional de Conflitos, coordinated by Roberto Kant de Lima, a professor in the Programa de Pós-graduação em Antropologia at Universidade Federal Fluminense. During his visit, Ferguson delivered a lecture at the 34th Annual Meeting of the Associação Nacional de Pós-graduação em Ciências Sociais and visited the Universidade Federal Fluminense in Niterói. On Itaipú Beach, also in Niterói, he was interviewed by anthropologists Roberto Kant de Lima and Fernando Rabossi, from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro. This interview was published in issue 30 of Antropolítica: Journal of Contemporary Anthropology, in 2011. In volume 57, issue 2, which pays tribute to James Ferguson on the solemn occasion of his passing on February 12, 2025, we are republishing the interview in both Portuguese and English. This serves not only to honor his legacy but also to revisit significant themes in anthropological theory. James Ferguson was an American anthropologist, trained in Social Anthropology at Harvard University. His work is widely recognized in the fields of economic and political anthropology, the anthropology of development, and anthropological theory. All these themes are addressed in this interview, which we hope provides a glimpse into key aspects of Ferguson’s career.