The location of anthropological knowledge: notes between Brazil, France and India

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22409/antropolitica2024.v56.i3.a64275

Keywords:

Intellectual trajectory, Internationalization of Anthropology, Global South, India, France.

Abstract

In this article, I examine my intellectual trajectory as an anthropologist trained between Brazil, France and India in order to discuss recent transformations in global anthropology, especially with regard to its internationalization. I use Gyan Prakash’s concept of “location of scholarship” to think about the situated dimension of anthropological knowledge beyond its geographical location, characterizing it rather as a complex network of history, power and culture. In a complementary way, I also draw on Purnima Mankekar’s idea of the “politics of location”, exploring how national belonging, identity and political positions influence the role of the researcher in the global scenario of academia. Drawing on my own trajectory, from a working-class background in Brazil to the study of Indian anthropology in France, I examine the challenges and potentialities of an internationalized academic career for a researcher from the Global South. By engaging in a critical self-analysis, I highlight the power dynamics, cultural representations and social expectations that impact academic mobility and knowledge production between different regions, questioning traditional notions of legitimacy and intellectual authority in the globalized academic world. I argue that doing anthropology between locations involves building a mobile and decentralized knowledge, based on a constant and fertile tension between theoretical principles and subjective experiences.

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Author Biography

Vinicius Kauê Ferreira, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro

Professor Adjunto no Departamento de Antropologia e Pesquisador Permanente no Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciências Sociais da Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Doutor em Etnologia e Antropologia Social pela École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales.

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Published

2024-10-01

How to Cite

Ferreira, V. K. (2024). The location of anthropological knowledge: notes between Brazil, France and India. Antropolítica - Revista Contemporânea De Antropologia, 56(3). https://doi.org/10.22409/antropolitica2024.v56.i3.a64275

Issue

Section

Exchanged Perspectives