The Corn Wolf |
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| Author:
| Taussig, Michael |
| ISBN: | 978-0-226-31085-5 |
| Publication Date: | Dec 2015 |
| Publisher: | University of Chicago Press
|
| Book Format: | Paperback |
| List Price: | AUD $42.95 |
Book Description:
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In the vein of his books
TheNervous System and
Walter Benjamin's Grave,
The Corn Wolf presents a collection of essays that capture well Michael Taussig's ongoing development/trajectory as a writer and his recent move toward storytelling
as theory. The thrust, in a nutshell, is to extend and develop the contrast between the
Nervous System style of writing, writing that arises from what Taussig calls the "bodily unconscious," and what he now...
More DescriptionIn the vein of his books TheNervous System and Walter Benjamin's Grave, The Corn Wolf presents a collection of essays that capture well Michael Taussig's ongoing development/trajectory as a writer and his recent move toward storytelling as theory. The thrust, in a nutshell, is to extend and develop the contrast between the Nervous System style of writing, writing that arises from what Taussig calls the "bodily unconscious," and what he now refers to as "agribusiness writing," a type of writing that strips ethnography not only of its capacity to surprise but also to connect with another world. Taussig defends ethnography from agribusiness writing just as the corn wolf in Frazer's Golden Bough inspirits and defends agricultural crops from the reapers. A crucial aspect of this analogy is that the corn animal occupies the field protecting it from disease and disaster, in short from profanation. Taussig calls this "apotropaic magic" as opposed to the "magic" that transforms crops (read "ethnography") into mere food (read "scholarly article" or "theory"). His essays explore the idea of "occupation" in a variety of contexts and meanings such as Palestine and Wall Street.