Transparency and Conspiracy: Ethnographies of Suspicion in the New World Order

329 Pages·2003·1.703 MB·English

by  Harry G. West, Todd Sanders

Ethnographies of Suspicion in the NewWorld Order
edited by harry g. west and todd sanders
DukeUniversityPress DurhamandLondon 2003
2003dukeuniversitypress
©
Allrightsreserved.PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmericaon
acid-freepaper(cid:2).DesignedbyAmyRuthBuchanan.TypesetinSabon
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Acknowledgments vii
PowerRevealedandConcealedintheNewWorldOrder
todd sanders and harry g. west 1
1 Gods,Markets,andtheIMFintheKoreanSpiritWorld
laurel kendall 38
2 ‘‘DiabolicRealities’’:NarrativesofConspiracy,
Transparency,and‘‘RitualMurder’’intheNigerian
PopularPrintandElectronicMedia
misty l. bastian 65
3 ‘‘WhoRulesUsNow?’’IdentityTokens,Sorcery,and
OtherMetaphorsinthe1994MozambicanElections
harry g. west 92
4 ThroughaGlassDarkly:Charity,Conspiracy,
andPowerinNewOrderIndonesia
albert schrauwers 125
5 InvisibleHandsandVisibleGoods:Revealedand
ConcealedEconomiesinMillennialTanzania
todd sanders 148
6 StalinandtheBlueElephant:Paranoiaand
ComplicityinPost-CommunistMetahistories
caroline humphrey 175
7 Paranoia,Conspiracy,andHegemony
inAmericanPolitics
daniel hellinger 204
8 MakingWanga:RealityConstructionsand
theMagicalManipulationofPower
karen mccarthy brown 233
9 AnxietiesofInfluence:ConspiracyTheory
andTherapeuticCultureinMillennialAmerica
susan harding and kathleen stewart 258
TransparentFictions;or,TheConspiracies
ofaLiberalImagination:AnAfterword
jean comaroff and john comaroff 287
Contributors 301
Index 305
Acknowledgments
Thisvolumeistheproductofaworkshop,entitled‘‘Transparency
andConspiracy:PowerRevealedandConcealedin(the)GlobalVillage(s),’’
heldon28and29May1999intheDepartmentofAnthropologyattheLon-
don School of Economics and Political Science (lse). The workshop was
organized by Harry G.West and Todd Sanders, with administrative assis-
tancefromMargaretBothwellandAnnickSaliman.Draftpaperswerepre-
sentedattheworkshopbyLaurelKendall,MistyBastian,HarryWest,Todd
Sanders, Daniel Hellinger, and Karen McCarthy Brown (whose essays are
includedinthisvolume)aswellasbyNancyScheper-Hughes,NancyRies,
Richard Tapper, and Tamara Teghillo. Jean and John Comaroff provided
stimulating commentary in their role as discussants in the workshop and
contributed an afterword to the volume. Additional papers were later so-
licitedfromAlbertSchrauwers,CarolineHumphrey,andSusanHardingand
KathleenStewart.InstitutionalsupportwasprovidedbytheDepartmentof
Anthropology at the lse and, in particular, by the department convenor,
Chris Fuller. Foradditional financial support, we thank the Economic and
Social Research Council and the SuntoryToyota International Centres for
EconomicsandRelatedDisciplines.WewishtothankErinKochforherhelp
preparingtheindex.Finally,wearegratefultothetwoanonymousreview-
ers,arrangedbyDukeUniversityPress,whoprovidedengagedandinsightful
commentaryonthemanuscript.

transparent(transpaˆr´ent,-par´-),adj.1.havingthe
propertyoftransmittingraysoflightthroughits
substancessothatbodiessituatedbeyondorbehind
canbedistinctlyseen,asopposedtoopaque,and
usuallydistinguishedfromtranslucent.2.easilyseen
through,recognized,ordetected.3.easilyunderstood;
manifest;obvious.4.candid;frank;open.
Therecanbenodoubtthatdistrustofwordsisless
harmfulthanunwarrantedtrustinthem.Besides,to
distrustwords,andindictthemforthehorrorsthat
mightslumberunobtrusivelywithinthem—isn’tthis,
afterall,thetruevocationoftheintellectual?
—VáclavHavel(December1989)
TakeawhiffoftheNewWorldOdor
—SigndisplayedinawindowinMadison,Wisconsin,on
thefirstdayoftheU.S.militaryoperationDesertStorm