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Stuck Moving

Or, How I Learned to Love (and Lament) Anthropology
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
Stuck Moving is an experimental and deeply personal journey into the heart of anthropology, eschewing typical field trips and cultural studies for an introspective look at the author's own struggles with bipolar disorder, addiction, and career stagnation. The book critically explores academia and society through a unique lens, reversing the anthropological gaze to reveal the often hidden realities behind scholarship and institutional life. Mixing cultural studies, psychoanalysis, comedy, screenwriting, music lyrics, and poetry, it challenges the discipline's traditional conventions and critiques its role within global health and neoliberal academia.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$5699
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This book is ideal for readers interested in anthropology, academia, mental health narratives, and experimental literary forms. It will particularly resonate with scholars and students questioning traditional disciplinary boundaries as well as those intrigued by personal memoirs intertwined with social critique.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

This one-of-a-kind literary and conceptual experiment does anthropology differently—in all the wrong ways. No field trips. No other cultures. This is a personal journey within anthropology itself, and a kind of love story. A critical, candid, hilarious take on the culture of academia and, ultimately, contemporary society.

Stuck Moving follows a professor affected by bipolar disorder, drug addiction, and a stalled career who searches for meaning and purpose within a sanctimonious discipline and a society in shambles. It takes aim at the ableist conceit that anthropologists are outside observers studying a messy world. The lens of analysis is reversed to expose the backstage of academic work and life, and the unbecoming self behind scholarship.

Blending cultural studies, psychoanalysis, comedy, screenwriting, music lyrics, and poetry, Stuck Moving abandons anthropology’s rigid genre conventions, suffocating solemnity, and enduring colonial model of extractive knowledge production. By satirizing the discipline’s function as a culture resource for global health and the neoliberal university, this book unsettles anthropology’s hopeful claims about its own role in social change.

Series: Atelier: Ethnographic Inquiry in the Twenty-First Century

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  • Stuck Moving
    This one-of-a-kind literary and conceptual experiment does anthropology differently—in all the wrong ways. No field trips. No other cultures. This is a personal journey within anthropology itself, and a kind of love story. A critical, candid, hilarious take on the culture of academia and, ultimately, contemporary society. Stuck Moving follows a professor affected by bipolar disorder, drug addiction, and a...
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  • Stuck Moving
    This one-of-a-kind literary and conceptual experiment does anthropology differently—in all the wrong ways. No field trips. No other cultures. This is a personal journey within anthropology itself, and a kind of love story. A critical, candid, hilarious take on the culture of academia and, ultimately, contemporary society. Stuck Moving follows a professor affected by bipolar disorder, drug addiction, and a...
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Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Critics praise Peter Benson for his powerful and genre-defying writing style that blends humour and insight. American Anthropologist describes the book as a "wild ride into the depths of emotional turmoil and the limits of his profession," while Missiology: An International Review highlights its candid reflection on academic life and neoliberal structures, captured with sharp analysis and honesty.

Book Hero reading reviews

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780520388741

Publisher: University of California Press

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 11 April 2023

Country: United States

Imprint: University of California Press

Illustration: 37 b-w photographs

Audience: Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 25.0mm

Width: 152.0mm

Height: 229.0mm

Weight: 499g

Pages: 380

About the Author

Peter Benson is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Delaware. He is the author of Tobacco Capitalism and a coauthor of Broccoli and Desire.

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    Whittling Woodland Animals introduces the simple art of whittling with 15 wilderness creatures to create from scratch. The relaxing and rewarding craft of whittling is synonymous with a woodland setting, which provides the ideal subject matter for this new book from seasoned woodcarver, Peter Benson. Intricately carved and infused with character, this collection of 15 whittled woodland creatures makes a...
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