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Anthropologists often use ‘pollution’ to refer to social and individual challenges to a cultural idea of purity, which may be seen in terms of religious practice, foodstuffs and social differentiation. It has been used as a trope to explore ideas of dirt and place, moral inversion and reinforcement, disgust and taboo.
The book is an invitation to consider the continued relevance of Mary Douglas’ conceptualization of pollution and dirt as ‘matter out of place’ in relation to contemporary circumstances. Its ethnographic and theoretical contributions cover diverse contexts, ranging from Europe to Africa, the Caribbean, India and Outer Space.
“The chapters are engaging and of an ambitious nature. I found the collection to be highly readable and also liked the array of different topics and perspectives covered.” • Kirsten Bell, Imperial College
Rebecca Lynch is Lecturer in Medical Anthropology at the University of Exeter. Her work explores the body and biomedicine, particularly bodily fluids and boundaries, bodily relations with non-humans (e.g., technologies), morality and biomedical categorization.
Introduction: Anthropological Ideas of Pollution Revisited: Categories, Values and the Legacy of Mary Douglas
Rebecca Lynch and Roland Littlewood
Part I: Bodies, Dirt and Place
Chapter 1. Three Achievements of Dirt: Disgust, Humour, Emphasis
Sjaak van der Geest
Appendix: Akan (Twi) Proverbs about ‘Shit’ and Related Terms
Chapter 2. Leaky Bodies and The Dynamic Relationality of Matter and Place
Rebecca Lynch
Chapter 3. ‘Yesterday’s Coffee Is Tomorrow’s Coffee’: The Body, Human Waste and Off-World Living
Aaron Parkhurst and David Jeevendrampillai
Part II: Notions of Purity and Moral Inversion
Chapter 4. Filth As Faith: Stories Of Antinomian Pollution
Roland Littlewood
Chapter 5. Orgasmic Excess and Orgasmic Alienation: Capitalism as Pollution
Ellie Reynolds
Chapter 6. Psychopharmacological Purity Doctrines and The Inertia of Cruelty: Using Mary Douglas and René Girard to Understand the War on Drugs
Joseph Calabrese
Part III: Disgust
Chapter 7. The Abominations of Leviticus Reconsidered: Anthropology and Psychology of Pollution
Simon Dein
Chapter 8. The Power of Taboo: Anthropological and Neurocognitive Perspectives
Quinton Deeley
Afterword: Radioactive Pollution in Nevada and Kazakhstan: A Non-Scientific Voice for Victims
André Singer
Index