The Altai Republic in southern Siberia is renowned for excavations of frozen mummies from high-altitude burial sites. Less well-known is the fact that it hosts fallout zones for the second stages of rockets launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome. Local inhabitants blame ‘evil spirits’ released by archaeological work and toxic fuel from rocket debris for their misfortunes. This book explores the divergent fates of such claims when confronted with state-fostered ‘rationalisms’ of science and governance.
Table of Content
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements
Note on Transliteration
Introduction
Chapter 1. Between Ancient Graves and Modern Rocket Junk
Chapter 2. How to Read a Letter
Chapter 3. Souls and Their Predators
Chapter 4. Property and (Non-)Human Personhood
Chapter 5. The Comparison Impossible
Chapter 6. Towards Strict Ontological Continuities
Conclusion
References
Index
About the author
Ludek Broz is Head of the Department of Ecological Anthropology at the Institute of Ethnology, Czech Academy of Sciences. He co-edited the volume Suicide and Agency: Anthropological Perspectives on Self-destruction, Personhood and Power (Routledge, 2016) with Daniel Muenster.
More ebooks from the same author(s) / Editor
160,252 Ebooks in this category
