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Direct Action: An Ethnography
by David Graeber
In the best tradition of participant-observation, anthropologist David Graeber undertakes the first detailed ethnographic study of the global justice movement. Starting from the assumption that, when dealing with possibilities of global transformation and emerging political forms, a disinterested, "objective" perspective is impossible, he writes as both scholar and activist. At the same time, his experiment in the application of ethnographic methods to important ongoing political events is a serious and unique contribution to the field of anthropology, as well as an inquiry into anthropology's political implications.
The case study at the center of Direct Action is the organizing and events that led to the dramatic protest against the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City in 2001. Written in a clear, accessible style (with a minimum of academic jargon), this study brings readers behind the scenes of a movement that has changed the terms of debate about world power relations. From informal conversations in coffee shops to large "spokescouncil" planning meetings and teargas-drenched street actions, Graeber paints a vivid and fascinating picture. Along the way, he addresses matters of deep interest to anthropologists: meeting structure and process, language, symbolism, representation, the specific rituals of activist culture, and much more.
At a hefty 592 pages, Graeber's Direct Action gives new meaning to an old saying: this is a book that should be read by anyone who cares about the future of the world and is large enough to throw at anyone who doesn't!
"An anarchist, Graeber believes that the ends [protecting the nation-state] never justify the means [military-style repression at home and abroad], and he extends this ethos to his writing. His style is bracingly clear, even Wittgensteinian in its insistence on 'expos[ing] dilemmas' rather than 'dictat[ing] solutions' ... A contested notion, perhaps, but one that left me cheering." --- Maggie Nelson, author of Women, the New York School, and Other True Abstractions
"If anthropology consists of making the apparently wild thought of others logically compelling in their own cultural settings and intellectually revealing of the human condition, then David Graeber is the consummate anthropologist. Not only does he accomplish this profound feat, he redoubles it by the critical task -- now more urgent than ever -- of making the possibilities of other people's worlds the basis for understanding our own." --Marshall Sahlins, University of Chicago
"Graeber's ideas are rich and wide-ranging; he pushes us to expand the boundaries of what we admit to be possible, or even thinkable." ---Steven Shaviro, Wayne State University
David Graeber is an anthropologist and activist who teaches at the University of London. Active in numerous direct-action political organizations, he is the author of Fragments of an Anarchist Anthropology; Towards an Anthropological Theory of Value; and Possibilities: Essays on Hierarchy, Rebellion, and Desire. His essays and articles have appeared in Adbusters, New Left Review, Harpers Magazine, and numerous scholarly and cultural publications around the globe.
Reviewed by: kate
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