Engaging Evil - (Methodology & History in Anthropology) by William C Olsen & Thomas J Csordas (Paperback)

About the Book

"Anthropologists have expressed wariness about the concept of evil even in discussions of morality and ethics, in part because the concept carries its own cultural baggage and theological implications in Euro-American societies. Addressing the problem of evil as a distinctly human phenomenon and a category of ethnographic analysis, this volume shows the usefulness of engaging evil as a descriptor of empirical reality where concepts such as violence, criminality, and hatred fall short of capturing the darkest side of human existence."--Back cover.

Book Synopsis

Anthropologists have expressed wariness about the concept of evil even in discussions of morality and ethics, in part because the concept carries its own cultural baggage and theological implications in Euro-American societies. Addressing the problem of evil as a distinctly human phenomenon and a category of ethnographic analysis, this volume shows the usefulness of engaging evil as a descriptor of empirical reality where concepts such as violence, criminality, and hatred fall short of capturing the darkest side of human existence.

Review Quotes

"The volume brings nuance, complexity and ethnographic thickness to recent debates in moral anthropology, showing that anthropology is far from being 'secure' in its distinction between good and evil while studying suffering, and that an anthropology of evil must complement the anthropology of the good. The book is a must for anthropologists working on morality, but it is also an enticing invitation for those working on suffering, violence and structural injustice to explore the usefulness of evil as analytical category, beyond the study of emic notions." - Social Anthropology

"The various contributions offer a rich and highly variegated overview of how anthropologists have dealt with 'evil' and thus give a good idea of the baffling variety hiding behind this notion." - Peter Geschiere, University of Amsterdam

About the Author

Thomas J. Csordas is Distinguished Professor of Anthropology and James Y. Chan Presidential Chair in Global Health at the University of California, San Diego.