People Without Things

Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.

Generations of functionalist scholars built models in which religion, kinship or some other phenomenon stood in for the missing political system.

“building models in which religion, kinship or some other phenomenon stood in for the missing political system.”

Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence.

The person-plus-gun-minus-gun cannot walk away a citizen precisely because this new hybrid carries a politicized absence rather than a gun.

“cannot walk away a citizen precisely because this new hybrid carries in its hand a politicized absence rather than a gun.”

It may state two separate claims as one.

Object-like absences become full participants in the social, characterized by their own politics and, at times, their own emotional and semiotic charge.

“Object-like absences (or what Fuery (1995: 2) refers to as quasi-presences), in this sense, become full participants in the social”

Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. It may state two separate claims as one.

Vespucci's presence on the shore reveals to the native that she is impoverished, that she is a creature of absence.

“Vespucci's presence on the shore reveals to the native, in an instance, that she is impoverished, that she is a creature of absence.”

Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. It may state two separate claims as one.

If guns are taken away, what is left is not a society of peace-loving citizens but a society with no citizens at all, individuals stripped of true citizenship and carrying the stigma of absent rights as much as absent guns.

“Take away the guns, and what one is left with is not a society of peace-loving citizens, but a society with no citizens at all.”

Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.

Absence is typically equated with incompleteness and so becomes a source of longing.

“As typically understood, absence is equated with incompleteness and so becomes a source of longing.”

Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper may give no reason why it holds.

Absences, no less than presences, inhabit the material world on the far side of signification.

“absences - no less than presences - also inhabit the material world on the far side of signification”

It may state two separate claims as one.

Primitivists or neo-Luddites advocate doing away with all mass-produced things and civilization itself, and their elimination is a constructive act aimed at building greater individual autonomy and ecological sustainability.

“Often referred to as primitivists or neo-Luddites, this community is certainly engaged in their own work of elimination, but instead of an act of disrobing that results in an image of deficiency, here one encounters elimination as a constructive act aimed at building greater levels of individual autonomy and ecological sustainability (see Shepard, 1998; Zerzan 1994a).”

• cites Shepard 1998Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

• cites Zerzan 1994aNot matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.

Morgan approached stateless society by working backward from the present, beginning with the modern nation-state and removing evolutionary benchmarks to reach the most primitive tribes.

“Morgan approached the question of stateless society by working backward from the present”

• cites [1974]Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence.

Doing without, in this context, is a way of embracing absence and making it perform political work.

“Doing without, in this context, is a way of embracing absence and making it perform political work.”

Probably not a substantial claim. It may state two separate claims as one.

Latour's gun analysis achieves a turn toward things but simultaneously casts a shadow upon the many absent things that have their own part to play in the action.

“a shadow is simultaneously cast upon the many absent things that have their own part to play in the action.”

Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper may give no reason why it holds. It may state two separate claims as one.

Absences push back and resist and prompt us into action.

“Absences push back and resist. They prompt us into action.”

Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.

The missing head of the tribal society served as a prompt for the early twentieth-century ethnographer to ask how social order was maintained in the absence of true government and strong leaders.

“the missing head of the tribal society in Africa, Australia, or the Americas surely served as its own prompt for the early twentieth century ethnographer.”

Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence.

The blind spot for absence in thing theory is closely linked to the particular brand of posthuman postcolonialism.

“The reason for this blind spot, it seems to me, is closely linked to the particular brand of 'posthuman postcolonialism' just noted.”

Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.

The problem of absence has always been a peripheral concern at best in anthropology.

“The problem of absence has always been a peripheral concern at best”

Probably not a substantial claim.

Until relatively recently, anthropology's dominant subject matter was non-Western societies defined precisely by what they lacked.

“the discipline's dominant subject matter, until relatively recently, was comprised of non-Western societies defined precisely by what they lacked.”

Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds. The quote only partly states this claim.

If one rejects idealism in favor of a new materialism, then one is far more inclined to write essays about the physicality of the decaying corpse as opposed to the strange and ghostly presence of the absent family member.

“if one rejects idealism in favor of a new materialism (as do an increasing number of anthropologists and archaeologists), then one is far more inclined to write essays about the physicality of the decaying corpse”

Probably not a substantial claim.

In van der Straet's illustration, the native is presented as both desired and desiring.

“the discourse of desire within the image seems to go in both directions, for van der Straet has presented the native as both desired and desiring.”

• cites Montrose 1993Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper may give no reason why it holds. It may state two separate claims as one.

Absences come both before and after human perception and in this way gain a kind of independence from the perceiving human subject.

“They come both before and after human perception, and in this way gain a kind of independence from the perceiving human subject.”

It may state two separate claims as one.

The Victorian blushed before the naked native as a way of acknowledging that something morally required was missing, while he could gaze upon the painting of a nude with impunity.

“The Victorian blushed before the naked native as a way of acknowledging that something morally required was missing (clothing, but perhaps also an appropriate sense of shame), while he could gaze upon the painting of a nude in a gallery with impunity, for the nude was as she was meant to be.”

Probably not a substantial claim. It may state two separate claims as one.

For Clastres, even in societies in which the political institution is absent, the political is present and the question of power is posed.

“Even in societies in which the political institution is absent, where for example chiefs do not exist, even there the political is present, even there the question of power is posed: not in the misleading sense of wanting to account for an impossible absence, but in the contrary sense whereby, perhaps mysteriously, something exists within the absence .”

• cites Clastres 1987Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

• AssumptionThe authors state this as an assumption: The State was not a novel institutional apparatus cut from whole cloth in the Near East some six millennia ago, but is better understood as a frightening image of systematic domination that has always haunted human societies.
• AssumptionThe authors state this as an assumption: The State is never merely absent.

Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper may give no reason why it holds. It may state two separate claims as one.

Like present things, absences have distinctive affordances and material consequences that are not only prior to meaning but can, of their own accord, direct the process of signification itself.

“absences also have their distinctive affordances and material consequences that are not only prior to meaning but can, of their own accord, direct the process of signification itself.”

Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.

If one rejects phenomenology in favor of a posthuman relational philosophy, then one is far more inclined to write essays about hard, metal guns as opposed to absent or banned guns.

“If one roundly rejects phenomenology in favor of a posthuman relational philosophy (as does Latour), then one is far more inclined to write essays about hard, metal guns as opposed to absent or banned guns.”

It may state two separate claims as one.

The key difference between the documentary photograph of the naked native and the Victorian nude is that the nude was not truly lacking clothes and was presented as a whole specimen that lacked nothing.

“The key difference between the two is that, unlike the image of the naked native, the aestheticized 'nude' of the artist was not truly 'lacking clothes,' if by this we mean that it was somehow considered less than complete.”

• cites Clark 1956 sourceNot checked — no full text of the source

Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.

Morgan held that by following lines of human progress and removing institutions, inventions, and discoveries in order, the advance made in each period will be realized.

“removing one by one his principal institutions, inventions, and discoveries, in the order in which they have appeared, the advance made in each period will be realized.”

• cites [1974]Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence.

Absence need not be a source of longing at all.

“The alternative to this sort of conceit is to acknowledge that absence need not be a source of longing at all.”

Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper may give no reason why it holds.

Absences cannot be reduced to ideas.

“absences cannot be reduced to ideas”

Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. It may state two separate claims as one.

Non-things no less than things, immateriality no less than materiality, and absence no less than presence can intrude upon human lives and stand, object-like, before perceiving subjects.

“expose the ability of non-things no less than things, immateriality no less than materiality, and absence no less than presence to intrude”

Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper may give no reason why it holds.

Modern is to primitive as presence is to absence.

“Modern is to primitive as presence is to absence - this is what it means to be naked, to be stateless, to be without a head.”

Probably not a substantial claim.

Stateless society, pre-capitalist economies, tribes without rulers, and people without history animated most early theory-building in anthropology.

“Stateless society, pre-capitalist economies, tribes without rulers, people without history - these were the curiosities of the colonial frontier that animated most early theory-building in anthropology.”

It may state two separate claims as one.

The 'material heaviness' of society is typically measured by the quantity of artifacts, a notion premised upon a division between the things of nature and the things of culture, only the latter of which are assumed to mediate human lives.

“The problem is that the 'material heaviness' of society is typically measured by the quantity of artifacts (see also Dant 2006) - in other words, by the quantity of human-constructed objects that have come to occupy a world formerly filled with 'natural' materials. Which is to say that the notion is premised upon a division between the things of nature and the things of culture, only the latter of”

• cites Hodder 2006Not checked — no full text of the source
• cites Dant 2006 sourceNot checked — no full text of the source
• cites Latour 1993Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence.

Absence can only be expressed, paradoxically, through presence.

“absence can only be expressed, paradoxically, through presence.”

Probably not a substantial claim.

The primitives of early anthropological texts were naked rather than nude because they were tragically incomplete.

“one could say that the primitives of this and many other early anthropological texts were naked rather than nude because, while they may not have been cognizant of their lack of coinage, the potter's wheel, writing, history, religion, government, etc., they were nevertheless tragically incomplete.”

Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The paper may give no reason why it holds.

The turn toward things in late twentieth and early twenty-first century social theory is most often regarded as a critical response to the textual turn of the 1970s and 1980s.

“most regard it as a critical response to the textual turn of the 1970s and 1980s”

Probably not a substantial claim.

For the NRA, there is no CitizenGun precisely because citizenship has already been defined in hybrid terms as the union of a person and a gun or potential gun.

“there is no CitizenGun, precisely because citizenship has already been defined in hybrid terms as the union of a person and a gun”

Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper may give no reason why it holds.

Absence seems to be both derivative and strangely autonomous vis-à-vis the perceiving human subject.

“absence seems to be both derivative and strangely”

Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. It may state two separate claims as one.

Absence can be aggressive; it can be cultivated; it can mark the overt rejection of that which is not present.

“Quite to the contrary, absence can be aggressive; it can be cultivated; it can mark the overt rejection of that which is not present.”

Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper may give no reason why it holds.

The very notion of evolutionary progress relied upon a hidden teleological compulsion for society to acquire more and more of its missing things.

“The very notion of evolutionary progress relied upon a hidden teleological compulsion for society to acquire more and more of its missing things, gradually filling out a checklist of civilization's predetermined accomplishments.”

It may state two separate claims as one.

In such societies, the effort to thwart would-be despots in day-to-day human interactions appears to spark a reaction formation, a spectral nightworld inhabited by monsters, witches or other creatures of horror; the most peaceful societies are also the most haunted.

“In such societies, observes Graeber, the effort to thwart would-be despots in day-to-day human interactions 'appears to spark a kind of equally elaborate reaction formation, a spectral nightworld inhabited by monsters, witches or other creatures of horror. And it's the most peaceful societies which are also the most haunted' (Graeber 2004: 25).”

• cites Graeber 2004Not checked — no full text of the source

Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds. It may state two separate claims as one.

The stateless society, for Clastres, is always a society against the state, which is to say it is a society with a state led by leaders with extreme power.

“The stateless society, for Clastres, is always a society against the state, which is to say it is a society with a state led by leaders with extreme power…”

• cites Clastres 1987Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

• AssumptionThe authors state this as an assumption: The State was not a novel institutional apparatus cut from whole cloth in the Near East some six millennia ago, but is better understood as a frightening image of systematic domination that has always haunted human societies.
• AssumptionThe authors state this as an assumption: The State is never merely absent.

Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence.

Without a viable alternative to the myth of progress, the old evolutionary metanarratives tend to linger.

“indeed, without a viable alternative to the myth of progress, the old evolutionary metanarratives tend to linger in the shadows.”

Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. It may state two separate claims as one. The quote only partly states this claim.

One cannot add and subtract relations without leaving residues; a person is also different having formerly had a gun in hand.

“one cannot add and subtract relations without leaving residues.”

Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it.

Graeber observed that ethnographers have encountered the image of domination in the relationships egalitarian societies frequently have with a violent and despotic world of spirits.

“David Graeber (Graeber, 2004; see also Fowles 2010) has recently extended Clastres's argument, observing that ethnographers have, in fact, encountered this very image of domination in the relationships egalitarian societies frequently have with a violent and despotic world of spirits.”

• cites Graeber 2004Not checked — no full text of the source
• cites Fowles 2010Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

Probably not a substantial claim.

Miller's immaterial stands on the side of Brown's world of ideas as that which is thought rather than encountered.

“Miller's immaterial stands on the side of Brown's world of ideas as that which is thought rather than encountered”

• cites Miller 2005 sourceNot checked — no full text of the source

Probably not a substantial claim.

To unclothe was to uncover the truth about the native.

“'To unclothe was to uncover the truth about the native.'”

• cites Levine 2008 sourceNot checked — no full text of the source

Probably not a substantial claim.

Dedicated participants in the turn toward things would have little to say about absent things; absent things fall into the blind spot of thing theory due to the stigma of their origins in human perception.

“absent things fall into the blind spot of thing theory due to the stigma of their unseemly origins”

Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper may give no reason why it holds.

In the rush to take things seriously, scholars have over-privileged a crude notion of presence linked to physicality and tangibility, as if the only meaningful relations were those between entities that can be seen, smelt or felt.

“we have over-privileged a crude notion of presence linked to physicality and tangibility”

Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The quote only partly states this claim.

The missing face of the faceless figurine is not a text to be read so much as an inscrutable thing that demands the construction of a text.

“The missing face, then, is not a text to be”

• cites Bailey 2007Not checked — no full text of the source

Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.

Thing theory's major blind spot is that which is absent but nevertheless experienced as a presence precisely because its absence is marked or emphatic.

“my primary argument in this chapter is that thing theory's 2 major blind spot is, quite literally, that which is unseen”

Probably not a substantial claim. The paper’s conclusions may not depend on it. The quote only partly states this claim.

The recent focus on materiality can be understood as a corrective response to a world reduced to discourse and to strands of late twentieth-century social theory in which the real seemed lost in the hyperreal.

“a response to a world reduced to discourse”

Probably not a substantial claim. The paper may give no reason why it holds.

Much contemporary scholarship, even when it explicitly critiques modernist narratives, remains wedded to an understanding of premodern societies as 'societies without.'

“Much contemporary scholarship, even when it explicitly critiques modernist narratives, remains wedded to an understanding of premodern societies as 'societies without.'”

Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence.

This new materialism tends to blind us to a more complicated world of relations in which non-things, negative spaces, lost or forsaken objects, voids or gaps-absences-stand before us as entity-like presences with which we must contend.

“this new materialism tends to blind us to that more complicated world of relations”

It may state two separate claims as one.

Both present keys and the absence of keys have material effects on the world.

“Both the keys and the absence of the keys have material effects on the world.”

Probably not a substantial claim.

For Clastres, that something was a paradoxical 'powerless power' in which certain individuals were granted empty positions of leadership precisely so that would-be dominators could be kept in check by the community at large.

“For Clastres, that something was a paradoxical 'powerless power' in which certain individuals were granted empty positions of leadership precisely so that would-be dominators could be kept in check by the community at large.”

• cites Clastres 1987Not matched

  Couldn’t be matched to a paper in Crossref, so it can’t be checked.

• AssumptionThe authors state this as an assumption: The State was not a novel institutional apparatus cut from whole cloth in the Near East some six millennia ago, but is better understood as a frightening image of systematic domination that has always haunted human societies.
• AssumptionThe authors state this as an assumption: The State is never merely absent.

Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper may give no reason why it holds.

Absences must be regarded as part of the material world, part of the world of encounter that stands over against us.

“I have suggested that they must be regarded as part of the material world, part of the world of encounter that stands over against us.”

Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence.

Absences are also foreign to the material world, insofar as an absence always marks one or a limited number of nonpresent things drawn out of the infinite number of things that are not present in a given context.

“And yet, they are also foreign to that world, insofar as an absence always marks one or a limited number of nonpresent things drawn out of the infinite number of things that are, in fact, not present in a given context.”

Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper may give no reason why it holds.

Absences are a special category of things.

“In sum, absences are a special category of things.”

Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper may give no reason why it holds. It may state two separate claims as one.

None of these absent things come naturally; like a dugout canoe, all require a great deal of excavation to construct.

“None of these absent things come naturally. Like a dugout canoe, all require a great deal of excavation to construct.”

Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence.

The absent thing is an odd expatriate of the world of ideas that has taken up residence in the world of encounter.

“This makes the absent thing an odd expatriate of the world of ideas that has taken up residence in the world of encounter.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: The world can be divided into a world of ideas and a world of encounter.

Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence.

Once we have come to terms with the fact that absences are a special category of things, we will be in a position to see both the naked native and the naked emperor in a somewhat different light.

“Once we have come to terms with this fact, we will be in a position to see both the naked native and the naked emperor in a somewhat different light.”

• AssumptionRests on an assumption: The world can be divided into a world of ideas and a world of encounter.

Probably not a substantial claim. It may be too vague to check against evidence. The paper may give no reason why it holds.

Neither the society clothed by the state nor the society clothed by the state is any more naked than the other.

“And neither the society clothed by the state nor the society clothed by the state is any more naked than the other.”