The L

ife o

f the S

ense

sLa

pla

ntin

e

Franois

LaplantineTranslated by

Jamie Furniss

This volume provides a wonderful introduction to the study of the senses in a

variety of cultural contexts. It is uniquely informed by the authors encyclopedic

knowledge of film and ethnography. Laplantine teaches us to remove the

philosophical blinders of modernity so that we may be present to the sumptuous

flow of sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and feelings. His writings pulse with life.

Richard Sherwin, Wallace Stevens Professor of Law, New York Law School, USA

While much of Western thought is still categorical, Laplantine investigates the

natural rhythms, duration and modulation of life, challenging previously held

assumptions of social and political life. Movement, flow and intensity are evident

in his wonderful analysis of dance, cinema and and other cultural forms. Invaluable

reading for anthropologists anthropologists, philosophers, sensory experts and

cultural studies scholars. Timothy de Waal Malefyt, Clinical Associate Professor,

Fordham Schools of Business, USA

Laplantine makes a powerful case for lifting the scholarly prohibition on sensual

thinking, while adroitly conveying the distinction between the categorical and the

modal. The Life of the Senses advances our understanding of embodiment more

than anything I have read in years. Kathryn Geurts, Professor of Global Studies,

Hamline University, USA

Both a vital theoretical work and a fine illustration of the principles and practice of

sensory ethnography, this much anticipated translation is destined to figure as a major

catalyst in the expanding field of sensory studies.

Drawing on his own fieldwork in Brazil and Japan and a wide range of philosophical,

literary and cinematic sources, the author outlines his vision for a modal

anthropology. Franois Laplantine challenges the primacy accorded to sign and

structure in conventional social science research, and redirects attention to the

tonalities and rhythmic intensities of different ways of living. Arguing that meaning,

sensation and sociality cannot be considered separately, he calls for a politics of the

sensible and a complete reorientation of our habitual ways of understanding reality.

The book also features an introduction to the sensory and social thought of Francois

Laplantine by the editor of the Sensory Studies series, David Howes.

FRANOIS LAPLANTINE is Professor Emeritus at the University of Lyon 2, France and

has an honorary doctorate from the Federal University of Salvador de Bahia, Brazil.

JAMIE FURNISS is Lecturer in Anthropology at the University of Edinburgh, UK.

SENSORY STUDIES

SENSORY STUDIES

SENSORY STUDIES

The Life of the Senses

Introduction to a Modal AnthropologyANTHROPOLOGY www.bloomsbury.com

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9 781472 531964

ISBN 978-1-4725-3196-4

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