The State and the Social

Gulbrandsen (social anthropology, U. of Bergen) presents a holistic, anthropological account of the emergence of the Botswana nation-state. He pays special attention to political practices and social forms, noting homologies between Botswana and other democratic societies, like Norway. He approaches these and other practices from a minoritarian perspective, making a point about how people are marginalized by Western hegemony and operate in those margins. Specifically, he looks at the impact of Christianity and colonialism on Botswana, the consolidation of the colonial state, industrial coalitions, authority structures between the state and tradition, governmentalization of the state, and civil forms of domination. Annotation Ac2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Ornulf Gulbrandsen is Professor of Social Anthropology and has been the Head of the Department of Social Anthropology at the University of Bergen for many years. He has conducted fieldwork in Norway, Botswana and, recently, in Sardinia. He has published extensively in books and international journals, especially on politics/state formation, law/jurisprudence, cosmology/occult practices, evangelizing Christianity, space, industrial relations/trade unions, political economy/labour migration, cultural ecology/land tenure, and kinship/marriage.