Anna Tsing

Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing (born 1952) is an American professor of anthropology. Tsing is employed at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Tsing received her B.A. from Yale University and completed her masters and Ph.D. at Stanford University. She has contributed, and written several articles and books on a broad range of anthropological subjects and in 2010, she received a Guggenheim Fellowship. In 2013, Tsing won a Niels Bohr Professorship at Aarhus University in Denmark for her contribution to interdisciplinary work in the fields of the humanities, natural sciences, social sciences, and the arts. She is currently developing a transdisciplinary program for exploring the Anthropocene.[1] Tsing is director of the AURA project at Aarhus University.[2][3]

In 2018 she was awarded the Huxley Memorial Medal of the Royal Anthropological Institute.[4]

Notable works

Some of Tsing's notable work comprise the following books:

  • In the Realm of the Diamond Queen: Marginality in an Out-of-the-way Place (1993)
Anna Tsing's first book centers around individuals from Meratus Dayak, from South Kalimantan, Indonesia. Tsing's key informant is Uma Adang, who provides her insight into shamanism, politics and the mythology in relation to ethnic identity.[5] The book focuses on the topic of marginality within a state and the context of community within a gendered framework.[6]
  • Friction: An Ethnography of Global Connection (2004)
Tsing’s ethnography is based in the Meratus Mountains of South Kalimantan, a province in Indonesia.[7] The term friction is described as, "the awkward, unequal, unstable, and creative qualities of interconnection across difference." [7] This ethnography was based on short term field work rather than a longer term field work; the methods are based on "ethnographic fragments".[7] The book is a study on human dominated landscapes, running themes include corporate exploitation, globalization, environmental activism, and environmental degradation.[8]
  • The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the possibility of life in capitalist ruins (2015)
Tsing's ethnographic account of the Matsutake mushroom gives the readers a look into this rare, prized and expensive fungi, much appreciated in Japan.[9] The mushrooms sprout in landscapes that have been considerably changed by people, in symbiosis with certain species of pine trees.[10] Tsing’s account of the Matsuke contributes to the field of anthropology in her ability to study multi-species interactions, using the non-human subject to glean more about the human world.[11]
Tsing follows Matsutake fungi’s international journey in order to give the reader insight into the mushroom’s complex commodity chain connecting to meditations on capitalism.[9] She uses the Matsutake to shed light on broader themes about how ecology is shaped by human interference.[9] The book was awarded the Gregory Bateson Prize[12] and the Victor Turner Prize.[13]

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Anthropology professor Anna Tsing wins $5 million Danish research award
  2. ↑ AURA stands for Aarhus University Research on The Anthropocene.
  3. ↑ Aarhus University: AURA
  4. ↑ "Huxley Memorial Medal and Lecture Prior Recipients". Royal Anthropological Institute. Retrieved 30 April 2018.
  5. ↑ "Pacific Affairs". JSTOR 2761271.
  6. ↑ "Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies".
  7. 1 2 3 "Princeton University Press".
  8. ↑ McKenzie, Don (2006-05-02). "Connectivity and scale in cultural landscapes: A.L. Tsing, Friction: an Ethnography of Global Connection". Landscape Ecology. 22 (1): 157–158. doi:10.1007/s10980-006-9000-7. ISSN 0921-2973.
  9. 1 2 3 "Tsing, A.L.: The Mushroom at the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins. (eBook and Hardcover)". press.princeton.edu. Retrieved 2015-12-10.
  10. ↑ "Blasted Landscapes (And the Gentle Art of Mushroom Picking)". The Multispecies Salon. Retrieved 2015-12-10.
  11. ↑ Tsing, Anna (2010-01-01). "Arts of Inclusion, or How to Love a Mushroom". Manoa. 22 (2): 191–203.
  12. ↑ https://culanth.org/fieldsights/953-anna-lowenhaupt-tsing-awarded-the-2016-bateson-prize
  13. ↑ http://sha.americananthro.org/2016/08/2016-victor-turner-book-prizes-in-ethnographic-writing/


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