Ontology Is Just Another Word for Culture

Carrithers, Michael; Candea, Matei; Sykes, Karen; Holbraad, Martin; Venkatesan, Soumhya

doi:10.1177/0308275x09364070

Cited by 274 publications

(87 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…In order to side-step the rather arbitrary division between "Nature" and "Culture" we resorted to the notion of "ontology". We find it important to note though that "ontology" is not just another word for "culture", as some anthropologists have recently suggested [52]. To us, taking the stance that ontology is another word for culture means taking on board unwarranted notions of multiculturalism and a host of accompanying dichotomies such as those between Nature/Culture, facts/beliefs or truth/superstition [26].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards Transgressive Learning through Ontological Politics: Answering the “Call of the Mountain” in a Colombian Network of Sustainability

Chaves

Macintyre²,

Verschoor

et al. 2016

Sustainability

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Abstract:In line with the increasing calls for more transformative and transgressive learning in the context of sustainability studies, this article explores how encounters between different ontologies can lead to socio-ecological sustainability. With the dominant one-world universe increasingly being questioned by those who advocate the existence of many worlds-a so-called pluriverse-there lays the possibility of not only imagining other human-nature realities, but also engaging with them in practice. Moving towards an understanding of what happens when a multiplicity of worlds encounter one another, however, entails a sensitivity to the negotiations between often competing ontologies-or ontological politics. Based on an ethnographic methodology and narrative methods, data were collected from two consecutive intercultural gatherings called El Llamado de la Montaña (The Call of the Mountain), which take place for five days every year in different parts of Colombia. By actively participating in these gatherings of multiplicity, which address complex socio-ecological challenges such as food sovereignty and defence of territory, results show how encounters between different ontologies can result in transformative and potentially transgressive learning in terms of disrupting stubborn routines, norms and hegemonic powers which tend to accelerate unsustainability. Although we argue that a fundamental part of the wicked sustainability puzzle lies in supporting more relational ontologies, we note that such learning environments also lead to conflicts through inflexibility and (ab)use of power which must be addressed if sustained socio-ecological learning is to take place.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards Transgressive Learning through Ontological Politics: Answering the “Call of the Mountain” in a Colombian Network of Sustainability

Chaves

Macintyre²,

Verschoor

et al. 2016

Sustainability

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“…Alberti et al, 2011;Carrithers et al 2010;Holbraad, 2012;Viveiros de Castro, 2003. In many ways, this alternative, that has received the name of the 'ontological turn', shares with other decolonial projects such as Santos's a similar aim.…”

Section: A Permanent Decolonisation Of Thought: Anthropology and The mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…After providing an in-depth exploration of the emergence and profundity of the colonial abyss and how it limits epistemological forms of critique, I will further clarify some of the implications of cultivating a different sociological imagination by paying attention to what has been called the "turn to ontology" in contemporary cultural anthropology (see for instance Alberti et al, 2011;Carrithers et al 2010;Holbraad, 2012;Viveiros de Castro, 2003. I shall suggest that, while this recent turn in anthropology is not without its limitations, a closer engagement between sociology and anthropology is imperative for the cultivation of a decolonial imagination.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Decolonial Imagination: Sociology, Anthropology and the Politics of Reality

Savransky

2017

Sociology

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While the recent proliferation of sociological engagements with postcolonial thought is important and welcome, central to most critiques of Eurocentrism is a concern with the realm of epistemology, with how sociology comes to know its objects of study. Such a concern, however, risks perpetuating another form of Eurocentrism, one that is responsible for instituting the very distinction between epistemology and ontology, knowledge and reality. By developing a sustained engagement with Boaventura de Sousa Santos's work, as well as establishing possible connections with what has been termed the 'turn to ontology' in anthropology, in this paper I argue that in order for sociology to become exposed to the deeply transformative potential of nonEurocentric thinking, it needs to cultivate a decolonial imagination in order to move beyond epistemology, and to recognise that there is no social and cognitive justice without existential justice, no politics of knowledge without a politics of reality.

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“…O uso do termo ontologias, de acordo com Candea (Carrithers et al, 2008), aparece com mais força na antropologia quando se difunde na disciplina a sensação de que a palavra cultura deixou de desempenhar a sua função por não levar suficientemente a sério a alteridade e, por conseguinte, por ter perdido seu vigor analítico e retórico. Daí a necessidade da palavra ontologia, na verdade ontologias, dita no plural para acentuar a existência de diferentes mundos e realidades.…”

Section: A "Virada Ontológica" Na Antropologiaunclassified

A noção de ontologias múltiplas e suas consequências políticas

Souza

2015

Ilha R. Antropologia

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Ontology Is Just Another Word for Culture

Cited by 274 publications

References 13 publications

Towards Transgressive Learning through Ontological Politics: Answering the “Call of the Mountain” in a Colombian Network of Sustainability

Towards Transgressive Learning through Ontological Politics: Answering the “Call of the Mountain” in a Colombian Network of Sustainability

A Decolonial Imagination: Sociology, Anthropology and the Politics of Reality

A noção de ontologias múltiplas e suas consequências políticas

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