Michael Taussig Books

The exploration of mimesis and alterity delves into the intricate relationship between imitation and the dynamics of Self and Other, highlighting their ties to colonialism. Drawing on influential thinkers and ethnographic studies of the Cuna, the author illustrates the evolving instability of alterity. In a new preface, the author reflects on the lasting impact of the work since its original publication, offering a vigorous and unconventional analysis that enhances our comprehension of ethnography, racism, and societal structures.

Defacement asks what happens when something precious is despoiled. In specifying the human face as the ideal type for thinking through such violation, this book raises the issue of secrecy as the depth that seems to surface with the tearing of surface.

In September 1940, Walter Benjamin committed suicide in Port Bou on the Spanish-French border when it appeared that he and his travelling partners would be denied passage into Spain in their attempt to escape the Nazis. This is an essay about his cemetery, eyewitness accounts of Benjamin's border travails, and the circumstances of his demise.

Records visionary anthropologist Michael Taussig's reflections on the fieldwork notebooks he kept through forty years of travels in Colombia. This title exhibits Taussig's characteristic verve and intellectual audacity, that is combined with a revelatory sense of intimacy.

What is it that makes notebooks so fascinating? Anthropologist Michael Taussig, for whom fieldwork notebooks are an indispensable tool, discusses this very question. A starting point of his investigation is Walter Benjamin, who obsessively filled his own notebooks and was intrigued by their materiality. Roland Barthes, Le Corbusier, and Joan Didion are some of the many other notorious note takers that Taussig visits so as to crystallize his ideas of what a notebook really is. Far more than a mere “thing,” Taussig argues that a notebook develops a life of its own, a life, which is often fed by what hasn’t been written down and other externalities. In the end, this history can even take possession of its possessor by transforming a notebook into a magical object, a fetish.

Exploring the theater of spirit possession, the narrative unfolds at a mystical mountain where the spirits of marginalized groups embody the living, generating a flow of ecstatic energy. It examines the dual nature of power—its violent and alluring aspects—while challenging conventional notions of authority and the sacred foundations of modern sovereignty. In line with surrealist traditions, the work presents a thought-provoking critique of power dynamics and cultural intersections.

Features three essays that engage the extraordinary Occupy movement that has swept across the world, examining everything from self-immolations in the Middle East to the G8 crackdown in Chicago to the many protest signs still visible worldwide.

Exploring the role of the devil in South American folklore, Michael Taussig analyzes its social significance among plantation workers and miners through a Marxist lens. He connects the traditional devil-pact narratives, where souls are exchanged for fleeting power, to the alienation experienced by workers in capitalist economies. This anniversary edition includes a new chapter discussing Walter Benjamin and Georges Bataille, further enriching Taussig's exploration of the devil-pact metaphor and its implications for understanding human objectification in modern production.

For centuries, humans have excelled at mimicking nature in order to exploit it. Now, with the existential threat of global climate change on the horizon, the ever-provocative Michael Taussig asks what function a newly invigorated mimetic faculty might exert along with such change. Mastery of Non-Mastery in the Age of Meltdown is not solely a reflection on our condition but also a theoretical effort to reckon with the impulses that have fed our relentless ambition for dominance over nature.   Taussig seeks to move us away from the manipulation of nature and reorient us to different metaphors and sources of inspiration to develop a new ethical stance toward the world. His ultimate goal is to undo his readers’ sense of control and engender what he calls “mastery of non-mastery.” This unique book developed out of Taussig’s work with peasant agriculture and his artistic practice, which brings performance art together with aspects of ritual. Through immersive meditations on Walter Benjamin, D. H. Lawrence, Emerson, Bataille, and Proust, Taussig grapples with the possibility of collapse and with the responsibility we bear for it.

Highlighting the journey of an emerging artist, this first monograph showcases a collection of their work. The book features a unique French fold jacket that opens to reveal a striking, poster-sized piece, emphasizing the artist's creative vision and talent. It serves as both a celebration of their achievements and an introduction to their artistic style, making it a significant addition to the art world.