Africa’s year 2021 was perplexing, horrendous, dramatic but also inspirational. It can be summed in the “two-ness” of the sojourn … More
Category: Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humankind, past and present, that draws and builds upon knowledge from social and biological sciences, as well as the humanities and the natural sciences. In the United States anthropology is traditionally divided into the four field approach developed by Franz Boas in the early 20th century: biological or physical anthropology, social anthropology or cultural anthropology, archaeology and linguistic anthropology. Ethnography is one of its primary methods as well as the text that is generated from anthropological fieldwork.
Informality and international trade: The case for an African Customs Union Part 2 by Keith Hart
(Keynote address for a World Customs Organization/World Bank conference on ‘Informality, international trade and customs’, Brussels, 3-4 June 2013) It … More
Informality and international trade: The case for an African Customs Union by Keith Hart
(Keynote address for a World Customs Organization/World Bank conference on ‘Informality, international trade and customs’, Brussels, 3-4 June 2013) It … More
Sudan: Its diversity, economics and history
by Jehron Muhammad KHARTOUM, Sudan—Nothing says diversity like Sudan. Once Africa’s largest country, now divided by neocolonial and neoliberal machinations … More
Gypsy Economy: The Promise and Limitations of Ethnography – Part 3
by Keith Hart Why Study Gypsy Economy? Looking at the contributions to this volume, I would pick out four themes: … More
Gypsy Economy: The Promise and Limitations of Ethnography – Part 2
by Keith Hart Heads or tails? Martin Fotta referred to a lecture of mine on money, “Heads or tails? Two … More
Gypsy Economy: the Promise and Limitations of Ethnography
By Keith Hart The Promise and Limits of Ethnography I am usually rather concerned when I observe how unreflectingly my … More
How Political Corruption Impacts Culture
How Political Corruption Impacts Culture From a traditional perspective, when people think of South America, many think of a group … More
An Unlawful Form of Democracy
What do we mean by an unlawful form of democracy? In the context of discussing the events of January 6, … More
Trump’s attack on American “democracy” – Part 2 by Keith Hart
Is the United States a racist theocracy? As the last of three generations of Northern Irish Protestant descent settled in … More
Trump’s attack on American “democracy” by Keith Hart – Part 1
Donald Trump and the Republican Party Donald Trump may not have expected to win the 2016 presidential election. Once he … More
American Exceptionalism and Violent Protests
It is important to understand that for more than fifty years, American foreign and defense policies such as EUCOM, PCOM, … More
World Orders Old and New – Latin America
The Colossus of the South “When the resources of that vast country are taken into account,” the editors of the … More
The Chomsky Chronicles – Wild Man in the Wings
Noam Chomsky is the quintessential pioneering linguist, intellectual and political activist of the last fifty years. He is an American, … More
How the informal economy took over the World by Keith Hart – Finale
The Euro crisis: an episode in the history of money. The monetary crisis that has overwhelmed the eurozone of late … More
How the informal economy took over the World by Keith Hart – Part 3
The demise of national capitalism. To talk of the world economy being “informalized” suggests that there is a global rule-system, … More
How the informal economy took over the World – Part 2 by Keith Hart
The dialectics of form. “General Forms have their vitality in Particulars, and every Particular is a Man” (William Blake). Most … More
How the informal economy took over the world by Keith Hart
A la recherche du temps perdu (In search of lost time) The idea of an informal economy was born at … More
Seeing Culture Everywhere: A Book Review by Keith Hart
The authors of this well-written book tell how they were pushed by their editor into writing for a general audience. … More
Why George Floyd Matters
With all due respect and no malice intended but the George Floyd murder is not the first time African American … More
Pandemics: Agents of Global Change – Part 2
The Economic and Commercial Impact of Pandemics: By now, the COVID-19 influenza outbreak has reached practically all parts of the … More
New Preface to Globalization from Below: The World’s Other Economy by Keith Hart
IV. The informal economy has taken over the World The idea of an informal economy was born in the 1970s … More
Pandemics: agents of global change
It was the early 1990s, while working at the American College of Physicians in Philadelphia, I became interested in epidemiology. … More
Cultural Critique: Anthropological – by Keith Hart
Cultural critique, the use of anthropology to draw critical attention to institutions that readers take for granted, is as old … More
The Subjugation of Liberal Democracy
Are we witnessing in our lifetime the slow destruction of liberal democracy? Have we exhausted the limits of a political … More
Perspectives in Anthropology 