Book contents
- Not-Knowing
- Not-Knowing
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Paradoxes, the Weird, and the Impossible
- Chapter 2 Not-Knowing, Not Speaking, Negating
- Chapter 3 Trauma, Forbidden Knowledge, and Silenced Voices
- Chapter 4 Not-Knowing through Ritual Theory and Art
- Chapter 5 Facing the Limits of the Extra-Cultural
- Chapter 6 Resisting Interpretation and the Negative in Three Ethnographies
- Chapter 7 Monsters, the Void, and the Movement from the Uncanny to the Weird
- Chapter 8 The Excess of Sense and the Engagement of Wonder
- Chapter 9 From Not-Knowing to Not-Doing
- Epilogue
- References
- Index
Chapter 1 - Paradoxes, the Weird, and the Impossible
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 08 July 2026
Book contents
- Not-Knowing
- Not-Knowing
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Chapter 1 Paradoxes, the Weird, and the Impossible
- Chapter 2 Not-Knowing, Not Speaking, Negating
- Chapter 3 Trauma, Forbidden Knowledge, and Silenced Voices
- Chapter 4 Not-Knowing through Ritual Theory and Art
- Chapter 5 Facing the Limits of the Extra-Cultural
- Chapter 6 Resisting Interpretation and the Negative in Three Ethnographies
- Chapter 7 Monsters, the Void, and the Movement from the Uncanny to the Weird
- Chapter 8 The Excess of Sense and the Engagement of Wonder
- Chapter 9 From Not-Knowing to Not-Doing
- Epilogue
- References
- Index
Summary
Chapter 1 describes the complexities and paradoxes of thinking about the extraordinary, anomalous, and impossible, both theoretically and methodologically. The first part engages with the philosophical work of Jeffrey Kripal and his proposal to conceive what has been excluded and ignored within a given cultural and cognitive system. Following his advice, the chapter asks: what would happen if we didn’t take the impossible off the table? And what are the consequences of doing it for an anthropology obsessed with clarity and coherence? The second part of the chapter introduces the concept of the weird. We argue that the weird, as a master trope, serves as the scaffolding for paradox itself, which is essential to thinking the impossible or unknowable.
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- Not-KnowingAn Anthropological Account, pp. 26 - 44Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
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