[...]ge with an ___ic persona

officiator

='strcls'>***(my ="trms">methodology='lgc'>:) let's in="trms"nttrm="cluster,club">clude in our dedication to X also a butt of ="trms">jokes and mimicry


="large lg2" stl="font-size:110%"> i see you, among other things, as ethical actors

(recent work in ="trms">anthropology ='lgc'>==>) ethic ='lgc'>=/= simply instantiating “="trms">categorical imperatives” and ="trms">obligations, a journy from war (or politics, as the “continuation of war by other means”) to a nonagonistic equilibrium of “perpetual peace” (تعادل ناهنجارانه صلح دائمی)
='strcls'>*life often produces intensities and conflicts that cannot be accounted for by a ="trms">priori rules and ="trms">obligations


nobility='lgc'> = refusal of revenge

(="ppl">Nietzsche='lgc'>:) to sanctify revenge with the term justuce ='lgc'><='lgc'>-- characteristic debasement of agonistic ethics (رستم)
as though justice were simply a further development of the feeling of having been wronged ='strcls'>***
='strcls'>*agon='strcls'>* can ="trms">morph into a nobler, more animated form. it (can) come closer to life than to death


='strcls'>**(singular) energetic expression of vital life is not always “individual” ='strcls'>**

noble and base ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> they name a coordinate within (in ="trms">excess) of which life forces flow and way and wane

="ppl">Deleuze ='lgc'>+ ="ppl">Guattari ='lgc'>+ ="ppl">Nietzsche ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> an ethical imperative to examine the kinds of life forces we affirm. negation is not expelled ='lgc'>--(="ppl">Singh ="trms"nttrm="already,spread">reading D='lgc'>+G='lgc'>+N's ethnographic intuition)='lgc'>='lgc'>--> what ‘is’ may be richer than any ideal ‘ought’ ='lgc'>==> ="trms">anthropology and philosophy, then, are two distinct but related ways in which life may be examined

to think affirmativelt ='lgc'>==> our negations become sharper


my recent knee-jerk reaction (for example to ="ppl">Olearius) would be to invoke Eurocentrism
(resist='lgc'>: “west” and “non-west”, built on entirely negative images of Europe, from which perspective postcolonial settings appear with double negativity from which they can never recover)


thoughtful moments among friends but scholastic and conversational traditions (='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="trms">Greek) ='lgc'>=/= “sage”, part of a larger conversational contest culture (not always between “friends” but is an agon ='lgc'>='lgc'>-->='qstn'>? Kelile-o Demne)
="prgrph">-other conceptual-conversational traditions (in ="nms">Iran,,,='qstn'>?) ='lgc'>[='thdf'>for example “taking an ="trms">author from behind and giving him a ="trms">child that would be his own offspring, yet ="trms">monstrous”, producing an ="trms">anthropologically oriented ="ppl">Deleuze, a ="trms"nttrm="already,spread">reading of ___ that produces a ___ically oriented ___='lgc'>]
='strcls'>*** it is not a ="trms">question of negating dialectices but of setting out a ="trms">different style of thought and examining the ethnographic and political consequences that follow ='strcls'>***


“when you asked him the ="trms">question about deities, you began a type of conversation called gyan-charcha ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> knowl="trms"nttrm="knowledge,Knowledge">edge-talk ="trms">technique (='lgc'><='lgc'>-- my favorite mode of ="trms"nttrm="already,spread">reading of ="trms">literature, and basically everything, is like that)


='qstn'>?which concept(s) you use to think through these things='lgc'>:
="lsts lst1">•bonded and legitimate labor
="lsts lst1">•power ="trms">relations
="lsts lst1">•marriage
="lsts lst1">•sacrifice
="lsts lst1">•kinship
="lsts lst1">•intimacy
="lsts lst1">•buying
="lsts lst1">•selling
="lsts lst1">•
='lgc'>}='lgc'>='lgc'>--> the fabric of human relatedness depends on it


='strcls'>*='lgc'>[lunar enlightenment='lgc'>]='strcls'>*
(="ppl">Singh's beautiful lunar reterritorialization of “enlighting”='lgc'>:) what kind of light do we assume as our image of plenitude='qstn'>?
عجایب ماه ='at'>#moon's inflow-ence, waxing and waning intensities, fluctuating thresholds, the rise and fall of gods, tutelage of moon, a lunar rather than a solar sense of enlightenment, blemished and inconstant, the moon is nondialectical, ='strcls'>*neighbors lunacy='strcls'>*


="ppl">Derridean moment of negative transcendence

waxing and waning plenitude of that flux

="ppl">Singh='lgc'>:
="lsts lst1">•varying thresholds and intensities
="lsts lst1">•logics of a/not-a
="lsts lst1">•ethics and energetics ='at'>@="frds scrmbld">Sana
="lsts lst1">•
="lsts lst1">•

='strcls'>*** a shift of even a degree (say, a ="trms">different mode of contract or force) could be the ="trms">difference between ="trms">social life and death, happiness and despair, or exploitation and freedom ='strcls'>***
(="ppl">Singh teaching me to think about ="nms">Tehranians)

دروغ بد را با دروغ بهتر جایگزین کنیم نه با حقیقت

="large lg1" stl="font-size:148%"> ="ppl">Nietzsche's double affirmation, yes yes
="ppl">Deleuze, “the ass does not know how to say no because he says yes to everything with is no” ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> to affirm is “to release, to set free what lives”
='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ='thdf'>the idea of “challage your pre="trms">suppositions” ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> this is a dialectical habit of thought='lgc'>: ='thdf'>the idea that the sig="trms">nature moment of thinking is a determinate negation (of State, Islam, Europe, etc.) ="ppl">Singh asks='lgc'>: how did this particular mode of reflexivity come to stand in for “true” ="trms">anthropological thought='qstn'>?



would it have been better to leave things more “fluid” and “complex and contradictory”='qstn'>? ='at'>@="frds scrmbld">Eszter


ethnographic labor='lgc'>:
="lstsrd">1- a form of hunting and gathering impressions
="lstsrd">2- sifting الک کردن and cultivating expressions

(='mywrk'>my work in ="nms">apass='lgc'>:) our ="trms">relation to concepts becomes more explicit, as we turn impressions into considered thoughts

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thinking postcolonial ="trms"nttrm="disturban">urbanism with ="ppl">Anand Taneja

(this is the ="trms">question of the limitations of ="trms">imagination='lgc'>:)
how (for a generation of scholars ='lgc'>[or artists='lgc'>]) rural (india) ='lgc'>[or syria, ="nms">Iran, or South Korea='lgc'>] has become simply a space of disasters, statistics, and deaths ='lgc'>--='not'>✕='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="ppl">Anand's work is a counter-example ='lgc'>[i am learning from him to be attentive to my own ="trms">imagination's stopping-points. to resist ="trms">stories that render life in those milieus unthinkable='lgc'>] ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> that those spaces are not only of abjection but also of ="trms">imagination and curiosity ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> to think about alternative (conceptual) ="trms">vocabularies to think about those abjected places, ="trms">religion, and ="nms">ajayeb ='lgc'>[that does not only negate those milieus='lgc'>]
="prgrph">-to think about ="trms">religion is super usefull and relevant, because it is also about what secularism is

how people (in rural areas) conceive of vitality and advancement='qstn'>?
='strcls'>*how people ="trms">imagine a better life='qstn'>?='strcls'>* ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> (to think non-unilateral and non-static) ='strcls'>*picture of aspiration='strcls'>* (in a ="trms">world like ="nms">Tehran; ='at'>#proposal to research on ‘the image of growth’ رشد roshd, slow growth, ='lgc'>[roshd-e bi-raviye رشد بی رویه of toxins and ="trms">species, and so on='lgc'>] in the context of contemporary ="nms">Tehran)
="prgrph">-imitations of forms

(i am activating a rhizomatic mode of perception ='lgc'>[learning from ="ppl">Anand learning from ="ppl">Deleuze and ="ppl">Guattari='lgc'>])='lgc'>='lgc'>--> how one aspect of life leads to another ='lgc'>=/= paritioning of the milieu


="trms">anthropology of the state ='lgc'>: how one engages the state in an every day level


='strcls'>*="trms">historically one crucial exit point from the ="trms">system of ruler-="trms">relation was to become ascetic (زهد)='lgc'>: disregard for sovereign ="trms">authority (حاکم hakem, hakemiat) ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> a ="trms">different form of power that one let's to lead to self-rule

="large lg3" stl="font-size:111%"> ='lgc'>[bare life ='lgc'>=='qstn'>? life without a way of life ='lgc'>--='not'>✕='lgc'>='lgc'>--> there is no life without a way of life='lgc'>]
(="ppl">Singh='lgc'>:) someone's life cut off from their source of vitality
a local body of thought (jinn, etc.)

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(="ppl">Anand asking) what does it means to live in a city of jinns='qstn'>?
the jinn='lgc'>:
="lsts lst1">•serves as witnesses of times long gone
="lsts lst1">•figures of ="trms">authority whose shrine blesses re="trms">membered forms of ="trms"nttrm="disturban">urban ="trms">religious life
="lsts lst1">•forgotten by the amnesia of the postcolonial state
="lsts lst1">•rendered unislamic by the selective amnesia of reviva="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">list tradition

="large lg4" stl="font-size:110%"> jinn ='lgc'>='lgc'>--> revive that old orienta="trms"nttrm="listen,alist,ilist,llist,olist,ylist,ulist">list ="trms">trope, constituted not only by bazzar, mosque, and hammam, but also of the antinomian potentials that have long been part of the Islamic tradition

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vita
lives of saints
تذکرة الاولیا Tazkirat al-Awliya
concerned with canonization, education, and collective recollection of contemplative life
(vita as a biological genre recounting the lives of holly men and women in several ="trms">religious traditions='lgc'>: Bhaktamala, Theravada buddhism, The="trms"nttrm="righ,rigo,riga,rigi,trig,rign">rigata, etc.)

="ppl">Singh asking='lgc'>: how would we ="trms">narrate a scholarly life='qstn'>? (and i add to that='lgc'>: who could be oulia اولیا Arahant ='lgc'>[further ones='lgc'>] today='qstn'>? queer or nonhuman)
='strcls'>*participated in the ="trms">world ="trms">historical “isms” (='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="nms">ajayeb)
='lgc'>--="ppl">Singh='lgc'>='lgc'>--> ="trms">narrating a conceptual life, vita

="large lg5" stl="font-size:163%"> ='strcls'>*uncertainties of reception='strcls'>* (in ="ppl">Attar's Tazkirat al-Awliya)

singularity of ="trms">trajectory of ="ppl">Attar's saints ='lgc'>=/= my random sampling of themes

="trms">anthropology='lgc'>: to ="trms">write about anything that exists or ="trms">imagined

can we talk affirmatively of a post="trms">modern ethnography of ="nms">ajayeb='qstn'>? ='lgc'>=/= “totalizing vision” of culture
[...]