Maria D. Vesperi and Emily Martin
Like Democracy Now!, the news program that inspired our name, Anthropology Now suggests an assertion, an assessment and a demand.
Yes, this is anthropology in the many ways it can be crafted, with room for myriad that have not been configured yet.
Yes, anthropology is imperfect and imperiled, in need of constant recasting lest it lose sight of its origins and history, the bones of those on which it rests.
Yes, we demand space for anthropology’s methods, findings and perspectives as they speak to cultural difference, social justice and the ongoing process of decolonization, knowing there can be no growth without constant attention to the roots.
For more than a decade, Gina Athena Ulysse has moved this project forward in ways that continue to reverberate through anthropology and well beyond. In May 2015 the Hemispheric Institute released “Caribbean Rasanblaj,” a special double issue of its journal, e-misférica. This stunning collection (https://hemisphericinstitute.org/en/emisferica-121-caribbean-rasanblaj.htmlIt) of essays, reviews, poetry and visual art was guest edited by Ulysse, herself an anthropologist, poet, performance and installation artist as well as a member of our editorial board. This work was richly varied, but the power of assemblage found in the Haitian concept of rasanblaj bound it together like a bright, multicolored thread that wove in the invisible. Indeed, Ulysse insisted on naming the presence and actions of spirits as integral to this Black diasporic organizing principle.
Rasanblaj was a true gestalt for Anthropology Now—a sudden glimpse at the promise of a bigger frame with space for assembling, connecting and discovering meaning. On November 14 of that year, our independent online site published “Rasanblaj Continua: A Conversation with Gina Athena Ulysse,” a web-exclusive interview by Andrea Queeley followed by short commentaries, many of them calls to creative action. It appears here in print for the first time, and readers can find it also at https://anthronow.com/online-articles/rasanblaj-continua.
The April 2016 issue of Anthropology Now saw the debut of an ongoing department called Rasanblaj, edited by Ulysse. She introduced it to readers this way: “In keeping with the magazine’s emphasis on opening anthropology to a broader audience, this new department will complement the current content of Anthropology Now while embracing both its breadth of topics and the range of contributors published. With emphasis on the cultural, I envision this department as a space/place to assemble, compile and enlist anthropologists as well as artists and others committed to the ethnographic to submit works that will enrich readers’ exposure to and grasp of contemporary issues around difference by offering multiple perspectives on a single theme or topic.”1
Rasanblaj offered hope and a promise, one that has been continuously fulfilled. This is the anthropology that is needed now, in these most precarious times. Like powerful museum installations, rasanblaj assemblages give readers, viewers and audiences new places to inhabit. Linger and one’s perspective shifts as formerly unseen paths are thrown into relief. Muscles tense and release. Possibilities materialize and take on substance.
The incantation for this special section calls forth water, which is referenced often in these pages, and for many reasons. Among them is that mindful ethnographic practice both welcomes and requires continuous ablutions.
Notes
Gina Athena Ulysse, “Introduction,” Anthropology Now 8, no. 1 (2016): 125–126.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes on contributors
Maria D. Vesperi is executive coordinating editor for Anthropology Now Projects.
Emily Martin is first associate editor and founder, Anthropology Now.Note
Contact Maria D. Vesperi vesperi4anthronow@gmail.com
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