Geontologies

Elizabeth A. Povinelli is Franz Boas Professor of Anthropology and Gender Studies at Columbia University and the author of, most recently, Economies of Abandonment: Social Belonging and Endurance in Late Liberalism, also published by Duke University Press.

Acknowledgments x 1. The Three Figures of Geontology 1 2. Can Rocks Die? Life and Death inside the Carbon Imaginary 30 3. The Fossils and the Bones 57 4. The Normativity of Creeks 92 5. The Fog of Meaning and the Voiceless Demos 118 6. Downloading the Dreaming 144 7. Late Liberal Geontopower 168 Notes 179 Bibliography 195 Index 209

"Geontologies is a dense work that resists being described in telegraphic terms, based as it is in dazzling and far-reaching theoretical and philosophical readings. But Povinelli's key concepts of 'geontology' and 'geontopower' are an invaluable contribution to our much-needed critical lexicon, [and] the concepts and modes of engagement presented in Geontologies, though firmly rooted in the experience and particular governance of Australian settler late liberalism, demand to be taken up and translated in other contexts." - Shela Sheikh (Avery Review) "Geontologies may well inspire new possibilities for thinking, relating and being." - Eve Vincent (Australian Aboriginal Studies) "Geontologies is a challenging, exhilarating, and terrifying read. Challenging and exhilarating for all those interested in what deep ethnographic inquiry has to offer to a broad range of contemporary philosophy and social theory. And terrifying and exhilarating for those who find themselves asking whether the drama of Life's possible extinction really matters." - Andrea Muehlebach (Anthropological Quarterly) "Short, conceptually packed . . . a rewarding read that will keep reverberating." - Mario Blaser (Journal of Anthropological Research) "Geontologies contributes valuably . . . offering a sophisticated account of the Australian context as well as analytic tools and vocabulary to continue the work elsewhere." - Zoe Power & Kirsten McIlveen (Social & Cultural Geography)