Rendering assemblage dialectical

Bibliographic Data

ID2402017
AuthorsStephen Campbell (0000-0002-2328-4136, School of Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and Department of Social Anthropology, University of Bergen, Norway, corresponding author)
Year2021
Volume21
Issue2
Pages228-247
Publication date2021-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAnthropological Theory (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1463-4996 • E-ISSN: 1741-2641
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/1463499619875904
OpenAlexW2976944206
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited36

Within anthropology, assemblage theory has achieved broad disciplinary traction, yet the theory's philosophical premises are rarely explored. This article therefore revisits the Deleuzian notion of difference that underpins assemblage theory as a step towards rendering the theory more consonant with a relational anthropology. In place of Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari's conception of discrete elements related only externally to each other within an assemblage, I propose a dialectical conception, whereby assemblage is taken to be a heterogeneous ensemble whose constituent elements also relate to each other internally. To arrive at this understanding, I examine the dialectical logic of Theodore Adorno. I then consider the implications of a dialectical notion of assemblage for recent work on the anthropology of capitalism

Archaeology · Assemblage (archaeology · Deleuze and Guattari · Dialectic · Discipline · Epistemology · Social science · Sociology · Urban theory · Critical Theory and Philosophy · History · Management and Organizational Studies · Philosophy · Political Economy and Marxism · Ecology