The essays in this forum celebrate Jonathan Spencer’s many contributions to anthropology, and were originally presented at a workshop held in Edinburgh in October 2023. (Alongside the essays presented here, Chris Fuller, Yael Navaro, and Sharika Thiranagama also gave presentations.) Over his career Jonathan has produced an influential body of work on political anthropology and the anthropology of violence.  Above all though the work has been marked by an intense commitment to Sri Lanka, across five decades, and shows the benefit of that commitment in terms of collaborations and insights.

Edited by Tobias Kelly

Introduction:  Jonathan Spencer, Sri Lanka, and Political Anthropology

Tobias Kelly

 

 

A Tribute to Jonathan Spencer

Harini Amarasuriya

 

 

What is the Political?

Mukulika Banerjee

 

 

What of the Political Imagination? Jonathan Spencer’s Contribution to a Field

John Borneman

 

 

Peace, Polarization and the Anthropology of Politics in Colombia and Beyond

Gwen Burnyeat

 

 

The Frisson of the Political: Re-Reading Jonathan Spencer’s work on Politics and Violence

Moyukh Chatterjee

 

 

A Comforting Bell Ringing in My Head

Emma Crewe

 

 

Back to the Beginning: A Sinhala Village in a Time of Trouble

John Harriss

 

 

Revisiting the Call for the “Study of Post-colonial Politics”: Insights from Post-Colonial Britain

Insa Koch

 

 

Plenty of Political Ethnography but Little Political Anthropology

Lucia Micheleutti

 

My Correct Views on Everything: Spencer’s Response

Jonathan Spencer