Zooming in dissolves the taken-for-granted and allows to reconstruct its production: Toward a political anthropology of global health governance as lived order
ISBN
978-1-5381-4950-8
Type
book section
Date Issued
2021-02
Author(s)
Editor(s)
Sarah Biecker
Klaus Schlichte
Abstract
At the outset, the chapter draws attention to the early conversation between political anthropology and political science (including international relations) that can be witnessed, for example, in Hedley Bull’s “The Anarchical Society”. Renewing this conversation, attention is drawn to the common interest in (political) ethnography. Ethnography, in turn, induces a specific perspective on social relations. By zooming in on the phenomena that are studied, ethnographic research dissolves the taken-for-granted and allows researchers to reconstruct its production. In particular, it creates an interest in the micro-level processes through which social phenomena emerge as an accomplishment of the actors involved. The kind of research puzzles that emerge from an ethnographic approach are illustrated with examples from the governance of the World Health Organization (WHO). The examples show that there is more than just one WHO and that not all WHO processes are part of WHO in the same way. While an ethnographic perspective highlights the multiple ways in which organizations manifest, it shows also why the authoritative account that official records produce thereof is so important and how it is accomplished.
HSG Classification
contribution to scientific community
Book title
The Political Anthropology of Internationalized Politics
Publisher
Rowman & Littlefield
Publisher place
Lanham