Michael Taussig

Michael Taussig
Name	Michael Taussig
Birth date	1941
Birth place	Sydney, Australia
Occupation	Anthropologist, writer, professor
Alma mater	University of Sydney, Harvard University
Notable works	The Devil and Commodity Fetishism in South America, Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man, My Cocaine Museum
Awards	MacArthur Fellows Program

Michael Taussig is an Australian-born cultural anthropologist, writer, and public intellectual whose work blends ethnography, critical theory, cultural history, and literary style. He is known for influential fieldwork in Colombia, Peru, and Australia and for developing provocative accounts of commodities, magic, violence, and the afterlives of colonialism. Taussig’s writing has intersected with scholarship across anthropology, cultural studies, history, and literary theory.

Early life and education

Taussig was born in Sydney and educated at the University of Sydney before pursuing graduate studies at Harvard University, where he completed a Ph.D. in social anthropology. During his student years he encountered figures and institutions that shaped his trajectory, including exposure to scholarship emanating from British anthropology, French theory, and American intellectual centers like Columbia University and University of Chicago. His formative intellectual milieu included contemporaneous debates at venues such as the American Anthropological Association and interactions with scholars affiliated with Radcliffe and Cambridge University.

Academic career and appointments

Taussig has held faculty positions and visiting appointments at a range of institutions, including long-term affiliation with Columbia University where he served in the Department of Anthropology. He has taught and lectured at international centers such as New York University, University of California, Berkeley, University of Oxford, and Australian National University. His professional activities include fellowships and recognitions from organizations like the Guggenheim Foundation and the MacArthur Fellows Program, and participation in intellectual networks tied to journals such as Critical Inquiry and Cultural Anthropology.

Major works and themes

Taussig’s major books include The Devil and Commodity Fetishism in South America (1978), Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man (1987), My Cocaine Museum (2004), and What Color Is the Sacred? (2009). These works examine themes such as commodity fetishism through case studies in Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, and Peru; the figure of the shaman and colonial power in contexts linked to Spanish colonization and postcolonial states; the circulation of psychoactive substances in the Americas; and the cultural politics of color across sites including Sydney and Bogotá. Taussig writes about the intersections of violence and representation, exploring events like La Violencia (Colombia) and the legacies of conquest of the Americas in contemporary social life. His essays often engage other works and figures including Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Walter Benjamin, and Georg Simmel.

Methodology and influences

Taussig’s methodological approach mixes sustained ethnographic immersion with literary, historical, and photographic materials. He utilizes techniques associated with participant-observation deployed in field sites such as small towns in Colombia and Peru, archival research in repositories associated with Spanish archives, and visual methods akin to those used by practitioners at institutions like the Museum of Modern Art. Intellectual influences on his practice include thinkers from Marxism, psychoanalysis, and phenomenology—notably dialogues with texts by Karl Marx, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Walter Benjamin, and Victor Turner. He also engages artistic traditions exemplified by figures and movements tied to surrealism and symbolist painting, and cultivates cross-disciplinary affinities with scholars from history, literary criticism, and religious studies.

Reception and critique

Taussig’s prose and claims have provoked vigorous responses across scholarly and popular venues. Admirers praise his poetic ethnographic style and theoretical daring, aligning him with innovative anthropologists like Clifford Geertz, James Clifford, and Sidney Mintz. Critics have challenged his epistemological moves, rhetorical flourish, and use of metaphor, with debates emerging in outlets such as American Anthropologist and Current Anthropology. Controversies have centered on his representations of indigenous belief, questions about reflexivity raised by colleagues from Latin American studies and postcolonial studies, and disputes over political commitments evident in discussions of narcotrafficking and state violence addressed alongside coverage in newspapers like The New York Times and periodicals such as The New Yorker.

Legacy and impact on anthropology

Taussig has influenced multiple generations of anthropologists, social theorists, and cultural critics through his experimental forms and topical range. His integration of ethnography with critical theory contributed to methodological shifts associated with interpretive and reflexive turns championed by scholars at institutions including University of California, Los Angeles, Duke University, and University of Cambridge. Courses and seminars in departments like anthropology and programs at centers such as the School of Oriental and African Studies and Goldsmiths, University of London frequently cite his work. His impact extends to curatorial practices in museums, interdisciplinary collaborations with artists and writers, and public intellectual debates about colonial legacies, ritual economy, and the aesthetics of violence.

Category:Anthropologists Category:Australian scholars Category:Columbia University faculty