Forum for Anthropology and Culture, 2019, no. 15

TRANSLATIONS AT THE END OF THE WORLD: A Review of ANNA LOWENHAUPT TSING, GRIB NA KRAYU SVETA: O VOZMOZHNOSTI ZHIZNI NA RUINAKH KAPITALIZMA. Moscow: Ad Marginem Press, 2017, 376 pp. (Russian transl. of ANNA LOWENHAUPT TSING, THE MUSHROOM AT THE END OF THE WORLD: ON THE POSSIBILITY OF LIFE IN CAPITALIST RUINS. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2015, 352 pp.)

Alexandra Kasatkina
Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera), Russian Academy of Sciences
3 Universitetskaya Emb., St Petersburg, Russia
National Research University Higher School of Economics
16 Soyuza Pechatnikov Str., St Petersburg, Russia
kasatkina()kunstkamera.ru

Abstract: Anna Tsing’s study, The Mushroom at the End of the World, is written in the spirit of posthumanist and feminist anthropology. Identifying serious flaws in the Russian translation of the book, the reviewer still admits its high importance for anthropology in general and Russianspeaking researchers in particular. In her exploration of the social life of a Japanese delicacy, the author offers a valuable response to the challenges that social sciences and humanities face in the age of globalisation and the failure of welfare state projects. The weaknesses of the book noted in the review can from this point of view be seen as strengths, especially if the book is regarded not only as a piece of scholarly research, but also as a work of art that employs literary resources to persuade the reader.

Keywords: posthumanism, feminist anthropology, multisited ethnography, matsutake, history of capitalism, environmental history.

To cite: Kasatkina A., ‘Translations at the End of the World: A Review of Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, Grib na krayu sveta: o vozmozhnosti zhizni na ruinakh kapitalizma. Moscow: Ad Marginem Press, 2017, 376 pp. (Russian transl. of Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, The Mushroom At the End of the World: On the Possibility of Life in Capitalist Ruins. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2015, 352 pp.)’, Forum for Anthropology and Culture, 2019, no. 15, pp. 205–215.

doi: 10.31250/1815-8927-2019-15-15-205-215

URL: http://anthropologie.kunstkamera.ru/files/pdf/eng015/kasatkina.pdf