Unlearning

Abstract: As James Siegel puts it, thinking is more than the power to formulate. It's more than the capacity to simply put ideas together. There is another step. Thinking fully requires us to go beyond what we can formulate as thought and to take account of what remains beyond our grasp. In this mode of thinking, securing the object of thought is not the goal, but only the beginning. This orientation to thinking cuts across Siegel's work. In contrast to anthropological perspectives focused on knowledge production, Siegel's approach to thinking – and to anthropology – demands a re-examination of the relationship between thinking and the singularity of what provokes thinking. Moreover, this approach to thinking demands a certain unlearning of what we think is thinking. Here, I explore the significance of these points to anthropological practice.