{"product_id":"palma-africana-michael-taussig-9780226516134","title":"Palma Africana","description":"\"It is the contemporary elixir from which all manner of being emerges, the metamorphic sublime, an alchemist's dream.\" So begins \u003ci\u003ePalma Africana\u003c\/i\u003e, the latest attempt by anthropologist Michael Taussig to make sense of the contemporary moment. But to what elixir does he refer? \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Palm oil. Saturating everything from potato chips to nail polish, palm oil has made its way into half of the packaged goods in our supermarkets. By 2020, world production will be double what it was in 2000. In Colombia, palm oil plantations are covering over one-time cornucopias of animal, bird, and plant life. Over time, they threaten indigenous livelihoods and give rise to abusive labor conditions and major human rights violations. The list of entwined horrors--climatic, biological, social--is long. But Taussig takes no comfort in our usual labels: \"habitat loss,\" \"human rights abuses,\" \"climate change.\" The shock of these words has passed; nowadays it is all a blur. Hence, Taussig's keen attention to words and writing throughout this work. He takes cues from precursors' ruminations: Roland Barthes's suggestion that trees form an alphabet in which the palm tree is the loveliest; William Burroughs's retort to critics that for him words are alive like animals and don't like to be kept in pages--cut them and the words are let free. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Steeped in a lifetime of philosophical and ethnographic exploration, \u003ci\u003ePalma Africana\u003c\/i\u003e undercuts the banality of the destruction taking place all around us and offers a penetrating vision of the global condition. Richly illustrated and written with experimental verve, this book is Taussig's \u003ci\u003eTristes Tropiques \u003c\/i\u003efor the twenty-first century.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Michael Taussig\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 022651613X\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780226516134\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Chicago Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 05\/01\/2018\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 224\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.80lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.90h x 6.00w x 0.70d","brand":"Michael Taussig","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44566865674495,"sku":"9780226516134","price":29.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_9823d538-b39a-422f-aebd-d4019e4dc187.jpg?v=1701374791","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/palma-africana-michael-taussig-9780226516134","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}