LIFE, WORDS AND OTHER WEFTS: READING VEENA DAS

Abstract

Starting from the publication of the Portuguese translation of Veena Das's Life and Words: Violence and the Descent into the Ordinary (Vida e Palavras: A Violência e sua Descida ao Ordinário), this essay discusses certain aspects of that book which have had an impact on anthropology in Brazil. First it traces the reception of her work in Brazil during the 1990s, and then provides an interpretation of Life and Words. Finally, the essay seeks to connect the reflections on ethics and ethnography presented in the book with some of the author's posterior work, focusing specifically on the notion of ordinary ethics.