Reflections on mathematical figures and engineering approaches in anthropology

Abstract

This paper presents and discusses some examples of how mathematical figures and engineering approaches can be detected in anthropological theorizing and how a mathematical reading of certain anthropological theories is possible and sometimes fruitful. The paper proceeds in three steps: a comparison between experimental measuring and engineering “black boxing” as different ways of representing ethnographic reportage and anthropological theorizing; a discussion of feedback loops in anthropological theorizing; and a discussion of chaos theory and fractal geometry and some of their uses in anthropological writing. I finish by hinting at the fruitfulness of making allies across disciplinary boundaries given our anthropocenic predicaments and limitations in our cross disciplinary analogies.