Friction: An Ethnography of Global Connection

Thank you for sharing insightful stories. This has opened my perspective to a new research method of doing ethnography. I hope I can adopt the method for my research as well.

I was surprised to see no review of this book, so I had to write one. It has many interesting facets, but at its core is a vivid and sometimes heart-breaking portrayal of the true face of "globalization" - not the shining abstraction of Thomas Friedman's dreams but a capricious force that scrapes over landscapes, natural environments, and the societies that live in them and often leaves them devastated in the name of progress.I rarely use the word beautiful to describe an ethnography, but this is one such case.I really think this book deserves a wider public outside anthropology; Tsing's insightful observations on the sad fate of Kalimantan should be a lesson to all those who think unfettered free markets and the global economy are the route to salvation.

Excellent author. College students in traditional age bracket found it difficult reading because it has some heady thought lines and she writes from a different perspective than many anthropologists. Suggest reading this interesting case study on Indonesia's native people on the former island of Borneo, now Kalimantan Indonesia, and their cultural, economic, and social struggles as the outside world invaded their forrest homeland to mine it for natural resources. Government corruption, abusive soldiers, student activists, and international environmental organizations all are included in the storyline.

Not a very interesting read, but the book came as described and in good condition. Definitely only would read this if it was a requirement for class; I'm even interested in environmental anthropology and her writing style was hard for me to choke down.

I read this book over a year ago in a cultural anthropology class, but still remember it as one of the most interesting and fresh reads of the semester. Although it is fairly difficult to grasp the concepts and models that Tsing uses in the book, once the pieces start to connect it gets really exciting. If you start and want to stop, press on-it will be worth it!

Discovered this book while taking an Anthropology course. It really provides a good overview of how we are globally connected. It is a bit dense in understanding.

vg

A+

I find that Tsing’s preface and intro are longer than they need to be and are the sections that run the highest risk of being perceived as metaphysical or filled with jargon. However, I found that once Tsing actually began to get into the nitty-gritty of things, I quickly became sucked in and finished this book with a strange but rewarding feeling of satisfaction. I have found her notion of friction to be relevant time and time again in the books that I have read since then, as well as in my daily life.