Reconsiderations on social order, local power and anthropological knowledge

Abstract

In this article I present a rethinking of two notions that have been pillars of anthropological approaches to the study of politics; namely, order and local power. My specific interest lies in examining the analytical possibilities and limitations of these concepts in relation to the advance of neoliberalism and the consequences of this phenomenon for local society considering, in particular, two contexts: increasing violence, and the processes of destructuring that governmental institutions have undergone in recent decades. To this end, I re-examine fieldwork conducted in various regions and localities in central Michoacán, Mexico, over the past few years, complementing this material with a review of the literature on studies of local politics in the region. The results shed light on the possibilities and limitations of anthropological methods for understanding how order is being constructed from the local, despite the conditions of crisis brought on, in large part, by the implementation of neoliberal policies. The study reaches the conclusion that rethinking the discipline’s conceptual toolkit in light of current studies in political anthropology will allow us to better capture the multiple paradoxes and contradictions that are being generated in the contemporary world, to which local societies must, in some way, respond.