McCluskey, E. 2025. Anthropological Approaches to Knowledge in International Politics. in: Bliesemann de Guevara, B., Kaczmarska, K., Kurowska, X., Poopuu, B. and Warnecke, A. (ed.) Knowledge and Expertise in International Politics: A Handbook Oxford University Press (OUP). pp. 830-846
| Chapter title | Anthropological Approaches to Knowledge in International Politics |
|---|---|
| Authors | McCluskey, E. |
| Editors | Bliesemann de Guevara, B. |
| Kaczmarska, K. | |
| Kurowska, X. | |
| Poopuu, B. | |
| Warnecke, A. | |
| Abstract | Speaking specifically to the study of (in)securitization practices within international politics, this chapter draws on research on the emergence of national-level xenophobic populism and pro-NATO sentiment in Sweden to re-explore this transdisciplinary dialogue. Ethnographic methods have been popular as a means of advancing knowledge production on international politics for some decades. Pioneered by feminist and postcolonial scholars within International Relations (IR), such works have drawn attention to the significance of practices, which are often written off as apolitical or irrelevant. In more recent years, anthropologies of international ‘problems’ have also paid critical attention to spaces of security, borders, migration, and counterterrorism, objectivizing the social relations, subjectivities, and human encounters associated with such phenomena. But what does it mean to create transversal lines between the disciplines of IR and anthropology in international social science, beyond narrow-gauge discussions of method, while resisting pre-determined socio-spatial frameworks and demarcated sites? Instead of reifying groups or individuals with pre-existing characteristics, or superimposing prefabricated analytical grids, the chapter instead draws attention to the transformations and emergence of both xenophobic and militarized discourses and practices within society. In doing so, the chapter makes two arguments. First, it highlights the importance of centring the ‘lived time’ of one’s interlocutors in any analysis. Second, it pushes the debate on reflexivity in international social science to argue that ‘mess’ and ‘fluidity’ can in fact lend themselves to a systematic analysis. |
| Keywords | Anthropology; Everyday; International Relations; Reflexivity |
| Book title | Knowledge and Expertise in International Politics: A Handbook |
| Page range | 830-846 |
| Year | 2025 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (OUP) |
| Publication dates | |
| Published | 25 Nov 2025 |
| ISBN | 9780191967474 |
| 9780192871145 | |
| Digital Object Identifier (DOI) | https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780192871145.003.0054 |
| File | File Access Level Open (open metadata and files) |
| Web address (URL) | https://academic.oup.com/book/61853/chapter-abstract/547108416?redirectedFrom=fulltext |