Travelling to a village in Sierra Leone, a refugee trail in the Pyrenees, a Swedish copper mine, the Shuf mountains of Lebanon, the Swiss Alps, the West African diaspora in southeast London, and his native New Zealand, Jackson explores the contradictions and predicaments of social existence.
Preface: theme and variations -- In the footsteps of Walter Benjamin -- Of time and the river : the interface of history and human lives -- Imagining the powers that be : society versus the state -- On the work of human hands -- Storytelling events, violence, and the appearance of the past -- Migrant imaginaries : with Sewa Koroma in southeast London -- A walk on the wild side : the idea of human nature revisited -- From anxiety to method : a reappraisal -- Despite Babel : an essay on human misunderstanding -- On birth, death, and rebirth -- Quandaries of belonging : home thoughts from abroad -- A critique of colonial reason.
Bibliography (note)
Includes bibliographical references (pages 271-287) and index.