This book makes a notable contribution to discussions of what anthropology is and should be in the twenty-first century through a reconsideration, from diverse sub-disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives, of the interactions between sociality, matter, and the imagination.

Preface; 1 Introduction: Social Anthropology as Scepticism, Empathy, and Holism-David N. Gellner; Part I Time; 2 '"Not an Airy European Fantasy", or: How (De)Colonization Embeds the Anthropological Imagination-Peter Pels; 3 Placing Time: Open, Wild, Drift-Caitlin DeSilvey; 4 Time and Permanence: In an Epoch of the Anachronic-Michael Rowlands; 5 Crisis, Prophecy, and Ethnography: Living in the Waste Land Then and Now-Ramon Sarró; Part II Imagination and the Social; 6 Interactional Glitches, Cooperation, and the Paradox of Public Joint Activities-Alessandro Duranti; 7 Enskilment and the Emergent Imagination-Iza Kavedzija; 8 '"She Talks to Angels": Spirit Becomings, Embodied Memories, and Affective Imagination Skills in Catholic Exorcism in Contemporary Italy-Andrea De Antoni; 9 The Role of Unproved Ideas in the Production of Knowledge: A Case Study-Timothy Jenkins; 10 The Light of a Piece: An Exploration of Materiality and Creative Practice in a Maine Landscape - Notes on a Film Screening-Anna Grimshaw with Elizabeth Hallam; Part III Futures; 11 Describing the Future: Predictability, Uncertainty, and Imponderability-Chihab El Khachab; 12 Anthropocenic Reconfigurations: Socio-Natures and the Politics of Planetary Health-Melissa Leach; 13 Psychological Essentialism: An Anchoring for Anthropological Comparison-Rita Astuti