Using a “vertical slice” approach, anthropologists critically analyze the relationship between undemocratic uses and abuses of power and the survival of the human species. The contributors scrutinize modern institutions in a variety of regions—from Russia and Mexico to South Korea and the U.S. Up, Down, and Sideways is an ethnographic examination of such phenomena as debtculture, global financial crises, food insecurity, indigenous land and resource appropriation, the mismanagement of health care, andcorporate surrogacy within family life. With a preface by Laura Nader, this isessential reading for anyone seeking solid theories and concrete methods to inform activist scholarship.

Using a “vertical slice” approach, anthropologists critically analyze the relationship between undemocratic uses and abuses of power and the survival of the human species. The contributors scrutinize modern institutions in a variety of regions—from Russia and Mexico to South Korea and the U.S. Up, Down, and Sideways is an ethnographic examination of such phenomena as debtculture, global financial crises, food insecurity, indigenous land and resource appropriation, the mismanagement of health care, andcorporate surrogacy within family life. With a preface by Laura Nader, this isessential reading for anyone seeking solid theories and concrete methods to inform activist scholarship.

Foreword
Laura Nader

Introduction: On Studying Up, Down, and Sideways: What’s at Stake?
Roberto J. González and Rachael Stryker

PART I: STUDYING WEALTH AND POWER

Chapter 1. On Debt: Tracking the Shifting Role of the Debtor in U.S. Bankruptcy Legal Practice
Linda Coco

Chapter 2. On Commerce: Analyzing the Asian Financial Crisis of 1997-1998
Jay Ou

Chapter 3. On Bureaucracy: Excessively Up at the International Labour Organisation
Ellen Hertz

PART II: STUDYING ENVIRONMENT AND SUBSISTENCE

Chapter 4. On Dispossession: The Work of Studying Up, Down, and Sideways in Guatemala’s Indigenous Land
Rights Movements
Liza Grandia

Chapter 5. On Food: Manufacturing Food Insecurity in Oaxaca, Mexico
Roberto J. González

Chapter 6. On Environment: The “Broker State,” Peruvian Hydrocarbons Policy, and the Camisea Gas Project
Patricia Urteaga-Crovetto

PART III: STUDYING RELATIONSHIPS AND BUREAUCRACIES

Chapter 7. On Family: Adoptive Parenting Up, Down, and Sideways
Rachael Stryker

Chapter 8. On Truth: The Repressed Memory Wars from Top to Bottom
Robyn Kliger

Chapter 9. On Common Sense: Lessons on Starting Over from Post-Soviet Ukraine
Monica Eppinger

Chapter 10. On Caring: Solidarity Anthropology (or, How to Keep Health Care from Becoming Science Fiction)
Adrienne Pine

On Power: Concluding Comments
Barbara Rose Johnston, Roberto J. González, and Rachael Stryker

Notes on Contributors
References