profane dimension of the polity

nationality

Danish

occupation / innovator as

anthropologist

university professor

Stanford University

innovator in the field of

anthropology of religion

political anthropology

researcher

anthropology

is the view of the polity that focuses on the incoherence, brutality, partiality, banality, naked self interest of local politics. The sublime dimension of the polity refers to the distant state as a site of immense hidden power and resources, rationality, and justice.

Thomas Blom Hansen captures something of this relation in his distinction between what he calls the 'profane' and the 'sublime' dimensions of a polity. On the one hand, he suggests, there is the incoherence, brutality, partiality, and banality of the technical sides of governance, as well as the rough and tumble of negotiation, compromise, and naked self-interest displayed in local politics. These features stand opposed to sublime qualities imputed to a more distant state, that is, the opacity of the secrets and knowledge of the higher echelons of the state, its hidden resources, designs and immense power, as well as the illusions of higher forms of rationality or justice believed to prevail there. (Hansen 2001: 130) (in Mazarrela 493)

Thomas Blom HansenThinkers

Thomas Blom Hansen