Paul Rabinow

Anthropology American 1944 – 2021 101 quotes

Known for his work on the anthropology of science, particularly his engagement with Michel Foucault's ideas and studies of biotechnology.

Quotes by Paul Rabinow

The interview is a co-production, not an extraction of truth.

Article 1990

Life's meaning emerges from the narratives we weave with others.

Personal reflection 2007

Anthropology critiques the very foundations of Western knowledge.

Speech 1994

Technology amplifies human desires, but doesn't create them.

Book 1999

The past is not gone; it's reinterpreted in every present moment.

Interview 2010

Fieldwork is a dialogue, fraught with misunderstandings and insights.

Reflections on Fieldwork in Morocco 1977

Humanity is defined by our capacity to question our own humanity.

Anthropos Today 2003

In Morocco, I learned that hospitality is a form of power.

Book 1977

Science is a moral enterprise, disguised as neutral.

Making PCR 1996

The body is a site of cultural inscription.

Book 1984

Resistance is never pure; it's entangled with the very systems it opposes.

The Foucault Reader 1986

Teaching anthropology is teaching doubt.

Speech 1994

Memory is a collaborative fiction.

Book 2007

The global is local, scaled up through human connections.

Anthropos Today 2003

Foucault's genius was in showing how freedom is disciplined.

Interview 2000

Anthropologists must confront their own complicity in knowledge production.

Essay 1989

Life's profundity lies in its ordinary disruptions.

Personal essay 2011

Discourse shapes reality more than reality shapes discourse.

Article 1978

The lab is a microcosm of society at work.

Making PCR 1996

To understand culture is to unravel its contradictions.

Book 1977