shamanism. Mindful anthropology needs to embrace their work as well as
continuing to break out from it into worlds of our own creation.
Often, in analysis, a single twist in conceptual approach can have large
implications. This has been the case in a number of contexts in which we
have shifted a focus of interpretation in a different direction. For example,
we argued against characterizations of New Guinea Highlands societies as
marked by sexual antagonism by pointing out important ritual contexts in
which males and females collaborated and played complementary roles in
ourcollaborative model of gender relations. In another context, discussions
about embodiment, we pointed to the sophisticated concepts of body and
mind that are exemplified by the views of the Hageners on how humans
are configured in relation to their bodies. Discussing the concepts of will
and agency, we again set New Guinea ideas in terms of a cross-cutting
comparison with a wide range of cases. In a historical examination of
changes in patterns of conflict in Hagen, we stressed the continuing
importance of compensation payments for killings by comparison with
state methods of control, inpeace-makingdiscussions. Each of these
contributions pushed understanding of these societies in a definite direc-
tion, in contrast with other analyses. These kinds of debates are, of course,
the stuff of academic activity and progress. The difference here was that we
were in each case thinking outside of the box of current ideas on these
topics, so as to open up new possibilities of thought (Note 1).
Mindful anthropology aims therefore to be an enhanced version of
thoughtful anthropology. It also encompasses what has been called reflex-
ivity. Reflexivity entrails thinking about oneself. Mindfulness entails more
of a suspension of the self while thinking about all aspects of a phenom-
enon. Of course, the self is always still involved, but it is not the central
focus. Mindfulness is therefore a kind of orientation towards observation,
using all the aspects of one’s embodied faculties. Here, then, mindfulness
maps well onto embodiment theory. Mindfulness is also very close to
phenomenology, trying to reflect on one’s observations while still making
them.
The relationship with phenomenology can be explored a little further.
Phenomenology is about perception. It deals with‘things as they are’, that
is, things as they present themselves to the subjectivity of an observer.
Mindful anthropology aims to go one step further. Our observations are
inevitably subjective, but they are better if we carry them out in a con-
centrated and directed way. Concentration on the embodied experience of
doingfieldwork, of keeping our minds open to what we are training our
92 BREAKING THE FRAMES