This is next up on the project list.

Coercive knowledge: denunciation, governmentality and the socialist self

This project looks at the practices and bureaucracy of denunciation, an area almost untouched by anthropologists, and that links closely to questions of law and governance as well as the culture of institutions. In addition to the social aspects of denunciation – who chose to denounce neighbours and colleagues and under what conditions? – I am interested in the role of documents and bureaucracy in this process. To use socialist Mongolia as an example: How were the artefacts of denunciation, such as reports and letters to the ruling Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party and the government, handled? It is not uncommon to find evidently unsolicited reports on perceived shortcomings of others in the archives. Which sorts of complaints were handled by which parts of the party or government? How was this decided? How did they slot into the stream of reports and intelligence from more formal sources? Combining fieldwork with archival research I plan to look at questions of allegiance (genuine, tactical, or otherwise) to the state’s programmes as well as explore in more depth the bureaucracy of control and surveillance.