Toward an economic anthropology of wisdom

Abstract

This article examines two values that have long motivated work in economic anthropology: the value of denunciatory critique and the value of thinking otherwise. Through a retrospective analysis of research that I have conducted on consumer debt in Brazil, I offer two different versions of that research based on whether the story is driven by the first value of denunciation or by the second of thinking otherwise. In doing so, I suggest ways to address the limitations of both anthropology focused on denunciatory critique and the more recent development of an “anthropology of the good” by outlining what I call an anthropology of wisdom.