Anna Tsing

Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing (born 1952) is a professor of anthropology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Tsing received her B.A. from Yale University. She completed her masters and Ph.D. from Stanford University. In 2010, she received a Guggenheim Fellowship. She has contributed, and written several articles and books.

• In the Realm of the Diamond Queen: Marginality in an Out-of-the-way Place

Anna Tsing's first book centers around individuals from Meratus Dayak, from South Kalimantan, Indonesia. Tsing's key informant is Uma Adang, who provides her insight into shamanism, politics and the mythology in relation to ethnic identity. The book focuses on the topic of marginality within a state and the context of community within a gendered framework.

• Friction: An Ethnography of Global Connection

Tsing’s ethnography is based in the Meratus Mountains of South Kalimantan, a province in Indonesia. The term friction is described as, " the awkward, unequal, unstable, and creative qualities of interconnection across difference." This ethnography was based on short term field work rather than a longer term field work; the methods are based on "ethnographic fragments". The book is a study on human dominated landscapes, running themes include corporate exploitation, globalization, environmental activism, and environmental degradation.

• Mushroom at the End of the World

Tsing's ethnographic account of the Matsutake mushroom gives the readers a look into this rare, prized and expensive fungi. Originally from Japan, the mushrooms first sprouted in the desolate landscape after the atomic bomb exploded in Hiroshima. Tsing’s account of the Matsuke contributes to the field of anthropology in her ability to study multi-species interactions, using the non-human subject to glean more about the human world.

Tsing follows Matsutake fungi’s international journey in order to give the reader insight into the mushroom’s complex commodity chain connecting to meditations on capitalism. She uses the Matsutake to shed light on a broader themes about how ecology is shaped by human interference.