Theory as vision

Abstract

Theorization is indispensable for making academic research relevant to social struggles, but not all types of theorization are equally useful. We need theory as vision. Conceived consciously from a particular vantage point and with a purpose, theory as vision reveals hidden connections among different aspects of life and enables alternative imaginations about the future. Theory as vision must explain why things are as they are and at the same time show how things could be different. Key to this is a type of imaginative ethnographic accuracy that captures not only existing reality but also potentials for change. This article illustrates this by revisiting historical debates on theorizing the Chinese peasantry between Mao Zedong and Liang Shuming, a philosopher and social reformer, in the 1930s and then the 1950s. The article in the end proposes articulation of connections across scales as a mode of anthropological theorization.