Strangers in the Night: The Making and Unmaking of Differences from the Perspective of an Anthropology of the Night

Abstract

1. Night and Day as an "Absolute Difference" The present paper addresses one of the greatest and most essential of all differences: that between night and day. In making this statement, I am not seeking to attribute greater importance to my subject or even to my paper in itself than is warranted. But I do wish to highlight the often neglected fact that the difference between night and day was and is for many if not all human beings –anytime and anywhere, even after the invention of electricity – one of the most crucial kinds of difference they experience and which structures their lives. In order to give some additional weight to this claim, it must suffice to begin with to remind you that, according to Hegel, the night comes first and is the absolute. Light, he argues, is younger than the night, and when it eventually comes forth from the night, this event produces an "absolute difference". I can do no more than to indicate themes and pathways in the anthropology of the night, and, then only by way of special consideration of, and emphasis on, the conference theme. In a nutshell, my question is: What can we learn about the making and unmaking of difference, if we examine this problem from the perspective of an anthropology of the night?