Matthew C. Watson Afterlives of Affect Science, Religion, and an Edgewalker’s Spirit afterlives of affect Afterlives of Affect science, religion, and an edgewalker’s spirit Matthew C. Watson duke university press Durham & London 2020 © 2020 Duke University Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of Amer i ca on acid- free paper ∞ Designed by Matthew Tauch Typeset in Garamond Premier Pro by Westchester Publishing Ser vices Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: Watson, Matthew C., [date] author. Title: Afterlives of affect : science, religion, and an edgewalker’s spirit / Matthew Wats o n . Description: Durham : Duke University Press, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: lccn 2019047961 (print) lccn 2019047962 (ebook) isbn 9781478007975 (hardcover) isbn 9781478008439 (paperback) isbn 9781478012078 (ebook) Subjects: lcsh: Schele, Linda. | Anthropology— Philosophy. | Ethnology— Philosophy. | Anthropology— Methodology. | Ethnology— Methodology. | Ethnology— Religious aspects. | Anthropological ethics. | Anthropologists. Classification: lcc gn33. w36 2020 (print) | lcc gn33 (ebook) | ddc 301.01— dc23 lc rec ord available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2019047961 lc ebook rec ord available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2019047962 cover art: Photograph of Linda Schele at the K’inal Winik Maya Conference, Cleveland State University, 1988 Contents acknowl edgments vii Introduction ​· ​Edgewalking Affect 1 Chapter One ​· ​Sacrilege 24 Chapter Two ​· ​Animals 43 Chapter Three ​· ​Cosmos 63 Chapter Four ​· ​Bones 96 Chapter Five ​· ​Genius 115 Chapter Six ​· ​Love 145 notes 175 bibliography 223 index 253 Acknowl edgments I wrote this book on edgewalking across four places of residence and five academic positions. Most of it emerged during periods of deep uncertainty about my academic future. It long felt like a risk that I had no choice but to take. The research that formed its foundation developed through archival work on a distinct dissertation proj ect and series of articles on the politics and ethics of Maya hieroglyphic decipherment, graciously supported by the National Science Foundation and the Wenner- Gren Foundation for Anthro- pological Research. What follows that proj ect her e is an ethnographic story of the aura, or socio- mystical allure, of one figure in the field of decipherment, the late Linda Schele. During a period of delicate social, geo graph i cal, and psychic balance, Schele’s spectral figure drew me in, offering support. But Schele was more than a tightrope walker’s spotter. Both artist and bricoleur, she refashioned the tightrope into a towrope, pulling me back into the world of hieroglyphic decipherment. Ther e she equipped me with new technologies of balance, vision, and— most importantly— imagination. When the initial piece of writing for this proj ect, reprinted here as the chapter “Animals,” was published in the journal Cultural Critique, I dedicated it to Linda. And Linda Schele—as both person and world (or should I say cosmos?)— merits the first acknowled gment here. Thank you, Linda. I acknowledge you. I owe you more than I know. Our debts to the dead are infinite. But I’m also indebted in finite, even practical, ways to the living. My education in anthropology at Grinnell College and the University of Florida was superb. At Grinnell, I became enchanted with questions of historical epistemology and ethnographic writing through close work with Katya Gibel Mevorach. Katya honed my composition and editing practices. Her mark on my scholarship has stuck. Jon Andelson was also an inspiring teacher of anthropological approaches to religion and cultural theory. The writing stage of this proj ect was nourished by later engagements with fellow Grinnell alumni. Kate Herold, Allison Foley, and Gabe Rosenberg offered encourage- ment and willingness to consider protean ideas. I am particularly grateful to Gabe for inviting me to participate in a writing group where I shared an early chapter. He assured me that this weird proj ect had a place, and this support became vital again when I later sought to secure a press. My experiences at the University of Florida were vibrant— intellectually as well as socially. Susan D. Gillespie offered outstanding, detail- oriented, gen- eratively critical mentorship. This early stage of the proj ect also benefited by the support of generous faculty across departments, including Florence Babb, Brenda Chalfin, Mike Heckenberger, Stacey Langwick, Anthony Oliver- Smith, Peter Schmidt, Malini Johar Schueller, and V. Betty Smocovitis. I am grateful to Lizzy Hare for her long- standing, patient, and caring engagement with my work and with this manuscript. Julienne Obadia has been a vitalizing inter- locutor. At uf, I also learned and benefited from diverse engagements with a wide range of friends and colleagues, including Ingrid (Newquist) Ahuja, Roberto Barrios, Scott Catey, Amy Cox Hall, Mike Degani, Jean Dennison, Joe Feldman, Lauren Fordyce, Heather Freiman, Ed González- Tennant, Rebecca Gorman, Rachel Harvey, Kiran Jayaram, Nick Kawa, Karen Pereira, Noelle Sullivan, Josh Toney, Erika (Roberts) Tr emble, Bryan Tucker, Megan Teague Tucker, and Jeffrey Vadala. Following this intensive gradu ate school experience, I spent six years in visiting positions across four institutions: George Mason University, North Carolina State University, Texas Tech University, and (for my initial year here) Mount Holyoke College. At George Mason, I appreciated the encour- agement of Andy Bickford, Johanna Bockman, Lisa Breglia, Hugh Gusterson, Jeffrey Mantz, and Susan Trencher. The two years that followed at North Carolina State University allowed me the space to conceive this book proj ect. Danielle Carr was an insightful and imaginative early reader. I also appreci- ated the care and encouragement of Raja Abillama, Troy Case, Michaela DeSoucey, A. J. Faas, Nora Haenn, Shea Mc Manus, John Millhauser, Sasha Newell, and Tim Wallace. At Texas Tech, Mario Beruvides, Jaime Cantu, Bruce Clarke, Jen Dunn, Art Durband, Brett Houk, Esther Lee, and Chris Witmore offered thoughtful support. In western Mas sa chu setts and beyond, I am grateful to diverse friends and colleagues for aid, criticism, inspiration, and encouragement— direct and indirect—at diff er ent stages of this proj ect (and this proj ect’s kith and kin): Alessandro Angelini, Ed Barnhart, Tom Boellstorff, Matei Candea, Dwight Carey, Amy Coddington, John Collins, Yagil Eliraz, Nora En gland, viii · Acknowl edgments Abou Farman, Mike Fortun, Lolmay Pedro García Matzar, Nora Gortcheva, Sherine Hamdy, Donna Haraway, John Hartigan, Stefan Helmreich, Alanna Hoyer- Leitzel, EJ Jetmore, Alissa Jordan, Rosemary Joyce, Carol Karasik, Peter Keeler, Eleana Kim, Anne Shaw Kingery, Eben Kirksey, Sarah Lynn Knowles, Eduardo Kohn, Roopa Krithivasan, Nicole Labruto, Andy Lass, Ada Link, Martino Lovato, Barb Mac Leod, Tim Malacarne, Lynda Manning- Schwartz, William Mazzarella, Lisa Messeri, Julia Miller, Alfonso Morales, Moisés Morales Márquez, Diane Nelson, Morten Nielsen, Sandra Noble, Ruth Ozeki Lounsbury, Anand Pandian, Morten Axel Pedersen, Jason Pribilsky, Dan Rogers, Danilyn Rutherford, Dorion Sagan, Robert Samet, Michael Scanlon, Caterina Scaramelli, Nick Seaver, Allen Shelton, Sydney M. Silverstein, Kate Singer, Jamie Sisson, Spencer Smith, Marilyn Strathern, Eleanor Townsley, Nancy Troike, Ken Tucker, Walter Wakefield, Rick Warner, Caitlin Yoakum, and Marc Zender. My time at Mount Holyoke College has been a true joy. Having attended Grinnell after growing up in the Wabash College community, I’ve long valued how liberal arts colleges light the dreams of unsteady funambulists. In the anthropology program at Mount Holyoke, I enjoy a remarkably thought- ful and caring group of colleagues: Elif Babül, Bill Girard, Liz Klarich, Lynn Morgan, Michelle Pietras, Joshua Roth, and Sabra Thorner. Debbora Battaglia, Kasey Clark, and Jack Gieseking each offered careful reads of full manuscript drafts. Debbora has been a particularly impassioned supporter. Thank you for the cosmic care, Debbora. Jack and Kasey each replied to my stories of epistolary intimacies with handwritten letters of their own. I cherish them. This proj ect transects ethnographic and archival research that I con- ducted, most intensively during 2007–8, in Guatemala, southern Mexico, and Austin. I am grateful to Mayanists (both amateur and professional), activists, and friends and family of Linda Schele who were willing to speak with me about her (and their) works and lives. David and Elaine Schele we re particularly generous, allowing me into their home to review Linda Schele’s correspondence and papers. This proj ect is, among other things, an effort to affirm the kinds of fabulous worlds that more- than- charismatic leaders, like Linda, can tow us into. It would not have been pos si ble without David and Elaine. Working with Duke University Press to breathe book- life into a manu- script has been vitalizing. I’m grateful to Liz Ault for being willing to enter- tain a weird first book proj ect. Her tactful editorial hand has shaped this into a better book. Stuart McLean and an anonymous reader offered substantive Acknowl edgments · ix and gracious criticism and direction. I am particularly grateful to Stuart for helping me to imagine a more robustly fictional anthropology. The editorial team and production staff at Duke have been excellent. Thank you. My time in New England has allowed me the privilege of greater proxim- ity to