弗格森教授的名著《现代性的前景:赞比亚铜带省城市生活的神话与意义》(Expectations of Modernity:Myths and Meanings of Urban Life on the Zambian Copperbelt)终于有了中文版。除了向译者致敬,我也想作一些简单评论。詹姆斯·弗格森是斯坦福大学人类学系讲座教授,在国际发展领域地位很高,也是被征引最多的人类学家之一。他的征引率长期处于北美人类学征引榜前十位以内,与福柯、格尔兹、布迪厄、阿帕杜莱等人不相上 Professor Ferguson’s masterpiece “The Prospects of Modernity: Myths and Meanings of Urban Life on the Zambian Copperbelt” finally comes in Chinese. In addition to paying tribute to the translator, I also want to make some simple remarks. James Ferguson, professor of anthropology at Stanford University, is a highly regarded and internationally cited anthropologist. His rate of enlistment has long been in the top ten in anthropology in North America, not as high as Foucault, Gerdz, Bourdieu, and Abdoulai