Lines : a brief history

In `Lines' Tim Ingold retraces the contours of a momentous techno-cultural evolution by investigating the status and role of an element that is so pervasive in our lifeworld that it becomes invisible: lines and surfaces. This evolution can be described as a movement from a topian, circuitous `line of wayfaring' to the utopian, straight line of modernity to the dystopian, fragmented line of postmodernity (quoting K. Olwig). From this central premise, Ingold spins an argument that goes in different directions, connecting practices as diverse as writing, reading, singing, drawing, weaving, building, dwelling, mapping and travelling. His anthropological lens draws in examples from cultures and ethnicities around the world.