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Jason Pine

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Jason Pine
Occupation(s)Writer, anthropologist
Employer(s)Purchase College, SUNY
Known for
  • The Art of Making Do in Naples
  • The Alchemy of Meth

Jason Pine is an American writer and anthropologist. He is Professor of Anthropology and Media Studies.[1] at Purchase College, State University of New York. He received his Ph.D. in Anthropology from the University of Texas at Austin. He was a Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin for Fall 2011 [2]

Academic work and publications

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Pine’s first book, The Art of Making Do in Naples is a study of the contact zones between ordinary people "making do" in neomelodic music scene and organized crime networks known as the camorra, was translated into Italian as Napoli Sotto Traccia: Musica Neomelodica e Marginalità Sociale [3] and received the 2015 Premio Sila (Sguardo da Lontano) [4].

Pine's second book,The Alchemy of Meth elaborates, in literary nonfiction form, ideas on self-enhancement and extractive capitalism proposed in his essays, "Economy of Speed: The New Narco-Capitalism" [5], "Embodied Capitalism and the Meth Body" [6], and "Last Chance Incorporated" [7].

Pine narrated the audiobook version of the book for Blackstone Publishing in 2020 [8]. The book received the 2020 Victor Turner Prize for Ethnographic Writing [9], Honorable Mention and the 2020 Gregory Bateson Book Prize, Honorable Mention [10]

Research and reception

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The Art of Making Do in Naples has been widely reviewed and cited across disciplines including anthropology, media studies, criminology, urban studies, Italian studies, and ethnomusicology. Scholars have praised the book's "graceful, engaging prose" and described it as a "sophisticated theorization of sound and space in marginal economies."[11][12]

Reviews highlight its blending of theory and narrative, and its analysis of neomelodica music as both aesthetic and infrastructural—intertwined with informality, affect, and organized crime.[13][14][15]

The book has been referenced in discussions of ethnographic montage,[16] sound and sovereignty,[17] media infrastructures,[18] cultures of criminality,[19] and aesthetics of governance.[20]

It is frequently cited in scholarship on Naples, ethnographic aesthetics, and Italian sound cultures.[21][22]

The Alchemy of Meth has been cited as a contribution to anthropology, science and technology studies, criminology, medical humanities, and experimental nonfiction. It investigates rural methamphetamine production in Missouri as a form of late-industrial alchemy and precarious toxic craft. It has been described as "a deeply textured account of embodied toxicity and labor."[23]

Pine’s literary technique has been characterized as "ethnographic writing that disturbs the senses" and a "methodological experiment in contaminated storytelling," noted for its "dissolved narration" whose queerness resists "tidy categorization."[24][25][26]

Public engagement

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Pine's research has been featured in public radio, interviews, and cultural criticism, including:

  • To the Best of Our Knowledge, Wisconsin Public Radio (2020):[27]
  • Public Intellectual with Jessa Crispin (2020):[28]
  • This is Hell! with Chuck Mertz (2019)[29]

His work has also appeared in CityLab [30], The New Republic [31], GQ España, 032c, Atlas Obscura, and American Scholar.

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References

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  1. ^ "Faculty Profile – Jason Pine". Purchase College. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
  2. ^ "Jason Pine". American Academy in Berlin. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  3. ^ "Napoli sotto traccia". Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  4. ^ "Premio speciale "Sguardo da lontano" 2015 a Jason Pine". 11 November 2015. Retrieved 2025-05-15.
  5. ^ Pine, Jason. "Economy of Speed: The New Narco-Capitalism." Public Culture 19, no. 2 (2007): 357–366. https://doi.org/10.1215/08992363-2006-043
  6. ^ Pine, Jason. "Embodied Capitalism and the Meth Body." In The Body Reader: Essential Social and Cultural Readings, edited by Lisa Jean Moore and Mary Kosut, 164–183. New York: NYU Press, 2010. https://doi.org/10.18574/nyu/9780814795668.001.0001
  7. ^ Pine, Jason. "Last Chance Incorporated." Cultural Anthropology 31, no. 2 (2016): 297–318. https://doi.org/10.14506/ca31.2.07
  8. ^ Pine, Jason. The Alchemy of Meth: A Decomposition. University of Minnesota Press, 2019. [1]
  9. ^ Society for Humanistic Anthropology. "2020 Winners of the Victor Turner Prize in Ethnographic Writing and the Edie Turner First Book Prize in Ethnographic Writing." August 3, 2020. [2]
  10. ^ Society for Cultural Anthropology. "Savannah Shange, Miyarrka Media, and Alan Klima Awarded the 2020 Gregory Bateson Book Prizes." November 9, 2020. [3]
  11. ^ Zinn, Dorothy Louise. "Review of The Art of Making Do in Naples." Anthropos 109 (2014): 655–657.
  12. ^ Tochka, Nicholas. "Review of The Art of Making Do in Naples." Ethnomusicology 59, no. 2 (2015): 330–332.
  13. ^ Martin, JoAnn. "Review." American Anthropologist 116, no. 2 (2014): 463–464.
  14. ^ Allum, Felia. "Review." Journal of Modern Italian Studies 19, no. 1 (2014): 110–112.
  15. ^ Inserra, Incoronata. "Review." Journal of Folklore Research 50, no. 1 (2013): 123–126.
  16. ^ Capello, Carlo. "Poetic Montage and Anthropology." Anuac 11, no. 2 (2023): 307–326.
  17. ^ Frasca, Simona. "La voce della periferia." Il Manifesto – Alias, June 9, 2013.
  18. ^ Colletti, Alessandro. "Review." ECPR Standing Group on Organized Crime Newsletter 10, no. 2 (2013).
  19. ^ Azzarà, Stefano. "Review." Materialismo Storico 3 (2015).
  20. ^ Ravveduto, Marcello. "Napoli sotto traccia." Lavoro Culturale, January 10, 2015. https://www.lavoroculturale.org/napoli-sotto-traccia
  21. ^ Maturi, Pietro. "Review." Anuac 2 (2013).
  22. ^ Champeyrache, Clotilde. "Review." Crime, Histoire & Sociétés 19, no. 1 (2015).
  23. ^ Parikh, Aparna. "Review." Space and Polity 20, no. 3 (2016): 290–292.
  24. ^ Menoret, Pascal. "Review of The Alchemy of Meth." City 18, no. 3 (2014).
  25. ^ Petrillo, Antonello. "Review." Etnografia e ricerca qualitativa 6, no. 2 (2013).
  26. ^ Weiss, Margot. "Queer Theory from Elsewhere and the Im/Proper Objects of Queer Anthropology." Feminist Anthropology 3, no. 2 (2022).
  27. ^ "Jason Pine interview".
  28. ^ "Interview with Jason Pine".
  29. ^ "Jason Pine: On meth, alchemy, and capitalism".
  30. ^ "The Rise and Fall of America's Rural Meth Labs". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
  31. ^ "I Embedded with a Community of Meth Users". New Republic. Retrieved 2025-04-18.
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