Digressions and the Human Imagination

Morten Nielsen is a social anthropologist working on socially sustainable urban development. And stand-up comedy. Since November 2018 he has been based at the National Museum of Denmark as research professor and head of the Research Center for Social Urban Modelling (SUMO). Based on ethnographic fieldwork in Southern Africa (Mozambique), Latin America (Brazil), the US (New York City), UK (Scotland) and Denmark, he has published on such issues as urban development, state formation, vernacular architecture, time and temporality, human creativity and stand-up comedy.

Introduction; Part 1. METHODOLOGY; 1. “Mind-Wandering and Mushrooming in Russian Art and Literature”; 2. “Learning how to Digress in Clown Training Workshops”; 3. “…and Six Digressive Leaps: Methodology”; Part 2. TIME; 4. “… a digressive conversation about digression in creative writing”; 5. “Digression Doubled: Stand-Up Comedy as Transformative Trickery”; 6. “…and Six Digressive Leaps: Time”; Part 3. CONNECTIONS; 7. “Mythic Digressions in Science”; 8. “Comedic Comparisons: Absurd Juxtapositions and the Value of Digressive Truths”; 9. “…and Six Digressive Leaps: Connections” Part 4. INTERIORITY; 10. “Myrkur as Mother North: Feminist Digressions in Black Metal Culture”; 11. “Beating Around the Bush: Digression while Wayfinding the Kalahari Desert”; 12. “…and Six Digressive Leaps: Interiority” Part 5. AESTHETICS 13. “Life-Affirming: The Digressive Practice of Art Appreciation”; 14. “Fischart … Sancho … Beckett … Joyce; or, An Essay in Praise of Babble”; 15. “…and Six Digressive Leaps: Aesthetics”; 6. TRACES; 16. “Naboland. Unplanned Journeys of Discovery”; 17. “Universal Basic Income and the Colonization of Mars: tracing the effects of policy ideas that are yet to be implemented”; 18. “…and Six Digressive Leaps: Traces”