Much of color came into Europe from India and much of that was used to buy slaves in Africa, including King Leopold's Congo. How does color sustain the complexities of power and fantasy in Joseph Conrad's novella, ‘The Heart of Darkness’? How can what looks like a purely aesthetic category such as color, become fundamental to colonial violence and deceit? What does this do the West's notions of color?

(Based on Michel Leiris' essay, 'The Sacred in Everyday Life')

Michael Taussig is known as the author of 'Mimesis and Alterity', 'My Cocaine Museum', 'Law in a Lawless Land', and also 'Shamanism, Colonialism, and the Wild Man: A Study in Terror and Healing'. Born in Australia, he teaches anthropology in New York City and spends much time in Colombia, South America. He is currently writing a book on color.

Language English