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2 Ibid., p. 496.

3 It has been estimated that at the time of first contact, the Pirahã numbered around 50,000.

4 Everett, Daniel L., ‘Cultural Constraints on Grammar and Cognition in Pirahã: Another Look at the Design Features of Human Language’; (Manchester: Department of Linguistics, University of Manchester, 2005)Google Scholar available at: {http://r0ry.co.uk/mirror/CULTGRAM.PDF}; Holden, Constance, ‘Life Without Numbers in the Amazon’, Science (20 August 2004), p. 1093Google ScholarPubMed ; Strauss, Stephen, ‘Life Without Numbers in a Unique Amazon Tribe’, Globe and Mail (20 August 2004), p. A3Google Scholar . For a shorter version of Everett's research findings with comments from others in the fields of linguistics and cultural anthropology, please see Everett, Daniel L., ‘Cultural Constraints on Grammar and Cognition in Pirahã: Another Look at the Design Features of Human Language’, Cultural Anthropology, 46:4 (2005), pp. 621–634Google Scholar ; Berlin, Brent, Goncalves, Marco Antonio, Levinson, Stephen C., Pawley, Andrew, Surrallés, Alexandre, Tomasello, Michael, and Wierzbicka, Anna, ‘Comments’, Cultural Anthropology, 46:4 (2005), pp. 635–641Google Scholar ; Everett, Daniel L., ‘Reply’, Cultural Anthropology, 46:4 (2005), pp. 641–646Google Scholar . All references to Everett, ‘Cultural Constraints’ in this article refer to the University of Manchester document.

5 Everett argues that in Pirahã, bả a gi so literally means to ‘cause to come together’. See ‘Cultural Constraints’, p. 7.

6 Everett has remarked that there is often very little connection between amount of goods that the Pirahã bring to trade and the amount of what they ask for in return. Generally the Pirahã offer whatever goods they have collected and point at what they want in exchange until the riverboat owner/captain signals that they have been paid in full. The fairness of the exchange from the perspective of the Pirahã is determined post-event after consultations with other members of the village. See Ibid., p. 13.

7 For example see Nevins, Andrew Ira, Pesetsky, David, and Rodrigues, Cilene, ‘Pirahã Exceptionality: A Reassessment’, lingBuzz (Boston: Masschusetts Institute of Technology, 2007)Google Scholar , available at: {http://ling.auf.net/lingBuzz/000411}; Everett, Daniel L., ‘Cultural Constraints on Grammar in Pirahã: A Reply to Nevins, Pesetsky, and Rodrigues (2007)’, lingBuzz (Illinois State University, 2007)Google Scholar , available at: {http://ling.auf.net/lingBuzz/000427}.

8 See Holden, ‘Life Without Numbers’, p. 1093; Everett, ‘Cultural Constraints’, p. 4.

9 Everett, ‘Cultural Constraints’, p. 31. It was argued that inbreeding was a strong possibility given the small population, the lack of clearly defined kinship relationships and reports that the Pirahã had sexual mores that might be considered promiscuous by dominant Judeo-Christian standards. However, the Everetts noted that based on their experiences with the Piraha, they never saw marriages between full biological siblings. In an interview for the New Yorker Magazine, Gordon callously argued that ‘if there was some kind of Appalachian inbreeding or retardation going on, you'd see it in hairlines, facial features, motor ability. It bleeds over. They don't show any of that.’ His statement and subsequent apology generated a storm of protest. See, Colapinto, John, ‘The Interpreter’, The New Yorker Magazine (16 April 2007)Google Scholar , available at: {http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/04/16/070416fa_fact_colapinto}; Society of Professional Journalists, ‘Professor Apologizes for “Appalachian inbreeding” remark’ (16 April 2007), available at: {http://www.spj.org/pressNotes.asp?REF=19236}.

10 Barkham, Patrick, ‘The Power of Speech’, The Guardian (10 November 2008)Google Scholar , available at: {http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/10/daniel-everett-amazon}.

11 Gordon, ‘Numerical Cognition’, p. 496. Whorf spent most of his life outside of academia working in the insurance industry. He is credited with identifying the confusion generated by the warning label ‘inflammable’ on substances prone to ignition (that is, the suffix ‘in’ is generally used in the English language to denote what something is not; invisible; indeterminate; inarticulate). His finding catalysed a shift across industries and products towards the word ‘flammable’.

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24 It also bears noting that critical scholarship is not static on who is doing the silencing. Other critical theorists as much as an orthodoxy are identified as ‘silencers’.

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28 Hansen, Lene, ‘The Little Mermaid's Silent Security Dilemma and the Absence of Gender in the Copenhagen School’, Millenium, 29:2 (2000), pp. 285–306CrossRefGoogle Scholar . All of the scholars mentioned above are illustrative of critical scholarship that wishes to interrogate silence; there are, of course, many others too numerous to mention.

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35 For a far more detailed and sophisticated treatment of these issues central to contemporary global politics, please see Beier, , International Relations, pp. 44–47Google Scholar .

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37 For example, Ronen Palan argues that critical theory should pursue approaches that are globally encompassing, historically oriented, and focused on political institutions. It is this third component that is potentially the most limiting. While his heterodox methodology justifiably unpacks orthodox delineations between international and domestic forces central to state formation and relations, it is still important to ask what can count as a political institution? Palan is clear that capitalism is a political institution, but remains silent about identities, popular culture, and other political phenomena that may not map neatly onto his (nuanced) understanding of the state and its relations. See, Palan, Ronen, ‘Heterodoxy in IR Scholarship’, Review of International Studies, 33: Special Issue (2007), pp. 47–69CrossRefGoogle Scholar .

38 For a particularly overt example, see Booth, Ken, ‘Beyond Critical Security Studies’, in Booth, Ken (ed.), Critical Security Studies and World Politics (Boulder CO: Lynne Reinner, 2005)Google Scholar .

39 Ashley, ‘Living on Border Lines’, p. 259.

40 Hobson, ‘Beyond Westphalian’ is instructive on this point.

41 Particularly distressing is a new position being articulated that for ‘critical’ scholarship to be empirically informed, it must engage in ethnographic study. Murphy, ‘The Promise’, skates dangerously close to this position. This begs two questions, assuming that we take the term empirical in its best light: the philosophical ‘why is the analysis of texts and/or discourses not empirical?’ and a broader disciplinary question of ‘how has it become possible for textual and discursive analyses to be dismissed as “not empirical” by other forms of “critical” scholarship’?

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43 Some recent examples include Davies, Matt and Niemann, Michael, International Relations and Everyday Life (London: Routledge, forthcoming)Google Scholar ; Debrix, Francois, Tabloid Terror: War, Culture, and Geopolitics (London: Routledge, 2007)Google Scholar ; Marez, Curtis, Drug Wars: The Political Economy of Narcotics (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2004)Google Scholar ; Shapiro, Michael J., Cinematic Geopolitics (London: Routledge, 2008)Google Scholar ; Watson, Alison, ‘Children and International Relations: A New Site of Knowledge?’ Review of International Studies, 32:2 (2006), pp. 237–250CrossRefGoogle Scholar ; Weber, Cynthia, Imagining America at War (London: Routledge, 2005)Google Scholar ; Weldes, Jutta (ed.), To Seek Out New Worlds: Exploring Links Between Science Fiction and World Politics (London: Palgrave, 2003)CrossRefGoogle Scholar ; Grayson, Kyle, Davies, Matt, and Philpott, Simon, ‘Pop Goes IR? Researching the Popular Culture-World Politics Continuum’ Politics, 29:3 (2009), pp. 155–163CrossRefGoogle Scholar .

44 Ashley, ‘The Eye of Power’, p. 529.

45 Everett notes that the Piraha say that their heads are different than other people. The Piraha language is called 7apaitảiso ‘a straight head’, while other languages are called 7apagảiso, ‘a crooked head’. He argues that this not a reflection of ethnocentrism but rather shows how the connection between culture and language is an essential aspect of the Piraha identity, especially given that they call themselves hiaitỉihỉ, ‘a straight one/he is straight’. See Everett, ‘Cultural Constraints’, p. 37.

46 Quoted in Buck-Morss, Susan, Thinking Past Terror: Islamism and Critical Theory on the Left (London: Verso, 2003), p. 17Google Scholar .

47 Ibid., p. 6.

48 Ibid., p. 7.

49 Ibid.

50 Ashley, ‘The Eye of Power’, p. 534.

51 Ashley and Walker, ‘Speaking the Language’, p. 265.

52 Everett, ‘Cultural Constraints’, p. 37.

53 Žižek, Slavoj, Violence (London: Profile Books, 2009), p. 183Google Scholar .