The noun “ignorance” and the verb “to ignore” share a social and legal etymology, where definition of the former, “want of knowledge,” is pred- icated on the definition of the latter active, verbal form, “to refuse to take notice of.” How these two are joined, what political measures and psy- chic processes produce subjectivities that instantiate both, is a condition of imperial histories we would do well not to ignore. Both continue to haunt the logos and pathos of empire. Both inform what Mary Douglas called “those shadowed places” that states and more expansive proce- dures of governance protect.

Ann Laura Stoler, Along the Archival Grain_ E…, loc. 1529