As a mode of inquiry Rabinow distinguishes the Anthropology of the Contemporary from Michel Foucault’s History of the Present. As Rabinow describes it, the History of the Present consists in formulating an understanding of the past as “a means of showing the contingency of the present and thereby contribute to making a more open future.” The current challenge is to be specific about which inquiries and what objects are best engaged with an approach that is drawn from a History of the Present orientation.