Why the World Needs Anthropologists

Why does the world need anthropology and anthropologists? This collection of essays written by prominent academic, practising and applied anthropologists aims to answer this provocative question. In an accessible and appealing style, each author in this volume inquires about the social value and practical application of the discipline of anthropology. Contributors note that the problems the world faces at a global scale are both new and old, unique and universal, and that solving them requires the use of long-proven tools as well as innovative approaches. They highlight that using anthropology in relevant ways outside academia contributes to the development of a new paradigm in anthropology, one where the ability to collaborate across disciplinary and professional boundaries becomes both central and legitimate. Contributors provide specific suggestions to anthropologists and the public at large on practical ways to use anthropology to change the world for the better. This one-of-a-kind volume will be of interest to fledgling and established anthropologists, social scientists and the general public.

Introduction: Why Does the World Need Anthropologists? Dan Podjed and Meta Gorup Ethnography in All the Right Places Thomas Hylland Eriksen Living in and Researching a Diverse World Lenora Bohren What Is It Like to Be an Anthropologist? Joana Breidenbach Anthropology in an Uncertain World Sarah Pink Making Anthropology Relevant to Other People’s Problems Steffen Jöhncke Searching for Variation and Complexity Tanja Winther An Anthropologist’s Journey from the Rainforest to Solar Fields Sophie Bouly de Lesdain Anthropologists Make Sense, Provide Insight and Co-Create Change Rikke Ulk Open Up the Treasure of Anthropology to the World Jitske Kramer THe Practitioner’s Role of Facilitating Change Anna Kirah Do We Really Need More Anthropologists? Riall W. Nolan Conclusion: Back to the Future of Applied Anthropology Pavel Borecký and Carla Guerrón Montero

Dan Podjed is Research Fellow at the Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts, and Assistant Professor at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. Meta Gorup is PhD Candidate at Ghent University, Belgium. Pavel Borecký is PhD Candidate at the University of Bern, Switzerland, and Convenor of the EASA Applied Anthropology Network. Carla Guerrón Montero is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Delaware, USA.