Anthropology Put to Work / Edition 1

by Les W. Field, Richard G. Fox

Overview

How do anthropologists work today and how will they work in future? While some anthropologists have recently called for a new "public" or "engaged" anthropology, profound changes have already occurred, leading to new kinds of work for a large number of anthropologists. The image of anthropologists "reaching out" from protected academic positions to a vaguely defined "public" is out of touch with the working conditions of these anthropologists, especially those junior and untenured. The papers in this volume show that anthropology is put to work in diverse ways today. They indicate that the new conditions of anthropological work require significant departures from canonical principles of cultural anthropology, such as replacing ethnographic rapport with multiple forms of collaboration. This volume's goal is to help graduate students and early-career scholars accept these changes without feeling something essential to anthropology has been lost. There really is no other choice for most young anthropologists.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781845206000
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	05/01/2007
Series:	Wenner-Gren International Symposium Series , #3
Pages:	270
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x 0.62(d)

About the Author

Les Field is Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico. Richard G. Fox is President Emeritus, Wenner-Gren Foundation and an Adjunct Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements, Participants in the Wenner-Gren Symposium, Introduction: How Does Anthropology Work Today?, 1. Anthropological Collaborations in Colombia, 2. Gray Spaces and Endless Negotiations: Forensic Anthropology and Human Rights, 3. Collaborating to Meet the Goals of a Native Sovereign Nation: The Tule River Tribal History Project, 4. Doing Cultural Anthropology and Disability Studies in Rehabilitation Training and Research Contexts, 5. In Praise of "Reckless Minds": Making a Case for Activist Anthropology, 6. What Do Indicators Indicate? Reflections on the Trials and Tribulations of Using Food Aid to Promote Development in Haiti, 7. Working Anthropology: A View from the Women's Research Arena, 8. Potential Collaborations and Disjunctures in Australian Work Sites: An Experienced Rendering, 9. The Dilemmas of "Working" Anthropology in Twenty-first-Century India, 10. Ethnographic Alchemy: Perspectives on Anthropological Work from Northern Madagascar, 11. Reflections on the Symposium, References, Index

Editorial Reviews

"An eye opener: Field, Fox and their contributors convincingly demonstrate to interested laypersons, to students, and to established academics from all fields how young anthropologists today pursue their profession in a whole range of creative new ways. - Andre Gingrich, University of Vienna and Austrian Academy of Sciences A thoughtful and multifaceted collection that should be essential reading for graduating anthropologists looking for a place to combine the anthropological calling with meaningful work - Collaborative Anthropologies"

From the Publisher