What Is Anthropology For?

Should anthropology, a discipline that originated in the colonial 19th century, still exist in the 21st? In the wake of the Black Lives Matter protests and campaigns to decolonise the curriculum, isn’t it irredeemably contaminated by its past?

As a western-trained Indian anthropologist, Kriti Kapila comes from a culture that was long treated as the subject of anthropology rather than a contributor to its understanding. But in this book, she argues that anthropology provides an essential set...