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“Anthropology needs to engage in an activist way”

Published on February 8, 2007 by lorenz Posted in anthropology (general), anthropology in the news, applied anthropology, books, ethics, Latin- and Central America, poverty

“Anthropology needs to develop a listening capacity and to engage in an activist way, to become involved with the problem, not just to observe it from a distance”, says Brazilian anthropologist João Biehl in a portrait on the website of his university (Princeton University).

Biehl has conducted fieldwork in Vita, a site in Porto Alegre that is populated by the sick, mentally ill and poor who have passed beyond the care of families and social institutions. He wrote about his experiences in “Vita: Life in a Zone of Social Abandonment” which revolves around an ethnographic study of Catarina, a young women who was considered by her family and various doctors to be insane. With no one to look after her, she had ended up at Vita. Se died in Vita in 2003.

Working with Catarina taught Biehl anthropology in a new way, he says.

Describing the impact of the book, Princeton anthropologist Carolyn Rouse said, “In addressing social policy and ethics, ‘Vita’ demonstrates how one person’s life can be a basis for thinking about complex issues.”

According to Biehl, places like Vita are emerging everywhere in urban Brazil, and the book shows “how economic globalization and state and medical reform coincide and impinge on a local production of social death.”

>> read the whole portrait on Princeton University’s website

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find more texts by or about Biehl. His anthropology department looks like one of the worst faculty website on the web. But you’ll find three papers on the website of Anthropology, Art, and Activism Series (Brown University).

UPDATE (9.2.07): Read the comment by Anne Galloway (Space and Culture)

“Discuss politics!” – How anthropologists in Indonesia engage with the public

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"Anthropology needs to develop a listening capacity and to engage in an activist way, to become involved with the problem, not just to observe it from a distance", says Brazilian anthropologist João Biehl in a portrait on the website of…

Nepal: Anthropologists, sociologists urged to build country

Published on December 17, 2006 by lorenz Posted in anthropology (general), anthropology in the news, applied anthropology, Asia, development empowerment

“Anthropologists should actively cooperate in the building of new Nepal”, Subash Chandra Nembang said at the three-day international seminar on ‘social science in a multi-cultural world’, organized by the Nepal Sociological and Anthropological Society (NSAS).

“It is sad that most of the projects run in Nepal do not have participation of sociologists and anthropologists”, he said. Secretary of the Society Bhanu Timsina said the sector has been under shadows as the planners have not realized the utility of the sociologists and anthropologists, according to the website The Rising Nepal.

Unfortunately, neither the conference nor the organisation seems to have a website. Digital Divide?

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"Anthropologists should actively cooperate in the building of new Nepal", Subash Chandra Nembang said at the three-day international seminar on 'social science in a multi-cultural world', organized by the Nepal Sociological and Anthropological Society (NSAS).

"It is sad that most…

“Discuss politics!” – How anthropologists in Indonesia engage with the public

Published on August 28, 2006 by lorenz Posted in anthropology (general), anthropology in the news, applied anthropology, Asia, development empowerment, University / Academia

Crossroads is the name of a new blog by anthropologist Fadjar I. Thufail, currently completing his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. In an interview (from 2001), he tells us that Indonesian anthropologists continually attempt to link themselves to the non-academic world – and they succeed. When anthropologists in Indonesia are interviewed by newspapers, their comments are not squeezed into tiny sound bites, instead they are written up in long, detailed articles. Anthropologists often appear on television or on radio:

What makes anthropology as a discipline different than the discipline in the United States is that from the beginning, Indonesian anthropologists are supposed to be able to talk to the public and get involved in development practices.

The first anthropology department in Indonesia was established in 1957 and that was after the Indonesian independence when the people were eager to develop the country. Part of the institution of Indonesian anthropology is that the anthropologists were asked to contribute to development practices and that makes what in the U.S. called “applied anthropology” a part of Indonesian anthropology. There is no distinction like in the U.S.

He also explains the differences between “public anthropology” and “applied anthropology”:

Public anthropology is supposed to involve in a critical position. It should be a reminder, no…not a reminder. It should involve engaging the public, but by criticizing projects or challenging the dominant paradigm.

To me, applied anthropology is not the same as public anthropology because they (applied anthropologists) do government development and journal writing etc. Applied anthropologists are just technicians or sponsors of the government and hence are not ‘public anthropologists’ because there is not a critical component to it.

In Indonesia, most of the anthropological scholars are engaged in such a critical function. (…) That is why lots of anthropologists in Indonesia are invited to various seminars, give public talks, probably invited to TV talk shows, or interviewed by newspaper journalists.

So, basically, in Indonesia, it’s not only the scholars who want to go public, but also the journalists. A connection exists between the community of scholars and the media. That I don’t see in the United States where academics are beyond the reach of the public.”

This has to do with the specific Indonesian context:

Most of the media think of themselves as opposed to the government. They have a function to criticize the government. Most of the scholars also think of themselves as critics. They [the scholar’s] use media to launch critiques of the government, especially the ‘New Order’ [Suharto’s regime – 1966-1998]. So that is why whatever scholars say, the media accepts it without saying ‘too difficult’ – nothing is ‘too difficult’ for the story…they feel this is something we must publish because we must criticize.”

Therefore, anthropology is much more involved in politics in Indonesia – that’s why it’s so relevant for people:

Anthropologists in the U.S. think of politics as separate from academics. To do academic work, one must be free of politics. I think this is a legacy of colonialism, of the Enlightenment or something.

(…)

In Indonesia, as I said earlier, Anthropologists from the beginning actively pursued involvement in public/political events. Some chose to be part of the government, some put themself against the government.

(…) I think that is the most important message I want to get across. Anthropology is political – I want to remind you that as an anthropologist you must talk about politics. You can’t talk about culture as separate from politics. In order to put yourself in a more public sphere, you must discuss politics. There are different ways to do this. One is by not talking about cultural systems anymore, or semiosis, but instead discussing politics. Then realize that anthropology has critical power.

>> read the whole interview

>> visit Fadjar I. Thufail’s blog

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Microsoft anthropologist: Let people be online at work or risk losing staff!

Published on August 27, 2006 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, applied anthropology, corporate & business anthropology, cyberanthropology, internet, technology

Anne Kirah, a senior Microsoft anthropologist, says IT staff believe they’re supporting workplace productivity by limiting private use of the Net. But they may be doing the opposite. Companies that filter Internet access or block IM communications are going to find it harder to hang on to staff, she told at a recent conference.

In an interview with the APC Magazine, Kirah talks about how this new generation of employees is turning the traditional notion of productivity on its head. They’re using the Net to stay in touch with their social circle and do personal tasks during work hours, but also logging on and working from home after hours. For them, the 9-5 work day no longer applies and IT managers may be dealing with nothing short of a revolution that’s based on universal availability of Net access:

The conflict arises because the employers’ benchmarks of productivity are based on something that doesn’t exist anymore. In the old world we measured productivity by just sitting your butt down 9 to 5. We were coming to work 9 to 5, what else would you do at work except work? (…)
I think the whole point is that there’s a cultural change going on. We’ve really moved from this 9-5 world to ‘just give me the deadlines and I’ll decide when I want to do it’…

This is especially true for the younger generation, she says:

What’s happening is that society has placed a lot of limits on children today. We don’t have free play any more, it’s gone. So free play has gone onto the Net. (…) What’s happened in the world today is that activities after school are all orchestrated by adults. There’s always an adult in there somewhere. (…) In terms of the social, in terms of the child-to-child, the internet is Mecca; this is the place where they can be.

>> read the whole interview in the APC Magazine

>> Anne Kirah: Unlock work internet or risk losing staff

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Study: “Holders of social anthropology Ph.D.s are highly employable”

Published on June 26, 2006 by lorenz Posted in anthropology (general), anthropology in the news, applied anthropology, corporate & business anthropology, University / Academia

“Anthropologists escape into the wider world” is the title of a press release about a recent study that shows that “holders of social anthropology Ph.D.s are highly employable and successful in finding jobs that draw on their anthropological skills”.

The study tracked social anthropology doctoral students who completed their studies between 1992 and 2003 in Britain to see what they are doing now. The majority work outside academic anthropology, either in other disciplines within academia, or in various non-academic positions. Fifty-seven per cent currently hold academic positions, though one third of those are on fixed-term contracts with uncertain long-term prospects. Those who escape a conventional academic career can be found in international development organizations like the World Bank or in high-tech companies like Intel. Others remain in academia, teaching and researching.

What they bring to these settings are special skills of observation and critical analysis, born of Ph.D. projects based on long-term field research in challenging cultural locations, Professor Jonathan Spencer at the University of Edinburgh’s Anthropology Department says:

“We knew that social anthropologists have a real presence at all levels in the world of international development, but we were surprised by two discoveries. One was social anthropology’s success as an “exporter” of skilled researchers and teachers to other academic disciplines. The other was its growing role at the cutting edge of business and technology innovation. Employers seem to be especially interested in the close-focus research skills that are central to anthropological fieldwork. Our findings raise serious doubts about the received wisdom that employers are only interested in the most ‘generic’ social research skills.”

He adds:

In applying their skills in such diverse settings this generation of Ph.D.s is enriching the discipline in quite new ways. The challenge now is to explore ways to bring what they have learnt in their adventures back into academic training for the next generation of anthropologists.

>> read the whole article at EurekAlert

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Design Anthropology: Software development by participatory observation

"Anthropologists escape into the wider world" is the title of a press release about a recent study that shows that "holders of social anthropology Ph.D.s are highly employable and successful in finding jobs that draw on their anthropological skills".

The study…