Open Access Anthropology and Knowledge Sharing

(via somatosphere) “Other disciplines have a magazine for the general public. Why can’t we?” Now, we have it. The first issue of Anthronow is out. The editors Katherine McCaffrey, Emily Martin, Ida Susser, and Susan Harding (they’re all from American universities) write:

Other disciplines have a magazine for the general public. Why can’t we? Why can’t we have a “popular anthropology” magazine that would fill the gap between conventional news coverage of current events and topics and the more specialized analysis of similar events and topics in professional journals? If our scholarship were written in clear and accessible language and embellished with photographs and other visual materials, wouldn’t there be public interest in the ways that anthropological theory and research can inform and affect contemporary public discourse and public policy debates?

Anthropology Now’s mission is to make anthropological knowledge accessible to lay readers, and to enrich knowledge and debate in the public sphere. The magazine aims to reclaim a voice for anthropology in public debate, not by simplifying complex problems, but by conveying anthropological knowledge in clear and compelling prose. Anthropology Now will build on a growing commitment among anthropolo- gists to make our research findings open and accessible to the world outside of the confines of the academy.

It seems that there is both a paper and a webversion of Anthronow. All articles of the first issue are online. I hope they will continue to provide open access to future issues as well.

I havent’ had time to look at the articles yet. Have they succeeded in making anthropology accessible for the world outside of the universities?

>> visit Anthronow

PS: There is another “popular anthropology” magazine, not in the U.S, but in Germany. It’s called Journal Ethnologie. Are there more? Oh yes, maybe American Ethnography?

UPDATE: Debate about Anthronow and its future over at Savage Minds