Making anthropology public |
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| Authors: | Guest editorial by Nancy Scheper-Hughes |
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| Institution: | Chancellor's Professor in Medical Anthropology, head of the doctoral programme in medical anthropology at University of California, Berkeley, and director of Organs Watch. She has researched and campaigned on the body, hunger, illness, medicine, psychiatry, madness, social suffering, violence and genocide. Her email is . |
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| Abstract: | Public Anthropology entails diverse practices. One is 'writing' for the public by making our work more accessible and accountable. A less conventional way of getting anthropological research findings and interpretations to broader publics is through active collaboration with journalists and the media. To make anthropology public is to invite criticism and to face 'erasures' of ownership of our findings once they are shared with journalists. Even so, it is satisfying to see one's work appear on the front pages of the Sunday Times even if uncited. Finally, in the tradition of CW Mills' The Sociological Imagination, the goal of public anthropology is to make public issues, not simply to respond to them. Those who wan to be public anthropologist – just do it! But don't expect to be rewarded for it. Instead, consider it a precious right and a privilege. |
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