Comments on: Top Ten Ways for Anthropologists to Make A Difference

By: Public Anthropology: The Example of the Culture of Poverty « Anthropology & Publicity

Tue, 02 Nov 2010 23:16:18 +0000

[...] is to increase public impact. To do so, I hope anthropologists will: (1) Recognize that there are many ways for anthropologists to make a difference, (2) Write for a broader public, and (3) Demonstrate that anthropology is relevant, rather than [...]

By: Four Stone Hearth #72

Four Stone Hearth #72 — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 02:22:01 +0000

[...] Whether or not war is human nature, most anthropologists I know want to make a difference in the world around them. Daniel at Neuroanthropology offers the Top Ten Ways for Anthropologists to Make a Difference. [...]

By: Expanding the Top Ten Ways for Anthropologists to Make a Difference « Neuroanthropology

Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:43:19 +0000

[...] Comments Critique – Making a … on Top Ten Ways for Anthropologis…AK on Monty Python EncephalonMack on Top Ten Travel Tips for A…And Now for [...]

By: Critique – Making a Difference « Neuroanthropology

Critique – Making a Difference « Neuroanthropology — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 13:41:50 +0000

[...] by dlende on August 18, 2009 Critique is option #1 in our Top Ten Ways for Anthropologists to Make a Difference, and the principal way most anthropologists approach being relevant. Relying only on critique can [...]

By: geek

geek — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 16:58:26 +0000

Applied Anthropology seems to be such a tricky matter. I’ve been having a hard time thinking about what to do as an anthropologist in the future, because in every problem we never seem to escape our bias and there’s always someone that we end up hurting.

For example, the work of Nancy Scheper-Hughes on the illegal trading of organs is remarkable. The trading itself is very dangerous or sticky, and she’s able to expose it. She proposes that it should be regulated. But even though that the trading itself is wrong and should not be encouraged (as Scheper-Hughes also suggest), we also have to look at the side of the people selling these organs. Most of them live in third world countries, and would do anything just to earn money. So even though these sellers won’t have proper medical help, they have no choice since they need the money.

Another, is something I read from Jezebel recently where parents disowned their child because she was raped. In one point of view, this is an abomination. There would be a lot of psychological implications on the girl as she was raped, disowned and abandoned. But then, we also have to take the perspective of the parents, where everything becomes tricky. They might have a reason (as they are from another culture) for doing what they did.

The examples weren’t that good, but I hope you get what I mean. I think this is also in connection with Zora’s reply above.

By: Pamthropologist

Pamthropologist — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 15:46:16 +0000

Ditto John McCreery.

By: Make a difference « fascinated by cultures

Make a difference « fascinated by cultures — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 03:32:32 +0000

[...] 20, 2009 · Leave a Comment Top Ten Ways for Anthropologists to Make A Difference « Neuroanthropology (1) Critique. Our default position, but sometimes it does work. (Just not as well or as often as we [...]

By: John McCreery

John McCreery — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 01:08:01 +0000

Zora asks great questions. In my lifetime anthropology has, in terms of stereotypes, swung between the extremes of running dog of imperialism and cat’s paw of the local authorities. We need to come to terms with the anthropologist’s liminal position, possibly influential but not an insider vis-a-vis any group. Step two is to recognize that, as John Wager once put it on lit-ideas, there are no moral choices to make if everything is black and white. There is no escaping the predicament of having to decide the causes you will support and how you will use your expertise.

By: Zora

Zora — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 00:11:27 +0000

It all sounds very nice — if you agree with the author as to “what needs to be done”. If you don’t share his/her ideals, then applying anthropology gets very tricky. Suppose you think that what needs doing is enforcing religious conformity and respect for God-given authority? Or perhaps abolishing private property and moving the urban population out into the countryside, to live in communes?

If you plan to act merely as the agent of the group you’re studying, whose agent are you? What if a majority of the group wants those pesky women out of schools and jobs and back into burqas?

By: Top Ten Ways for Anthropologists to Make A Difference – Daniel Lende « Anthropology.net

Fri, 17 Jul 2009 15:55:50 +0000

[...] to Make A Difference – Daniel Lende Jump to Comments Here’s a post from Neuroanthropology, from where Greg Downey recently hosted the outstanding Australiana edition of Four Stone Hearth, [...]