"Why the World needs Anthropologists": Book Review

Why the World needs Anthropologists. Edited by, Dan Podjed, Meta Gorup, Pavel Borecký and Carla Guerrón Montero. Routledge, 2021.

In recent decades a realization can be witnessed, within the discipline of anthropology and among anthropologists, about a more engaged role of anthropology and anthropologists in addressing the pressing social problems, and the structures that produce and maintain these problems. According to Bauer et al. (2006), a growing number of anthropologists are shifting their attention to social issues; however, writing about these issues in largely academic passion is not enough.  These authors calls for a “repositioning of applied anthropology, by suggesting that it serve as one of the frameworks for the discipline’s goal of pragmatic engagement” (Rylko-Bauer et al. 2006:178). According to Kedia and willigen (2005) applied anthropology always provides new theoretical and methodological contributions to the discipline of anthropology since its inception. The editors explain that applied anthropology is not a recent approach and that it is historically linked to the development of anthropology since its origins as a comparative science. In this line of debate a plethora of books and articles can be found online and otherwise, demonstrating the need and importance of both anthropology and anthropologists, with a focus on its applied dimension, in addressing and understanding issues and problems the contemporary world is facing, which makes applied anthropology an uncontested phenomena.  

Besides these books and articles, there is a growing interest among practicing and academic anthropologist and organizations, all over the world, in arranging seminars, conferences and symposiums, of which the current book is also a result, to create awareness about the use and importance of anthropology in a variety of fields in public arena. In this regard the society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA), a worldwide organization for applied anthropology, for example arranges annual meetings to provide an opportunity to scholars, practicing social scientists and students from a variety of disciplines and organizations to discussed their work, ideas, methods and practical solutions about the social issues (https://www.appliedanthro.org/about).Similarly, following the success of Why the World Need Anthropologists (WWNA) symposiums, 2020, the network continues to plan a fully-fledged event in Prague in 2021.The European association of social anthropology (EASA) also seeks to advance anthropology in Europe by organizing biennial conferences, editing its academic journal, its Newsletter and the two publication series. The Association further encourages and supports thematic networks.

Practicing and academic anthropologists in developing countries also organizes such seminars and conferences to emphasize the importance of the application of anthropological knowledge and methods in addressing various social problems. In Pakistan for instance, in a recent seminar organized by the department of anthropology and archaeology in collaboration with the UK-based Anthropology in Action Journal and two Sindh-based civil society organizations, practicing and academic anthropologists called for involving anthropologists in framing social policies in an attempt to rightly identify and root out social ills and empower people to solve their problems themselves. They called for creating and spreading awareness about the importance of anthropology among students, development workers, masses and journalists at both the governmental and non-governmental level so that society could be purged of all social evils (Dawn news, September 23rd, 2018). 

Above in view, the book Why the World Needs Anthropologists is a fresh and welcoming addition to the debate around the application of anthropological knowledge and methods in variety of fields, exploring and addressing various social problems on global and local scales.

The book basically is a collection of essays written by academic, practicing and applied anthropologists. It revolves around a central provocative question, ‘why does the world need anthropologists’?  While answering this question, each contributor in this book have provided concrete examples from their personal and professional life to emphasize the social value and practical application of anthropological knowledge and methods to solve the problems facing the world on a global scale. The book aims to reshape the discipline of anthropology with more focus on its applied dimension.

Rationale and Aim of the Book

The basic rationale of the book is based on some practical questions such as; how the detailed knowledge of cultural peculiarities and complexities relevant to the contemporary world and the problems facing humanity and the planet at present? And how about those problems we are about to face in the future? How can anthropology help to address major global issues such as climate and environmental disasters, migration and refugee crises, the rise of identity politics and concerns related to the fast-paced technological advancement? Why the world needs anthropologists? These are the questions explored in the present book by renowned anthropologists who have been using their anthropological knowledge and skills – many of them for several decades – in areas as varied as globalization, solutions to air pollution, social entrepreneurship, emerging technologies, sustainable energy, organizational change, design and international development.

In exploring the aforementioned questions, the book at a broader level aims to contribute to reshaping the discipline of anthropology as it has largely been known since its beginnings in the nineteenth century. Anthropology – with its focus on small, often far-off localities, and its unconventional research design – has commonly been perceived by the public as irrelevant to resolving ‘real’ problems, and many anthropologists have themselves been wary of practicing anthropology beyond their academic studies.

Thematic areas and chapters

The book is composed of an introduction and a conclusion by the editors Dan Podjed and Meta Gorup, and eleven chapters each addressing a particular domain of applied anthropology and the methodological and theoretical relevance of anthropology to be applied in understanding and solving real life problems. All the chapters are organized similarly. In addition to the theories, method and application, contributors have reflected on their personal anthropological endeavors and becoming professional anthropologists. Based on their personal experience and knowledge they have also provides five tips to be keep in mind while doing anthropological work.   The contributors convincingly demonstrate that how anthropological knowledge and methods are relevant to address the problems and issues humanity facing at a global level. They also described that how applied anthropology contributes theoretically and methodologically to the broader discipline of anthropology. 

The editors’ introduction covers a discussion on anthropology’s stereotypical image, the discipline’s contested history – particularly in relation to its applied aspects – and finally, calls for breaking the image of anthropology as an interesting but not a very useful endeavor. Instead, they call for an anthropology that moves beyond the description of academically interesting phenomena and towards informing change for the better.

 In discussing the discipline’s contested history editors elaborate that how the historical link between western colonialism and anthropology, especially applied anthropology, contributes to the split within the discipline as “pure” and “applied, as lesser” anthropology. They convincingly explains that though western colonialism used anthropology and anthropologists to sustain its domination over colonized people, however, both academic and applied anthropology have contributed to development of each other since its inception.  They argued that beside the use of applied anthropology the colonial powers, especially the Britain, have also established the departments of anthropology in academic institutions to train their administrators in anthropology and that the classical ethnographies were administrative reports. In this way applied anthropology paved the way for institutionalization of the discipline, while, at the same time, ‘academic anthropology’ with its theories and methodological approaches have clearly informed applied anthropological endeavors. It points to a continuous interlinking of ‘applied’ and ‘academic’ anthropology.

Similarly, to break the stereotypical conception of applied anthropology as the “evil twin” of academic anthropology, and anthropology in general as “interesting but obsolete endeavor”, the editors presents solid argument to change this public perception. They argued that a number of anthropological programs have a strong emphasis on the applied aspect of anthropological work and that much anthropology graduates have already embraced opportunities in various field outside academia. They also stressed that beside extended ethnographic field work new participatory and innovative approaches should be developed and used, such as the use of digital technologies and to work across disciplinary boundaries, to make anthropology well-suited to the requirement of changing world outside academia. In changing the public perception regarding the importance of anthropology in solving the real life problems, the editors argued that anthropologists should more openly and actively engage in developing ‘positive proposals’ and inform social change rather than only observe and comment on the society as ‘social critics’.

Finally the introductory chapter reflects on the accounts of Why the World Needs anthropologists Symposiums and of the contributors of this book in rebranding the discipline of anthropology. It suggests that anthropology has most certainly moved beyond its prevalent stereotypical public image, thus, in the process, continuously striving to make the world a better place.  

Chapter one and two discussed the relevance of anthropological theories and methods in understanding and solving some burning issues the world is facing today globally.  Thomas Hylland Eriksen, for example, emphasized that the world today needs anthropology more than ever. He argues that without anthropological approaches such as cultural relativism, ethnography, comparison and the contextual understanding, the pressing problems of an increasingly globalized, transnational and connected world characterized by extensive ambiguity, complexity and ambivalence, cannot be solved. Given this diverse socio-economic and cultural context of the world, the author explains that Cultural relativism is indispensable in anthropological attempts to understand societies in neutral terms. It is not an ethical principle, but a methodological tool. Similarly he explains that ethnographic field work enables the researcher to learn about aspects of local worlds that are inaccessible to researchers who use other methods. Because, Ethnography requires from the researcher to spent much time in the field for participant observation and to  build trust with the people they try to understand, who will then, consciously or not, reveal aspects of their lives that they would not speak about to a journalist or a social scientist with a questionnaire, for example. While discussing Comparison as an approach, the author argued that it enables the anthropologists to look for similarities and differences between social and cultural worlds that is how the can develop insights into the nature of society and human existence. Finally he discussed the need for anthropology with respect to some issues the world is facing today, such as, an enormous increase in contact between culturally different groups, shrinking of the world due satellite television, mobile phone networks and the internet, more rapid pace of cultural change than ever before, and an unprecedented interest in cultural identity.

Similarly, Lenora Bohren comprehensively discussed issues such as, refugee crises, cultural diversity and depletion of the environment. According to her many cultures with diverse values have come into contact and have increased the potential for misunderstanding and conflict, in this regard Anthropologists with their expertise in culture can play a very important role in addressing these problems. She further discussed in details some specific problems, such as, refugee crises, diversity issues, and environmental degradation, and the role she played, as an applied environmental anthropologist, in solving them successfully.

The next three chapters combine ‘theoretical scholarship and applied practice’, describing how anthropological knowledge and skills can be transferred and successfully used in governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations and industry. Joana Breidenbach, chapter three, described some basic anthropological premises, such as, multiperspectivity, suspending judgement, acknowledging the fluidity of life and the importance of various inner and outer dimensions, answering big questions by studying the very concrete phenomena – and how she has been doing so by listening to people’s stories. According to her, in an era characterized by exponential increase in complexity due to global interconnectedness and digitization, being able to grasp multiple perspectives simultaneously is a key capacity. It enables us to integrate perspectives from many different stakeholders and communicate across sectors in order to design and implement strategies. Similarly she argues that the researcher must enter the field with suspended judgment, avoiding any preoccupations and binary thinking. This requires the researcher to apply a culturally relativistic lens to open up himself to many sources of information and to a variety of different factors which shape the cultural logic of the context he is studying. Suspended judgement prevents the anthropologist from premature conclusions and easy interpretations. We need to be comfortable with not-knowing, with ambiguity and with ambivalence. Next she disused, why it is important to Coming closer to the fluidity of life? She argues that earlier generations of anthropologists tried to depict ‘a culture’ as a whole, writing ethnographies about the life of an entire population. Today, most anthropologists claim to grasp a holistic snapshot of a specific social setting, constellation or field. They question monolithic representations and truth claims, while instead giving voice to other often marginalized perspectives and stories.   

Professor Sarah Pink, chapter 4, Drawing on her expertise in emerging technologies, she envisions a new form of anthropology, breaking with how we have traditionally seen the discipline. She suggests that anthropological endeavors should be interdisciplinary, team-based, methodologically creative and, very importantly, interventional and future-oriented. She argues that the increase in automations and machine intelligence will bring more technological complexities to world in future.  She criticizes the current technological determinism, (solutionism and anticipatory risk mitigation strategies based on predictive scenarios and the assumptions that technological innovation will solve social and economic problem), in solving the socio-economic problem without proper understanding of the society. She proposed an interdisciplinary and interventional anthropology of our relationships with the emerging technologies that have been predicted to impact our lives, and which could be used to replace the technological determinism with an understanding of technology as creating possibilities. 

In chapter 5, Steffen Jöhncke tries to cover the split between academic and applied anthropology. He explains how applied and academic anthropology co-evolve in collaboration with partners outside academia.  He discussed his personal experience, as head of AnthroA nalysis, a center for applied anthropology, that by focusing on the problems outside the discipline it has become clear that in this work we do not so much ‘apply’ anthropology as a finished package of knowledge that is ‘put to use’. Rather, we explore and develop new formats and adaptations of anthropological university-based research through on-going exchanges with collaborative partners in potentially all sectors of society. He emphasizes that collaboration with partners and translating their organizational problems into anthropological question is a key element in applied anthropology.

The following two chapters cover a detailed discussion of anthropology of energy, which has become an important research topic in recent decades. It can be argued that energy has influenced almost every aspect of our daily life. In these chapters the authors argues that the social scientist and anthropologists should play their role in researching and shaping issues related energy, which was traditionally considered in the domain of engineering. In chapter six, for example, while discussing social dimension of energy, Professor Tanja Winther, reflects on her work at the intersection of anthropology and power engineering, which is traditionally considered being two radically different disciplines. However, she explains that engineering and anthropology provide complementary insights, and she has found it inspiring to combine them in her work on the social dimensions of energy. While working on certain energy projects in Africa with multidisciplinary teams, she emphasizes the anthropological approach as one that enables us to discover the variety and complexity in a non-normative way.  She also calls for anthropologists to inform policy-making and use their knowledge and skills to push for a more inclusive, sustainable and just system.

Sophie Bouly de Lesdain,chapter seven, explains, a significant challenge for the energy industry and policy makers is to find the levers of action that make acceptance of green energy technologies possible. In her opinion, anthropology’s conceptual methods and tools are perfectly suited to addressing such issues and informing the solutions to them: anthropologists can provide a deep understanding of the context as well as the motivations, adjustments made and problems faced by those adopting sustainable energy technologies.

The next three chapters discussed the application of anthropology, in a dynamic way and beyond the traditional conception of anthropology, in business domain by anthropologists as consultants and practitioners. 

In chapter eight, Rikke Ulk, founder of Antropologerne (The Anthropologists) an anthropological consultancy company, discussed her motivation for anthropological consulting. The main motivation for her was to be more vibrant and to move beyond the academic boundaries of anthropology she experienced during her studies. She discussed that how she reached out and brings anthropological values to more people and organizations than anthropologists solely based in academic work could. Since many years Antropologerne has collaborated with a number of public and private institutions, making sense of the organizations’ issues and bringing clients and users on board in the process of co-creating the solutions to them.

Jitske Kramer, founder of the consultancy firm HumanDimensions, in chapter nine, emphasizes the importance of understanding the increasingly diverse organizations and companies. He argues that for organizations to create sustainable cultural change within their structures, it is important to make sense of the ever changing corporate culture first. According to Kramer, anthropological theories and methods are more than relevant to undertake such endeavors. He suggests that by combining the insider and outsider perspectives it became easy to strengthen or change organizational cultures. Drawing on the anthropological appreciation of ‘our cultural variety’ Kramer has been especially committed to promoting more inclusive corporate cultures.

Anna Kirah, a design anthropologist and psychologist, in chapter ten, emphasizes the need for anthropologists to not only describe cultures but to engage in facilitating change. In this process, she argues, the most important premise is that products and services should not be designed people; instead, they should be designed them. Moreover, anthropologists as practitioners have a ‘moral and ethical responsibility’ to address the problems humanity faces, especially in times of accelerated change and the resulting challenges linked to globalization, sustainability, healthcare and technology.

The final chapter, Riall W. Nolan, discussed his important contributions to the fields of international development and higher education as a practitioner, a researcher and an educator.  He suggests that anthropological thinking is essential to understand the complexities of the world we live in. In chapter eleven, he criticizes the existing understanding of real world through numbers, and emphasized that to understand the human diversity and complexity we need to undertake contextual analysis by using anthropological knowledge methods and thinking. Nolan also suggests that it is not enough that only anthropologists should embraced anthropological thinking but the society should embraced it. Thus while the world perhaps does not need more anthropologists, we definitely ‘need more anthropological thinking’.

Yasir Khan

References 

Kedia, S., & Van Willigen, J. (2005). Applied anthropology: Context for domains of application. Applied anthropology: Domains of application, 1-32.

Rylko‐Bauer, B., Singer, M., & Willigen, J. V. (2006). Reclaiming applied anthropology: Its past, present, and future. American anthropologist, 108(1), 178-190.

https://www.appliedanthro.org/about

https://www.applied-anthropology.com/

https://www.easaonline.org/conferences/