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Anthropological Publics, Public Anthropology: An Introduction

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Anthropology of Our Times

Abstract

In his introduction to this volume, Associate Researcher Sindre Bangstad at KIFO (Institute For Church, Religion and Worldview Research) takes the widespread contemporary notion of a rise and decline of public anthropology as his starting point. The chapter introduces the concept of public anthropology, as well as the alternative term of public anthropology. Bangstad contends that we not only have to scrutinize the term “public” in its variegated historical and cultural manifestations, but also have to ask about the effects of a changing media landscape, the rise of neoliberal “audit cultures ” in academia, and the changing political contexts in which anthropologists attempt to engage with wider and non-professional audiences. Or in short, to explore what one may refer to as the “political economy” of public anthropology . Based on anthropology’s mixed historical record with regard to power and power relationships in the countries in which anthropologists work, Bangstad argues that a view of anthropology which unambiguously tethers anthropology to the notion of it being a “public good ” is problematic. In this chapter, Bangstad also discusses the relationship between public and engaged anthropology . In conclusion, Bangstad argues that the case for public anthropology has to be made on a constant basis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. KIFO, Institute For Church, Religion And Worldview Research, Oslo, Norway

    Sindre Bangstad

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  1. Sindre Bangstad
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  1. KIFO, Institute For Church, Religion and Worldview Research, Vinderen, Norway

    Sindre Bangstad

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Bangstad, S. (2017). Anthropological Publics, Public Anthropology: An Introduction. In: Bangstad, S. (eds) Anthropology of Our Times. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-53849-9_1

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