Public anthropology
Encyclopedia
Public Anthropology, according to Robert Borofsky, a professor at Hawaii Pacific University, "demonstrates the ability of anthropology and anthropologists to effectively address problems beyond the discipline - illuminating larger social issues of our times as well as encouraging broad, public conversations about them with the explicit goal of fostering social change" (Borofsky 2004).
Merrill Singer
has criticized the concept of public anthropology on the grounds that it ignores applied anthropology
. He writes: "given that many applied anthropologists already do the kinds of things that are now being described as PA, it is hard to understand why a new label is needed, except as a device for distancing public anthropologists from applied anthropologists" (Singer 2000: 6). Similarly, Barbara Rylko-Bauer
writes: "one has to ask what is the purpose of these emerging labels that consciously distinguish themselves from applied/practicing anthropology? While they may serve the personal interests of those who develop them, it is hard to see how they serve the broader interests of the discipline" (Rylko-Bauer 2000: 6). Eric Haanstad responds to Singer's claim by arguing that public anthropology does not necessarily entail the exclusion of applied anthropology (Haanstad 2001a). Alan Jeffery Fields defends the concept of public anthropology by claiming it is "a useful trope for one important reason: it calls attention to the fact that there is a division between public and academic perceptions" (Fields 2001a).
Merrill Singer
Merrill Singer
Merrill Singer is a medical anthropologist with a dual appointment in the Department of Anthropology and the Center for Health, Intervention and Prevention, University of Connecticut. He is also a professor in the Department of Community Medicine and Health Care at the University of Connecticut...
has criticized the concept of public anthropology on the grounds that it ignores applied anthropology
Applied anthropology
Applied anthropology refers to the application of the method and theory of anthropology to the analysis and solution of practical problems. In as much as anthropology traditionally entails four sub-disciplines--Archaeology, biological/physical, cultural/social, and linguistic anthropology—the...
. He writes: "given that many applied anthropologists already do the kinds of things that are now being described as PA, it is hard to understand why a new label is needed, except as a device for distancing public anthropologists from applied anthropologists" (Singer 2000: 6). Similarly, Barbara Rylko-Bauer
Barbara Rylko-Bauer
Barbara Rylko-Bauer is an anthropologist and a professor at Michigan State University's Department of Anthropology. She was born in 1950 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and emigrated with her parents to the United States that same year.-Career:...
writes: "one has to ask what is the purpose of these emerging labels that consciously distinguish themselves from applied/practicing anthropology? While they may serve the personal interests of those who develop them, it is hard to see how they serve the broader interests of the discipline" (Rylko-Bauer 2000: 6). Eric Haanstad responds to Singer's claim by arguing that public anthropology does not necessarily entail the exclusion of applied anthropology (Haanstad 2001a). Alan Jeffery Fields defends the concept of public anthropology by claiming it is "a useful trope for one important reason: it calls attention to the fact that there is a division between public and academic perceptions" (Fields 2001a).