Public Anthropology in the 21st Century, with Some Examples from Norway

• Authors: Thomas Hylland Eriksen
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Although there seems to be broad agreement within the discipline about the desirability of a public anthropology, there is less certainty, or agreement, not only about how to achieve it in a responsible way but also about its very raison- d’être. What should an anthropology which engages closely with non-academic publics seek to achieve? Starting with a historical overview, the article argues that the lack of a clear societal task or assignment liberates anthropology from problem solving for the state, enabling it to stimulate the collective imagination by making bold comparisons and unexpected conjectures. The empirical examples from Norway show how public anthropologists can successfully mix the ‘light’ and the ‘heavy’ in getting their argument across and raising anthropological issues while also engaging with a broad, non-academic public.

Keywords

EN

public anthropology; Norway; history of anthropology; interdisciplinarity

Discipline

• ETHNOLOGY: ETHNOLOGY

• Publisher: Institute of Ethnology, Czech Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Český lid: etnologický časopis (Český lid: Ethnological journal)
• Year: 2016
• Volume: 103
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 23-36
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Thomas Hylland Eriksen

• Český lid, redakce, Etnologický ústav AV ČR, v.v.i., Na Florenci 3, 110 00 Praha 1, Czech Republic