Public Anthropology, Essay Example

Public anthropology refers to the process of taking principles from the anthropological field of study and to further apply those concepts to a wider range of disciplines. Most notably, public anthropology is meant to address modern day social problems and issues. Also, public anthropology seeks to use a broader, less-specific language to open up discourse to all people of society. This then allows members of the public to engage in one another in efforts to solve issues of social concern. Specifically, Borofsky says that public anthropology gets the public involved in some of today’s big questions, such as how to solve issues of violence, justice, health, human rights. Although this is already a function of the principles and study of anthropology, the attempt of public anthropology is to involve those who are not familiar with or part of the discipline. This means that less specialty and scientific language in order to make the language familiar for the public to apply the principles to broader issues.

The overall goal of public anthropology is to solve society’s major issues. Public anthropology programs at universities prepare students for positions of a public nature, which includes public administration, public sector type careers. This can range anywhere from advocacy, community organizing, political positions, essentially any type of position in which someone in the field can apply the concepts to directly engage and help solve and address societal problems. Also part of the goal of public anthropology is to open up dialogue instead of keeping the discourse among members of academia and experts in the fields. This gives a wider range among the public on how to apply anthropological principles to a variety of subjects and disciplines, which ultimately leads to higher involvement and understanding of the field.

References

Borofsky, Robert. “Defining Public Anthropology” (2011). <http://www.publicanthropology.org/public-anthropology/>.