Special Topic: Journalism, Media and Public Anthropology

Description

Anthropology has a long history of publicness. There are any number of different ways in which anthropology might “go public”, and over the history of the discipline, anthropologists’ efforts to make their work publicly relevant have run the gamut. Franz Boas gave public lectures against eugenics and racism. Zora Neale Hurston wrote ethnographic novels. Ruth Benedict’s cultural analyses were best-sellers. Margaret Mead wrote a newspaper column. David Graeber helped to start Occupy Wall Street. And so on. Moreover, debate has recently reemerged in the field about how to best cultivate an anthropology that is useful and even transformative for public audiences. This course will explore some of the public history of the discipline, and will address some of the questions raised by these debates—including, but not limited to:  
• Who is anthropology’s public? What is a public, for that matter? How many publics are there and how do we best reach them?
• How might anthropological research—both in its questions and methods—be responsible to these publics?  
• How might anthropologists write for such publics?
• What other sorts of public media and discourses might be “anthropological” and how might anthropologists engage with them?
We will read work by anthropologists, journalists, and others who might help us answer these questions. The course material will include historical and contemporary texts alike exploring the methods, topics, and discourses that public anthropologists may engage with. Assessments will include a range of short writing exercises and a final project that combines research and writing (in a variety of genres and styles) for a public audience. Students will have the option of developing this project in collaboration with several local community groups or organisations with a stake in research or writing that is public and anthropological.