Experts in the emerging academic field of public anthropology gathered to educate students in a roundtable discussion last night in the large conference room at the campus center.
The discipline uses anthropological research to address community action and public policy, such as the current labor dispute in San Francisco, according to the roundtable's program.
The discussion, organized by professor Mark Auslander from Brandeis University, focused on how public anthropology allows both professors and students to engage in community concerns.
Prominent academics from four universities in the Boston area shared the experiences that led them to public anthropology and raised questions about research approaches taken within the field.
After a welcome address by University College Dean Robert Hollister, professor Nina Kammerer from Brandeis University began by describing her training as an anthropologist who switched to public health research, drawing scoffs from her peers.
But Kammerer said the two fields of study are not completely unrelated. "I hope I've held true to the statement 'once an anthropologist always an anthropologist,'" she said.
The change did lead Kammerer to question the classification of her studies, however. "Is public anthropology a subfield or an approach to the discipline?" she asked, stating that it is "not simply anthropology outside of the academy."
Roundtable discussants emphasized the role of hands-on community research. Professor Ann Bookman of the Sloan School of Business at MIT commented on the public anthropologist's difficulty in balancing documentation versus social action while in the field.
All of the presenters discussed their opinions on the appropriate level of engagement public anthropologists should have with communities during their research. Tufts professor David Guss described a past project "not as an investigation of community but a creation of community itself."
In her presentation, Wellesley professor Sally Engle Merry pushed for a return of the kind of public intellectual exemplified by Margaret Mead. "Anthropology has been doing much less of that," she said.
Presenters also brought up the related fields of ethnology and public policy. "[When interviewing subjects,] their experiences should lead to public policy and it's our challenge to figure out how," Bookman said.
The roundtable also touched upon scientists' responsibilities in the field of public anthropology. "What are the ethical responsibilities of the anthropologist during a time of crisis?" Auslander asked.
Due to their extensive research and connections to the community, anthropologists may be qualified to participate in community decisions. "There's somewhat of a shift between the researcher and the activist, which is interesting and sometimes uncomfortable," Merry said.
According to Bookman, this strategy allows public anthropologist to take on widely-held myths. "The idea that nobody lives near their extended family anymore I found to be completely untrue," she said.
And while public anthropology may not be a controversial field, it remains ambiguous due to its recent inception. "It's a fusion of academics and going into the community," senior and anthropology major Juliette Lizeray said. "[What the presenters asked] were very good questions."
Students from both Tufts and Wellesley attended the event, which included an open discussion after the six presentations.
Tufts offers two courses in public anthropology. "Urban Borderlands," a methodological Latino studies class, is taught by Deborah Pacini Hernandez, while "Members of the Slave Trade" is taught by Associate Professor Rosalind Shaw.
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