AAN Impulse No. 8 - "Anthropologists as explorers, innovators... and managers? What does it take to have impact in today's world?" (by Melissa Cefkin, Snr. Staff Researcher at WAYMO)

APPLIED-ANTHRO-POWER?

How to get it and why we might not have it yet, tells us Melissa Cefkin, Senior Staff Researcher at WAYMO, in this AAN Impulse session!

Anthropologists have deployed a couple of key tropes in their aim to gain relevance in today’s future-oriented world. One, the trope of anthropologist-as-explorer, directs attention to new places and new subjects, trading mobile devices for pith helmets to go to exotic, uncharted territories. Another is the anthropologist-as-innovator, developing new methodologies and tools for grappling with the subjects and objects of investigation.

While both are inspiring and perhaps necessary, they are also insufficient for gaining a seat at the proverbial table-of-relevance. What is needed is not just to refocus our gaze on new objects or look at the same things in new ways, creativ ...