Anthropology and Activism

This book offers a comprehensive and current look at the complex relationship between anthropology and activism. Activism has become a vibrant research topic within anthropology. Many scholars now embrace their own roles as engaged social actors, which has compelled reflexive attention to the anthropology/activism intersection and its implications. With contributions by emerging scholars as well as leading activist anthropologists, this volume illuminates the diverse ways in which the anthropology/activism relationship is being navigated. Chapters touch on key areas including environment and extraction, food sustainability and security, migration and human rights, health disparities and healthcare access, class and gender identities and empowerment, and the defense of democracy. Case studies (drawn mainly from North America) encourage readers to think through their own experiences and expectations and will serve as durable documentation of how movements develop and change. This timely survey of the activist anthropological landscape is valuable reading in an era of widely perceived ecological and political crisis, where disinterested data collection increasingly appears to be a luxury that neither the discipline nor the world can afford.

Anna J. Willow is a Professor of Anthropology at the Ohio State University, USA. Her recent books include ExtrACTION: Impacts, Engagements, and Alternative Futures (2017, co-edited with Kirk Jalbert, David Casagrande, and Stephanie Paladino) and Understanding ExtrACTIVISM: Culture and Power in Natural Resource Disputes (2018).

Kelly A. Yotebieng completed her PhD in the Ohio State University’s Department of Anthropology. She currently consults full-time with the World Bank and various UN agencies.