• Addresses public problems in public ways

Framework for reshaping the discipline

• Accountability

• Transparency

• Collabnoration

• Benefiting others

Facilitating social change

• Collaboration with others outside the academy

• Exposes - Speaking truth to power

Two puzzles related to the field of Anthropology

1. Non-anthropologists tend to write the bestselling anthropologically oriented books despite the fact that anthropology deals with all sorts of intriguing questions about the human condition

2. Anthropology's positive efforts to improve people's lives have not often been highlighted in the world's newspapers or other media outlets

Public Anthropology - focuses on the interface between anthropology as an academic discipline and the broader public

• Addresses public problems in public ways

• Different from Academic anthropology which has a turned inward gaze

Frame work for reshaping the Discipline

• Accountability

• Transparency

• Collaboration

• Benefiting others

Four strategies to reform the discipline

1. judging them based on whether their work helps others

2. focus on outcomes that can be assessed directly, such as whether the results effectively address the problem and improve people’s lives

3. compare the effectiveness of different approaches to develop a comprehensive understanding of how to address a problem in a particular context

4. fourth strategy is to adopt an interdisciplinary approach that draws on insights from different fields

Companies can effectively implement a growth strategy by focusing on three key areas:

1. product/market fit - companies need to understand their target audience and tailor their product offerings to meet their specific needs

2. customer acquisition - involves developing effective marketing strategies and utilizing various channels to reach potential customers

3. customer retention - involves building strong relationships with existing customers through personalized communication and providing exceptional customer service

• Partners in Health (PIH) - nonprofit organization that builds medical support programs on communities’ existing structures and uses community personnel as staff

facilitate social change

• collaborating with organizations outside the academy to provide transparency and truthful public information needed to discredit the claims of competitors

• strategy involves conceptualizing important issues by using anthropology's core of comparison to provide frameworks that politicians, officials, and activists can use to address problems effectively

  • Ex. Fredrik Barth's work on ethnic conflict, which suggests that cultural conflicts are often the work of middle echelon politicians who use the politics of cultural difference to further their ambitions for leadership

• using exposés to challenge authority and expose illegal or inappropriate activity, but also requires finding ways to get others to recognize and take action to address the issue

Two Exposes - Truth to power

1. one about a man convicted of brokering black-market sales of human kidneys

2. Edward Snowden leaking classified government documents about the activities of the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA)

5 Stages of Yanomami blood - A writing narrative with impact but describes people as savages

1. Yanomami blood samples were taken in the late 1960s without their knowledge and stored in American institutions. The Yanomami were promised that their blood samples would be used to learn more about the diseases affecting them, but they were not. Returning the blood samples to the Yanomami sparked a debate between science and indigenous rights.

2. Yanomami leader Davi Kopenawa was told by Bruce Albert that his relatives' blood samples were stored in the US. The CCPY helped Kopenawa bring it to the attention of federal attorneys in Roraima and Brasilia.

3. The Center for a Public Anthropology worked with students to urge Pennsylvania State University to return blood samples taken from the Yanomami people. A letter to the university's president and the National Cancer Institute's correspondence had a positive effect. Despite this, bureaucratic issues and miscommunication delayed the return until 2010.

4. The Yanomami pursued legal action against the University of Michigan, Yale University, and the Venezuelan Institute of Scientific Research for taking their blood without informed consent and using it for research purposes without permission. The lawsuit was settled out of court in 2015, with the universities agreeing to pay $5.85 million in compensation to the Yanomami people.

5. The Yanomami blood sample controversy prompted the NIH to create new guidelines for research with human subjects, with a focus on respecting indigenous communities' rights. The guidelines stress informed consent and community benefit. The controversy also led to the creation of the Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism, which works to protect indigenous peoples' genetic resources and research ethics.