Engaged Anthropology Politics beyond the Text [Hardcover]

Does anthropology have more to offer than just its texts? In this timely and remarkable book, Stuart Kirsch shows how anthropology can—and why itshould—become more engaged with the problems of the world.Engaged Anthropologydraws on the author’s experiences working with indigenous peoples fighting for their environment, land rights, and political sovereignty. Including both short interventions and collaborations spanning decades, it recounts interactions with lawyers and courts, nongovernmental organizations, scientific experts, and transnational corporations. This unflinchingly honest account addresses the unexamined “backstage” of engaged anthropology. Coming at a time when some question the viability of the discipline, the message of this powerful and original work is especially welcome, as it not only promotes a new way of doing anthropology, but also compellingly articulates a new rationale for why anthropology matters.  

Stuart Kirschis Professor of Anthropology at the University of Michigan and author ofMining Capitalism andReverse Anthropology. 

"As the promises of globalization unravel, and as the ecological devastation of the planet deepens, Stuart Kirsch’s persuasive call for engaged forms of anthropology becomes vital to the survival of the field as a relevant intellectual and ethical project. This is a book all social scientists must read."—Arturo Escobar, author ofDesigns for the Pluriverse: Radical Interdependence, Autonomy, and the Making of Worlds

"No one is better qualified than Stuart Kirsch to take on this topic. His treatment of what has been a taboo subject in political and legal anthropology, the tension between scholarly and activist goals, is handled with a forthrightness that leads to important insight."—Ron Niezen, author ofPublic Justice and the Anthropology of Law