World Anthropologies in Practice: Situated Perspectives, Global Knowledge

Description

In a post-colonial world, the contributions of anthropologists living outside North America and Western Europe can no longer be treated as marginal. World Anthropologies in Practice demonstrates how global dialogues enable us to draw on local knowledge as well as differences of perspective to help overcome anthropology's eternal struggle against ethnocentrism and to strengthen the subject's relevance to the contemporary world. Based on contributions to the ASA-sponsored IUAES World Anthropology Congress in Manchester, UK, this truly global book brings together a wide range of international scholars who might otherwise not talk to each other. Featuring articles from leading figures in the field such as Winnie Lem, Carmen Rial, Miriam Grossi, and Cristina Amescua, the volume covers topics as diverse as the mobility of Brazilian footballers, toilets in South Africa, trade unions in Nepal and South Africa, peace-building in southern Thailand, museological approaches in China, the Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami, immigration and race in the United States, and many more. Edited by John Gledhill, the text offers a much-needed insight into the way in which anthropology is developing worldwide and makes a tremendous contribution to the discussion of 'world anthropologies'. An important, timely work for students and researchers.

John Gledhill is Emeritus Professor at Manchester University, UK.

This is a superb book. John Gledhill's initiative shows how the cooperation of national and international institutions and anthropologists may generate different anthroscapes. It is a practical demonstration of some of the world anthropologies movement's central tenets: the value of the discipline's internal diversity, of new conditions of conversability and of heterodox cross-fertilizations. Hopefully other volumes will follow. Gledhill has managed to distill a terrific sample of the plethora of anthropological papers presented at the world (IUAES) congress he convened in Manchester in 2013. The event absorbed the annual ASA gathering that year, and this volume aptly illustrates both the huge diversity of issues and approaches our field can boast, and the commonality we nevertheless share. This volume opens up the anthropological conversation and challenges the contention that 'dominant anthropology' can contain the vibrancy and intellectual power of a pluralistic and diverse approach to knowledge production and dissemination. This collection of thoughtful and well-researched papers illustrates the strength of a world anthropologies approach and offers the creativity and reflexivity required for a more inclusive and engaged disciplinary future.