Introduction

Willow, Anna J.; Yotebieng, Kelly A.

doi:10.4324/9781003028598-101

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…Anthropology of/as/and activism has blossomed into a full‐fledged subfield of anthropology (Willow and Yotebieng, 2020). According to what is positioned as the mainstream narrative, US anthropology has a mostly unbroken legacy of activism since its formalization with Franz Boas 5.…”

Section: Activist Anthropologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Dilemmas of anthropological activism, solidarity, and human rights: Lessons from Haiti

Schuller

2023

American Anthropologist

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Building on a growing anthropological engagement with and interrogation of the multiple forms and meanings of activism, this article—based on over 20 years of activist engagement and ethnographic interviews spanning 11 years—offers ethnographically grounded understandings of solidarity activism. The rich and at times messy (auto)ethnographic data suggest that contradictions inherent to liberal humanism can increase hierarchies and social distance between groups across national boundaries. Further, new social media technologies notwithstanding, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) remain hegemonic vehicles for this transnational exchange. The experience in Haiti, dubbed the “Republic of NGOs,” highlights contradictions within solidarity activism, generating a useful set of questions for other activist anthropologists and solidarity activists who work elsewhere. Moving beyond the discussion of what anthropology brings to activism, or the reverse, this article offers insights from ethnographic analyses of NGOs, or NGOgraphy, to critically understand and assess anthropological activism. Specifically, building off insights of “NGOing” as a verb, this article interrogates the (micro)politics, structures, and consequences of intervention. Further, international solidarity activism often operates on logics of projects and deliverables, and therefore NGOing can eclipse other “metrics,” disrupting and dividing local communities. Like NGOs, anthropologists function within a hierarchical transnational political economy and division of labor. [activist anthropology, Haiti, NGOs, solidarity, autoethnography]

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Section: Activist Anthropologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Dilemmas of anthropological activism, solidarity, and human rights: Lessons from Haiti

Schuller

2023

American Anthropologist

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“…Indeed, there are a number of common points between the arguments about applied or engaged anthropology and our own aims in studying religion. According to some anthropologists (Warren 2006;Willow and Yotebieng 2022), the process of knowledge production can already be understood as a kind of transformative social engagement if we consider outputs such as reinterpretation, translation, and the deconstruction of established ways of meaning-making and thinking. In light of the legal procedures presented above, we should now agree that all cases in which the scholar of religion questions "religion" as a reified category are valuable for revealing and deconstructing the hidden social structures, relationships, and formation processes that lie behind common, locally binding notions of "religion".…”

Section: Activist Approach In Studying Religion: Toward the Radical S...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This has to do with the scholar's orientation, goals, and self-positionality. Anna Willow and Kelly Yotebieng's comment (Willow and Yotebieng 2022) on the hazy boundaries between anthropological research and activism in the case of applied anthropology can serve as a good example. While for applied anthropologists it is often difficult to draw a line between their activist and academic identities, for scholars of religion such division needs to be much clearer to prevent their possible confessional engagement.…”

Section: Activist Approach In Studying Religion: Toward the Radical S...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Engaged Study of Religion:

Zawiejska,

Trzcionkowski

2023

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The activist approach remains a neglected area in the study of religion(s). By activist, we mean a socially engaged yet non-confessional stance that focuses on the scholar dealing with the relationship between religion and the public sphere. While other disciplines are incorporating the socio-political and socially transformative potential of academic knowledge production into their curricula, the field of the study of religion(s) is lagging behind. The (dis)engagement and rejection of activist approaches in the study of religion seems to be determined by paradigms of knowledge production, the dominance of understanding and explanatory approaches, the programmatic socio-political neutrality of the religious studies scholar imposed by the discipline, and claims to the specificity and uniqueness of the object of study. However, as we attempt to show, several modes of engagement can be identified that lie between the scholar’s attitudes of engagement and programmatic neutrality in the study of religion(s), namely translating, deconstructing, meditating and transforming. We propose that these modes should be included in the spectrum of approaches that straddle the critical and activist study of religion. We argue for the radical mode of engagement as a further step in developing the link between research and activism in the study of religion. In doing so, we focus on the scholar(s) of religion as an authority figure, an agent of power distribution, capable of proposing reformulations, accompanying negotiations, and supporting processes of reordering the contemporary post-secular public sphere. This article is an invitation to discuss the activist approach within the scientific study of religion. We also hope to stimulate debate on more radical forms of the activist approach, which we would call “the radical study of religion(s)”.

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“…While this is an important step, for many it is not enough. Instead of simply reducing harm, anthropologists have a moral duty—and the theoretical basis—to see the mosaic of issues as interrelated, to practice radical empathy and solidarity (Schuller and foreword by Cynthia McKinney, 2021), and to step up as an advocate for marginalized communities (Low & Merry, 2010; Willow & Yotebieng, 2020). Unfortunately, this “advocacy anthropology” remains under‐discussed in academic circles (Hale, 2008), and certainly work by women of color and other marginalized people (Berry et al., 2017; Cox, 2015; Williams, 2009), leaving anthropologists‐in‐training with limited concrete guidance on how to apply their anthropological lens to social justice.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“Maintaining hope for a better future”: An interview with Dr. Crystal Felima

Felima,

DeeWaard,

Barbier

et al. 2023

Annals of Anthropol Pract

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While anthropologists have played roles speaking out for marginalized groups, formalized to combat Antisemitism, racism, and xenophobia, they have also aided in the marginalization and oppression of communities, justified colonialism, and put the communities they have studied at risk. In recent decades, anthropologists have rethought the way research is conducted, presented, and justified to reduce harm to communities. Despite these shifts, anthropological training has been slow to include activist work by women of color and other marginalized people, leaving anthropologists‐in‐training with limited concrete guidance on how to apply their anthropological lens to social justice. Addressing this gap, this article centering a Black feminist analysis offers an interview conducted between anthropology students and a professor of anthropology, giving insights into how anthropological thought can be applied to activism and advocacy. Centering Black feminism is not only important to redress historical marginalization within the discipline. By centering the lives of marginalized people within an intersectional lens, Black feminist analysis provides a mandate to rethink theoretical models, such as political ecology, the dominant frame anthropologists have used to address disasters and climate change. Also importantly, centering Black women's bodies and embodied experience uncovers the urgent necessity for self‐care during fieldwork. Prof. Felima embodies both these challenges, and offers candid advice to students, inspiring a two‐way dialogue.

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Introduction

Cited by 5 publications

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Dilemmas of anthropological activism, solidarity, and human rights: Lessons from Haiti

Dilemmas of anthropological activism, solidarity, and human rights: Lessons from Haiti

Engaged Study of Religion:

“Maintaining hope for a better future”: An interview with Dr. Crystal Felima

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