Anthropology in the Public Sphere

Recently, StinkyJournalism.org and SavageMinds.org announced they will be simultaneously cross-publishing a series of essays exploring Jared Diamond’s controversial New Yorker Magazine article, “Annals of Anthropology: Vengeance is Ours.” Controversial, for example, in that Diamond is currently being sued and has been accused of endangering his informant's life.

The essay series titled, The Pig in a Garden: Jared Diamond and The New Yorker, is written and edited by ethics scholars in the fields of anthropology and communications, as well as journalists, environmental scientists, archaeologists, anthropologists and linguists et al.

As an anthropologist, i will be following these ‘explorations’ closely as professional anthropologists everywhere seem to be quite disturbed by how Diamond, a PhD in physiology, is representing their discipline in the public sphere. Not only does Diamond often make statements that seem to present his claims as accepted anthropological 'truths', he also blurs formal and ethical boundaries between popular science, journalism and Anthropology proper.

Personally i found Diamond’s Pulitzer Prize winning Guns, Germs and Steel a fascinating read, well argued and broad enough in its claims to be a valuable supplement to current understandings of how human societies have emerged and evolved. Diamond shows – i believe – how differences in geography and natural ‘resources’ can often be deciding factors (although not determinate causes) when a particular group gains dominance over another, and how historical processes combine to afford an increased overall sociocultural complexity. [You can watch the documentary based on Diamond’s book here]

However, i think it’s interesting that anthropologists are finally getting enough moxie to openly and aggressively debate questions about ‘human nature’, culture and differences in social practice within mass culture. Anthropology as a formal body of knowledge has much to offer to both intellectual and lay discourse. As one author explains in her contribution to the series, part of the reason for furthering this ‘debate’ is to reclaim some of the attention and interest among general readers lost to popular writers like Diamond.

Well here’s hoping this series – and the passionate debate these essays may provoke - will do much towards creating a wider general audience for anthropological insights.

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