Public anthropology

Anthropology
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Outline History
Types Archaeological Biological Cultural Linguistic Social
Archaeological Aerial Aviation Battlefield Biblical Bioarchaeological Environmental Ethnoarchaeological Experimental Feminist Forensic Maritime Paleoethnobotanical Zooarchaeological
Biological Anthrozoological Biocultural Evolutionary Forensic Molecular Neurological Nutritional Paleoanthropological Primatological
Social Cultural Applied Art Cognitive Cyborg Development Digital Ecological Environmental Economic Political economy Feminist Food Historical Human rights Institutional Kinship Legal Media Medical Museums Musical Political Psychological Public Religion Symbolic Transpersonal Urban Visual
Linguistic Anthropological Descriptive Ethnological Ethnopoetical Historical Ideology Semiotic Sociological
Research framework Anthropometry Ethnography cyber Ethnology Cross-cultural comparison Participant observation Holism Reflexivity Thick description Cultural relativism Ethnocentrism Emic and etic
Key concepts Culture Development Ethnicity Evolution sociocultural Gender Kinship and descent Meme Prehistory Race Society Value Colonialism / Postcolonialism
Key theories Actor–network theory Alliance theory Boasian anthropology Cross-cultural studies Cultural materialism Culture theory Diffusionism Feminism Functionalism Historical particularism Historical materialism Interpretive Performance studies Political economy Practice theory Structuralism Post-structuralism Systems theory
Lists Anthropologists by nationality Anthropology by year Bibliography Journals List of indigenous peoples Organizations

Public anthropology, a concept introduced by Robert Borofsky, involves two interrelated senses of the term 'public’. The first turns inward, subjecting anthropology’s institutional practices to public scrutiny and asking why the field has struggled to produce cumulative knowledge about the populations it studies. To address this limitation, public anthropology emphasizes research transparency—notably the accessibility of fieldnotes—so that ethnographic claims can be revisited and extended over time. The second meaning turns outward, asserting anthropology’s responsibility to bear ethnographic witness to different ways of life and leveraging this knowledge to address larger social issues of our time, following the community-building model of Partners In Health.

At its core lies a commitment embodied in Justice Louis Brandeis’s famous assertion: “Publicity is justly commended as a remedy for social and industrial diseases. Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants; electric light the most efficient policeman” (Brandeis 1914:92).