let us do more than hope

Way back before the pandemic, so very long ago in the before times, I wrote and illustrated a book chapter to appear in this book: https://utorontopress.com/9781487524418/cool-anthropology/

The purpose of the book is really quite special: it’s about rethinking how we engage people in doing the work of anthropology, and how we push back against the idea of exclusivity. Everyone can be a thinker, and a knower, and diverse publics can be engaged in meaningful ways. Here’s the blurb:

“Through a series of case studies by leading anthropologists, Cool Anthropology highlights the many different approaches that scholars have used to engage the public with their research. Editors Kristina Baines and Victoria Costa showcase efforts to make meaningful connections with communities outside the walls of academia, moving anthropological thinking beyond the discipline. Through their focus on collaborative efforts, contributors push against the exclusivity of “knowledge production” to ask how engaging communities as both producers and consumers of academic research helps to promote anthropology better and do anthropology better.”

Here is the absolutely fantastic website the authors have put together: Wow! http://coolanthropology.com/book/

I am not sure I qualify as a leading anthropologist, but I am so pleased to have my work included. It seems strange to see something from the before times, both before the pandemic and the summa horrore of the past year but perhaps that is proof of continuity, found in the idea that anyone can and should engage in this important work, not just those of us walled up in academia.

My chapter, titled “Let Us Do More Than Hope” talks in concrete terms about how I use the arts– specifically illustration and comic art– to do this work. And of course it is illustrated.

Look for me having the last word in chapter 14!