Elisabeth Tauber, Dorothy Zinn, eds, <em>The public value of anthropology: Engaging critical social issues through ethnography</em>, Bozen/Bolzano University Press, 2015, pp. 174
10.7340/anuac2239-625X-2264
Recensione di Elisabeth Tauber, Dorothy Zinn, eds, The public value of anthropology: Engaging critical social issues through ethnography, Bozen/Bolzano University Press, 2015, pp. 174.
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Elisabeth Tauber, Dorothy Zinn, eds, <em>The public value of anthropology: Engaging critical social issues through ethnography</em>, Bozen/Bolzano University Press, 2015, pp. 174
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Marek Pawlak
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Elisabeth Tauber, Dorothy Zinn, eds, <em>The public value of anthropology: Engaging critical social issues through ethnography</em>, Bozen/Bolzano University Press, 2015, pp. 174
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                                            2016 ⎸ANUAC. VOL. 5, N° 1, GIUGNO 2016: 357-359




                                                                            RECENSIONI

Elisabeth TAUBER, Dorothy ZINN (eds) ⎸The Public Value of Anthropology:
Engaging Critical Social Issues Through Ethnography, Bozen/Bolzano University
Press, 2015, pp. 174.


    In recent years, many anthropological conferences, workshops and seminars have
been dedicated to the idea of engaging anthropology in the public sphere. It seems that
living in an anxious times fuels the need among many anthropologists to speak out and
comment various public fears and concerns. Having participated in few such confer-
ences and workshops, I must admit that most of them focus chiefly on the recollection
of engaged works of our predecessors (e.g., Franz Boas, Margaret Mead, or even
Claude Lévi-Strauss) and end with the standard call to act more. For that reason, I had
rather high hopes when I stumbled upon The Public Value of Anthropology: Engaging
Critical Social Issues Through Ethnography edited by Elisabeth Tauber and Dorothy
Zinn. After all, the book seems to be an interesting attempt at turning the often long-
winded idea of anthropological engagement into the practice.
    The book offers a series of well thought chapters that cover a wide range of social,
cultural and political issues, which are contemporary relevant and loom large in public
discourse. Importantly, each chapter is ethnographically grounded what makes the
book even more interesting and significant. In the introduction, Elisabeth Tauber and
Dorothy Zinn attempt to clarify the principles of anthropological perspective as well as
briefly outline the ongoing and rather complex debate about engagement in anthropolo-
gical scholarship. It is a well-written and balanced effort to explain to non-anthropolo-
gical readers the short history of anthropological research themes, ethnographic ap-
proach and the pervasive, yet often too tendentious and narrow-minded, distinction
between academic and engaged anthropology. The introduction serves as a sounded
point of departure for the subsequent chapters, which explore various issues in a critic-
al way «with implications for globalised social reality» (Tauber, Zinn 2015: 18). In her
chapter on complex policies and procedures involved in the asylum system, Barbara
Sorgoni scrutinises institutional levels of power and their consequences for the asylum
seekers in Italy. Her ethnographic research carried out among local decision makers,
social workers reveals the misconceptions, which often are inscribed in the existing
asylum systems. In the next chapter, Sabine Klocke-Daffa deals with a rather difficult


This work is licensed under the Creative Commons © Marek Pawlak
2016 ⎸ANUAC. VOL. 5, N° 1, GIUGNO 2016: 357-359.
ISSN: 2239-625X - DOI: 10.7340/anuac2239-625X-2264
358                     ELISABETH TAUBER, DOROTHY ZINN ⎸THE PUBLIC VALUE OF ANTHROPOLOGY


collaboration between anthropologists (academics) and curators (practitioners) plan-
ning together a museum exhibition in Germany. In a detailed, almost step-by-step ac-
count, she presents not only the predicaments of such collaboration, but also well-
known difficulties of communicating anthropological knowledge to the outside world.
Cătălina Tesăr, on the other hand, in her most interesting in-depth ethnographic field-
work among Romanian Roma in Italy, problematises the common assumptions about
begging. According to Tesăr, begging should not be simply combined with charity, but
rather approached and understood in terms of work and agency. Following her field
collaborators, Tesăr explores the most intimate aspects of begging and sheds a new
light on often taken for granted ideas. Next chapter, written by Jane Henrici, concerns
the relationships between craft production, fair trade and tourism in Peru. Henrici de-
scribes the consumption practices, which are driven by tourism and examines the exist-
ing «conditions of disparity». As she argues, in order to explore the complex intersec-
tions between tourism and fair trade, one needs to contextualise them in the lines of
race and gender relations. The volume ends with the chapter written by Monika Wies-
sensteiner in which she analyses the meanings and functions of the practices related to
the idea of «global fight against torture». Therefore, she scrutinises the context of med-
ical, psychological and legal procedures imposed on asylum seekers in Europe. Interest-
ingly (and justifiably), Wiessensteiner approaches the issue of procedural application as
social practice of knowledge production, which has particular consequences for vic-
tims-survivors.
   All of the ethnographic case studies included in the volume present a high quality
research conduct, which is contextualized and problematized with intentions to enhance
knowledge and raise the awareness. The social issues engaged through ethnographic
method reveal the most important fields of inquiries in contemporary anthropology,
such as the intersections between political and everyday life discourses and practices,
cultural translation and the processes of othering or neoliberal capitalism and its con-
sequences for our lives. The juxtaposition of formal (political, bureaucratic) and in-
formal (daily life) strategies and practices in different chapters reveal the often con-
cealed context of power relations and struggles between different social actors. By ex-
ploring agency at work, the authors show complexities and entanglements of the neolib-
eral world, what in my opinion makes their arguments even more convincing. The
volume offers also a detailed problematisation of taken for granted assumptions, which
widely pervade the public sphere. It is precisely what anthropology is about; the
strength of anthropological perspective lies in the ability to make the familiar exotic
and the exotic familiar. Importantly, such approach to communicating anthropological
findings makes them more accessible also for non-anthropologists.
   Although, the book is definitely an interesting contribution to the ongoing debates
on engaging anthropology, it also raises one main concern. The title The Public Value
of Anthropology is somehow misleading since it indicates that the book’s main target
readers will be not academics, but rather public audience. However, as the editors state


2016 ⎸ANUAC. VOL. 5, N° 1, GIUGNO 2016: 357-359
ELISABETH TAUBER, DOROTHY ZINN ⎸THE PUBLIC VALUE OF ANTHROPOLOGY                   359


in the introduction, the volume aims to «make anthropological thinking and the con-
struction of knowledge from ethnography accessible to other disciplines» (Tauber, Zinn
2015: 2) as well as students of social work, education and communication studies. Ob-
viously, popularising anthropology among other scholars is important; however, one
should not neglect the idea of reaching out beyond university milieu. Otherwise, it may
be argued that focusing merely on academic readership reproduces the well-known
problem of “ivory tower” and does not reveal the true public value of anthropology.
Moreover, it is precisely the internal logic of academia that hinders engagement and
any attempts to communicate knowledge with the “outside world”. Although scholars
should have a sense of accountability towards general public and engage more in trans-
ferring knowledge to the “outsiders”, many choose (or are somehow obliged) to write
merely for academic colleagues and milieu. After all, only by following the logic of
academia one can pursuit academic career; thereby, for many scholars to write for pop-
ular readers is rather of a secondary importance.
   Nevertheless, The Public Value of Anthropology: Engaging Critical Social Issues
Through Ethnography is a crucial reading for those, who are genuinely interested in an-
thropological approaches to the contemporary world. Unfortunately, the authors limit
their scope of readership by aiming to engage only academics and thus neglecting the
popular audience. As a result, the public value of anthropology remains valuable for
academia itself.




                                                                     Marek PAWLAK
                                                     Jagiellonian University in Cracow
                                                              marek.pawlak@uj.edu.pl




                                        2016 ⎸ANUAC. VOL. 5, N° 1, GIUGNO 2016: 357-359
