Public Anthropology as Public Pedagogy: An Autobiographical Account

This autobiographical account provides a historical map of landmarks in the author's personal and professional life that led him to his present understanding of public anthropology as public pedagogy and vice versa. He indicates that his experiences led him to study sociocultural anthropology to investigate learning from experience, a foundational method in anthropology that this discipline describes as participant observation. While not completely rejecting participant observation, he asserts that objective and value-free anthropology is not viable, and hence an activist approach may not only support research agendas but also support the needs of the people and communities under study. He explains some of the issues that are related to making this approach work and the ethical elements involved in an approach that is mutually advantageous. As an anthropologist, he became more involved in the political engagement of the people who were the subjects of his investigation. His position is that at this time i...