Engaged Anthropology in Turbulent Times – European Anthropology Days Digital Panel Discussion.

NAF is celebrating European Anthropology Days with a digital panel discussion

Just before Christmas, we lost one of Norway’s most influential academic voices, Thomas Hylland Eriksen. Known for challenging established truths and addressing politically controversial topics such as migration, multiculturalism and climate change, his absence is deeply felt.

Acknowledging that the challenges and dilemmas related to public engagement for anthropologists are today more pressing than ever, the Norwegian Anthropological Association (NAF) is organizing a digital panel discussion entitled “Engaged Anthropology in Turbulent Times.” 

In communicating their research, anthropologists across Europe and the US are navigating the rise of populist and authoritarian politics, the concentration of global media power among wealthy elites, and the impact of Artificial Intelligence on knowledge production. 

Several of our European and American colleagues have recently faced sanctions and restrictions due to their engagement against the war in Gaza. Established research fields in anthropology, such as notably migration and gender, have been criticized for being ‘ideological’ and politicized. Simultaneously, demands for more reflexive and responsible research practice are coming from the anthropologists’ interlocutors. 

This digital panel aims to address several critical questions that emerge in this context:

-What are the conditions for anthropologists to engage critically with social and political issues in these turbulent times?

-What comparative lessons can Norwegian anthropology draw from recent developments in the US and Europe, and vice versa?

-How can anthropology associations support their members in their role as engaged anthropologists while acknowledging the complexities and dilemmas such engagement entails?

On the panel:

Chair: Christine M. Jacobsen, Professor, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Bergen and chair of the Norwegian Anthropological Association (NAF).

Heath Cabot, Associate Professor, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Bergen and Head of the Political and Legal Anthropology (APLA) section in the American Anthropology Association (AAA). 

Heidi Mogstad, Senior Researcher at Chr. Michelsens Institutt (CMI)  and editor of Norsk Antropologisk Tidsskrift.

Cathrine Thorleiffson, Associate Professor, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Oslo and head of the Norwegian Government’s Commission on Extremism.