Anthropology and activism

It is generally accepted that anthropologists are to observe and record cultural phenomena without trying to change or “fix” it. Anthropologists can become active participants of various cultural processes in order to gain information and better describe whatever it is they are studying, but they are not supposed to use their own cultural and moral norms to judge and correct other people’s belief systems, traditions, rites, and customs.

Cultures themselves are not static; they change through time. But we, anthropologists, are not there to bring the change according to our own standards of what cultures are supposed to be. On the contrary, often anthropologists often strive to record cultures the way they are before they change or cease to exist, like in the case of many disappearing languages. In a way, anthropologists are historians of the present. They make records for the future generations who will live in a very different world with changed, transformed societies which might view our present as unfamiliar, distant, and bizarre.

We also live in the world of globalization where societies, cultures, and ethnicities merge and blend together like never before. In this world of cultural interconnections, displacements, and marginal states of existence things change and transform constantly. Anthropologists must adapt to this fast-paced globalized world as well.

The idea of observing and recording things without trying to “fix” them goes hand in hand with cultural relativity and the notion that no culture is “right” or “wrong”. Good and bad are relative terms that exist within cultures and may not be the same for everyone in the world. What is accepted as normal in our culture may look horrible to someone from another, and vice versa.

But what do we do when we come across things like female genital mutilation, child brides, victims of torture, child labor, slave trade, destruction of various environments, and much more? Do we stand in the midst of the crowd, watch, and record like indifferent observants, or do we actively engage ourselves? If we try to “make things better”, do we cease to be anthropologists and turn into activists instead?

At this point I believe that anthropology and activism don’t have to be mutually exclusive. We may be anthropologists, writers, historians, engineers, business-people, teachers… But first and foremost we are all human beings. Each person plays a wide array of various social roles. You cannot be just an anthropologist, or just a police officer, or just a grandmother. Life is more complex than that. Our personalities are complex, as well as our ideas, thought processes, and beliefs. We change throughout our lives just like our cultures do. We are not static beings frozen in time. 

Being an anthropologist doesn’t mean being rigid. We must be flexible. We can remember about cultural relativism AND try helping those who are sexually and emotionally abused. We can observe AND fight against companies which employ little children to do dirty jobs in slave factories overseas. We are allowed to be non-judgmental and accepting of other cultures, but recognize when it’s time to say “you don’t have to be a victim of torture and mutilation; you are a human being and you must have rights.” We are anthropologists, and we do not judge, but we can describe things and let the society decide if these things need to be transformed into some relative “better.”