Public Anthropology: Engaging Social Issues in the Modern World

262 Pages·2016·10.05 MB·English

by  Edward J. Hedican

Public AnthroPology
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Public
AnthroPology
Engaging Social Issues in the Modern World
Edward J. Hedican
Copyright © University of Toronto Press 2016
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Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Hedican, Edward J., author
Public anthropology : engaging social issues in the modern world / Edward J. Hedican.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Issued in print and electronic formats.
isbn 978-1-4426-3589-0 (bound).—isbn 978-1-4426-3588-3 (paperback).—isbn 978-1-4426-3591-3
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1. Anthropology. 2. Social history—21st century. I. Title.
gn27.h43 2016 301 c2015-905116-9
c2015-905117-7
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For my mother,
Margaret Mahler Hedican (–),
artist and inquiring spirit.
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contents
illustrAtions ix
PrefAce xi
chAPter 1 Introduction: Engaging Social Issues 1
chAPter 2 What Is Public Anthropology? 36
chAPter 3 Race, Science, and the Public Forum 67
chAPter 4 Jared Diamond: Social Darwinism Revisited 90
chAPter 5 Health, Well-Being, and Food Security 107
chAPter 6 Forensic Anthropology 129
chAPter 7 Resistance, Reconciliation, and Public Justice 141
chAPter 8 Global Terror, Militarism, and Counterinsurgency 165
chAPter 9 Media, the Internet, and Our Global Village 184
chAPter 10 Trends and Prospects 200
glossAry 208
references 213

index 233
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illustrAtions
figures
1.1 Margaret Mead 11
2.1 Ida Susser 39
2.2 “Ballybran,” where Scheper-Hughes completed her study, is a small, rural
community in Ireland 55
3.1 Franz Boas 71
3.2 Protesters demand Justice for Freddie Gray 77
3.3 A member of the National Guard stands at the ready as protestors demonstrate
in front of the Baltimore Police Department in early 2015 80
4.1 Jared Diamond 90
4.2 Alfred Kroeber 99
5.1 Diamond Jenness 110
5.2 Dr. Paul Farmer 119
6.1 Clyde G. Snow 131
6.2 Anthropologists at work documenting remains from a mass gravesite in Iraq 139
7.1 The grounds of the Qu’Appelle Indian Industrial School 152
7.2 Students and staff at the Qu’Appelle Indian Industrial School 153
7.3 A world map of Truth and Reconciliation Commissions in Santiago, Chile 155
7.4 Max Gluckman 160
8.1 Bronislaw Malinowski 169
8.2 David Price 172
9.1 Marshall McLuhan 185
9.2 An Egyptian citizen uses a cellphone to record events during the 2011 Arab

Spring 191