Anthropology
The paradigmatic example of a non-paradigmatic academic field
2026-06-11 — 2026-06-11
Wherein the Academic Discipline of Anthropology Is Likened to a LinkedIn Feed, a Fountain Is Depicted as a Cauldron, and the Conference Title Metabolic Commons Is Pilloried for Its Penchant for Buzzwords.
culture
economics
ethics
institutions
mind
networks
social graph
standards
virality
With conference titles like “Metabolic Commons: Against Entropic Zones and the Ecology That War Built”, we might be forgiven for thinking that contemporary anthropology is a churning froth of buzzwords with nothing beneath—the LinkedIn of academic disciplines.
I am not the one to dissuade you of that impression.
For some anthropologists talking about this, see below.
- Cultural anthropology - Applied Studies, Cross-Cultural, Societies
- Anthropology at a Crossroads: Confronting Challenges and Reimagining the Future - Anthropology News
1 References
Aldenderfer. 2011. “Editorial: Keywords.” Current Anthropology.
Ingold. 1996. “The Optimal Forager and Economic Man.” In Nature and Society: Anthropological Perspectives.
———. 2014. “That’s Enough about Ethnography!” HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory.
Martin-Iverson, Rodrigues, and Smaill. 2008. ““C’mon Commodify Us!”: Commodity Fetishism and Resistant Practice in the Bandung DIY Hardcore Scene’.” Youth, Media and Culture in the Asia Pacific Region.
Routledge. 1919. The Mystery of Easter Island : The Story of an Expedition.