WCAA Roundtable: The Future of Anthropology / Anthropology of the Future

Abstract (English)

Anthropology in many areas of the world is beleaguered today—under pressure because of the increasing emphasis on STEM disciplines. At the same time, the traditional topics of anthropology have been broadening, with indigenous peoples going on-line, and with AI increasingly assuming human characteristics. This roundtable examines the future of anthropology/anthropology of the future through a common lens: how is anthropology changing today to make it a viable and flourishing discipline in the future?

Given the significant transformations in the global political economy that are already underway, how can we think about the future of anthropology and thus about the construction of an anthropology of the future? In the current context of neoliberal capitalism -- which privileges free trade and technological development -- anthropologists in some parts of the world have encountered declining interest in anthropology and the humanities, with program closures and precarity. In addition, the advance of securitization policies by both communist and right-wing governments has had a significant impact on the discipline, leading to the criminalization of anthropology and anthropologists in some countries. At the same time, a disciplinary transformation is taking place, with former research subjects becoming PhDs in anthropology, such as, among others, Indigenous peoples, who, while contributing with original knowledge, focus on their communities rather than studying otherness. There are also the farther reaches of the future that we must begin to imagine: How can we envision an anthropology of AI beings of the present and future? Of cyborgs? Of extraterrestrial intelligence? Overall, we are confronting enormous challenges to anthropology but also enormous opportunities. How can we create an anthropology that can flourish in these new times, and vitally encounter the future?