Anthropology in the United States for America and beyond

Hervé Varenne

Chapter 13 in Research Handbook on the Anthropology of Education, 2026, pp 123-134 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: For centuries, European intellectuals have insisted that other intellectuals consider the lives of distant people when making general statements about humanity. By the twentieth century many of these intellectuals sent students far from their homes, in the hope that encounters with the people there would move the conversations. A century later, many have doubts about the wisdom of this move. Most anthropologists raised or schooled in the United States now stay there. This chapter considers three aspects of the classic questions about the relation of anthropology to its context. First is the question of what makes most anthropologists of the United States “American”—whatever their citizenship or early enculturation. Second is a review of what some American anthropologists of the United States have contributed to the overall conversation about humanity. Third is a call for a return to universalism that is needed if anthropology is still to claim a part in this conversation, even when most evidence comes from the United States.

Keywords: United States; America; Culture; Humanity; Universalism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781035332908
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