Disciplinary-Professional Relations in an Era of Anthropological Engagement Available to Purchase

This essay is devoted to exploring the nature, roles, and relationships of the anthropological discipline and its professions over time and their implications for matters of policy and practice in American society. The interdependence of discipline and profession in the emergence of anthropology is considered first, setting the stage for reflecting upon several matters: (1) lessons drawn from the history of British colonialism and other engagements; (2) the difference between problems of others and problems for others; and (3) a contemporary case involving disciplinary-professional-boundary tensions. This discussion raises the question of whether anthropology is approaching the issue of engagement with contemporary problem contexts as innovatively and creatively as we might, considering all that we know of our history and the challenges facing us today.