if one googles 'chris knight' (in wikipedia) he is the founder of a radical anthropology group (and i think also lost his academic position in the uk for some comments and role he had in g20 protests in the UK). he also has a take on the evolutuion of language which is basically a big critique of chomsky (including chomsky's article with hauser in science). i find it much more convincing than chomsky's approach (which seems all dressed up in hype with actual little rigor much less reference to empirical data). there free journal online has an interview wuith chomsky though i just skimmed it---and they go through their skepticism.
s bowles (once a 'radical economist') and gintis also have gone through this kind of stuff.
--- On *Thu, 8/12/10, Michael Balter /<
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From: Michael Balter <
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Subject: engaged anthropology
To:
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Date: Thursday, August 12, 2010, 2:19 PM
List members might find this profile of U of Utah anthropologist
Polly Wiessner of interest. She reflects an increasing trend in
anthropology, sometimes called engaged anthropology, to become
more closely involved with research subjects--indeed, to make them
active collaborators--and to make their welfare paramount. This
viewpoint, which rejects notions that active involvement with
subjects compromises scientific objectivity, is also associated
with an activist and advocacy role for anthropologists. The recent
revolt in the American Anthropological Association against the use
of anthropologists in Iraq and Afghanistan is an example of this
attitude; and it represents, finally, the throwing off of the
lingering effects of McCarthyism's devastating attack on the
field. All these issues are discussed, albeit briefly, at the end
of the piece.
MB
-- ******************************************
Michael Balter
Contributing Correspondent, Science
Adjunct Professor of Journalism,
New York University
Email:
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