Why Anthropology Still Matters

Gina Ulysse, associate professor of anthropology, associate professor of African American Studies, director of the Center for African American Studies, wrote on The Huffington Post about anthropologist Paul Stoller, winner of this year’s prestigious Retzius medal for scientific contributions to anthropology. Ulysse interviewed Stoller about why anthropology–which has a gotten a bad rap recently as a being of low value in the job marketplace–still matters.

Stoller responded: “I’m not sure how anthropology fits into the contemporary market economy. But I do know that if we don’t pay heed to what anthropological knowledge can teach us, it impoverishes social life and social relations, making us less able to find a measure of well-being in life, less able to be comfortable in our skins.”