Anthropology News • November 2005

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C O M M E N T A R Y

A N T H R O P O L O G Y O N A G L O B A L S C A L E

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In light of the AAA's objective to develop its international relations and collaborations, AN invited international anthropologists andpresidents of national and regional anthropological associations to engage with questions about the practice of anthropology today,particularly issues of anthropology and its relationships to globalization and postcolonialism, and what this might mean for the futureof anthropology and future collaborations between anthropologists around the world, and relations between anthropologists and thecommunities in which we work. Please send your responses in 400 words or less to Stacy Lathrop at slathrop@aaanet.org.

WORLD ANTHROPOLOGIES

NETWORK COLLECTIVE

The World Anthropolo-gies Network (WAN)provides a forum forunderstanding the mul-

tiple and situated power relation-ships that shape particular ways ofdoing anthropology worldwide. Itis also a project of intervention tolegitimize the voices of other formsof anthropology, one which recog-nizes these forms as anthropologi-cal knowledge in their own right,independent of, yet in conversa-tion with, hegemonic centers ofknowledge around the world.

Network participants seek toaffect the communicative practicesand modes of exchange amongworld anthropologists through theircritical analysis. The aim in doing sois to constantly localize the episte-mological, theoretical, methodolog-ical and political horizons of the dis-cipline. At the same time we striveto generate conditions for horizon-tal conversations among anthropol-ogists worldwide. Rather than aproject to enrich historically hege-monic forms of anthropology, wehope to create “networked” envi-ronments that will allow for a plu-ralistic discipline that thrives onboth its localness and its dialogueacross multiple place-based perspec-tives across the globe.

We criticize the monotonouscharacter of the current interna-tional landscape of anthropologyand its tendency to reproduce thevoices of particular elites aroundthe world. We propose instead that

every form of anthropology is local,including those emerging frommetropolitan centers. Assuming thesingularity and specificity of allforms of anthropology is impor-tant, we believe, for the expansionof the discipline beyond its estab-lished boundaries.

Predicaments and ProposalsOne of anthropology’s paradoxes isits claim to be a universal disciplinein spite of its Western foundations.The strongest criticisms of this disci-plinary tension between universal-ism and particularism came fromthose who identified a close rela-tionship between anthropology andcolonialism or imperialism. Yet

anthropologists worldwide are notconsistently discussing the currentnature of their practices in light ofnew realities in our current globalpolitical-economy, nor are anthro-pologists considering the fate ofanthropology on a truly global scale.

Rather than leading to the dis-mantling of standardized formsand practices of anthropology,most critiques of the disciplinehave resulted—unwittingly—in thevery reinvigoration and worldwideexpansion of these standardsthrough elite centers of anthropo-logical production. While thesecriticisms have questioned standardforms of anthropological knowl-edge and political practices, they

have not impinged on the institu-tionalization of the discipline itself.Furthermore, dialogues betweencentral and peripheral anthropo-logical institutions continue to con-tribute to the peripheral onesbecoming marginalized by orabsorbed into the central ones.

WAN differs from these past cri-tiques within and outside dominantforms and centers of anthropologyin significant ways. We believe thatglobalization has opened up hetero-dox opportunities to the academicworld, and that through concertedpolitical action more diverse, demo-cratic and transnational communi-ties of anthropologists can develop.At the same time, we do not writefrom a particular national viewpoint,nor do we wish to advocate for anyparticular one. Rather, we think thatthe dominance of some styles ofanthropology stems from a geopoli-tics of knowledge that affects allanthropologists both structurallyand historically, and henceencroaches on our own individualexperiences within the academicworld system. The networks WANtherefore envisions should affect theintersection of personal and institu-tional practices, working against uni-versal hierarchies of knowledge andtowards more critical and inclusivepractices of knowledge production.

Establishing Dialogue among InternationalAnthropological Communities

[The World Anthropologies Network] should be a venue for theconstant interlocking of place-based nodal points—be these theoretical,political, communicational or institutional—in such a way that theirstability, while existing, is constantly exposed to other possible forms.

Knowledge ProductionWAN focuses on how standardforms of anthropology subordinateperipheral ones, and encourages thedevelopment of a system that willprovide a forum for those forms ofknowledge that elites ignore, dis-qualify or subordinate through theirstandard practices. Thus, WANworks against—or at the very leastin tension with—the tendencies tostandardize or universalize anthro-pological knowledge. WAN is anattempt to visualize and foster sys-

November 2005 • Anthropology News

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tems of anthropology in all theirmultiplicity, both inside and outsideacademia. Rather than “improving”a single anthropology—by “correct-ing” its “errors”—we want to makevisible the tensions that makeanthropology possible.

Anyone doing anthropology,according to WAN participants, iscapable of dialogically contributingto the construction of diverse formsof global knowledge with local voca-tions. We envision the possibility ofestablishing a multivalent system ofpracticing anthropology, one basedon the multiplicity of voices andpositions existing outside hegemoniccenters of anthropological produc-tion. This does not mean, however,we claim for any sort of apartheid ofthe local, or for the development of amovement of non-US anthropolo-gists endowed with privileged orauthoritative positions of marginali-ty. As a networked group WAN isconcerned with the political condi-tions of anthropological knowledgeproduction at large. If the central fea-ture of Western knowledge, includ-ing anthropology, is its expansiveclaim to universality, how are we tomake it different?

Process, Method and Content Looking for an answer to this ques-tion of how to make Western knowl-edge different, we considered the cre-ation of a flexible structure or net-work to foster dialogues andexchanges among a number ofdiverse anthropologists. Our long-term aim is to develop a self-organiz-ing world network for anthropologi-cal research and action that simulta-neously aims at continuously ques-tioning conventional academic andnon-academic forms of knowledge.

We envision a World Anthropolo-gies Network as a consciously decen-tered, self-organizing process withemergent properties of its own.Obviously we cannot anticipate theseas they will depend on the dynamicsset in motion. Our goal is to producea processual network, which shouldresult in a loose and multidirectionalarticulation of a variety of forms ofanthropology connected throughshared interests, complementaritiesand even tensions. The networkshould set in motion historically situ-ated conversations and actions onprevalent anthropological concerns,such as culture and nature, the globaland local and the political economyof resources.

Statement of Ownership,Management and Circulation

Publication title, Anthropology News; publicationnumber, 0098-1605; filing date, 10/1/05; frequency,monthly (Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr,May); number of issues published annually, 9; annualsubscription price, $103 for institutions; $93 for non-members; publisher, American Anthropological Asso-ciation, 2200 Wilson Blvd, Suite 600, Arlington, VA22201-3357; managing editor, Stacy M Lathrop,American Anthropological Association, 2200 WilsonBlvd, Suite 600, Arlington, VA 22201-3357; owner,American Anthropological Association.

Actual number of copies issue nearest filing date,10,193; unmailed sales, 0; paid subscriptions,10,554; total paid circulation, 10,193; total free dis-tribution, 10; total distribution, 10,203; copies notdistributed, 670.

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The form adopted by the networkis of crucial importance—rather thana method, a set of contents or anobjective, we consider the WorldAnthropologies Network itself to be afusion of these three aspects. Thisnetwork should be a venue for theconstant interlocking of place-basednodal points—be these theoretical,political, communicational or insti-tutional—in such a way that theirstability, while existing, is constantlyexposed to other possible forms. Wethink of this hybrid form as a perma-nent act of connecting, thus articu-lating the network that constantlyre-generates itself and nourishes theforms of knowledge and politicsinterlocked and produced through it.

The network will avoid replicat-ing the static organizational stylesavailable at present, although werecognize these structures have apart to play in anthropology. Yet wewant to provide a pliable, criticalstructure with the capacity forbeing constantly reformulated, forconstantly considering centrifugaldemands and incorporating theminto its many nodes of articulation.

An Intellectual AttitudeWAN should be seen as an intellectu-al attitude that gains its strength from

its capacity for constanttransformation as it expos-es itself to local knowledge-practices without absorb-ing them. As a project capable ofbeing situated in multiple locales, itsprimary motive is communication,recognizing the role of dialogue inforging needed political alliancesbetween a range of diverse anthro-pologists and anthropological enti-ties. Such dialogue is necessary for thedynamic production of knowledgethat is both coherent, yet differentlyarticulated, and that has a directionin spite of being open-ended.

For more information on the WorldAnthropologies Network see www.ram-wan.org. The WAN collective consistsof Shiv Visvanathan, Sandy Toussaint,Eeva Berglund, Penny Harvey, SusanaNarotzky, Roberto Almanza, CarlosAndrés Barragán, Carlos Luis delCairo, María Rosa Catullo, CristóbalGnecco, Rosana Guber, MauricioPardo, Alcida Rita Ramos, EstebanRozo, Gustavo Lins Ribeiro, JuanRicardo Aparicio, Marisol de laCadena, Arturo Escobar, EduardoRestrepo and Josephine Smart. �AN

To read more on this topic, see the OctAN and p 67. —Ed.

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