Call for Expressions of interest for submissions for an open access publication: Anthropology as a vocation

We welcome expressions of interest for an entirely open access online pressbook on Anthropology as a vocation: a discipline for a changing world.  Anthropology as a vocation focuses on the contemporary role of anthropological thinking and methods. In the spirit of Weber’s essay on ‘science as a vocation’, the collection will explore the ways in which the practice of anthropology can help to understand and drive change in the contemporary world.

We are seeking submissions that consider the utility of anthropological thinking, methods, and tools in a variety of professional contexts including industry, technology, design, ecology, policy, public health, business, and management.   We are less interested in the distinction between ‘applied’ or ‘engaged’ anthropology and so called ‘academic’ anthropology, and more interested in the value of anthropological practice across different domains.

The book is envisioned as a resource for students to learn with, employers to be convinced by and the public to be intrigued by.

Questions we want to ask: What are the core skills and principles that have proven to be of value in the practice of anthropology as a vocation in scholarly and applied work?  Just what is it that constitutes an anthropological mind set, and how has this been utilized to deliver solutions to complex problems across diverse fields in the public and private sectors? 

We want you to respond to these questions or submit your ideas about what the vocation and mission of anthropology today is or should be. All accepted submissions will be open access with full author attribution, with strong potential to attract attention to your research and/or other work (a previous pressbook has attracted over 5500 unique readers in the first 5 months of publication and has already been adopted in several university courses).

Your submission can be in the form of an academic chapter, an essay, a personal narrative, a visual essay, video, poem, or other multi-modal expression (that we can host on the pressbook platform).

The book will address foundational questions about the ethics and morality of anthropological practices today as well as the role of anthropology in the academy and beyond. We also want to hear about the anthropological tool kit and skills anthropologists learn and deploy in a range of settings. We are particularly interested in interventions from practitioners (e.g., 1000-2000 words) about the role of anthropological training, tools, skills, and identity in their field/workplaces.

So, whether you work in the Public or Private sector, in whatever field - Policy, Engineering, Design, Development, UX, the Arts, Management, or University - if you identify as an anthropologist and have stories to share about what that means and what anthropological tools you use in your everyday work, we want to hear from you. 

Please send your EOI for ideas (max 200 words) by 8 December to:  anthropologyasvocation@gmail.com

Please also state the format of your submission (e.g., video, chapter, short narrative, visual essay etc.). We anticipate a deadline for full submissions by late March 2024.