Industry

Anthropology Webinars Explore Fieldwork, Public Health, & Coronavirus

June 9, 2020 4209

In light of the global coronavirus pandemic, anthropologists around the world have been preparing to utilize knowledge gained from past pandemics to help with the coronavirus pandemic, and preparing to gain as much knowledge as possible to assist with any future pandemics. Anthropologists have also had to reconsider their methodologies in light of new strains on fieldwork.

With so much anthropological agenda-setting to do, it is clear that the coronavirus has gripped the world of anthropology. The World Council of Anthropological Associations (WCAA) has released, so far, two webinars relating to the effect of the spread of coronavirus on anthropology, and the effect (and potential effect) of anthropology on the coronavirus. The webinars can be found for free online by clicking here.

First Webinar: Culture and public health in the era of coronavirus

The first webinar brings together academics from Portugal, France, Norway, Brazil, the United States of America, Kenya, and China to speak on issues relating to public health, culture, and anthropological research (primarily medical anthropology). Each speaker relays the coronavirus situation in their respective community and provides information about what anthropologists & medical anthropologists are doing about the situation, what they can learn from past epidemics, and how they are preparing to analyze the data that may come from the situation.

The speakers also take the opportunity to talk about the profound ways in which the global pandemic is changing our approaches to connectivity, interculturalism, and global communication. For one example: Charles Briggs from the USA. “Thinking across platforms, countries, peoples, is no longer an agenda,” Charles Briggs, at UC Berkeley, says. “It is survival.” In an epidemic, he continues, “communication should spring from biomedical authority– not political expediency, or the bottom-lines of media-based organizations.” He suggests that the present predicament is ripe for reconceiving of the way in which the USA conflates politics, medicine, and mediatization. Each speaker brings something fresh and interesting to the table with regard to the way in which the political, media, and other power structures have handled (or mishandled) the coronavirus in each respective country.

Second Webinar: Fieldwork in an era of Pandemia: digital (and other) alternatives

The second webinar brings together speakers from Australia, India, Japan, Mexico, and the United Kingdom to tackle issues related to anthropological fieldwork and research disruption.

The webinar is loosely defined by a few questions: “What technologies are out there for anthropologists when face-to-face observations are impossible? What are the advantages and disadvantages of interviewing online? How can we access and publish data while in a pandemic? And should large data sets be considered? Each speaker goes beyond the questions to discuss their own experiences and remedies with regard to research disruption. The speakers also inject, like in the prior webinar, the local & national response to the pandemic from each respective area.

Both webinars can be found for free online by clicking here.

Augustus Wachbrit (or, if you’re intimidated by his three-syllable name, Gus) is the Social Science Communications Intern at SAGE Publishing. He assists in the creation, curation, revision, and distribution of various forms of written content primarily for Social Science Space and Method Space. He is studying Philosophy and English at California Lutheran University, where he is a research fellow and department assistant. If you’re likely to find him anywhere, he’ll be studying from a textbook, writing (either academically or creatively), exercising, or defying all odds and doing all these things at once.

View all posts by Gus Wachbrit

Related Articles

From the University to the Edu-Factory: Understanding the Crisis of Higher Education
Industry
November 25, 2024

From the University to the Edu-Factory: Understanding the Crisis of Higher Education

Read Now
Deciphering the Mystery of the Working-Class Voter: A View From Britain
Insights
November 14, 2024

Deciphering the Mystery of the Working-Class Voter: A View From Britain

Read Now
Exploring the Citation Nexus of Life Sciences and Social Sciences
Industry
November 6, 2024

Exploring the Citation Nexus of Life Sciences and Social Sciences

Read Now
New Initiative Offers Grants for Canadian Research on Research
Announcements
November 5, 2024

New Initiative Offers Grants for Canadian Research on Research

Read Now
Julia Ebner on Violent Extremism

Julia Ebner on Violent Extremism

As an investigative journalist, Julia Ebner had the freedom to do something she freely admits that as an academic (the hat she […]

Read Now
Emerson College Pollsters Explain How Pollsters Do What They Do

Emerson College Pollsters Explain How Pollsters Do What They Do

As the U.S. presidential election approaches, news reports and social media feeds are increasingly filled with data from public opinion polls. How […]

Read Now
Diving Into OSTP’s ‘Blueprint’ for Using Social and Behavioral Science in Policy

Diving Into OSTP’s ‘Blueprint’ for Using Social and Behavioral Science in Policy

Just in time for this past summer’s reading list, in May 2024 the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (technically, […]

Read Now
0 0 votes
Article Rating
Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

0 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments