A petition to kill: efficacious appeals against big cats in India

Departmental Seminar Trinity Term 2018

Fridays, Weeks 2-5, 3.15pm, Pitt Rivers Museum Lecture Theatre (off Robinson Close)

An Anthropology of the Controversial

We live in unsettling times. Climate change, global income inequality, and populist politics prompt hand-wringing and moral panics, while mainstream analysis often barely scratches the surface of complex issues. Anthropological perspectives are needed, but the speed, length, and framework of public discourse on controversial issues make it challenging to reach audiences beyond a narrow group of specialists. Too, research on controversial topics presents methodological and analytical challenges related to access, data protection, representation, and complex obligations to research participants that, while not new, are intensified by political circumstances. This seminar series explores what an anthropology of the controversial might look like.