Paper short abstract:

This presentation argues that public health practitioners should become more like anthropologists in their approaches to the populations and sub-groups with whom they work. It uses tobacco control as an example, but argues that anthropological methods could usefully be incorporated into all branches of public health.

Paper long abstract:

In this presentation, I shall propose a contribution of anthropology to public health that is less commonly recognised - the metaphorical suggestion that public health practitioners should become, or at least be more like, anthropologists in their approaches to the population groups and sub-groups with whom they work. For a branch of medicine and health with 'public' in its title, public health has a somewhat peculiar tendency to hold the subjects of its efforts at arm's length. A history of social anthropology will be presented that highlights the problems inherent in maintaining such a detached approach, and inviting public health practitioners to consider new methods of engaging with 'the public'. The specific example used will be tobacco control but, it will be argued, the principle of getting off the veranda is one that is relevant to all branches of public health.