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Paper Short Abstract:

In Romania, anthropology lacks formal recognition. However, in recent years, two anthropologists have initiated a project to popularise methodological and theoretical particularities of anthropology. Can the public arena nurture practices of ‘un/writing’ this discipline?

Paper Abstract:

In Romania, where I am currently based, anthropology is not formally recognised as a discipline (e.g., I hold a PhD in Anthropology from a university abroad, but the Ministry of Education has recognised it as a PhD in Sociology, not in Anthropology; the profession of sociologist exists in the official nomenclature of occupations, but not that of anthropologist; I work in a department of sociology that classifies anthropology as a specialisation, not as a discipline). Informally, anthropology occupies a disciplinary niche between sociology, cultural studies, and cultural journalism. Moreover, anthropology is sometimes being depreciated as too subjective by sociologists and appropriated as storytelling by cultural journalists. However, anthropology is trendy. Mature students with different backgrounds, from arts and letters to publicity, communication, marketing, and medicine enrol in MA programmes and, less frequently, BA programmes in anthropology. This is the context in which in recent years a project of ‘unwriting’ these representations of anthropology or, in other words, ‘writing’ anthropology, has unfolded. The two anthropologists behind a research company called Antropedia have initiated this project. In addition, the project has developed with the participation of ethnologists, folklorists, and anthropologists, who contribute publicly oriented presentations of their research and emphasise the methodological and theoretical particularities of their disciplines. In this paper, I discuss the work that Antropedia does to popularise anthropology and consolidate disciplinary legitimacy. Through this paper, I invite reflection on how the public space can nurture practices of ‘un/writing’ and can turn disciplinary and institutional vulnerability into opportunity.