Event: Anthropologists Wanted

Anthropologists Wanted

This month we’re in conversation with anthropologist and author, Walter Faaij. Walter, together with Laurens Bakker and Masja Cohen, has written a book, Anthropologists Wanted. Why Organisations Need Anthropology, published by Amsterdam University Press.

The book is aimed at people curious how they can use their anthropology degree as well as employers interested in what someone with anthropological training might bring to their organisation. As the authors discovered, many people, including potential employers and consultancy clients, still know little about what anthropologists do, the added value they bring to organisations and the roles they can play.

The book explores the labour market, the specific skills of anthropologists and how to explain your value to an employer, how anthropology is marketed, and how you can ‘sell’ yourself.

Because, as the authors state in the Preface, society is facing several significant challenges such as an ageing population, climate change, and increased inequality, all of which require an understanding of people in order to create change and find better solutions. So it’s up to anthropologists to “up our game. Claim our seat at the table. And build that sustainable, inclusive and future-proof world”.

Meet Walter Faaij

Walter Faaij is a corporate anthropologist, consultant and entrepreneur (founder of Green Culture Lab) who specialises in sustainability, corporate culture and culture change. He helps leaders and sustainability professionals to embed sustainability in their organisations’ culture.

He’ll be talking to us about why he wrote the book, his experience of working as a corporate anthropologist, and his tips and advice for anthropologists who want to use their degrees outside the academy. You can find Walter on Twitter @WalterFaaij and on LinkedIn.

About Us

The Response-ability Summit is an annual, interdisciplinary event that brings together social scientists, designers, technologists and others to share knowledge about how to design and deploy technology responsibly. We’re passionate about promoting the value of social scientists, particularly anthropologists and sociologists, to the private and public sectors.

Resources

Read our interviews with some applied anthropologists:

• Urban anthropologist, Gemma Johns
• Economic anthropologist, Erin B. Taylor
• Business anthropologist, Simon Roberts
• Design anthropologist, Sarah Pink

And here are some articles written for us by anthropologists:

• AI Companions and the Future of Relationships by Graham Nesbit
• AI Alignment through Anthropology by Anna Leggett and Morgan Williams
• ‘Driving’ Automation: Something Old and Something New by Xinyi Wu
• “Are you sure you want to post this?”: Is Instagram’s conscience a failure of socially-responsible AI? by Dr Joshua Bluteau
• The Climate Crisis & Why Data Must Not Become the New Oil by Alex Moltzau
• Designing Robots for Care by Dr Sonal Makhija