University of Denver hosts director of the Center for a Public Anthropology

DENVER- The University of Denver Anthropology Department hosts Robert Borofsky, director of the Center for a Public Anthropology, as he explores accountability in anthropology Wednesday, May 28 at 6 p.m. in Sturm Hall 451. His talk, "Autonomy and Accountability in Anthropology: An Oxymoron or Something We Might Live With," will be followed by a reception in Sturm Hall 286.

"Anthropologists, like most academics, embrace the intellectual autonomy that pervades the American academy," says Borofsky, an Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences Visiting Scholar. "But many shy away from demands for accountability."

Borofksy will discuss the issues of accountability, including the controversy surrounding anthropologist Napoleon Chagnon and the group he studied, the Yanomami. The Yanomami are an indigenous people inhabiting the Amazon Basin of Venezuela and Brazil. Critics suggest that Chagnon, built his academic reputation with disregard to the long-term repercussions of his intrusion into an portrayal of Yanomami society.

Borofsky will also address questions like: do anthropologists need to "give something back" to the people who helped them and be held publicly accountable for this? And, if academicians are going to be held accountable, who are they going to be held accountable to and by what standards?

Headline Anthropology is a lecture series designed to illustrate the interface between anthropological research and the issues that inform our lives.