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Vol. 64 No. 2 (2020): ENGAGED ANTHROPOLOGY IN A TIME OF GROWING NATIONALISM

Articles and essays

Engaged Anthropology and the Need for Empathy: Anthropological Interventions in the Face of the So-called Refugee Crisis

DOI: https://doi.org/10.35757/KiS.2020.64.2.5
Submitted: October 22, 2020
Published: June 25, 2020

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to consider how engaged anthropology could be practiced in connection with the refugee/migrant crisis. The author presents in detail three anthropological interventions conducted in Poznań, a city in western Poland: (1) the project “We’re All Migrants: (Re)gained Migration Memory”; (2) the campaign “Adopt a Lifejacket”; and (3) the campaign “Gallery without a Home.” At the same time, she criticises the sedentary perspective predominant in the public debate regarding refugees and migrants, and the reduction of the refugee/migrant figure to the category of an Other. She perceives a need to depart from the role of expert and to stimulate empathy by making people aware of the adventitious nature of their lot in life and by emphasizing closeness to the other person rather than constantly focusing on differences. She points to the divergence between engaged and applied anthropology, and the related challenges facing anthropologists in Polish institutions who want to get involved in building social sensibility and interpersonal solidarity. She also calls for the propagation of hope.

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