Decolonizing Anthropology

An Introduction

Soumhya Venkatesan

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English

Polity Press
03 February 2025

Society & Social Sciences; History of ideas; Anthropology

Series: Decolonizing the Curriculum

Decolonization has been a buzzword in anthropology for decades, but remains difficult to grasp and to achieve. This groundbreaking volume offers not only a critical examination of approaches to decolonization, but also fresh ways of thinking about the relationship between anthropology and colonialism, and how we might move beyond colonialism’s troubling legacy.

Soumhya Venkatesan describes the work already underway, and the work still needed, to extend the horizons of the discipline. Drawing on scholarship from anthropology and cognate disciplines, as well as ethnographic and other case studies, she argues both that the practice of anthropology needs to be and do better, and that it is worth saving. She focuses not only on ways of decolonizing anthropology but also on the potential of ‘a decolonizing anthropology’.

Rich with insights from a range of fields, Decolonizing Anthropology is an essential resource for students and scholars.

By: Soumhya Venkatesan
Imprint: Polity Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
ISBN: 9781509540600
ISBN 10: 1509540601
Series: Decolonizing the Curriculum
Pages: 252
Publication Date: 03 February 2025
Audience: College/higher education , Professional and scholarly , Primary , Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Soumhya Venkatesan is Professor of Social Anthropology at the University of Manchester.

Reviews for Decolonizing Anthropology: An Introduction

""A thoughtful, inviting, student-sensitive book that exudes conviviality in knowledge traditions and meaning-making. Venkatesan goes beyond prescriptive abstractions on the need for effective conversational inclusivity in rethinking the colonial logics underpinning anthropological thought and practice. Enthusiastically recommended."" Francis B. Nyamnjoh, University of Cape Town ""This interrogation of a key moment in anthropological life comes from a practitioner who is also a teacher and learner. Venkatesan’s three-year dialogue with students has opened up arguments and questions about decolonization in a surprisingly fresh, accessible and broad ranging way. At once conversational and deeply reflective, her work considers all over again anthropology’s conditions of possibility."" Marilyn Strathern, University of Cambridge