By Amanda Zunner-Keating

Audio recording is available on Soundcloud.

0.1 Representation in Anthropology

We define anthropology as “the study of humanity” and this area of research requires the consideration of diverse perspectives in order to best understand the complete human experience. But, like so much of our modern world, anthropology is dominated by primarily white voices which blocks our ability to consider the complete picture of humanity that we seek to understand.

By privileging the white perspective within anthropological textbooks, our field fails to recognize the experiences of Black people, Indigenous people, and people of color. While many anthropology texts present non-European groups as “the other” without recognizing that anthropologists,  themselves can come from every community. Of course, as anthropology was essential to the colonial endeavor, the study — and, thus, the objectification of — non-Europeans became the primary goal of initial anthropological fieldwork and publication  (Trouillot 2003).

The essential anthropological research produced by Black anthropologists, Indigenous anthropologists, and anthropologists of color must be equally represented in the study of anthropology if we ever hope to gain a complete picture of the human condition because we know that everyone’s unique perspective is essential to understanding the big picture of humanity.

0.2 Representation in the Classroom

This textbook is intended to elevate the quality of anthropology courses in institutions of higher education by highlighting the works of anthropologists who are not typically represented in anthropology textbooks. While our students represent all races, genders, and identities, anthropological curriculum and anthropology departments fall short all too often (Brodkin, Morgen, and Hutchinson 2011). If we hope to train a new generation of anthropologists who can represent diverse perspectives, we must teach anthropology in a manner that allows our students to imagine themselves as professional anthropologists.

We know that Black Lives Matter and that the vital contributions of Black anthropologists matter to the success of our field. This project was originally launched in honor of Black History Month 2021 and has evolved to also begin highlighting the contributions from other historically underrepresented groups. We highlight the works of Black anthropologists, Indigenous anthropologists, and anthropologists of color in order to begin offering a more balanced representation of anthropological work.

In “The Second Generation of African American Pioneers in Anthropology,” Ira E. Harrison, Deborah Johnson-Simon, and Erica Lorraine Williams note, “Students whose identities have been stigmatized or marginalized in society can find sources of inspiration in the stories of the next generation of Black anthropologists (xxi).” In other words: classroom representation matters.

Harrison, Johnson-Simon, and Williams further note that,

“…we have gone from a time when the work of Black anthropologists was marginalized and invisibilized because the African American intellectual tradition was not valued by the academy to a time when [the journal] Cultural Anthropology published a series entitled “#BlackLivesMatter: Anti-Black Racism, Police Violence, and Resistance (xxii-xxiii).”

But, if our field has improved in highlighting the contributions of Black anthropologists, the classroom is still an arena where representation is still lacking.

0.3 Our Vision of Inclusivity

“Representations” is a project designed to bring the perspectives of a wider variety of groups to the forefront of the anthropology classroom. We selected this title as it encompasses our two goals:

1. to improve representation in the curriculum, and
2. to elevate the cultural representation of all groups from a diversity of perspectives.

Student Authors:

Khaleesa Alexander, Brun Mac Ámoinn, Courtney Azari, Corey Blatz, Brandon Cho, Ysabella Colwell, Lukas Daniels, Megan Diane, Faith Donaldson, Mary Eberle, Aaron Ebriani, Donna Edry, Nadia Evans-Lambert, Annika Evangelista, Santia Gutierrez, Lucas Guerrero, Roni Haziza, Haidee Hernandez, Ashley-Marie Hinds, Emma Horio, Nazmiayh Jamil, Zoe Jensen, Maria Juarez, Michael Kidd, Lindsay Kramer, Jacquelyn Macias, Charlie Lanza, Deanna Lazaro, Paula Malian, Shahd Mahmoud, Meghan Matuszeski, Anna Ramazyan, Ian Ramos, Arlene Rodriguez, Viviana Rojas, Ysabelle Salazar, Jared Seow, Elyssa Venerable, Melissa Zamora, and Alexandra Zysman

Faculty Authors:
Lindsay Donaldson, Lisa Matthies-Barnes, Heather McIlvaine-Newsad, and Amanda Zunner-Keating,

Faculty Editors:
Lara Braff, Ciarán Brewster, Travis DuBry, Duke Feldmeier, Erin Hayes, Lisa Matthies-Barnes, Roxanne Mayoral, Irma McClaurin, Heather McIlvaine Newsad, Brian Pierson, Jessica Proctor, Ken Seligson, Yasmine Shereen, Laurie Solis, Jeanelle Uy, Lisa Valdez, Marina Cunin Borer, and Amanda Zunner-Keating. 

Special thanks to the College of the Canyons for the funding necessary to pursue this project; we succeeded with particular support from Joy Shoemate and  James Glapa-Grossklag.

Thanks to Darian Farrell, Charles Townsend, and Brian Zunner-Keating for their moral support and brilliant editing. And gratitude to photographer Thomas Martinsen for our cover image.

And, particular thanks to all who have blazed the trail before us including, but not limited to, the works in our bibliography.