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How anthropology helps us understand the world

How studying life in a Tajik village can help solve business problems in the city. Gillian Tett shares insights with Anne McElvoy. Plus a history of pioneering women in the field.

"Tunnel vision is deadly. We need lateral vision. That is what anthropology can impart: anthro-vision." So says renowned economist GillianTett, who trained as an anthropologist. She joins Anne McElvoy along with Tulsi Menon, who trained in anthropology and now works in advertising, for a debate about what the discipline offers business. We look back at the history of anthropology with Frances Larson, author of a new book about forgotten women anthropologists, and a previous book that looked at the west's obsession with severed heads. And we explore the way the discipline of anthropology is changing, talking to Faye Harrison - Professor of Anthropology at Illinois and the editor of Decolonising Anthropology.

Anthrovision: How Anthropology Can Explain Business and Life by Gillian Tett, Editor-at-Large at the Financial Times, is out now.
Frances Larson's books are titled Undreamed Shores: The Hidden Heroines of British Anthropology and Severed: A History of Heads Lost and Heads Found.

In the Free Thinking archives you can find a discussion about Family Ties and reshaping history - hearing about Joseph Henrich's work on WEIRD - Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich, Democratic and ideas about kinship
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In the Nayef Al Rodhan 2020 discussion with shortlisted authors Rana Mitter talks to Charles King about his history The Reinvention of Humanity: A Story of Race, Sex, Gender and the Discovery of Culture, which tracks the work of Margaret Mead, Ruth Benedict, Ella Deloria and Zora Neale Hurston
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The Free Thinking Festival discussion 20 Words for Joy ... Feelings around the world brought together Veronica Strang, Aatish Taseer and Thomas Dixon /programmes/m0004ds4

Producer: Eliane Glaser

Available now

44 minutes

Last on

Thu 10 Jun 2021 22:00

Broadcast

  • Thu 10 Jun 2021 22:00

The Arts & Ideas Podcast

The Arts & Ideas Podcast

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Discussions and talks from the Free Thinking Festival 2019

Discussions and talks from the Free Thinking Festival 2019

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Click to listen to discussions, talks and music as the Free Thinking Festival 2019 Gets Emotional

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CLICK to LISTEN & SEE programmes from the Free Thinking Festival 2018: The One & the Many

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