Anthropology for all

Anthropology is an essential part of everyone’s education today, according to comments in an article about “foreignness” in the special holiday double edition of the Economist.

Why is anthropology so important now? Because more people than ever are “foreigners” for one reason or another, willingly or unwillingly. Last year, nearly half of the people of South Korea had never spoken to a foreigner. But they will have to learn to, since the country’s foreign population is steadily rising and now constitutes more than 2 percent of the population.

In rich countries worldwide, an average of 8 percent of the population is foreign-born. When cultural anthropology began in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, its value was in providing understanding to Westerners about the faraway “other.” But now it has growing value in providing insights to us all about the “other” at home and about how “natives” and “others” can learn from each other and live together peacefully and pluralistically. In this world of increasing foreignness, the following is good advice for both natives and others: “educate yourself, beginning with anthropology.”

Image: “Restaurant For Foreigners” by Flickr user Stinkie Pinkie, licensed by Creative Commons.