COLLABORATIVE

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INTERDISCIPLINARY

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OPEN

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COLLABORATIVE • INTERDISCIPLINARY • OPEN •

THE PUBLIC ANTHROPOLOGY CONFERENCE

PUBLIC KNOWING FOR PUBLIC CHANGE

HOSTED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF ANTHROPOLOGY & THE PUBLIC ETHNOGRAPHY LAB AT AMERICAN UNIVERSITY

SECTIONS

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  1. REVITALIZING THE PAC LEGACY

  2. DEFINING THE PUBLIC IN PUBLIC ANTHROPOLOGY

  3. OUR APPROACH: PUBLIC KNOWING, PUBLIC CHANGE

  4. WHAT THIS MEANS IN PRACTICE

  5. THANK YOU TO OUR FUNDERS & SUPPORTERS

REVITALIZING THE PAC LEGACY

The Public Anthropology Conference (PAC) is a longstanding project of the Department of Anthropology at American University. Beginning in 2003, the conference ran annually until for 15 consecutive years. In the time, the conference became a flagship event for public anthropologists, critical scholars from outside the discipline, and engaged community members and organizations. The program was held at American University and fostered dialogue and knowledge exchange on topics like social justice, public scholarship, and activism. Over the years welcomed major disciplinary leaders for keynote addresses, such as Faye Harrison and Carole McGranahan.

Then in 2018, what was meant to be a short pause in 2018 turned into a 7-year longer hiatus with the beginning of the pandemic. Yet throughout that time, the department never lost sight of the possibility of the conference returning and continuing its critical role amongst public anthropologists.

When a grant opportunity emerged in 2024 for projects which “translated research into action,” the department saw an opportunity to not only bring but revitalize the beloved program, and 2026 marks the 2nd year of the reinvigorated event.

DEFINING THE PUBLIC IN PUBLIC ANTHROPOLOGY

A question that we, as public anthropologists, are constantly being asked – and often ask ourselves – is: What is anthropology? And even more so, what is public anthropology? 

Anthropology – in its broadest sense – can be understood as the practice of intentional, long-form, and intentional study, with the goal of understanding better people, places, things, phenomena, and more. The public has and does convey different meanings, all which work to challenge more conventional aspects of academic scholarship:

  1. The public can mean dissemination beyond the ivory tower, with an attention to how people can find that work and make sense of it.

  2. The public can mean that you don’t “produce” theory for theories’ sake. You analyze to make an impact or intervention, such that your work becomes a tool for change.  

  3. Public can mean a methodological commitment, a public practice that infuses every steps of the research process — from research question development to analysis to publication — rather than mere dissemination.

  4. Public can also mean honoring and taking seriously that “formal academics” do not have a monopoly on “theory and methods”. Things passed off as academic knowledge have so often been violently extracted from public or activist scholars and organizations – without credit. 

  5. And finally, the public also often implies a political commitment to undoing the most destructive forces and structures in our world.  

All of these pillars point to the need for both a commitment to make anthropology useful and accountable to people and communities outside of the university and ensuring that the so-called-divide between anthropology and “the public” is broken.

These frameworks also evidence that critical skills of public anthropology are not reserved for — or owned by — the discipline but instead are mirrored in other social science or humanities disciplines and, crucially, by practitioners, organizations, advocates, and more. Therefore, a public anthropology would and should see such insight as kin.

It’s these understandings and intentions that structure the workings of PAC.

OUR APPROACH: PUBLIC KNOWING, PUBLIC CHANGE

To take seriously a commitment to public scholarship within a conference requires building that commitment into the structure, framing, operations, and processes of the event. This often requires breaking norms of traditional, academic conferences. We define our approach as public knowing for public change.

This approach is grounded in two key understandings:

  1. Any effort to build a more equitable future requires rigorous, collective understandings of the issues we face.

  2. Cultivating collective analysis requires collective knowledge and commitment. Insight is never self-made; it is not restricted to universities or even single disciplines or fields. Rather, meaningful insight comes when an array of thinkers and doers – public and independent scholars, advocates, organizations, community members, students, and formal academics – exchange insights and think together.  

PAC works to be a hub where this type of collective, shared analysis can be developed. To do this, PAC focuses on:

  • Challenging knowledge siloes (academic disciplines, academic vs. non-academic insight, thinker vs. doer)

  • Connecting formal academics, students, public and independent scholars, advocates, organizations, and community members

  • Emphasizing partnership, co-creation, and shared authority in knowledge production

  • Decentering the university as the “only or true” site of expertise

  • Creating space for and valuing the expertise of practice or community scholars

  • Ensuring expertise can move in multiple directions, not “just out” from universities

  • Offering sessions that speak to real needs, questions, and concerns

  • Centering accessibility in across the planning and structure

WHAT THIS MEANS IN PRACTICE

Through the revitalization, PAC has worked to make our approach concrete through specific planning decisions, which include but are not limited to:

  • Attendance is free.

  • All are welcome and wanted. Guests do need particular credentials or affiliations to attend.

  • The location is open, central, and accessible. By holding the event at locations like the Martin Luther King Jr. Library, not only are attendees in the heart of the city with access to all modes of city transportation, but people just visiting the library or neighborhood can pop into sessions.

  • Anyone may apply to present, and we encourage applications from interdisciplinary, public, or independent scholars, non-profits, and community organizations.

  • Talks should center important needs, questions, and concerns and should be legible for people outside the academy, and speakers are encouraged to take the jargon out of their presentations.

  • Sessions are encouraged to be interactive, so that exchange is multi-directional and blurs the line between presenter and audience.

  • “Non-traditional” conference formats at given equal weight, such as film screenings, walking tours, teach-ins, workshops, exhibits, and community conversations.

  • Food, local transportation support, and interpretation are provided.

THANK YOU TO OUR FUNDERS & SUPPORTERS

This program is made possible by financial support from the National Science Foundation Accelerating Research Translation program under the Translating Research Into Action Center (TRAC) award #2331399 at American University and the generosity of individual donors. Additional thanks goes to our planning team, the PAC Advisory Board, volunteers, presenters, attendees, the Event Team at Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library, all of our incredible vendors, and the AU College of Arts and Sciences, and American University.