Antropologías hoy: (In)certidumbres y utopías

Abstract

We live in uncertain times. It is highly possible that we are witnessing an epochal change brought about by transformations in the global capitalist system (China's rise to the center of the system exemplifies this). Anthropologists and other social scientists face new challenges as segmentations and interethnic relations among glocals shift, igniting old and new racisms. We may be entering a post-multicultural era. Simultaneously, conceptions of what is human are undergoing radical change, and the Anthropocene serves as a metaphor for the negative and unsustainable effects of the post-Industrial Revolution human experience. In many countries the social sciences suffer budget cuts and lose their public relevance in media dominated by post-truths, and right-wing anti-intellectualism. The capillarity of the internet makes the world seem transparent, and the intelligentsia meaningless. There is an urgent need to rethink our positionings, our subjects and politics of visibility. Anthropologists have been interested, in different ways, in intervening, with their knowledge and research, in the way the future unfolds. I argue that thinking on a global scale is a way of escaping our current political dilemmas, and regaining the visibility and public influence of the discipline. I also believe that anthropologists must engage in utopian struggles in order to foster perspectives of progressive impact on contemporary political, social, cultural and economic processes.

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