Anthropology at a Crossroads
Anthropology at a Crossroads

Author(s): Dan Podjed
Subject(s): Anthropology, Social Sciences
Published by: Етнографски институт САНУ
Keywords: anthropology; future scenarios; technologies; Big Data; Thick Data; remote ethnography; interdisciplinarity; artificial intelligence; ChatGPT
Summary/Abstract: During the Covid-19 pandemic, several issues have come to the fore that may not have been so obvious and illuminated in the past. Some of them are related to the use of information technologies, while others relate to the urgent need to address important global issues anthropologically, in collaboration with other scientific fields and in closer contact with industry, nongovernmental organisations, and governmental or international institutions. This paper focuses on these issues, suggesting how anthropology might change in the future to better understand the social realities of the contemporary world. Particular attention is given to remote ethnography as a way to study people from a distance using digital technologies, and an attempt is made to highlight the importance of combining the Big Data and Thick Data analyses as a relevant methodological framework. Explored are also ways in which AI-based tools can be used to analyse results from the field, and how IT-based tools can improve and enhance anthropology. Finally, the paper presents the need for anthropologists to move “from observation to participation” and to collaborate more frequently with other scientific fields and institutions outside academia.

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