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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

Angry politics, what we can’t say, being diplomatic, weeping, emotion in music, film & TV

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

Angry politics, what we can’t say, being diplomatic, weeping, emotion in music, film & TV

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

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