ABSTRACT

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book presents grounded ethnographic case examples from applied projects that might suggest new paradigms to inform theory across the multiple disciplines and fields. It explores the global locality, the complex mosaic in which people live their lives in the first part of the twenty-first century. The book seeks to illustrate the new connections and tensions that cut across various local contexts villages, corporations, public agencies, and others in an increasingly interconnected world, based on case studies from practicing and applied anthropologists. It focuses on the experiences of practicing anthropologists who have used anthropology to address, clarify, or resolve cultural questions. The book explores the potential of anthropology as an agent of social change while demonstrating its limits and complexity, and suggests some ways in which anthropology can further strengthen its public role and impact.