Anthropological engagement with cultivators, artisans, assemblers, scavengers, service providers, promoters, administrators and other workers in Latin America and the Caribbean: an introduction

JIM WEIL; MARIANO PERELMAN

New Orleans, Estados Unidos

Congreso; 2010 American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting; 2010

American Anthropological Association

Participants in this session on the “Anthropology of Work and the Work of Anthropology in Latin America and the Caribbean” describe, analyze and evaluate practices of people engaged in the eternal quest to secure the necessities of life. Work is anchored in the ongoing demands of physical survival, often under severely constrained circumstances. As a strategic realm of cultural creativity, work also provides food for thought. The presentations offer  a wide array of ethnographic sketches, raise relevant policy issues, and respond to the perpetual challenge to create better anthropologies. Sixteen anthropologists representing several American and European research traditions have come together to compare their diverse approaches as well as their diverse findings. Treating work from multiple perspectives in a remarkable variety of manifestations, they also reflect on the significance of their professional and personal encounters. The session serves as a kind of two-way lens through which the anthropology of work refracts the work of anthropology and vice versa.