Anthropology Students finding hope in a hopeless world?

Sherry Fukuzawa, Associate Professor Teaching Stream, University of Toronto Mississauga

In my fourth year undergraduate seminar course “Rethinking Anthropology from a Community Perspective” students engage in weekly discussions reflecting on the colonial roots of our discipline with readings on the decolonization of the subfields of biological anthropology and archaeology. The students are close to graduating from a diversity of specializations within the discipline including forensic anthropology, archaeology, primatology, medical anthropology, and evolutionary anthropology. This cohort of students are passionate and dedicated to changing the future of anthropology and yet I have noticed defeatist undertones through the discussions over recent iterations of the course.

An underlying theme in all the sessions is the dominating influence of global politics and power in shaping the future of research and fieldwork in our discipline. A series of guest lecturers working in the subfields gave the students real time experiences and issues in the field. For example, a forensic anthropologist in the United States discussed the colonial roots of forensic anthropological methods and the problems with bimodal designations of sex in forensic identification. An Indigenous knowledge holder in Canada discussed how government policies and archaeological practices are leading to Indigenous cultural destruction. A primatologist discussed the North American dominance over local community involvement in fieldwork, research initiatives, and education in her project in South America. A museum curator gave an overview of the ethical issues related to human skeletal collections, and issues related to current practices and policies in DNA collection from human populations.

Student projects include participation in the American Anthropological Association’s (AAA) World Anthropology Day with blog posts, posters or presentations on “What can you do with a degree in Anthropology?”. The question hangs in the air as these students feel like they are graduating without many anthropological career prospects. Some are applying to graduate school, with intentions to stave off unemployment and delay debt repayment as much as their realistic prospects in the field.

In this world of political polarity, denying global climate change, defunding post-secondary education, online misinformation, and Artificial Intelligence, how do we instill hope in this educational trajectory for our students? Ending every discussion with a flippant “You can turn everything around. You are the generation of change. I believe in you!” mantra is empty and superficial.

I am encouraged by their dedication and drive to transform the discipline into activism. Their final presentations surprised me. Students are doing internships with pharmaceutical companies, and public health institutions. They are working for Cultural Resource Management companies and building relationships with local Indigenous communities. All the presentations reflect on how their degrees in anthropology shaped their critical thinking skills and influenced all aspects of their lives. The future suddenly feels brighter.