Abstract
Finding a ground for "common good" (which is the aim of public policy) was hugely difficult for Anthropology, with its obsession with cultural relativism. Particularly in contexts where "field" was emphasised, this engagement was much more difficult. Beginning with Nader’s call for 'study up' in 1960s, anthropology has made tremendous progress in its engagement with public policy. Shore and Wright (1998) synthesises these contributions in their work on 'Anthropology of Public Policy'. This paper examines the contributions of Indian anthropology towards public policy, and classifies the contributions into five types: Domain specific contributions (e.g. tribal policy), positivist applications of anthropology (e.g. identifying cultural practices to classify a social group), complementary role of anthropology (e.g. economists and anthropologists coming together to shape institutions), reflexive anthropology (e.g. self-critical), and anthropology to anthropologist (engaged practice beyond disciplinary frameworks). The paper also identifies some of the areas where path breaking work is possible in Indian context.
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