Reimagining Anthropology through Radical Inclusion and Collaborative Transformation

​How a call for enchantment became a blueprint for systemic change at the 84th Annual Meeting of the Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA).

At this year’s SfAA conference, the theme was Enchantment and Transformation. I took that as both a challenge and an opportunity: to tell the truth about anthropology’s past—and to demand something radically different for its future.
My presentation was more than a paper. It was a clarion call.

The Problem We’re Still Avoiding

Anthropology is still reckoning with its colonial legacies: exploitative research methods, extractive relationships with marginalized communities, and a tendency to write about people instead of with them. Too often, those most impacted by systemic harm are treated as subjects, not co-creators.
We have to do better.

The Vision I Offered

Drawing from critical race theory, Indigenous studies, and queer anthropology, I mapped a framework for what I call radical inclusion. It starts with dismantling rigid categories of identity. It requires intersectional awareness, ethical rigor, and long-term relationships rooted in trust.
But theory isn’t enough.
So I shared concrete practices for collaborative transformation:

• Community-led research design
  
• Accountability protocols
  
• Shared authorship and storytelling sovereignty
  

I illustrated these shifts through ethnographic examples—from Black cowboys rewriting the archive to Zora Neale Hurston’s legacy as a radically humanizing force in the field.

Anthropology as Tool and Tactic

When done well, anthropology can be:

• A mirror for the discipline’s contradictions
  
• A megaphone for community demands
  
• A method for truth-telling in contested spaces
  

This isn’t just a rebrand. It’s a rebuild.

Call to Action

​Reimagining anthropology isn’t just an idea—it’s a responsibility. Let’s build something worthy of the communities we claim to serve.