Emergent Conversation 28

Commissioned and Edited by SJ Dillon

In 2026, the question for students of why anthropology (as opposed to any other field), to paraphrase Aime Cox (2018), is ever more pressing (Santos 2025). The deep-seated anxiety about answering this question (whether there is an answer, perhaps) underscores our other discussions and disagreements about what it means to be in solidarity. As anthropology majors drop (alongside other social science and humanities majors), while business, hard science, and other career-track majors rise, there is a sneaking question about where anthropology matters (and even more frightening for soon-to-be and recently-made-PhDs, whether it does at all). How do we fit within the university system intent on making money and placating the wealthy, when we don’t seem to do that very well? How do we fit in a political environment when we are not often called in to television and op-ed writing like our sociologist, economist, and political science colleagues? This series asks, Is solidarity the answer for anthropologists who want to engage with the public? And what counts as solidarity? Who should we be in solidarity with and how should that solidarity be expressed?

 

Introduction:  Solidarity and Anthropology

SJ Dillon

 

 

 

Anthropology Inside/Out

Linda Green

 

 

 

Tales from the Field: Notes on Homecoming

Sana Malik

 

 

 

Heated Politics: Preliminary Reflections on Solidarity’s Malleability

Samira Marty

 

 

Is the Anthropologist a Worker?

Whitney Russell

 

 

 

 

SJ Dillon is a cultural anthropologist working at Emory University as a visiting assistant professor. Their current project focuses on gender dysphoria as a racialized experience in the American south.