1st Edition
EmTech Anthropology Careers at the Frontier
EmTech Anthropology: Careers at the Frontier emphasizes anthropology’s critical role at the frontier of emerging technologies (EmTech). The book explores the opportunities and challenges that arise as anthropologists venture into the territory of EmTech, pushing the boundaries of traditional academic approaches and methodologies.
By sharing the stories and insights of early to mid-career anthropologists working in AI, robotics, Web3, cybersecurity, and other cutting-edge fields, the book provides a possible roadmap for future practitioners seeking to make an impact in the world of EmTech. These anthropologists demonstrate how the discipline's unique perspective and skills can be applied to address the complex ethical, social, and cultural implications of emerging technologies.
The volume showcases how anthropologists can act as visionaries, innovators, and early adopters, shaping the trajectory of EmTech towards more ethical, equitable, inclusive, and sustainable futures. It highlights the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, practical impact, and intervention in EmTech contexts while also acknowledging the need for anthropologists to challenge existing narratives and push the boundaries of the discipline itself.
EmTech Anthropology: Stories from the Frontier serves as an essential resource for anthropologists, students, and professionals from related disciplines who are interested in exploring the frontiers of anthropology and emerging technologies. By offering a glimpse into the exciting possibilities and compelling insights that emerge when anthropology meets EmTech, the book inspires and guides the next generation of anthropological innovators.
Acknowledgements
Foreword
1 Introduction
MATT ARTZ AND LORA KOYCHEVA
2 Everyday Life, Ever-Present AI: Data and Privacy in Voice Assistants and Chatbots
LAURA MUSGRAVE
3 Reimagining Recommender Systems: Towards a More Equitable Model for Creators
MATT ARTZ
4 Towards an Anthro-Centric Cybersecurity
LIANNE POTTER
5 Cargo Cult or Kula Ring? The Battle for Shared Ethos in Web3
MELYN MCKAY
6 Anthropology is Good to Build With: From Ethnographic Imagination to Anthropological Speculation in Robotics
LORA KOYCHEVA
7 Latin American NewSpace: Anthropological Collaborations and Critiques
ANNE W. JOHNSON
8 Good Ethnography for Good Food: Making Genetic Engineering Palatable to the US Market
MUJTABA HAMEED
9 Biotechnology and Anthropology: Bringing Human Experience into Focus
THOMAS SCOTT HUGHES
10 The Space Between: Charting the Past and Future Relationships between Anthropology and Emerging Technologies
KATE SIECK
Biography
Matt Artz is an anthropologist, designer, and technologist specializing in AI product development. He is the founder of Azimuth Labs, host of the Anthropology in Business and Anthro to UX podcasts, and co-editor of EmTech Anthropology and the forthcoming Anthropology and AI. His work has been featured on TED, UNESCO, South by Southwest, and Apple’s Planet of the Apps.
Dr. Lora Koycheva is an anthropologist and technologist working at the intersection of anthropology, innovation, entrepreneurship, and robotics. She is Assistant Professor at the Chair of Technoscience Studies in Brandenburg Technical University. She is also building Robots, actually! – a global initiative to rebuild the human condition with robots. From 2020 to 2023, she was a convenor of the EASA Applied Anthropology Network. She holds a PhD in Anthropology from Northwestern University.
"Anthropology is in the throes of change as fieldwork and problem solving are expanding rapidly into organizational settings, particularly in tech. Today’s trailblazers are partnering with others as active problem solvers at the ‘cutting edge.’ Gone is anthropology’s insularity, as new theory, methods, and models are tested and put to use serving diverse communities. These anthropology innovators bring a ‘solutions mindset’ to their work as they reinvent what anthropology is and demonstrate its value and impact."
Elizabeth K. Briody, Founder and Principal of Cultural Keys LLC and Chair of Anthropology Career Readiness Network
"This book presents a compelling premise: anthropology, once a prominent public platform for voicing concerns, lost its way in higher education and society. But anthropologists in business today are intervening to create meaningful change by confronting our most vexing human problems. The authors detail how a new generation of business anthropologists are applying their knowledge to shape sociotechnical transformations in AI, robotics, genetic engineering, and other emerging technologies, while addressing what it means to be human. Readers can enjoy a series of rich, informative, and descriptive stories of careers, choices, and actions that anthropologists take to make transformational change happen, and it comes at a highly relevant time: to portend not just the future of technology but potential futures of humankind."
Timothy de Waal Malefyt, Ph.D. Clinical Professor of Marketing at the Gabelli school of Business, Fordham University
"Visions of the frontier run deep in anthropology. They separate the familiar from the exotic and set the stage for the anthropologist to venture beyond and bridge the gap. Today’s frontiers are technological and constantly shifting. EmTech Anthropology offers a fascinating, personal, and deeply compelling introduction to how anthropologists can navigate our unfamiliar futures with tech like AI, robotics, or genetic engineering – and help the rest of us do the same."
Anders Kristian Munk, Professor of Computational Anthropology, Technical University of Denmark
"A healthy, heartfelt piece of food for thought for all anthropologists who work in interdisciplinary teams – and not least those who do not, yet! Served with humor, the authors remind us to move beyond our anthro-egos and embrace the perspectives of ‘the other’ to enable the impact of our discipline. The brilliance of the argument is that we must shift our own perspectives and look outwards, to enable making our own perspectives relevant for the sake of a better future of tech."
Louise Vang Jensen, Anthropologist, co-CEO and Partner in the Strategic Innovation Agency, IS IT A BIRD
"EmTech Anthropology masterfully explores the intersections between anthropology, business and engineering, and challenges anthropologists to become anthro-solutionists – innovators who combine anthropological knowledge and insights with the development of people-centred technological solutions that will shape our future. It acts as a catalyst for inspiration and will definitely shape the path of the next generations of students, researchers and practitioners in the dynamic landscape of emerging technologies. In short, a powerful book."
Dan Podjed, Associate Professor, Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts
"This unique collection offers potential ways for anthropologists to chart new courses within the emerging technology landscape. Rather than serving as insight providers within tech business models, these authors call for anthropologists to lead the way toward developing novel forms of serving human needs through technology. Rooted in a fresh perspective of the discipline, they see a world where anthropologists drive new offerings that prioritize the dynamics of human interactions as the starting point."
Jay Hasbrouck, Ph.D., Author of Ethnographic Thinking: From Method to Mindset
