Royal Anthropological Institute (RAI) Names Professor of Anthropology Honorary Fellow

The RAI Council elected Professor of Anthropology Robert Borofsky, Ph.D., an Honorary Fellow of its institute.

Borofsky is widely recognized for his work in public anthropology, serving as editor of the California Series in Public Anthropology for 18 years, and he currently runs the websites, publicanthropology.org and publicanthropolgy.net.

In his recently published book, Anthropology of Anthropology, Borofsky seeks to shift anthropology from being absorbed with internal intellectual squabbles to addressing important public problems. In its first year of publication, people from more than 110 countries have downloaded Anthropology of Anthropology, according to Google analytics.

HPU students in Borofsky’s classes, along with thousands of students from across North America, participate in Public Anthropology’s Community Action Project, which has an objective to “reinforce key skills students need for meaningful lives and careers – critical thinking, effective communication, and active citizenship.”    

Borofsky also exposes his students to the massive open online education videos that are part of Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology, a popular, open access introductory textbook in the field. The videos provide an accessible way to grasp the main themes of cultural and public anthropology.

With his international standing in cultural anthropology, Borofsky brings to HPU classroom discussions not only cutting-edge developments in the field but also a personal sense of the people shaping them.  

Borofsky joins a select group of individuals eminent in anthropology, appointed as an RAI Honorary Fellow.