What is Anthropology, and What Does it Have to Offer? A Student's Perspective.

Hi there! My name is Francesca, and I'm excited to introduce myself as the newest intern at Habitus.

There are many examples of how Anthropological thinking fosters empathy, inclusivity, and critical thinking. Today, however, I’m going to walk you through my own experience as an international student, where Anthropology gradually nudged me toward developing empathy, open-mindedness, and critical thinking in ways I never expected. If you’re interested in learning how this experience has transformed my worldview, I encourage you to keep reading!

When I was 19, I moved to Sydney from my hometown in Uruguay, South America, to pursue a Bachelor of Arts. I chose to major in Anthropology because I’ve always been fascinated by people and cultural diversity; but, if I’m honest, I didn’t exactly know what Anthropology did, much less how it could be applied. 

In fact, not many people know what Anthropology really is, and those who do often don’t know how the discipline comes to life beyond academia. 

Put in simple terms, Anthropology is the study of humans. But it is so much more than that!

The practical value of Anthropology first became clear to me when I had to navigate the many challenges of moving abroad and trying to feel at home in an entirely different culture.

I’ve always seen myself as an extroverted, social person, which is why I couldn’t understand why I felt so strange and disconnected in this new social setting. After a few months, the weight of homesickness and loneliness started pushing down on me. It wasn’t that I was actually lonely, I’d made several friends at university and through my daily activities. But when I thought of how it used to feel with my friends back home, it just didn't feel the same, and that sent me down the rabbit hole with questions:

Does this mean I don’t belong here?

What should I be doing differently? Is there something wrong with me?

Should I even be here if I feel this way?

Should I just give up and go home?

All the while, I was sitting in my Anthropology class, reading the work of Anthropologists situated in every corner of the world, and being captivated by the exchange of insights and ideas shared by my professors. 

As the months passed, something began to shift. I started to experience a very subtle, yet profound change, one that many Anthropology students experience as they go through their degree. Unavoidably, studying how cultures differ from each other, and trying to make sense of beliefs and practices that at first seem very strange, makes you gradually turn towards your own culture and experiences…

… And do the opposite thing. 

Anthropology is not just about studying cultures that are different from our own, it is just as much about “stepping out” of our own cultural setting and trying to see how familiar things are actually very, very strange. It’s about realising that the things we think are just normal and natural are, in fact, just as “socially constructed” as the things we find weird and senseless in cultures different from our own. 

You might ask, how does all this relate to my own experience feeling homesick and disconnected in a foreign country? 

As I said before, it wasn’t that I didn't have people to hang out with, the problem, as I saw it then, was that the friendships I had built did not feel like the experience of friendship I used to have back home. 

That is, how I learned (through repeated experiences within my own cultural world) what friendship was supposed to feel like. 

The reality is that friendship, being a human phenomenon, varies in the ways it is lived and experienced across cultures. Just as much as love, work, food, religion, and anything that involves humans does!

In Uruguay, friendships are experienced so intimately that the line between family and close friends often blurs. The way Uruguayans engage with their friends closely resembles how people in the West typically interact with their family members (although this varies across the West as well!). In Uruguay, friends spontaneously show up at your place and hang around without schedule, tag along uncommitted to perform errands and daily tasks, and might even end up spending the night. It is not uncommon for friends to attend family gatherings of other friends, and naturally engage in the same way your cousin or aunt would at the family roast. 

One of the things Anthropology taught me, that I’m most grateful for, is the ability to turn the focus towards myself and understand how my own cultural background shapes my current experience and my reactions to them. What’s distinct about Anthropology is that it encourages practising self-reflection in a very humane and non-judgmental way. As such, Anthropology cultivates self-awareness. 

I realised that my feelings about my new friendships lacking intimacy and authenticity were rooted in unfulfilled expectations shaped by my own culture's ideals of what friendships should look and feel like. Perhaps most importantly, this exercise made me recognise that feeling homesick and disconnected was not only okay, it was expected. 

Anthropological thinking helped me quiet the negative judgments I was casting on myself. Most importantly, Anthropology validated my feelings. Thinking Anthropologically made me see that I am no different to human beings around the world, in the sense that I’m also subject to the subtle, albeit powerful, cultural forces that surround me.

Yet, these cultural frameworks are not to be judged as better or worse than each other…they are just different!

I cannot stress how important understanding this is if we wish to cultivate a more empathetic and inclusive world!

Overall, Anthropology is a strange discipline; through studying what makes people and cultures different from each other, we also discover what we all have in common. Paradoxically, it is by accepting our differences that we discover our shared humanity. 

As I continue in this messy and exciting cultural journey, I regularly remind myself to switch on the Anthropological mindset to engage with the world, and with myself, in a more humane and compassionate way. That is why I like to think of Anthropology not just as a valuable, albeit strange, discipline, but also of Anthropology as being a beautiful experience. 

I encourage you to go out and live it!