Feminist anthropology, applied anthropology. Meeting points and divergences

Abstract

Based on case studies referring to applied research from a feminist perspective, this article approaches the meaning of anthropology in society in general and in Basque society in
particular. It explores the “awkward relationship” between anthropology and feminism on the one hand, and between academic and applied anthroplogy on the other. I position myself thus at a double crossroads: on the one hand in the synergy between theoretical, university research and practical, public investigation; on the other, at the meeting point between these currents and the axis running between social anthropology and feminism. Although it has been said that critical theory and feminist critique perform better in their critical role than their mission of social transformation, I will argue that feminist critique is fundamental in the identification
of intersections between gender systems and sociocultural systems and that critical theory is vital for discerning how to apply in rpeactice what we detect in theory.