What is Public Anthropology?
Public anthropology is an effort to make the discipline more accessible, impactful, and connected to the world beyond academia. It challenges traditional academic boundaries by introducing anthropological insights into public discourse and using research to address pivotal social issues. Public anthropology shows how anthropological perspectives can elevate discussions, question assumptions, and offer valuable context for understanding the complexities of contemporary life.
Although often seen as a recent development, the roots of public anthropology trace back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Early anthropologists worked to dismantle stereotypes and misconceptions about other cultures, advocating for a more active role for anthropology—not just as an observer of the world, but as a participant in shaping it.
Today, public anthropology continues to use research to confront pressing issues like inequality, environmental sustainability, migration, and health disparities. It extends beyond traditional academic publications, engaging with the public through community workshops, digital platforms, and direct involvement, making anthropological insights more accessible to a wider audience. A key element of this approach is its emphasis on collaboration with communities, activists, policymakers, and the public, recognizing that knowledge creation should be open, inclusive, and shaped by diverse voices.
As the field continues to evolve, anthropologists are increasingly turning to creative forms of communication, such as zines, to present their work in more engaging and accessible ways. These independently produced, visually striking publications blend ethnographic research with personal stories, art, and political commentary. As grassroots tools for knowledge-sharing, zines help spread anthropological ideas beyond academic circles, encouraging dialogue with communities that are often excluded from formal scholarly conversations.
Public anthropology aims to take anthropology’s finings and use them to adress real-world issues. Its research that’s accessible and open, supporting and careing for the communities it impcts.
One way this course serves as an example of public anthropology is through our creation of zines.
The History
Zines originated in the 1930s with people creating self-published magazines to share ideas and connect. The art form evolved into a DIY culture encompassing various genres and causes, most notably as a form of activsim within the punk and feminist movements.
The Art of Resistance: Zines as a Countercultural Force
Zines—self-published, small-circulation booklets or magazines—are part of a long tradition of underground publishing that includes earlier movements like samizdat in the Soviet Union. The term samizdat was first coined by poet Nikolai Glazkov in the 1950s to describe the grassroots dissemination of censored or banned texts. Created in defiance of the Soviet state’s monopoly on publishing, samizdat allowed individuals to type, reproduce, and privately circulate literature, essays, and critiques that would never pass official censorship. (Johnston 1999)
Though samizdat developed under radically different conditions than those that shaped zines in the West, both share a do-it-yourself (DIY) ethos, political urgency, and resistance to dominant systems of control. In the 1960s, Soviet citizens often produced samizdat with typewriters and carbon paper due to the scarcity of materials and restrictions on technology. Similarly, zine creators in the 1970s through the 1990s embraced handmade production methods, photocopying, collage, and staples to create works that were deeply personal and often radical. (Komaromi 2015)
Zines gained prominence particularly in the punk and feminist movements, where they became critical vehicles for expression outside of the mainstream media. As with samizdat, zines were circulated through small, trusted networks, functioning both as cultural critiques and as tools for building community. (Jones 2024) For example, feminist zines of the 1990s mirrored the role of samizdat in amplifying voices excluded from dominant discourse by rejecting commercial publishing platforms and prioritizing lived experience, grassroots knowledge, and personal narrative. (Jones 2024)
The shared attitude between samizdat and zines lies not just in their form, but in their function: both served as tools of resistance and communication in environments where alternative perspectives were ignored or silenced. Samizdat may have directly challenged authoritarian governance, while zines often confronted neoliberalism, patriarchy, racism, and homophobia. (Verbuč 2024) Both forms helped advance solidarity, political education, and social critique.
Notable U.S. examples include Sniffin’ Glue, a punk fanzine documenting the rise of the 1970s punk movement, and Jigsaw, a feminist zine integral to the second-wave feminist movement. The Queer Zine Archive Project (QZAP) played a significant role in preserving LGBTQIA+ zines, while the Riot Grrrl movement used zines to amplify women’s voices in punk, challenging gender inequality and sexual harassment. These zines helped shape the landscape of alternative media in the U.S. (Radway 2016)
In the post-Stalin era, samizdat expanded beyond political commentary to include transcripts of political trials, banned novels, personal essays, and critiques of law and culture. (Guerra 2023) Zines produced in queer and radical communities extended beyond political critique, incorporating poetry, visual art, autobiographical writing, and satire to convey the emotional depth and intellectual range of marginalized experiences. (Verbuč 2024)
Even the risks associated with publishing and distributing underground media were akin to. Soviet dissidents faced arrest and imprisonment for producing or possessing samizdat, while Western zinesters, especially queer or radical creators, often faced surveillance, harassment, or public backlash. (Verbuč 2024) The act of publishing independently, whether under authoritarian rule or capitalist democracy, was and remains a form of political intervention.
Moreover, zines embodied a direct-action philosophy: rather than waiting for permission or representation, people created their own media. This legacy lives on today not only in print zines but also in digital forms like PDFs, blogs, and social media collectives. Still, physical zines remain important: tactile, archival, and often transient. They continue to circulate in punk shows, activist gatherings, and zine fests. (Guerra 2023)
In both cases, underground publishing became more than the creation of text; it was a cultural practice that challenged dominant norms and helped people find each other. Whether in Cold War-era kitchens or punk show basements, the DIY spirit of underground publications and zines created communities bound by shared resistance and collective creativity. (Jones 2024)