The RAI has adopted as a priority the improvement of the funding of anthropology in the United Kingdom. This policy was first agreed in 1988, since when some major bequests, gifts and grants have been received. This briefing paper sets out, in question and answer format, why we think anthropology deserves the attention of private benefactors, and the specific aims for which we are raising funds.

What is anthropology?

Anthropology is the study of humanity and includes: social and cultural anthropology (the largest in terms of the numbers of practitioners), the comparative study of human societies, which is undertaken through ethnographic research; biological anthropology, the study of humans from an evolutionary and biological perspective; and the study of material culture. Anthropology has close links or overlaps with archaeology, linguistics and the social sciences in general, as well as having cognate interests with the medical and biological sciences.

What's special about anthropology

Because anthropology is not yet taught in most secondary schools, it is relatively little known to the general public. But, for the very reason that most university students come to the subject freshly after leaving school, it can often engage their attention and imagination keenly. Anthropology is complementary to history in allowing comparison between one society and another, as well as comparison across time. Thus it has the special educational value of helping students to question their unexamined assumptions and hence begin to think more clearly about social life. The impact of anthropology on other academic disciplines has been impressive. Most disciplines in the humanities have been significantly influenced by anthropology - European history, development economics and biblical studies are just some examples - but anthropology also straddles the arts and the sciences.

Social anthropology depends crucially on a tradition of fieldwork in which a researcher lives in a society for an extended period, learning the local language and immersing himself or herself in the customs and values of the community. These methods are an essential complement to other kinds of social research based on questionnaires and the analysis of documents. Anthropologists have been successful in gaining understanding of intimate aspects of human life such as parenting sexuality, childhood, and physical and mental health, which have to be approached with great sensitivity.

If social anthropology should ever lose this tradition of intensive fieldwork, usually but not always carried out overseas, it would lose its distinctive character. Equally, the role of biological anthropology, in seeing humans in a broader context, is becoming more significant with the growth of biology more generally.

Is anthropology useful, as well as intellectually productive?

Yes, especially in such fields as health and medicine, ecology and the environment, relief and refugee aid, development planning, racial and ethnic relations, the protection of children, care of the elderly, human rights, the study of tourism, media studies etc. The anthropological concept of tourism, media studies etc. The anthropological concept of `culture' has been already widely borrowed by popular writers on management, and often abused, but recently a number of anthropologists have applied their skills to the study of organizations. Evolutionary ideas are increasingly being applied in areas of health.

What's special about British anthropology

Anthropology began with exploration and flourished with the expansion of the colonial empires. Britain has always played a leading role in the development of anthropology, and the RAI is the world's oldest anthropological society.

The training offered in Britain to doctoral students in anthropology is second to none: so are the principal British journals (led by The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, incorporating Man) and academic presses. Britain has also set the pace in bringing anthropology to a wide audience through television and through the RAI's second journal, Anthropology Today, which is aimed at speaking out to a wider audience on matters of general concern. Though there are far more American anthropologists than British, British-trained anthropologists run university departments in many countries and in terms of broad influence are more or less equal to their American counterparts.

National comparisons of this kind are inviduous, and anthropology is increasingly a global subject. However, anthropology deserves a place in any audit of the British intellectual heritage.

Is British anthropology at risk?

On the whole, anthropology has maintained its position relatively well in the university and research funding system in Britain, which itself has experienced a long period of turbulence. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that the subject is seriously under-funded with regard to academic employment, research and teaching. Given the constraints on government spending, we are seeking private benefactions to encourage new talent and stimulate intellectual exchange.

Why should the RAI play a part?

The RAI's core activity is publishing international journals. But it is also already maintaining trustee of a number of trust funds for research, and works closely with university departments to administer two schemes for research funding: the annual Leach/RAI Fellowships in Social Anthropology (funded by the Esperanza Trust), designed to give time for a doctoral dissertation to be turned into a publishable book, and the annual RAI Fellowships in Urgent Anthropology, to facilitate research on currently threatened indigenous peoples. The latter scheme is made possible by the Anthropologists' Fund for Urgent Anthropological Research which has been launched in the USA (Founding Sponsor: George N. Appell). Recently, funding has been procured from the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial fund, for the launching of a third scheme, Fellowships at the Centre for Child-Focused Anthropological Research which is planned to open shortly at Brunel University.

Being small, frugally administered and financially stable, the RAI is in a good position to raise and administer further funds for the benefit of anthropology.

What objects is the RAI raising funds for?

We are currently preparing a `menu' of projects that foundations or private benefactors might be interested in. None is designed to maintain the established commitments of the Institute.* In each case, the project will, it is hoped, be named after the benefactor. Projects we are currently working on include:

1. A named fund for invited conferences to result in publications

The world of natural science benefits greatly from the existence of organizations such as the Novartis (formerly Ciba) Foundation, which is devoted to high-level scientific exchange. In the past, the Economic and Social Research Council and one or two British foundations used to earmark grants for social science conferences, but these have been much reduced owing to their other commitments. The RAI has itself over the years organized a number of conference on innovative topics, such as refugees, societies in acute crisis, the ethnography of children, Non-Governmental organizations, etc. The RAI would like to be in a position to sponsor a major international conference about every two years. Proposals for such conferences would come before a special committee, so that only the best would be selected. Some conferences of this kind would be held in developing countries, in many of which anthropology is playing a major role. The funds required would be about £15,000 every two years, or a capital sum of about £190,000 to set up an endowment allowing for inflation.

2. A named fund to support ethnographic film/video

The RAI, through its Film Committee which was set up in 1971, has taken a lead in the development of ethnographic film and can take some credit for facilitating a remarkable period in British television when directors view to make excellent ethnographic documentaries. These generated considerable public interest in our subject. At present, and let us hope temporarily, British television has largely withdrawn its support for ethnographic documentary, in favour of journalism and travelogue. The RAI continues to run a biennial Ethnographic Film Festival and international prizes but this whole area is seriously under-funded. Funds are needed for training and summer-schools, film-making, film festivals and the exploration of possibilities offered by new technologies. Whereas film and video are media which in general require larger budgets than the written word, a significant contribution could also be made to our work by means of small donations, e.g. to endow our film prizes so that a more than nominal reward can be given to the best film-makers.

3. Building up the Anthropologists' Fund for Urgent Anthropological research and the Centre for Child-focussed Anthropological Research.

4. Establishing a regular annual research fellowship in biological anthropology to match the existing Leach/RAI Fellowship in Social Anthropology.

5. Design and dissemination of an Interactive Audio-Visual Programme on the theme `What is anthropology?' for use in museums, schools etc. About £100,000.

6. Developing the RAI's international Internet service for scholars and students, the Anthropological Index Online, in which we see considerable potential for the future - further details available on request.

* The Institute nonetheless welcomes donations and bequests for its own purposes, and has benefited greatly from these in the past to build up its present position. Further endowments are specially needed, for example, to help develop the link with the Museum of Mankind Library; and to house, document and make more accessible the Institute's archives of photographs and manuscripts, including the Photographic Collections which has stimulated major research.

For U.K. residents: Tax concessions are available to donors.

For U.S. residents: Donations may be made to the British Schools and Universities Foundation (575 Madison Avenue, Suite 1006, New York, NY 10022-2511 - Tel. (212) 662 5576), a tax-exempt foundation, contributions to which are deductible for Federal income and estate tax and gift tax purposes. Donors may express a preference for the RAI.