emic/etic divide in 21st century

[Marcy Brink-Danan]

Dear Colleagues,

I am working on a project about the state of the emic/etic divide in 21st century 
anthropology. If this idea was once standard in anthropological thought, recent work on 
globalism, cosmopolitanism, etc., seems to challenge this divide as a meaningful 
heuristic. I come to this question from a linguistic anthropology frame, but welcome 
thoughts from colleagues in any branch of anthropology.
 
I would appreciate feedback on the topic, especially as concerns two main questions: 
1. The first concern is about theory: How much does the emic/etic distinction condition 
your anthropological research design, fieldwork and/or analysis? Has this changed over 
time? If so, to what do you attribute this change? 
2. The second concern is about teaching: How/what do you teach anthropology students 
about this distinction? What (if any) pedagogical value does the emic/etic distinction 
retain? Again, has this changed over the span of your career?

If you have written any articles/books/chapters about the topic that you would like 
mentioned, please send relevant citations/PDFs. Less formal responses are also welcome. 
Feel free to forward this message to other colleagues whose work has dealt with this 
question. 
I look forward to hearing your responses. 

Best, 

Marcy Brink-Danan, Ph.D.
Dorot Assistant Professor of Judaic Studies
Assistant Professor of Anthropology
Brown University
Box 1826
Marcy_Brink-Danan at brown.edu