About Us

What is the anthropology of policy?

The anthropology of policy seeks to conceptualize policy as a site of anthropological research, methodological, theoretical and translational innovation, making policy into an object of anthropological inquiry. Furthermore, the anthropology of policy informs policy processes in fields where we have expertise including debates, implementation, evaluation, lived experiences and everyday enactments. This includes an engagement with policies as potential and actual vehicles for the (systematic) reproduction of subjugation and debilitation within society and subsequently as targets for critique and activism.

Our Mission

The Association for the Anthropology of Policy (ASAP) seeks to provide an institutional framework to identify and foster the work of anthropologists and others studying policies as social, political, and cultural phenomena.

The following four goals guide ASAP’s activities:

1. To support and advance the contribution of the anthropology of policy to anthropology more generally, including: the conceptualization of the “field” as the site of anthropological research, methodological, theoretical and translational innovation, and the legitimacy of policy as an object of anthropological inquiry.

2. To support anthropological and related contributions to the fields of public policy, policy science, public administration, and critical policy studies, as well as to inform policy processes in fields where we have expertise including debates, implementation, evaluation, lived experiences and everyday enactments. Taking policy itself as the object of analysis, ASAP promotes work that challenges mainstream, orthodox approaches to policy.

3. ASAP is committed to just and equitable practices in our research, teaching and writing as well as within the policies, practices and procedures of our section. In tandem, ASAP challenges all forms of oppression. We strive towards citational justice; equitable, diverse, and decolonized curricula; inclusive mentoring and support structures; and a diverse membership and leadership. This includes an engagement with policies as potential and actual vehicles for the (systematic) reproduction of subjugation and debilitation within society. ASAP is committed to forging relevant and generative alliances with those struggling for social justice and emancipation.

4. ASAP seeks to gather policy scholars, practitioners and experts from around the world to discuss and analyze policy-related topics of mutual interest and concern. ASAP’s focus is multi-scalar from the local to the planetary as well as transnational. We also work actively to recruit and retain members from beyond the United States and those not primarily situated in academia.

Approved by the ASAP Executive Board in February 2021