Esther Leemannis a social anthropologist whose research interests range from social, economic, cultural and political dimensions of indigenous territoriality and displacement to rural livelihoods and development policies and post-disaster reconstruction and housing. Her teaching focuses on political ecology, economic anthropology, development, disaster studies and research methods to enable her students to critically examine contemporary global and local issues as social anthropologists. She has been teaching political ecology and economic anthropology for 20 years at the Universities of Zurich, Lucerne and Bern. She is the coordinator of the Swiss Graduate Program in Anthropology—CUSO Anthropology.
This foreword discusses the ongoing tradition of self-reflection and critique within anthropology, focusing on its impact on PhD students. It highlights how contemporary debates about representation, cultural performance, and decolonization challenge young scholars’ research projects and professional identities. I note that while self-criticism has been a constant in anthropology since the 1960s, it poses unique challenges for new researchers who strive to meet high ethical standards and innovative research expectations simultaneously.
The foreword emphasizes the precarious position of PhD candidates, who must balance innovation with adherence to established schools of thought. Despite these challenges, I observe that current graduate students actively engage with disciplinary critiques, demonstrating thorough knowledge of original works and creating spaces for cross-disciplinary discussions. The foreword concludes by introducing a special issue featuring PhD candidates’ reflections on representational issues in their research, illustrating the ongoing importance of self-reflection in anthropology.
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