Anthropology Works! Consensus Building and Stakeholder Engagement in Anthropology Higher Education

This paper evaluates the Professional Anthropology (PA) track within the Master's program in Social and Cultural Anthropology at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. The PA track integrates transdisciplinary education by fostering student collaborations with external stakeholders to enhance both employability and the societal relevance of anthropological research. Students engage in year-long research projects co-designed with stakeholders, culminating in both an academic thesis and a practical deliverable addressing real-world needs.
In pedagogical terms, at the core of PA lies collaborative problem framing between students and stakeholders (Defila & di Giulio 2017). Rather than requiring full agreement, this process involves negotiating consensus around shared understandings while valuing individual perspectives and contributions. Our research zooms into such consensus building, focusing on initiation, forms of engagement, mutual benefits, and challenges faced by the parties involved. Methodologically, our article combines a literature review on transdisciplinary collaboration in anthropology and in-depth interviews with stakeholders, students, alumni, and academic staff connected to the PA track.
Our data provides insights into how different parties experience such collaborations, showing that they both enrich student learning and provide tangible benefits to stakeholder organizations. However, challenges such as aligning expectations, communication barriers, differences in ontological and epistemological stances, and resource constraints also pose challenges. Building on two years of PA implementation and previous Erasmus+ projects involving stakeholders in education, we share key lessons and recommendations for improving stakeholder engagement and program design in higher education.
By examining our own institutional practices, this paper contributes to broader discussions on transforming anthropological education through meaningful partnerships, aligning with the panel's focus on building bridges between anthropology and new audiences.