Public anthropology, according to Robert Borofsky, a professor at Hawaii Pacific University, "demonstrates the ability of anthropology and anthropologists to effectively address problems beyond the discipline—illuminating larger social issues of our times as well as encouraging broad, public conversations about them with the explicit goal of fostering social change". The work of Partners In Health is one illustration of using anthropologicalmethods and data to solvebig or complicated problems.
has criticized the concept of public anthropology on the grounds that it ignores applied anthropology. He wrote: "given that many applied anthropologists already do the kinds of things that are now being described as PA, it is hard to understand why a new label is needed, except as a device for distancing public anthropologists from applied anthropologists". Similarly, Barbara Rylko-Bauer wrote: "one has to ask what is the purpose of these emerging labels that consciously distinguish themselves from applied/practicing anthropology? While they may serve the personal interests of those who develop them, it is hard to see how they serve the broader interests of the discipline". Eric Haanstad responded to Singer's claim by arguing that public anthropology does not necessarily entail the exclusion of applied anthropology. Alan Jeffery Fields defended the concept of public anthropology by claiming it is "a useful trope for one important reason: it calls attention to the fact that there is a division between public and academic perceptions". Borofsky, who coined the term, prefers not to get drawn into such arguments, especially since the term was originally merely coined for a book seriespublished by the University of California Press. He wrote: "I feel uncomfortable getting caught up in what Sigmund Freud called the 'narcissism of small differences'—related groups arguing over small differences to differentiate their identities. There are too many serious problems for anthropology to address". He continued: Borofsky concluded: "I do not see what is gained by trying to attachapplied or public to Ben Finney's work. What he did was impressive. He played a leading role in the resurrection of Hawaiian voyaging and, through that, the Hawaiian Cultural Renaissance". Public anthropology, for Borofsky, is more than a label and more than an intellectual dispute. Just like applied anthropology, it is about what anthropologists can achieve when they address problems beyond the discipline.
