Anu Kumar
“What is anthropology? What are you ever going to do with that?” It was a question Dr. Anu Kumar often heard from her family and community, a question she was unsure how to answer herself. Kumar first studied anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, as a college student and later completed her master’s in anthropology and public health and, finally, her PhD in medical anthropology. Rather than following a traditional academic path, she built a career in global health and advocacy, eventually becoming President and CEO of Ipas, a global organization focused on reproductive rights and access.
Kumar first became interested in anthropology when her parents subscribed to Discover magazine. One issue had an Australopithecus afarensis on the cover and focused on the discovery of Lucy by Donald Johnson and Tim White, two paleoanthropologists now well-known for their work in defining early human ancestors. Kumar was hooked. She took anthropology classes at Berkeley while taking pre-med requirements. She even took a class with Tim White, which she enjoyed tremendously. During her final semester, she took a class in medical anthropology, which she notes, “changed her life.” Initially, she did not even know it was a field people studied or what it involved, but it brought together her interests in healthcare and anthropology.
The medical anthropology class was something she discovered at the very end of college, and she did not know what to do with this new field. This late discovery is why she encourages students to “branch out and learn as much as you can.” Further, she reminds students that even if they think they are taking full advantage of the resources given to them, they might not be. She emphasizes that professors and university staff want to help students succeed, so college students should take advantage of all that the university has to offer “even if that means taking classes and learning skills in other departments.”
She eventually decided to pursue a Master's Degree in anthropology and public health at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She chose to do a master's in public health because it was better recognized in the job market than medical anthropology, a field that she still finds herself having to explain. Kumar believes strongly that “students should think about which degrees or qualifications are recognized…you should still believe fully in what you are doing, but you should also think about how others understand it.”
Juggling a master’s degree in public health and anthropology, she emphasizes the different viewpoints the two fields have and how it was difficult to bring those approaches together, as “public health people were often focused on doing, doing, doing. Anthropology people were focused on thinking, thinking, thinking, but very seldom doing.” Moving between these two fields pushed Kumar to consider how her anthropological training could be used for practical work. For her, that means combining anthropology’s emphasis on the theoretical aspects of understanding people and situations with the more practical aspects of public health.
Today, Dr. Kumar recommends developing these practical skills in the field of anthropology through internships, opportunities to work with professors, and networking. She acknowledges that it can be difficult for students due to the lack of opportunities and because it can feel awkward but notes that it is something that is hard for everyone, not just students. She recommends reaching out to professors or internship coordinators to introduce yourself and have a brief conversation about their work. She also focuses on language skills, something that is not sufficiently emphasized even with language requirements in most anthropology graduate programs. While she notes that learning a language in school can be difficult due to language instruction being ineffective at times, she believes “students should be more creative about how they learn languages…language acquisition is extremely important, particularly now.”
Even though the practical aspects of anthropology are important, she acknowledges the importance of being a “solid researcher” and understanding the different tasks involved in research, even if the goal is not necessarily to be a professional researcher. She never wanted to be an academic researcher, but everything she “learned about research, methodology, and how to conduct research has been important in every job I have had. Being able to think critically about research and how it is being conducted is valuable.”
Overall, Kumar’s most important lesson from her academic and especially her career experiences is that “Wherever I go and in the work I do with colleagues around the world, the question is always, why?” Her training as an anthropologist pushes her to dig deeper into the systems, beliefs, behaviors, and values that shape how people understand the world around them. Whether working with colleagues or the communities Ipas serves, she approaches these differences with the goal of understanding this “complex puzzle that is endlessly fascinating."
