Of course, “power” can refer to control, authority, or domination, and obviously this is related to oppression and can be presented as an oppressor vs. oppressed binary. But the anthropological study of power also examines indirect, oblique, diverse manifestations of power and agency. Power is not simply a repressive or oppressive force but also reflects generative dynamics. How well can an LLM, limited to just an abstract, evaluate nuanced analyses of power, such as Robin G. Nelson’s engagement with anthropological world building and everyday life? What about articles that draw on Bourdieu’s “symbolic power,” Sally Engle Merry and co-authors’ “quiet power,” or even Marshall Sahlins’s critique that the very concept of power has lost its interpretive value?
(Accessed online at https://www.chronicle.com/article/how-not-to-critique-anthropology?sra=true)
Such is the defense of “power”
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