Your final writing assignment is to write a two-four page reflection essay in response to the article by Svea
Closser and Erin Finley (published in the American Anthropologist in 2016 and recently reprinted in the
special issue on Disease and Pandemics) entitled, “A New Reflexivity: Why Anthropology Matters in Health
Research and Practice, and How to Make it Matter More.” A link to the article is provided on module 6.
The authors, who are anthropologists conducting research in public health, make an argument about why
the methods and theory in our discipline are crucial for achieving positive public policy outcomes. As
your read through the article you will be familiar with many themes of their argument.