The California Series in Public Anthropology is a groundbreaking collection of books​ ​that share a common goal: to emphasize the anthropologist’s role as an engaged​ ​intellectual. Books in the series affirm anthropology’s commitment to bearing​ ​ethnographic witness, to describing, through stories, how life is lived beyond the borders​ ​of many readers’ experiences. But it also adds a commitment through ethnography to​ ​reframing the terms of public debate—transforming received, accepted understandings of​ ​social issues with new insights and frameworks. Launched in 2001 by Robert Borofsky,​ ​the series includes seminal books by anthropologists Paul Farmer, Philippe Bourgois, Arthur Kleinman, Seth Holmes, Carolyn Nordstrom​, ​Didier Fassin, Aihwa Ong, Robert Thornton, Valery Tishkov, Claudia Seymour, and Margaret Lock. The Nobel laureates Amartya Sen, Jody Williams, and President Mikhail Gorbachev, as well as President Bill Clinton, have all contributed to the series through books or forewords.

In 2019, Ieva Jusionyte assumed leadership of the series as editor. To submit a proposal, please contact Ieva Jusionyte or UC Press anthropology editor Kate Marshall. UC Press book proposal guidelines are available here.

Ieva Jusionyte, Editor, Harvard University
Robert Borofsky, Founding Editor, Center for a Public Anthropology, Hawai’i Pacific University

Advisory board members:
Catherine Besteman, Colby College
Philippe Bourgois, UCLA
Jason De León, UCLA
Paul Farmer, Partners in Health and Harvard University
Laurence Ralph, Princeton University
Nancy Scheper-Hughes, UC Berkeley