Interdisciplinary Contributions from Anthropological Perspectives in BRI Research

This chapter argues that the conventional IR perspectives in BRI research can be radically complemented through the interdisciplinary contributions from anthropological perspectives. With the core strengths of anthropology in elucidating heterogeneity, dynamism, and micro causal mechanisms of social life and cultural expressions, the existing BRI research—pervaded with IR disciplinary traditions—can be further enhanced. In especial, the chapter advocates multi-sited analysis at multiple scales, multi-dimensional actors in “follow the thing” mechanism at multiple directions, and the multi-faceted voice approach to provide a deeper qualitative elucidation where statistical figures fail to capture.