Applied anthropology in Borneo. Interviews with the authors

Abstract

The interview discusses the experience of Russian anthropologists’ participation in the project of developing a tourist and investment masterplan for one of the districts of Sarawak (Malaysia, Borneo). The subject of the conversation is the field and desk research and research-­based guidelines for local tourism projects, concerning architecture and graphic design, as well as the organization of interaction between companies and local residents. The interviewees discuss the conversion of field materials into practical recommendations, the search for a compromise between academic accuracy and the need to create an aesthetically pleasing and commercially viable product, and the ethical and methodological dilemmas associated with the anthropologist’s position in an applied project.