Applied and Public

Anthropology

Or, Yes, You Can Get a Job as An

Anthropologist!

What is Applied Anthropology?

Refers to the application of anthropological data, perspectives, theory, and methods to identify, assess, and solve social problems.

Applied anthropologists work for groups that promote, manage, and assess programs aimed at influencing human social conditions.

Types of Applied Anthropology

Applied anthropologist come from all four subfields

Biological anthropologists work in public health, nutrition, genetic counseling, forensics.

Applied archaeologists locate, study, and preserve prehistoric and historic sites threatened

by development (Cultural Resource

Management).

More Applied Anthropology

Cultural anthropologists work with social workers, businesspeople, advertising professionals, factory workers, medical professionals, school personnel, and economic development experts. Medical Anthropologists work in global health,

epidemiology, international development, hospitals, clinics

Linguistic anthropologists frequently work with schools in districts with various languages.

What is the Role of the Applied

Anthropologist?

Three views:

1. The Ivory Tower

2. The Schizoid

3. The Advocate

What is the Role of the Applied

Anthropologist?

The ivory tower view contends that

anthropologists

should avoid practical

matters and focus on

research, publication,

and teaching.

What is the Role of the Applied

Anthropologist?

The schizoid view is that anthropologists

should carry out, but

not make or criticize,

policy.

What is the Role of the Applied

Anthropologist?

The advocacy view argues that since

anthropologists are

experts on human

problems and social

change, they should

make policy affecting

people.

Jobs for Applied Anthropologists

Professional anthropologists work for a wide variety of employers: tribal and ethnic

associations, governments, nongovernmental

organizations, etc.

During World War II, anthropologists worked for the U.S. government to study Japanese and

German culture.

Where do most anthropologists work?

Academic Institutions

Non-academic work of anthropologists:

Corporate America (Intel, Microsoft)

World Bank

US AID

World Health Organization

Bureau of Indian Affairs

NGOs

Responsibilities of the Anthropologist

The primary ethical obligation of the anthropologist is to the people, species, or materials he or she studies.

Researchers must respect the safety, dignity, and privacy of the people, species, or materials studied.

Researchers must obtain the informed consent of the people to be studied.

Responsibility to Scholarship and

Science

Anthropologists should expect to encounter ethical dilemmas during their work.

Anthropologists are responsible for the integrity and reputation of their discipline, or scholarship, and of science.

Researchers should disseminate their findings to the scientific and scholarly community.

Responsibility to the Public

Researchers should make their results

available to sponsors,

students, decision

makers, and other non-

anthropologists.

Anthropologists may move beyond

disseminating research

results to a position of

advocacy.

Academic and Applied Anthropology

Academic anthropology had its beginning in the early

20th century (Kroeber,

Malinowski, Boas).

After World War II, the baby boom fueled the growth of the American

educational system and

anthropology, fostering the

further growth of academic

anthropology.

The Spread of Applied Anthropology

Applied anthropology began to grow in the 1970s as

anthropologists found jobs

with international

organizations, governments,

businesses, and schools.

The National Historic Preservation Act of 1966

resulted in the new field of

cultural resource

management.

The Pragmatism of Cultural

Anthropology

In the 1960s, anthropologys focus fit with prevailing social interests, which began the turn

to practical applications.

Anthropologys ethnographic method, holism, and systemic perspective make it uniquely

valuable in applications to social problems.

Applications of Cultural Anthropology

Applied cultural anthropology has excelled in four areas in particular:

Education

Urban social issues

Medicine

Business

Anthropology and Education

Anthropology has helped facilitate accommodation of

cultural differences in

classroom settings.

Examples:

English as a second language taught to Spanish-

speaking students

Different, culturally based reactions to various

pedagogical techniques.

Urban Anthropology

Human populations are becoming increasingly

urban.

Urban anthropology is a cross-cultural and

ethnographic study of

global urbanization and

life in the cities.

Medical Anthropology

Medical anthropology is both academic and

applied.

Medical anthropology is the study of disease and

illness in their

sociocultural context.

Medical anthropologists can serve in many

different roles.

Anthropology and Business

Anthropologists can provide unique perspectives on organizational conditions and problems within businesses.

Applied anthropologists act as cultural brokers in translating managers goals or workers concerns to the other group.

For business, key features of anthropology include ethnography, cross-cultural expertise, and focus on cultural diversity.

Careers in Anthropology

Because of its breadth, a degree in anthropology may provide a flexible basis for many different

careers.

Other fields, such as business, have begun to recognize the worth of such anthropological

concepts as micro-cultures.

Anthropologists work professionally in both academic and non-academic settings.

Article 38: Ethnography in the Public Interest

Describes public interest ethnography as ethnographic research among people who are affected by policy,

bringing a human face to the impact of policy, and seeks

to empower those affected by it.

Gives example of group of undergraduate students who interviewed inmates incarcerated in two California State

womens prisons. Their goal was to learn about the provision of health care from the prisoners perspective. Armed with the insiders point of view, they produced recommendations for changes, some of which were

adopted by prison authorities.

Righteous Dopefiend: Chpt. 9 & Conclusion

Details the difficulties one faces to obtain drug treatment and thereafter maintain a sober lifestyle.

Authors apply their research to real life solutions to the problems that they saw amongst the people they

studied.

Prescribing methodone and other drugs to users to help better manage the detrimental affects of heroin withdrawal

Increased funding for treatment and harm reduction services (mobile psychiatric clinic, mobile abscess clinic, mobile needle

exchange programs)

Eliminating to the War on Drugs (and an emphasis on law enforcement)

Creating a society that is tolerant towards the difficulties of struggling with addiction and providing a support system to

assist those struggling