Download APPLIED and PRACTICING ANTHROPOLOGY

APPLIED and PRACTICING
ANTHROPOLOGY
• The field of applied and practicing
anthropology is dedicated to putting
to use the knowledge anthropology
has produced and will continue to
produce.
Applied and practicing anthropologists
usually work in non-academic settings
such as: government agencies,
international development agencies,
private consulting firms, public health
organizations, medical schools, public
interest law firms, community
development agencies, charitable
foundations and profit making businesses.
• Some applied and practicing
anthropologists go back and forth
between academic and non-academic
settings.
• The two principle professional
organizations for applied and
practicing anthropologists are the
Society for Applied Anthropology
which is a separate organization and
the National Association of Practicing
Anthropology which is a section of
the American Anthropological
Association.
• The origins of applied and practicing
anthropology are rooted in the
fieldwork experiences of
anthropologists with disadvantaged
populations within the USA and
abroad. The compelling problems
and human suffering starkly called
attention for solutions.
• During World War II and again
during the Vietnam War applied and
practicing anthropology experienced
growth periods.
• In the case of the former
anthropologists were called upon to
aid with the war effort in various
ways but principally in understand
human behavior across cultural lines.
• In the case of the latter a
reorientation of cultural values and
priorities led to a greater need for
applied and practicing
anthropologists.
• Applied and practicing
anthropologists have ethical and
practical concerns about the
programs which they engage seeking
to help others i.e. client populations.
• Among the ethical concerns are
issues concerning whom the project
benefits and the long term
consequences of the project.
• Among the practical concerns are
modes of communication within the
client population; prevailing power
structures both within the client
population and the sponsoring
agency and the reception/perception
of those seeking to operate the
project by the client group.
• As a hopeful sign more and more
applied and practicing
anthropological projects are being
collaboratively with the client groups
and often sponsored by such groups.
• Cultural resource management
(CRM) usually takes the form of
contract archaeology and seeks to
record, conserve or manage cultural
resources such as parks, historic and
pre-historic sites.
• CRM professionals are hired most
often by contract from governments
or increasingly in the USA by Native
American groups.
• Forensic anthropology is the use of
anthropology to solve crimes. Some
examples of forensic anthropology
include: Clyde Snow and his forensic
teams who investigate d cases of
genocide and political mass killings.