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The workings of a Danish Medical Anthropologist Lecturer: Mrs. Hanne Katrine Alsbirk(尤汉娜) Medical Anthropologist (MA) Free-lance consultant Interpretress: Ms. Grace Ma(马晴燕) (MA),Sun Yat-sen University Opening and presentation Why anthropology? Why applied? Academic positioning and practical examples Fieldwork in Ubud, Bali, Indonesia 1996-1997 Reproductive health , women, Inforrmants: women of reproductive age, local health providers, pharmaceutical professionals, local laypersons of Sudra caste case studies working with professionals supervisor and expert PhD medical anthropologist Mrs.Tine Gammeltoft and local counterpart medical anthropologist Dr. Kumbara, Udayana University Denpasar Bali, Indonesia Preparing field work and funding going to the field with a fellow student finding the relevant location doing the field study functioning in the field “being systematic in an intuitive way” working with informants having an assistant helps language barriers and isolation developing skills as you go along, returning to the desk, analyzing and ‘writing up’ the analysis. Research focus: How does the traditional Balinese Caste system influence modern women’s reproductive health practice? Litt.: “Fertility Regulation as SocioCultural Challenge” (Danish version) Going to the field Examining field sites Anthropologist Local counterpart Local conterpart Informant Assistant Bureaucracy School Health Consultant in Thanh Hoa, Vietnam 2000-2002 for PATH Definitions Practitioner roles in anthropology What roles are there? 1. Traditional academic roles of anthropologists = teaching + research in college or university most frequent 2. Applied roles = practitioner roles, mostly in organizations and groups, public and non profit policy researcher evaluator impact assessor needs assessor planner research analyst advocate trainer culture broker expert witness public participation specialist administrator/manager change agent therapist 3. Free-lance role (commercial and private sector work) Typical applied anthropology jobs consist of many roles “anthropologist” is not commonly used as a job title Content area for applied work EXAMPLES DEFINITION OF APPLIED ANTHROPOLOGY: WHAT IS IT? defining the content is difficult, Simply say that “applied anthropology is anthropology put to use” The generalized and fuzzy quality of that definition is appropriate to the changing job market. Thinking more precisely is however useful… At a general level one can think of anthropology as having two aspects, one is concerned with solution of theoretical problems, another with solving practical problems… examples from Copenhagen university : current research In VN I worked as a school health consultant solving and changing and proposing… both terms encompass a lot of diversity! As will be shown later, basic or theoretical anthropology often builds on practical work which serves as the basis of important theoretical developments it is a useful distinction Defining the field: look at the anthropological practice consider activities typical labeled applied anthrop “Applied anthropology is a complex of related, researchbased, instrumental methods, that produce change or stability in specific cultural systems through provision of data, initiation of direct action, and/or the formation of policy. This process can take many forms, varying in terms of problem, role of the anthropologist, motivating values, and the extent of action involvement” (quote, Willingen 1993) = broad range of products: 1) Information (most important!) 2) Policy (constructed on the info generated) 3) Action (motivated by the generated information) Most typical product: INFORMATION Ethics = standards of performance and behavior “The essential core of the professional ethics of applied anthropology is the nature of the potential and manifested impact on the people involved” (quoted from Willingen 1993, p.41) the anthropologist vs. other information seekers (priests, lawyers, physicians, journalist, detectives, etc.) Anthropologist: asks informants for help and give confidentiality in turn EXAMPLES Finding work in Vietnam working for international NGO re child and women’s health problems how to deal with language barriers teaching others about anthropological methods and developing patience in reality: test, test and test again… Funding for IEC materials networking globally meeting the ethnic people of Thanh Hoa, working with the Black persons H’mong lay reading/writing English texts – with Danish eyes and mind new projects follow old projects, avoiding overcrowding and overlapping in the field. Working in multi-disciplinary settings. Time factors in project cycles. Research questions: What factors influence health decisions? Will local people invest in new health remedies? Local people’s custom Working in a team Vietnamese Vietnamese Young informants School uniform Discussion in plenum Thank you for attendence