McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 1 2 Applying Anthropology Anthropology: The Exploration of Human Diversity 11 th Edition Conrad Phillip Kottak

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 2 Applying Anthropology Overview What Is Applied Anthropology? The Role of the Applied Anthropologist Academic and Applied Anthropology Anthropology and Education Urban Anthropology Medical Anthropology Anthropology and Business Careers and Anthropology

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 3 Overview –Educational –Urban –Rural –Medical –Business settings Applied anthropology used to identify and solve problems involving human behavior, social conditions, and public health

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 4 What Is Applied Anthropology? Applied Anthropology—application of anthropological perspectives, theory, methods, and data—in this case from all four subfields—to identify, assess, and solve contemporary social problems

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 5 What Is Applied Anthropology? –Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA) founded in 1941 –National Association for the Practice of Anthropology (NAPA) founded in 1983 Practicing anthropologists (applied anthropologists) practice their profession outside of academia Applied anthropologists work for groups that promote, manage, and assess programs aimed at influencing human behavior and social conditions

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 6 What Is Applied Anthropology? Biological anthropologists work in public health, nutrition, genetic counseling, substance abuse, epidemiology, aging, mental illness, and forensics. Applied archaeologists locate, study, and preserve prehistoric and historic sites threatened by development (a.k.a. cultural resource management). –Applied anthropologists come from all four subfields

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 7 What Is Applied Anthropology? Linguistic anthropologists frequently work with schools in districts with a wide range of languages. –Applied anthropologists (continued) Cultural anthropologists work with social workers, businesspeople, advertising professionals, factory workers, medical professionals, school personnel, and economic development experts

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 8 What Is Applied Anthropology? Applied archaeology, usually called public archaeology, includes such activities as cultural resource management, contract archaeology, public educational programs, and historic preservation.

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 9 What Is Applied Anthropology? –Cultural Resource Management (CRM)—branch of applied archaeology aimed at preserving sites threatened by dams, highways, and other projects Involves not only preserving sites but allowing their destruction if they are not significant

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 10 The Role of the Applied Anthropologist Combats ethnocentrism—tendency to view one’s own culture as superior and to apply one’s own cultural values in judging the behavior and beliefs of people raised in other cultures

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 11 The Role of the Applied Anthropologist –Identifying needs for change that local people perceive –Working with those people to design culturally appropriate and socially sensitive change –Protecting local people from harmful policies and projects that threaten them Proper roles of applied anthropologists:

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 12 The Role of the Applied Anthropologist In the 1940s, most anthropologists focus on the application of their knowledge In context of British empire, specifically its African colonies, Malinowski proposed that “practical anthropology” (his term for colonial applied anthropology) should focus on westernization, the diffusion of European culture into tribal societies

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 13 Academic and Applied Anthropology Academic anthropology grew most after World War II During 1970’s, and increasingly thereafter, although most anthropologists still worked in academia, others found jobs with international organizations, government, business, hospitals, and schools

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 14 Academic and Applied Anthropology –Ethnographers study societies firsthand, living with and learning from ordinary people –Applied anthropologist’s likely early request is some variant of “take me to the local people” Theory and Practice

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 15 Academic and Applied Anthropology –Anthropology’s systemic perspective recognizes that changes don’t occur in a vacuum Theory and Practice –Theory aids practice, and application fuels theory

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 16 Anthropology and Education –Viewing students as total cultural creatures whose enculturation and attitudes toward education belong to a larger context that includes family, peers, and society Anthropological research in classrooms, homes, and neighborhoods

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 17 Anthropology and Education Sociolinguists and cultural anthropologists work side by side in education research In a diverse, multicultural populace, teachers should be sensitive to and knowledgeable about linguistic and cultural differences

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 18 Urban Anthropology Urban anthropology is the cross-cultural and ethnographic and biocultural study of global urbanization and life in cities Human populations becoming increasingly urban

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 19 Urban Anthropology –Robert Redfield focused on contrasts between the rural and urban contexts in the 1940s –In any nation, urban and rural represent different social systems Urban versus Rural Applying anthropology to urban planning starts by identifying the key social groups in the urban context

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 20 Medical Anthropology Unites biological and cultural anthropologists in the study of disease, health problems, health-care systems, and theories about illness in different cultures and ethnic groups Disease— scientifically identified health threat caused by a bacterium, virus, fungus, parasite or other pathogen

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 21 Medical Anthropology –Scientific medicine—distinguished from Western medicine, a health-care system based on scientific knowledge and procedures, encompassing such fields as pathology, microbiology, biochemistry, surgery, diagnostic technology, and applications –Illness—condition of poor health perceived or felt by an individual

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 22 Medical Anthropology –Different ethnic groups and cultures recognize different illnesses, symptoms, and causes Disease varies among cultures Spread of certain diseases, like malaria and schistosomiasis, associated with population growth and economic development

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 23 Medical Anthropology –Naturalistic disease theories—explain illness in impersonal terms (e.g., Western biomedicine) –Emotionalistic disease theories— assume emotional experiences cause illness (e.g., “susto” among Latino populations) –Personalistic disease theories—blame illness on agents such as sorcerers, witches, ghosts, or ancestral spirits

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 24 Medical Anthropology Health-care systems—beliefs, customs, specialists, and techniques aimed at ensuring health and preventing, diagnosing, and treating illness –All societies have health-care systems

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 25 Medical Anthropology Emerge through a culturally defined process of selection and training Curer—specialized role acquired through a culturally appropriate process of selection, training, certification, and acquisition of a professional image; the curer is consulted but patients, who believe in his or her special powers, and receives some form of special consideration; a cultural universal –All cultures have health-care specialists (e.g., curers, shaman, doctors)

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 26 Medical Anthropology –Despite its advances, Western medicine is not without its problems –Overprescription of drugs and tranquilizers –Unnecessary surgery –Impersonality and inequality of the patient- physician relationship –Overuse of antibiotics Western Medicine

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 27 Medical Anthropology –Thousands of effective drugs –Preventive health care –Surgery Biomedicine surpasses non-Western medicine in many ways Medical anthropologists serve as cultural interpreters between local systems and Western medicine

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 28 Anthropology and Business Anthropologists may acquire unique perspective on organizational conditions and problems Applied anthropologists can act as “cultural brokers” to translate managers’ goals or workers’ concerns to the other group

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 29 Anthropology and Business –Ethnography –Cross-cultural expertise –Focus on cultural diversity Key features of anthropology for business include

McGraw-Hill © 2005 The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. 30 Careers in Anthropology Knowledge about the traditions and beliefs of the many social groups within a modern nation is important in planning and carrying our programs that affect those groups Anthropology’s breadth provides knowledge and an outlook on world that are useful in many kinds of work