Applied anthropology

Economic, applied, and development anthropology
Part of a series on
Basic concepts Commodification Barter Debt Finance Embeddedness Reciprocity Redistribution Value Wealth Gift economy Limited good Inalienable possessions Singularization (commodity pathway) Spheres of exchange Social capital Cultural capital
Provisioning systems Hunting-gathering Pastoralism Nomadic pastoralism Shifting cultivation Moral economy Peasant economics
Case studies Prestations Kula ring Moka exchange Potlatch Gifting Gifting remittances Organ gifting Shell money Provisioning Aché people (hunter-gatherers) Batek people Colonialism and development The Anti-Politics Machine Europe and the People Without History Political economy Jim Crow economy
Related articles Original affluent society Formalist vs substantivist debate The Great Transformation Peasant economics Culture of poverty Political economy State formation Nutritional anthropology Heritage commodification Anthropology of development
Major theorists Paul Bohannan Alexander Chayanov Stanley Diamond Raymond Firth Maurice Godelier David Graeber Jane I. Guyer Keith Hart Marvin Harris Bronisław Malinowski Marcel Mauss Sidney Mintz Karl Polanyi Marshall Sahlins Harold K. Schneider Eric Wolf
Social and cultural anthropology

Anthropology
Outline History
Types Archaeological Biological Cultural Linguistic Social
Archaeological Aerial Aviation Battlefield Biblical Bioarchaeological Environmental Ethnoarchaeological Feminist Forensic Maritime Paleoethnobotanical Zooarchaeological
Biological Anthrozoological Biocultural Evolutionary Forensic Molecular Neurological Nutritional Palaeoanthropological Primatological
Social Cultural Applied Art Cognitive Cyborg Development Digital Ecological Environmental Economic Political economy Historical Feminist Kinship Legal Media Medical Museums Musical Political Psychological Public Religion Symbolic Transpersonal Urban Visual
Linguistic Anthropological Descriptive Ethnological Ethnopoetical Historical Semiotic Sociological
Research framework Anthropometry Ethnography (online) Ethnology Cross-cultural comparison Participant observation Holism Reflexivity Thick description Cultural relativism Ethnocentrism Emic and etic
Key concepts Culture Development Ethnicity Evolution (sociocultural) Gender Kinship and descent Meme Prehistory Race Society Value Colonialism / Postcolonialism
Key theories Actor–network theory Alliance theory Cross-cultural studies Cultural materialism Culture theory Diffusionism Feminism Historical particularism Functionalism Interpretive Performance studies Political economy Practice theory Structuralism Post-structuralism Systems theory
Lists Anthropologists by nationality Anthropology by year Bibliography Journals List of indigenous peoples Organizations
Anthropology portal

Applied anthropology refers to the application of the method and theory of anthropology to the analysis and solution of practical problems. In Applied Anthropology: Domains of Application, Kedia and Van Willigen define the process as a "complex of related, research-based, instrumental methods which produce change or stability in specific cultural systems through the provision of data, initiation of direct action, and/or the formulation of policy".^[1] More simply, applied anthropology is the praxis-based side of anthropological research; it includes researcher involvement and activism within the participating community.

Spanning academic disciplines

The American Anthropological Association (AAA) website describes anthropology as a focus on "the study of humans, past and present. To understand the full sweep and complexity of cultures across all of human history, anthropology draws and builds upon knowledge from the social and biological sciences as well as the humanities and physical sciences." Thus, the field is divided into four subareas: sociocultural anthropology, biological (or physical) anthropology, archaeology, and linguistic anthropology.^[2] Because a central tenet of the anthropological field is the application of shared knowledge and research about humans across the world, an anthropologist who specializes in any of these areas and enacts research into direct action and/or policy can be deemed an "applied anthropologist". Indeed, some practical problems may invoke all sub-disciplines. For example, a Native American community development program may involve archaeological research to determine legitimacy of water rights claims, ethnography to assess the current and historical cultural characteristics of the community, linguistics to restore language competence among inhabitants, medical anthropology to determine the causality of dietary deficiency diseases, etc.

Professional engagement

Applied anthropologists often work for nonacademic clients, such as governments, development agencies, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), tribal and ethnic associations, advocacy groups, social-service and educational agencies, and businesses. It is also not uncommon for an anthropologist to initiate activist work surrounding his or her own area of study; frequently, sociocultural anthropological studies begin as mere research inquiries that blossom into community advocacy projects, and even new specialized NGOs.

Applied anthropologist methodology includes, but is not limited to, ethnography, participant observation, snowballing, interviews, and focus groups. They also use textual analysis, surveying, archival research, and other empirical methods to inform policy or to market products.

Problems and criticisms

The process of conducting anthropological research and then applying knowledge in attempts to ameliorate the lives of research participants can be problematic, and is often laced with elements of Orientalism and/or colonialism.^[3] Kedia and Van Willigen describe the moral dilemma embedded in this work: "The ethical requirements of applied anthropology are especially challenging since the practitioner must negotiate an intricate balance between the interests of the clients who commission the work, and those of the community being studied." The authors continue by stating that this negotiation leads to issues of privacy, ownership, and the implications and purposes of the study being produced (p. 16).

Although guidelines for ethicalities of applied anthropology are put forth by major anthropological organizations—including the American Anthropological Association (AAA), the Society for Applied Anthropology (SFAA), and the National Association for the Practice of Anthropology (NAPA)—it is increasingly difficult to ensure that the high volume of worldwide anthropologists proceed with their research in ways that are both culturally relative and sensitive to community needs. Kedia and Van Willigen describe the myriad roles an applied anthropologist must play as effective resource for communities in need; a researcher must be an advocate, cultural "broker", evaluator, policy researcher, public participation specialist, and research analyst.

The multinational phenomenon of female genital cutting (FGC) exemplifies the necessity for an anthropologist to account for relative cultural contexts: "The work of scholars who stress the fundamental importance of offering perspectives on cultural factors that promote the practice of female genital cutting has brought the debate surrounding cultural relativism into sharp focus. Greunbaum (1996) notes that analyses that do offer emic interpretations and cultural contextualizations are often criticized as bordering on advocacy for the practice" [emphasis in original].^[4] In these instances, it is imperative that an anthropologist not cloud his or her own preconceived notions about health and gender relations in an attempt to "remedy" a complex social issue.

Debates about objectivity in anthropology

The field of anthropology is also fraught with debate surrounding accurate and effective approaches to conducting research. More specifically, there is continued debate about the essentiality of objectivity in anthropological fieldwork. Some hermeneutic scholars contend that it is impossible to remove one's own preconceived cultural notions from one's work. In this line of thought, it is more productive to recognize that anthropologists are themselves culturally programmed observers, and must always be wary of biases that influence information they receive. In contrast, the positivist approach to anthropology emphasizes the necessity for an objective, regimented, and scientific approach to anthropological research.

Scholarly works and organizations

The premiere journal of applied anthropology in the United States is called Human Organization, published by the Society for Applied Anthropology. In the UK, the main journal for applied anthropology is called Anthropology in Action.

Under the directorship of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Jonathan Benthall (author of The Best of Anthropology Today) created the annual Lucy Mair Medal of Applied Anthropology. This recognizes excellence in using anthropology "for the relief of poverty or distress, or for the active recognition of human dignity".

The Association of Social Anthropologists (ASA) has a network of Applied Anthropologists known as "Apply". Within the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA), there is the Applied Anthropology Network, which annually organises the international symposium Why the World Needs Anthropologists. Theme of the first symposium was New Fields for Applied Anthropology in Europe (Amsterdam, 2013), of the second Coming Out of the Ivory Tower (Padua, 2014), and of the third Burning Issues of Our Hot Planet (Ljubljana, 2015). Within the EASA Medical Anthropology Network, there is also an applied anthropology special interest group.

There are three primary groups based out of the US that are founded on the application of anthropology with acute attention to ethics and social implications: American Anthropological Association (AAA), Society for Applied Anthropology (SFAA), and the National Association for the Practice of Anthropology (NAPA).

References

↑ Kedia, Satish, and Willigen J. Van (2005). Applied Anthropology: Domains of Application. Westport, Conn: Praeger. pp. 16, 150.
↑ American Anthropological Association. "What is Anthropology?".
↑ Said, Edward W. (1994). Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books.
↑ Shell-Duncan, Bettina, and Ylva Hernlund (2000). Female "circumcision" in Africa: Culture, Controversy, and Change. Boulder: Lynne Rienner. p. 25.

External links

Expeditions, Research in Applied Anthropology
Omertaa. Journal for Applied Anthropology - Free online Journal for anthropologists.
Apply, The ASA Network of Applied Anthropologists.
Anthropology in Action, The main UK-based journal for applied anthropology.
Applied Medical Anthropology Special Interest Group of EASA's Medical Anthropology Network, The Applied Medical Anthropology Special Interest Group within The European Association of Anthropologists' Medical Anthropology Network.
EASA Applied Anthropology Network

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/6/2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.