This post is dedicated to SS 310 students but is also accessible to the wider audience.
Applied anthropology refers to the application of anthropological data, perspectives, theory, and methods to identify, assess, and solve social problems (Gezon and Kottak, 2012). Anthropology is a dynamic field that focuses on the study of humans from biological and cultural perspectives, making it a fantastic field for assisting humans around the world. As well, it provides anthropologists an additional avenue of applying their methods to situations that are nonacademic, which many anthropologists find more fulfilling than just solely academic pursuits.
Today's post is dedicated to applied anthropology. To this end, the following are links to various articles and resources about applied anthropology, which is meant to give you, the reader, an idea of what applied anthropologists are doing:
Anthropologists Sell Vodka (Applied Anthropology in Business)
Cultural Resource Management & Rediscovering History Lost
Anthrotech & Applied Anthropometry
The Need for Anthropologists in Policy Making
JPAC & Making the Lost Found Again
Reference:
Gezon, L and C Kottak. 2012. Culture. McGraw-Hill.
7 comments:
Anthotech sounds promising as i read about them i wondered if they could benefit from branching out into orthopedics. The study of skeletal or lack of skeletal features would be an interesting field to apply anthropological methods to better mankind.
It's great to see that Anthropology is making its way to the governmental level, I believe they are an asset to a country's government, in terms of really understanding cultures, the way people live and why. I also agree that in school, there is no such understanding of anthropology at all. When I was in high school, the word anthropology was tossed around maybe 6 or 7 times, and mostly in terms of classes that were offered in college. There was no real emphasis on the subject, giving myself no understanding of what the course entailed. Until I was enrolled in Anthropology, I didn't really understand the depths and levels that anthropologists go to, in order to more understand cultures, people, and groups. Government is meant for the good of the people (in most cases) so what better way to understand people, than to bring in ones who study them.
Before switching my major, I actually wanted to get into Applied Anthropology, to help market different products. Good to know, I wasn't far off, though I'd want to sell tequila.
I found the article on cultural resource management the most appealing. It's amazing to think that the 1800s weren't that far ago, yet what could be seemingly discarded as remnants of the industrial revolution are now being treasured as cultural heritage. I currently live in England and work on what was once a Saxon warrior bural site. I find it kind of humorous that whatever (an MP3 player) might be accidentally misplaced might be unearthed in the not-too-distant future as potentially something culturally significant.
The U.S. is a fairly young nation. I wonder what kind of archeological finds have been found within its borders, though, part of me wishes that we don't abandon or neglect our history to be unearthed, but rather, make a conscious effort to honor and preserve our sites as they stand.
It's great to know that anthropology is almost like a release of anger. Meaning you can battle someone else's opinion in the healthiest way possible. Healthy debates are always key, which is what I got from these articles while reading them. Aside from how informational they are.
What the Anthrotech team, in Ohio, is doing is truly AMAZING! What I understood from reading that article is that they will make it where doctors and students in the medical fields will someday be able to print off a 3-D version of their patient and practice different approaches at helping that specific patient. That is a definite win for that career field.
--Kimberly Wilbers
Its amazing to see how anthropology can be applied in the real world. i would have never thought this discipline could land you a job selling vodka. I would also like to learn how could anthropologist help with policy making.
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