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| Marques Anderson (Source: Project Drawdown) |
You may be familiar with Marques Anderson if you are fan of football and/or the Green Bay Packers. After completing his Bachelor of Arts in American Literature and Culture from UCLA he was drafted into the National Football League (NFL) in 2002 and played until his retirement in 2006. He was inspired to pursue a new career, drawing upon his experience in the NFL and his interests in business, culture, and technology. Since then he has been involved in several projects, and today he identifies as a Cyborg Anthropologist. This blog post will discuss his latest projects as related to anthropology.
In 2006 Marques Anderson retired from his fruitful NFL career to expand his horizons and opportunities. He traveled throughout the world to learn more about the unique cultural and industrial environments that currently exist. Ultimately he landed in Sweden where he pursued and completed his Master’s degree in Adult Learning and Global Change from Linköping University in 2009. In that same year he started the World Education Foundation. The mission of this organization is to establish educational programming with the goal for expanding the knowledge and value of students and people in marginalized areas of the world. It focuses on programming that creates jobs and grow the economic value of the students and the area through educating local groups in specific industries (e.g. agriculture) and connecting them and their products to producers and consumers. Active projects are occurring throughout the Middle East and Africa, with more forthcoming.
Marques Anderson briefly pursued a doctorate in Cyborg Anthropology, which led him to have a RFID chip implanted in him. As a result he now identifies as a Cyborg Anthropologist, which means that attention is focused on the intersections between human culture and the growing reliance on technology. This has allowed him to foray into other projects, specifically business consulting. He has worked with several Fortune 500 companies in identifying solutions that are economically and culturally based and tailored specifically to the needs of investors, producers, and consumers.
Works Cited
Ancestral Cyborg. Ancestral Cyborg. 2021. Electronic. 4 June 2021.
No Author. Aboutme.com. No Date. Electronic. 4 June 2021.
—. Cyber Anthropology. 16 January 2016. Electronic. 4 June 2021.
Project Drawdown. NCSE Drawdown 2021 Conference. 2021. Electronic. 4 June 2021.
3 comments:
It's pretty cool to see a retired NFL player be interested in anthropology because the basic norm is play football and just stick to it people sometimes don't have a back up plan and to see Mr. Anderson start a foundation for students to expand their knowledge. I wish more people in the NFL give back to their communities or students in general
This Retired NFL Player may have just extended the Sociology Major!!! I personally know some football players that feel that since they play sports that they should study sports but this just proved otherwise. This was a great blog I have to share this with my friends who play football.
-Jasmine Hill
I really appreciate this post. I think it shows that we can achieve what we want and our goals are allowed to change in the process. How Marques Anderson was able to become a pro football player, anthropologist, and educator proves that evolution is the key to success.
-Gavin G
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