Applying

Anthropology

Applied Anthropology
Two dimensions
Academic anthropology includes
cultural, archaeological, biological, and
linguistic anthropology
Applied anthropology application of
anthropological data, perspectives,
theory, and techniques to identify, assess,
and solve contemporary social problems

Applied Anthropology
Has many applications

Medical
Development
Environmental
Forensic
Physical

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

What Is Applied Anthropology?

Practicing anthropologists practice their
profession outside of academia
Applied anthropologists work for groups
that promote, manage and assess
programs and policies aimed at
influencing human behavior and social
conditions

The Role of the

Applied Anthropologist

Combats ethnocentrism
tendency to view ones own
culture as superior and to
apply ones own cultural
values in judging the behavior
and beliefs of people raised in
other cultures

The Role of the

Applied Anthropologist
Proper roles of applied anthropologists:
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

The Four Subfields and

Two Dimensions of Anthropology

Academic and Applied Anthropology

Academic anthropology grew most after
World War II

During 1970s, and increasingly

thereafter, most anthropologists still
worked in academia but others found
jobs with international organizations,
government, business, hospitals, and
schools
About half of students graduating with
PhDs in anthropology will have careers
outside academia

Theory and Practice

Ethnographers study societies firsthand,
living with and learning from ordinary
people

Theory aids practice, and

application fuels theory
Anthropologys systemic
perspective recognizes that
changes dont occur in a vacuum

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
UN estimates that about a sixth of
earths population living in urban
slums

Urban Anthropology
Urban vs. Rural
Robert Redfield focused on contrasts
between the rural and urban contexts
in the 1940s
In any nation, urban and rural
represent different social systems
Applying anthropology to urban
planning starts by identifying the key
social groups in the urban context

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

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

Health-care systems
Beliefs, customs, specialists, and
techniques aimed at ensuring health and
preventing, diagnosing, and treating illness
All cultures have health-care specialists
(e.g., curers, shaman, doctors)
Curer specialized role acquired through
a culturally appropriate process of
selection, training, certification, and
acquisition of a professional image; a
cultural universal

Western Medicine
Biomedicine surpasses non-Western
medicine in many ways
Thousands of effective drugs
Preventive health care
Surgery

Medical anthropologists serve as cultural

interpreters between local systems and
Western medicine

Western Medicine
Despite its advances, Western medicine is
not without its problems
Over-prescription of drugs and tranquilizers
Unnecessary surgery
Impersonality and inequality of the patientphysician relationship
Overuse of antibiotics

Anthropology and Business

Anthropologists may acquire unique
perspective on organizational conditions
and problems
Applied anthropologists act as
cultural brokers to translate
managers goals or workers concerns
to the other group

Key features of anthropology for

business
Ethnography

Cross-cultural expertise
Focus on cultural diversity

Careers in Anthropology
Anthropologys breadth provides
knowledge and an outlook on the world
that are useful in many kinds of work
Knowledge about traditions and
beliefs of many social groups
within a modern nation is
important in planning and
carrying out programs that affect
those groups