WHO IS THE APPLIED ANTHROPOLOGIST?

“Almost all branches of anthropology have immediate relevance to applied problems.”

 (Margaret Mead, 1979)

Defined, in its broadest sense, applied anthropology means the linkage between teaching academic anthropology to college students, and how the student applies that knowledge.  

Yet, the American anthropological institutions have failed to define “who is and who is not an applied anthropologist.” Instead, these institutions have defined ““professional anthropology” in terms of one’s academic ties. That is one’s employment, research, publication, and institutional membership.  Yet, the history of “anthropologists” being involved in American public policy goes back to the mid-19^th Century, even before it was formal recognized as a discipline by the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1848.

Despite the formal structure that has evolved, one can identify the applied anthropologist by a certain set of characteristics. These characteristics are:

1.  The applied anthropologist differs from other management consultants by applying the basic methodologies of participant/observer and to evaluating evidence on the principle of cultural relativity.

2. The applied anthropologist performs services that are designed to aid management (the Client) of the  four phases of the problem situation: Defining the problem, planning a solution, programming (monitoring the execution), and evaluation of the outcome of the plan and its execution.

3.  Has an ability to understand and solve human problems applying  the anthropological holistic perspective.

4.  Is pragmatic, the applied anthropologist seeks to apply “current knowledge” to resolve “current social/cultural" problems that arise.

5.  Translates the client’s definition of the problem into one that addresses the human/organizational problems that they share with others.

6.  Possesses an ability to carry out his/her mission under the management and/or administration of the client’s formal structure.

7.  The applied anthropologist is bound by personal ethics to offer his/her ‘best” recommendations to the decision maker (client), while upholding the highest standards of “professional” responsibility toward subjects and colleagues.

"Think Globally, but Act Locally"

BACK IN THE 1970s, an number of graduate students and employed applied anthropologist felt isolated. They had very mixed feeling about the manner the professional organization were failing to recognizing them. Despite efforts with the AAA and SfAA, the non-academic anthropologist, PhD or otherwise, did not have the type of national or local professional support that we felt the need for professionally and socially. Much less the esteem we felt our anthropological perspective warranted. 

I was employed as the Director of Research and Evaluation at the time and ABD in Anthropology. My competition were licensed psychologist, sociologists, education evaluaters, etc.  We all worked for very similar state and federally funded social service agencies One major concern that I had at the time was the potential the State of Arizona might require licensing of program evaluaters and anthropology as a skill would be left out.

I was asked to write a piece for the AAA Newsletter in 1975 about what we did locally. This is reprinted here. 

SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL ANTHROPOLOGISTS FORMED IN TUCSON

The following material was written by Barry R Bainton,founding member of the Society. —DDW

In recent years a growing concern among anthropologists and their students has been the changing employment market. If an anthropologist obtains employment outside of the "traditional" academic setting, he or she often finds it difficult or impossible to maintain professional identity as an anthropologist. In November 1974, a group of non-academically employed anthropologists in Tucson, Arizona, began a series of meetings to discuss this problem. Out of these meetings the Society of Professional Anthropologists (SPA) was formed.

The Professional Anthropologist

The use of the term "professional" has stirred and continues to stir debate within the group. Other names for describing the group have been offered, e.g, "applied," "nontraditional," "practicing," etc. Yet none so completely encompasses the concept that the group seeks to express as does "professional." What is a professional anthropologist? At first glance, the answer is obvious: one who is employed as an anthropologist is a professional anthropologist. Very few persons trained as anthropologists, however, are employed specifically as "anthropologists." To restrict the professional identity to those whose job title or description specifies "anthropologist" or "anthropology," is too strict a definition for it excludes all those who have developed new and possibly unforeseen "uses" for the art and science of anthropology and the anthropological perspective. A broader, and for the group useful, definition is an individual who is formally trained in anthropology, is employed or seeking employment in a professional capacity, and identifies anthropology as his or her primary source of professional focus. By "primary source of professional focus," I mean the basic intellectual and ethical foundation of his or her approach to his/her professional activity. That is, the individual brings to his/her employment an anthropological perspective or ethic. Thus, the Tucson group includes in its membership the traditional university level teaching anthropologist and the less traditional anthropologically trained businessman.

Why a Separate Group?

Another issue the Tucson group has considered is "why a separate group, why membership in AAA, the Society for Applied Anthropology, or other special interest groups?" In the discussion it quickly became evident that there exists a very large gap between the needs of the professional anthropologist and the current services available from the national organizations. Among these needs are: timely information about job openings in the range of fields professional anthropologists have exploited or seek to exploit; information about local developments within the professional activity area in which the anthropologist finds himself; a forum where anthropologists employed in similar and/or complementary areas can get together and discuss issues of local concern from an anthropological perspective; creation of a local pool of consultants by fellowship in a common interest group; role models for those who wish to practice their anthropology in a non-academic setting; and contact between the teaching and practicing anthropologist to help each understand and benefit from the perspective of the other.

On another level, then is a need for a local group representing a wide interest base to monitor local legislation and lobby for anthropological interests. Current federal funding  patterns, ie, formula grants, revenue sharing and planning and review requirements, make it crucial that anthropologists on the local level be able to influence state and  local agencies in the development and implementation of local legislation designed to take advantage of federal legislation.  The critical point in the system is frequently the person in the local or state agency who writes the rules and regulations that ultimately put flesh on the bare skeleton of legislation. Therefore, those who initially met and who continue to meet in Tucson feel that the formation of a locally based professional association of anthropologists is desirable for their purposes. Membership in the SPA does not require membership in any other anthropological association, nor does it exclude it. One's professional interest may require membership in a wide range of special interests groups. In fact, the SPA encourages its members to be active in other groups. The information derived and shared with the membership of SPA can only help to meet the needs of group members.

The Purpose

The Society recently adopted the following purpose statement: "The purpose of the Society of Professional Anthropologists is to promote anthropology as a profession. The Society seeks to develop the art and science of anthropology and to promote its use for the betterment of the community. To further these goals, the Society and its members seek self development through active support of formal and informal means of communication between members and to promote the public's awareness of the values of anthropology and the anthropological perspective."

The History of the SPA

The Society developed out of two general local movements in Tucson. One movement evolved among local program evaluaters. Recent federal social legislation has included the requirement of program evaluation as a program component.

In Tucson, program evaluaters have been hired by the city government, local school district, health and research planning agencies, behavioral health programs and by private consulting firms, among others. In some cases, one-man evaluation programs operate in social or health service agencies. As these evaluaters developed contacts with colleagues in other agencies and programs, a number of anthropologists discovered one another. From these discoveries they began meeting to discuss common problems in evaluation and to rekindle their anthropological interests.

At the same time, archaeologists at the Arizona State Museum, located at the University of Arizona, have for several years been doing salvage and contract archaeology throughout Arizona. In the last year, a new program was introduced at the University. The program, Cultural Resource Management, was stimulated by the federal legislation requiring a historical and archaeological impact statement to be filed as part of the environmental impact statement for major construction projects. As a result a number of archaeologists trained as cultural resource managers have been matriculated and have met to discuss common problems.

In November 1974, a meeting was called by the author and Margaret Knight to discuss the major events of the AAA annual meeting in Mexico City, which Knight had attended. Members of the evaluation and archaeological groups, as well as persons who were known to share an interest in professional applied anthropology, were invited. Out of that meeting was born the Society of Professional Anthropologists.

The SPA

The Society has a mailing list of 125 persons, and an active membership of approximately 105 drawn from the Tucson and southern Arizona community Functionally the membership is drawn from the following activities areas: Services, 20; Teaching and Training, 19; Administration, 20; Research, 16; Students, 25.

Broken down by discipline, the membership shows the following distribution: Education, 32; Government, 7; Health Related Fields, 11; Social Services, 8; Business, 12; Archaeology, 6; Housewives, 3; Students, 25.

The Society is governed by a Steering Committee composed of 18 persons. The Steering Committee meets regularly to plan group activities. A workshop on Consultancy, as well as discussion groups on Program Evaluation and Environmental Impact Statements, have been held. A newsletter has been created and published. A jobs network has been created to advise members of local employment opportunities. Plans are currently being made to monitor local and state governments for developments of concern to anthropologists and to prepare the group to help lobby for and against legislation that directly affects anthropologists and anthropological interests. One final point should be made concerning the Society of Professional Anthropologists. That is, it is a local, grassroots organization. Its activities and structure are designed to meet the needs of the professionally employed anthropologists in Tucson. Others in other locales may find their needs are different. We would encourage others who wish to, to form their own groups to serve their local needs. We would welcome word from any such group in the country.

If anthropology is to be successful in marketing its perspective, skills and students in the non-academic market, it will require those of us who profess to be professionals and anthropologists to demonstrate the utility of that perspective and those skills to the public and to potential employers. We may do this individually, but we can also do it collectively. In Tucson, Arizona, we have chosen to do it both ways.

ANTHROPOLOGY Newsletter  October 1975

Vol. 16 No. 8 pp. 4 - 6

P.S. SOPA disbanded in the early 1980s when the employment market changes and older members moved on. Meanwhile, a number of local groups sprouted up. Some are still around with WAPA (Washington Association of Professional Anthropologist) the most recognizable. The reorganization of the AAA led to the formation a National Association of Practicing Anthropologist (NAPA). From our efforts, a number of local groups were formed and NAPA owes its success to the disciples and their efforts that came out of this movement.

Managing Our Anthropological Legacy

During that period between the end of WWII and today's anthropology so much data has been published. One can see this in the evolution of the AAA, and its Anthrosource. The number of articles available electronically is more than one can read in a life time and since 1980, the number journals/newsletters listed there has expanded tremendously.  

The published record is only a small sample of the record accumulated by field anthropologists. There is so much more data out there that has gone unpublished just sitting in personal files. Also, the technology for recording and storing the data has changed some much since 1945. The question of accessibility becomes a real practical concern.

 I am facing this now, especially since the mid-1970s when my tool was a TRS80 with 64 kilobytes of memory and today my tool is a Dell laptop with a 20 gigabytes hard drive, Windows 10 and ports for tetrabytes of more storage available. I have information stored in multiple formats and for multiple platforms. Most no longer exist. I feel, this is creating a negative inertia on the development of Anthropology by contributing to the fragmentation (or some might say "specialization") within the "holistic study of human kind."

 Aside from academic research, there is the whole domain of applied work that we will need to archive. There is an idea, among some in the profession, that those trained as anthropologists but not academically employed, are NOT REAL ANTHROPOLOGIST. This is a real lose to the profession. The applied domain is where we actually field test theory and method, especially when framed as an experimental anthropological design.

Where do the applied anthropologists archive their professional work and how is it fed back into the collective anthropological experience? The contribution that the applied anthropologists have to offer to society is, as valuable, if not more so, than the theoretical based academic research. The applied anthropologist tests what works and what does not work in a given sociocultural context. While academic anthropologists often make policy statements about the issue of the day at their annual meetings, they are rarely held to account for their positions, much less listened to beyond a very narrow circle of their colleagues .

The applied anthropologist is dealing with policy alternatives daily. Applied anthropologists are testing theory and practice through their work in the policy arenas of planning, programming, and evaluation activity. Further, they are generally members of a cross discipline, cross-cultural team. How do we train students and prepare professionals for policy work?

Just as auto-ethnographic material, such as Malinowski’s diary, have proven especially valuable for understanding the context of the participant/observer role; such insights into one’s role on such teams on one level, and the role that anthropologists play in the policy process on another, could be valuable for training future students if fed back into their training.

Then there is the middle ground. These are the anthropologically trained individuals, who hold an academic teaching position outside a tradition anthropology department. Instead, they hold positions in a professional training program such as medicine, business, education, etc. Whether a full time, or as adjunct, this individual is expected to teach a subject designed by the department or profession to introduce a social science or even an anthropological perspective to their students. I have experienced this type of role. I have recorded notes on how to integrate and apply anthropological knowledge to and within the specifics of the professional topic being taught. But these are notes that sit in my files.

Today where we live in a multi-cultural and international environment, this is the challenge for both the discipline and the professionals it services. I found, for example, a Masters Degree in International Management extremely useful for status reasons in the business school setting while the anthropological training and experience at the PhD level gave academic status in the University setting. Besides, the institutional creditability however, is the reality of today’s business world, which is multi-cultural and international.

Another aspect is the type of academic employment the student might expect to find. Tenure, which is based in part on research and publishing , is an unrealistic goal for many students today. More and more, graduates are being hired as teachers, that is adjunct teachers who are paid on a class by class basis and at a much lower rate than tenured faculty. This often precludes the time for the types of research and writing that does not generate revenue but would be required for tenure.

On the other hand, like the adjunct teacher, the research faculty is grant funded and held to researching and writing on the topics specific to the project. This means that as long as the project is being funded, the research anthropologist has a job. But, he/she must also be researching or searching for new opportunities to pick up when the last project ends. That is, marketing one’s skills and expertise competes with creating the record of those very skills and expertise.

On a personal level I found that one might leverage an aspect of the current “topic of the day” to apply for the “next topic of the day”, e.g. "alcoholism treatment", to "alcohol use among the elderly", to  "research management" to "consulting to non-profits" etc.. This keeps you employed and broadens your expertise and skills. But, rarely do you get a chance to share these experiences beyond the immediate clients. Instead, the record remains in a file draw, or thrown out to make room for the next project.

The technological changes just make it more of an issue. For example, I have progressed from pencil and paper to IBM Selectric, the IBM data punish cards, to TRSDOS data on a single sided 256 K 51/2” floppy to a 15 Gigabit thumb drive with Windows 10 on my Dell Laptop and everything in between. Archiving and recovering these materials, I feel, are the greatest problem for our discipline and profession. Otherwise, it is a lot of wasted time, money and effort spent, for what many see is as a dilettante's discipline.

Maybe its better to be an English major!