"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.