National Association for the Practice of Anthropology
I work as a user experience (UX) researcher. When I sat down to write this post for NAPA, I was faced with a question. Am I also an anthropologist? I never thought of myself as a practitioner of anthropology. Maybe it’s because I didn’t study anthropology in school. Maybe it’s because when I hear the…
In 2011, when I first began my career as a researcher in the context of business and design, I knew almost nothing about the field I had decided to work in. I lacked a basic understanding of how products are designed, how businesses work, and how to work with people in this world. What I…
As anthropologists, whether we are undergraduate students or are pursuing/have pursued masters or doctorate degrees, whether we work in industry or in academia, we have a lot in common with each other: we learn the history of our discipline, the methods and theories, and we all learn to do ethnographic research. We have a common language and shared understanding of terms. Beyond our disciplinary boundaries, however, language and terminology get less common and understanding is less shared.
How did you get your start in anthropology? What drew you to the field? I’ve always been a huge science fiction nerd and one of my heroes growing up was Captain Jean-Luc Picard from Star Trek: The Next Generation. In the series, you find out he had two fields that he found inspiring: Astrophysics and…
Anthropologists are trained to find solutions to problems by approaching them holistically—from all sides—and through critical thinking, grounded in our theories and methods. Few disciplines prepare their practitioners so well to tackle the problems of the modern world by incorporating our broad knowledge of human evolution, history, biology, and behavior across the world’s cultures. Unfortunately, and to our discipline’s detriment, not enough people or businesses are informed of what anthropologists do and how we can help.
I apologize for not having happier stories to lift the spirits at this time of year. But I hope you’ll take a critical look at some of these issues, and, if they interest you, find a way to contribute to these conversations. I included a few more than usual since you’re all most likely at…
Hi, practicing community! It’s been a whirlwind of a Fall and I hope you can forgive me for my sparse updates. I hope all of you who made it to AAA this year had a great time and reconnected with your anthro community. If you have any pressing news or stories that came out of…
Hi all! It’s been another crazy week over here but wanted to share a few things I spotted in the news… One anthropologist is studying ageist hiring practices. An article written by a social anthropologist about “cloudbusting”. Provides a interesting reflection on something we don’t think much about. Where is all our data stored and…
Happy Halloween, fellow practitioners! If you want to read about this history and interpretation of our hallows day celebrations, I recommend this and this. The ABC Australia Boyer Lectures most current series feature renowned anthropologist Genevieve Bell. He series explores the role of technology in Australia’s future and is called: Fast, Smart and Connected: What…
By Ruth Sando I have recently (2017) retired after a long career in private industry, working both as an employee and an outside consultant. After earning my Ph.D., I spent over 20 years in the financial services industry (in banking and insurance), and then for five years was a senior international housing finance manager before…
by Laurie Krieger I have consulted internationally in health, gender, policy, research, and even once in irrigation (that was weird). Here are some tips for getting started: Use your networks; in international work, people are hired through whom they know. Carefully research how much consultants get paid by the organization or donor for whom you…
By Elizabeth K. Briody I started Cultural Keys, LLC (culturalkeys.us) in 2009. At that time, I had a PhD and 24 years of work experience as an anthropologist at General Motors Research & Development. The mechanics of setting up the consulting practice were relatively simple; it included such steps as registering my LLC with the…
The National Association For The Practice of Anthropology is a section of The American Anthropological Association (AAA) – contact GC