National Association for the Practice of Anthropology
Greetings, Practicing Anthropologists! It has been a quick 8 months, or so, since I started posting the AnthroCurrents blog twice each month. I have enjoyed the process, the sharing, and your comments. However, it is time for me to move on to other endeavors, ones that do not leave time for this activity at the…
Normalizing “ethnography” as a business tool See passing mentions of ethnography as a business tool in The Memphis Daily News, American Society of Mechanical Engineers Proceedings (2016), Crain’s Detroit Business, and a comparison of journalism and “anthropology” from The Nieman Lab. AI, Technology, and Humans Forbes summarizes Rebecca Gibson’s (American U.) recent article in Sexuality…
Practicing Anthropology The Wall Street Journal gives passing mention to ethnography as a marketing research tool, in an article about how election polling that missed Middle America’s votes for Trump may indicate similar advertising research has similar limitations. Seeking Alpha goes further, proclaiming that “[e]thnography is probably the only way to gather accurate data” for…
Politics, Domestic and Foreign Paul Stoller (West Chester U.) argues for ethnography as one of the weapons available to those fighting against the anti-progressive movement represented by Donald Trump’s election. Journalists use an anthropological lens in a documentary film of the Trump Tribe, and attempt to understand the beliefs and motivations of Trump supporters during…
Trick or Treat?Anthropologists Discover Isolated Tribe Of Joyful Americans Living In Remote Village Untouched By 2016 Election. From The Onion. Sam Migliore (Kwantlen Polytechnic U.) is interviewed by the local newspaper in Surrey, British Columbia, Canada about an ethnography of zombies. Yes, he knows a few. Phillips Stevens, Jr. (U. of Buffalo) is interviewed by…
Anthropologist Bloggers WantedFellow anthropologist bloggers (and aspiring bloggers), note two opportunities to expand your reach: Anthropology News is looking for columnists to address “hot topics” in the news. Send a 300-word pitch by October 21st. The Guardian is expanding the scope of their science blog network to include archaeology and anthropology. Proposals, or nominations of…
A roundup of Anthropology in the News for September 2016. On the National SceneAnthropologists and the American Anthropological Association are among those opposing the Dakota Access Pipeline. CNN continues to offer its version of “political anthropology” of the US election season, this time on Long Island. Still no anthropologists in sight. The Army War College…
What are some of the other websites and blogs that track anthropology-in-the-news and practicing anthropology? Here are some “highly cited” places on the web to follow. All of the sites and blogs below may be followed on Twitter, some on Facebook or other social media, and some offer weekly email subscriptions. While you are at…
Welcome back to the academy, students and faculty! As we watch Labor Day in the rearview mirror, the northern hemisphere’s colleges and universities are all in full operation. Our “back to school special” is a list of all the subfields of, or application of, cultural “anthropology” that we found published during the month of August…
The Olympics just ended, the American presidential election campaigns are in full swing, and academic anthropologists are returning to the classroom after summer travel and research. But today let’s focus on how practicing anthropologists are raising the profile of our discipline in the business and corporate world. Maia Green (U. of Manchester) reviews The Silo…
Thank you to Mella Baker for reminding us that not all anthropologist heroes are white and male. Welcome to anthropology! I haven’t looked at the demographics of our field recently, but I assume we still have a ways to go before the American profession better reflects the general population. American Presidential Politics Our last post…
American Presidential Politics Earlier this month Brexit was THE topic in the American media. NOW it is presidential politics. How would anthropologists explain the popularity of Donald Trump? There are several possibilities: An historian offers Emile Durkheim‘s “collective efferevescence,” but that seems a bit one-dimensional. A religious studies professor argues that anthropologist James Frazer‘s discussion…
The National Association For The Practice of Anthropology is a section of The American Anthropological Association (AAA) – contact GC