Applied anthropology: Or, the uses of anthropology
Anth 182B Spring 2018
Monday and Wednesday 3:30-4:50
Golding Judaica Center 107
Elanah Uretsky
(781) 736-8741
Office Hours: Wednesday 1:00-3:00 or by appointment
Anthropologists are confused about what to do with their research. This confusion is suggested in the various names they’ve come up with for using their knowledge—everything from applied, action, public, engaged, good-enough, to bare-foot anthropology. In addition to confusion, this progression and proliferation of such names suggests a keenly felt dilemma. Anthropologists often think they have some useful information that can be put to some good, yet are afraid that doing so will exploit or harm the people they study. Anthropological knowledge is powerful and dangerous and must be used correctly. None of this is helped by a history of intervention that many in the discipline are ashamed of. Sometimes it seems that the distinction of some type of anthropology that actually does something (applied, say) simply exists to absolve the sins of the larger discipline—see, most of us don’t do that anymore. They, the applied folks do. Don’t blame us. Given this complicated disciplinary inheritance using anthropology can feel like “trying to pick up a heavy object while simultaneously fending off a snappy dog”[1].
In order to lift our boulders, much less roll them up hill, that is, in order to use our anthropology, we’ll have to start with one key assumption: all anthropology is applied. That is, all anthropology is put to some end. These ends can be varied: a grade in a course, a contribution to a tenure case, a policy brief, some esteem within the discipline, a book contract, a disaster response, expert testimony, fighting counterinsurgency, etc. But just like the gift, there is no pure anthropology. Once you accept that all anthropology is applied, the existential crisis, the long dark night of the anthropological soul, can pass and we can ask all anthropology a few simple questions: (1) What are you doing? (2) How are you able to do it? (3) Is what you’re doing good or right? And it is around these questions that this course will turn.
This course will look at a sampling of the uses to which anthropology has been put (with an emphasis on the applications made possible by research in the area of medical anthropology), examine the discipline’s ethical commitments, and help students develop their own research proposals.
Prerequisite: This course assumes a familiarity with anthropology.
Required Texts: The following texts are required for the course. They’ll be available at the bookstore, on reserve at the library, and online via amazon.com or bookfinder.
· Metcalf, Peter 2002 They Lie, We Lie: Getting on with Anthropology London: Routledge
· Smith, Linda Tuhiwai 1999 Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples London: Zed Books ltd.
· Brown, Peter and Svea Closser (eds.). 2016. Understanding and Applying Medical Anthropology (Third Edition). New York: Routledge. (Referred to as Brown & Closser).
· Hahn, Robert and Marcia Inhorn (eds.). 2009. Anthropology and Public Health: Bridging Differences in Culture and Society (Second Edition). New York: Oxford University Press. (Referred to as Hahn and Inhorn)
Course Objectives
1. Students will understand basic scientific research design and how anthropological questions and methods fit therein.
2. Students will understand how to evaluate the ethical implication of anthropological research and its uses.
3. Students will learn about some major ethical controversies in anthropology.
4. Students will lead a seminar.
5. Students will create their own research proposal.
Assignments
- Seminar Management and Participation 20%
- Draft background and research questions 20%
- Draft methods, sample and analysis 20%
- Preliminary research report 20%
- Research Proposal 20%
Seminar Management and Participation (20%): We will divide up the course such that each student or pair of students will lead one week’s worth of class. In advance of their particular week, students will prepare a 1000-1200 word response paper to the week’s readings, at least 5 discussion questions, and a 10 minute presentation summarizing major themes raised in the reading assignments. All other students should also submit one question they think should be discussed during class. Students will send the paper to the instructor no later than 8 AM on the first day in which they are leading discussion, and distribute discussion questions to the rest of class via LATTE no later than 8 AM on the first day in which they are leading discussion. Students will then lead discussion.
I welcome office-hours meetings to talk through this part of the course.
It should go without saying (but won’t) that regardless of the week, students are expected do all the reading and participate in each class substantively.
Draft background and research questions (20%): DUE: February 28th , students will submit a draft of their research proposal for the course, crafting their own research/project questions as well as background information justifying their questions (this should be no more than a page and a half double spaced with 1 inch margins). The draft should also include an annotated bibliography of 5-8 sources that are informing your research up to this points. The idea here is that, after hearing the anthropological argument about what the discipline can and cannot, should and should not do, you will come up with your own research project, speaking to your own methods. We will go over the specific format of this in class
Draft methods, sample, and analysis (20%): DUE: March 19th Students will submit a draft methods section for their paper to include data collection and analysis methods and sampling and recruiting plans. The idea here is that I’ll have introduced you to some of the variety of anthropological methods, and we’ll have gone in depth into anthropological ethics. Based on all that, you’ll be able to imagine the methods, sample, and analysis that will allow you to answer your research questions. However, this is not a methods class. So, I encourage you to come talk to me in office hours should you find you have a recalcitrant research question and that you’re curious about the wider world of social science methods. This should be between 1200 and 1500 words. We will go over the specifics format of this in class.
Preliminary research report (20%): DUE: April 16th In addition to planning your own research project in the form of a proposal, over the course of the semester you will conduct some preliminary research on your topic of interest. Since a long term engagement and slow puzzle solving is at the core of anthropology, this course requirement will push you in those directions. You will select either ethnographic interviewing, systematic observation, or participant observation, and conduct at least ten research sessions over the course of the semester. For example, should you choose interviewing you will identify several key informants/interlocutors/friendly people and conduct ten ethnographic interviews with them over the course of the semester. If you identify a site that is of interest you will do ten shifts of participant observation. If you identify a process or social fact that is of interest you will do ten shifts of systematic observation. Your write up will be due and should explain in 800 to 1000 words what question you were trying to answer, and how the data you collected helped or hindered that endeavor. This part of the course should also inform your research proposal. At some point in the latter third of the course, I will make time to allow everyone to present their research to the seminar.
Research proposal (20%): DUE: April 30th This is the final equivalent for this course, and will have you put together your background, research questions, methods, sample, and analysis, as well as your preliminary ethnographic research. The ideas is that you will be crafting a research proposal for a real ethnographic project. Feel free to use this opportunity to workshop a dissertation proposal, a senior thesis proposal, or a grant research proposal. The whole purpose of this course is to allow you to see the argument over and the considerations surrounding the uses of anthropology and then take that back to your research. This is the course based instantiation of that effort. This proposal should be between 3,000 and 4,000 words.
Grading
Each assignment will be graded out of twenty points. Your final grade will be a weighted average of your grade in the course.
Academic Integrity: You are expected to be honest in all of your academic work. Please consult Brandeis University Rights and Responsibilities for all policies and procedures related to academic integrity (see section 4: “Maintenance of Academic Integrity”-- http://www.brandeis.edu/studentlife/srcs/rr/RR14_15version11.4.pdf ). Students may be required to submit work to TurnItIn.com software to verify originality. Allegations of alleged academic dishonesty will be forwarded to the Director of Academic Integrity. Sanctions for academic dishonesty can include failing grades and/or suspension from the university. Remember, you must indicate through quotations and citation when quoting from any outside source (internet or print).
Accommodations: If you are a student with a documented disability on record at Brandeis University and wish to have a reasonable accommodation made for you in this class, please contact me as soon as possible.
COURSE OUTLINE AND READING ASSIGNMENTS
1/10/2018 INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE
1/17/2018
· Metcalf, Peter 2002 1 Lies, 2 Struggle, 3 Power. In They Lie, We Lie: Getting on with Anthropology London: Routledge pp. 1-77
1/18/2018 (PLEASE NOTE: This is a designated Brandeis Monday)
· Metcalf, Peter 2002 4 Ethnicity, 5 Closure They Lie, We Lie: Getting on with Anthropology London: Routledge pp. 77-139
I. THE USES OF ANTHROPOLOGY
1/22/2018
· Radcliffe-Brown, A.R. 1980 (1930) Applied Anthropology. in Research in Economic Anthropology 3. ed. George Dalton. Greenwich Connecticut: JAI Press Inc. 123-135
· Malinowski, Bronislaw 1929 Practical Anthropology Africa: Journal of the International African Institute 2(1) 1929 pp. 22-38
· Boas, Franz 1986 (1928) Introduction, I. What is Anthropology? In Anthropology and Modern Life New York: Dover pp. 1-18
· Editorial Statement 1941 Applied Anthropology Human Organization 1(1) pp.1-2
· Mead, Margaret 1941 On Methods of Implementing a National Morale Program Human Organization 1(1) 20-24.
· Baba, Marietta L. and Carole E. Hill. 2006. What’s in the Name ‘Applied Anthropology’? An Encounter with Global Practice. In: The Globalization of Anthropology. NAPA Bulletin #25. Carole E. Hill and Marietta L. Baba, Eds. Washington, DC: American Anthropological Association, pages 176-207.
II. COLONIAL ANTHROPOLOGY
1/24/2018
· Asad, Talal 1979 Anthropology and the Colonial Encounter. In The Politics of Anthropology: From Colonialism and Sexism Toward a View from Below eds. Huizer, Gerrit and Mannheim, Bruce. De Gruyter Mouton pp. 85-94
· Clifford, James 1988 I.1 On Ethnographic Authority. In The Predicament of Culture Cambridge: Harvard University Press
1/29/2018
· Smith, Linda Tuhiwai 1999 Forward, Introduction, 1. Imperialism, History, Writing and Theory, 2. Research through Imperial Eyes, 3. Colonizing Knowledges, 6. The Indigenous People’s Project: Setting a New Agenda, 9. Responding to the Imperatives of an Indigenous Agenda: A Case Study of Maori, 11. Choosing the Margins: the role of research in indigenous struggles for social justice. In Decolonizing Methodologies: Research and Indigenous Peoples London: Zed Books ltd.
III. PUBLIC ANTHROPOLOGY
1/31/2018
· Tax, Sol 1975 The Bow and the How: Reflection on Hunters, Villagers, and Anthropologists Current Anthropology 16(4) pp. 507-513
· Tax, Sol 1975 Action Anthropology Current Anthropology 16(4) pp. 514-517
· Borofsky, Rob 1990 Public Anthropology Anthropology News 40(1) pp.6-7
· Singer, Merrill 2000 Commentary: Why I Am Not a Public Anthropologist Anthropology News 41(6) pp. 6-7
· Rappaport, Roy 1993 Distinguished lecture in general anthropology; the anthropology of trouble. American Anthropologist 95:295-303
2/5/2018
· Scheper-Hughes, Nancy 1995 The Primacy of the Ethical: Propositions for a Militant Anthropology Current Anthropology 36(3) pp. 409-440
· Scheper-Hughes, Nancy 2009 The Ethics of Engaged Ethnography: Applying a Militant Anthropology in Organs-Trafficking Research Anthropology News 50(6) pp. 13-14
2/7/2018
· Robins, Steven and Nancy Scheper-Hughes 1996 On the Call for a Militant Anthropology: The Complexity of Doing the Right Thing Current Anthropology 37(2) pp. 341-346
· Besteman, Catherine and Hugh Gusterson 2005 1. Introduction. In Why America’s Top Pundits are Wrong eds. Catherine Besteman and Hugh Gusterson. Berkeley: University of California Press pp. 1-24
· Lassiter, Luke Eric 2008 Moving Past Public Anthropology and Doing Collaborative Research NAPA Bulletin pp. 70-86
· Low, Setha M. and Sally Engle Merry 2010 Engaged Anthropology: Diversity and Dilemmas: An Introduction to Supplement 2 Current Anthropology51(S2) pp. S203-S226
IV. ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODOLOGY
2/12/2018 - Research Design
· Bernard, H. Russell 2006 Chapter 3. Preparing for Research In Research Methods in Anthropology: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches New York: Alta Mira Press pp. 69-95
· Johnson, Jeffrey. 1998. “Research Design and Research Strategies.” In H. Russell Bernard, ed. Handbook of Methods in Culutral Anthropology New York: Alta Mira Press. Pp. 131-172.
· Malkki, Liisa H. 2007 Tradition and Improvisation in Ethnographic Field Research. In Improvising Theory: Process and Temporality in Ethnographic Fieldwork Chicago: University of Chicago Press pp. 162-186
· Trotter, Robert and Jean Schensul. 1998. “Methods in Applied Anthropology.” In H. Russell Bernard, ed. Handbook of Methods in Culutral Anthropology New York: Alta Mira Press. Pp. 691-736.
2/14/2018 – Subject Selection and Interviewing
· Malinowski, Bronislaw 1922 Introduction: The Subject, Method and Scope of This Inquiry. In Argonauts of the Western Pacific Long Grove, Illinois: Waveland Press
· Spradley, James P. 1979 Chapter 2.1 Locating an Informant and Chapter 2.2 Interviewing an Informant. In The Ethnographic Interview pp 45-68
· Olson, Karin (2011). Essentials of Qualitative Interviewing. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press Inc. Ch. 3-4.
· Kendall, Carl, et al. (2009). “Understanding Pregnancy in a Population of Inner-City Women in New Orleans – Results of Qualitative Research.” In Robert Hahn and Marcia Inhorn (eds.) Anthropology and Public Health: Bridging Differences in Culture and Society (second edition). New York: Oxford University Press. Pp. 114-14.