2 Introduction to applied anthropology

Meenal Dhall and Ms. Nilupher

Contents:

    1. Introduction

1.1 Concept of applied anthropology

2.   The domains of application

2.1 Practitioner’s role in anthropology

3. Development of applied anthropology

4. Scope of applied anthropology

4.1 Applied anthropology in good governance

4.2 Development programmes

4.3 Education and anthropology

4.4 Urban life and anthropology

4.5 Medical system

4.7 Business and anthropology

4.8 Anthropology in sports

4.9 Forensic anthropology

5.  Applied anthropology in India

6.  Uniqueness of applied anthropology

Summary

Learning objectives:

• It will help to understand the concept of applied anthropology.
• It will also be able to learn the development of applied anthropology.
• It will discuss the scopes of applied anthropology.
• It will also tell the uniqueness of applied anthropology.

    1. Introduction

Anthropology is the science of man which has two dimensions i.e. academic and applied. Applied anthropology has a wide range of scope. The knowledge of this discipline is used in traditional anthropology for contemporary social, economic, or health problems faced by communities or organizations. Applied anthropology also uses the knowledge from other spheres of anthropology in order to identify and solve many concrete cross-cultural problems. Applied anthropology, which is a sub branch of anthropology concerns with the main problems of cultural differences in a less susceptible and more lenient manner to satisfy human life across the world.

Applied anthropologists ensure the survival of at-risk groups by drawing upon a wide array of research methods and theoretical approaches to endow individuals to jointly discourse the real world problems. Primarily anthropology is divided into four subfields viz. cultural, biological, archaeology, and linguistics but applied anthropology is also considered as a fifth subfield by many experts. They are reflecting the growth of the discipline in professional ground and scholarly activity. The importance of applied anthropology is indicated by the continuing debate within the discipline over it.

1.1: Concept of applied Anthropology

The concept of applied anthropology was first put forward by Daniel G. Brinton (1895) in his paper “The aims of anthropology”. According to him, “Applied anthropology aims accurately to ascertain what the criteria of civilization, what individual or social elements have in past contributed most to it, how these can be continued and strengthened and what new forces, if any, may be called in to hasten the progress”. In 1987, Erve Chambbers stated, “applied anthropology is the field of inquiry concerned with the relationship between anthropological knowledge and the uses of that knowledge in the world beyond anthropology”.

This field was also used in colonial administrations for the first time by officials from some of the larger countries of Europe. They were not anthropologists in general but their work required them to gain knowledge for the needs and wishes of the native people. In this way, applied anthropology began its career with a debatable reputation. In the early twentieth century, the Ashanti people applied anthropology in solving their problems.

2.   The domains of application

2.1 Practitioners’ role in Anthropology

Applied anthropologists are involved in many roles such as administrator, advisor, coordinator, consultant, archaeologist, supervisor, fieldworker etc. which are specified according to the tasks they are undertaking.

Policy researcher

Policy makers need information to make decisions on policies. In general, they are involved in many roles such as traditional ethnographic research or a variety of research techniques in particular areas. This role may be the most important and can be initiated at various stages of research process, which is from research design to data collection. All budding applied anthropologists need to have training as policy researchers as the research function is common to many applied aspects.

Evaluator

The role of evaluators in a policy research is very special. They evaluate the use of research skills to determine whether a project, program or policy is successful or the results are effective or not. The main task is to objectively determine the worth of something.

Impact assessor

It is one of the specialized policy research roles which involve the function such as the forecast of the effects of a project, program, or policy. An impact assessor generally endeavours to determine the effects of planned government projects which are close to the human communities. An impact assessor often studies various design substitutions because the information produced is usually envisioned to influence the design of a project.

Needs assessor

The gathering of data on public program which is needed in looking forward to social, health, economic and education program design is the role of need assessor in policy research. The process of program design and justification is contributed by needs assessor. Its role is more common and closely related to evaluation.

Planner

Anthropologists take part in the design of future policies, projects and programs as planners. In support of decision makers, they may involve in the collection of data and analysis of research. This is a unique role.

Research analyst

The role of research analyst is to interpret research results of various kinds for decision makers. The research analyst may serve as a supporter to planners, policy makers and program managers.

Advocate

Community groups and individuals are often supported by advocates. They play a complex role which always involves direct political action consistent with the community’s self-defined objectives. The role of advocacy is not common in itself but it may be part of other roles

Trainer

Applied anthropologists act as a role of trainers. They develop and use training materials referenced to a number of diverse content areas and client groups. They prepare technicians and tools for cross-cultural experiences.

Culture broker

The culture broker helps in making the link between programs and ethnic communities. This role is appeared to be more beneficial in the field of health care delivery and the establishment of social services. In addition to these, the culture brokerage is also attached to many other roles.

Expert witness

The expert witness works on a part-time basis which involves the presentation of research data through legal documents. This role is usually taken over by those who are academically employed.

Public participation specialist

The need for public input planning has developed a new role known as public participation specialist. It is somewhat similar to the role of culture broker, although it inclines to occur on a case-to-case basis rather than continuously as with culture brokerage. Involvement of anthropology in this role is increasing.

Administrator

Anthropologists are often engaged as administrators because practicing anthropologists proceed with their career. They have ordinance administrative responsibility for the programs within which they work. Being in charge in the agencies, some anthropologists have become very influential. The roles of administrators are usually not at entry-level.

Change agent

The change agent is part of a variety of other responsibilities and is a generalized functionary. They work to encourage change as they sometimes take the role to carry out as part of a specific strategy of change such as action anthropology and development anthropology.

Therapist

This is a quite rare role as it involves the use of anthropology along with the knowledge of various consultations therapies to treat individuals with various problems. They sometimes refer themselves as clinical anthropologists.

3. Development of applied anthropology

Van Willigen (1986) traced the development of applied anthropology through five different stages. These are the pre-disciplinary stage, the applied ethnology stage, the federal service stage, the role-extension stage, value-explicit stage and the policy research stage. The growth of applied anthropology has established different range of tendencies. There is a parallel development of applied and theoretical aspects of discipline and the potentials of application are used as a foundation for the development of various academic programs and theoretical research programs.

The stimulus of interest in new research areas and populations is a major effect of applied anthropology on theoretical anthropology. The development of applied anthropology is considered to be best in terms of an additive extension of research context, topics and techniques. The intervention techniques which have been developed in anthropology are not applied frequently today. Rather than considering applied anthropology as a reliable pattern of internally generated change, it should also be thought of as mainly a product of important external forces.

4.   Scope of applied anthropology

There is a wide range of scope of applied anthropology. They have their basic goals, the first one is to identify needs for change that local people observe, second is to design culturally appropriated change by working with those people, and finally to protect local people from harmful policies including destructive development schemes.

4.1 Applied anthropology in good governance:

The Americans and British took help from anthropology because it provided useful information in maintaining effective colonial rule. The confounded administrator and the dying Red Indian was rescued by anthropology after a long unsuccessful policy which uprooted and eradicated a large number of the native races of North America. John Collier, a commissioned officer took a big advancing step by linking anthropologist to start a better Indian’s policy in 1933. This step had become one of the progressive administrations which were based more on anthropological principles. Regular training in anthropology was given to those officers of the Dutch and the French who were accountable for the administration of their colonies prior to the British and the Americans.

4.2 Development programmes:

Applied anthropologists have initiated the study of human problems due to the variations in technology which are happening in all developing and developed countries. The problems of race have been solved by anthropologists by strongly convincing that the mental traits are not related to race. A few of them are psychotherapists who are employing the perceptions of the anthropologists like Gregory Bateson and others on family systems and family therapy.

Others are working for the worldwide development by joining hands with the U.S. Agency for International Development and the United States Department of Agriculture. They are concerned with the appropriate technology, fuel wood shortages, agricultural credit, new land development, feasibility studies for dams, livestock improvement, bilingual education etc. The significance of anthropologists for the development programmes have become familiar only when there is a consistent failure of the project planners because they neglect the cultural dimensions of development. Anthropologists have increased equality in the distribution of wealth and also help in reducing the rate of poverty by filling up the gap between a plan and the local socio-cultural pattern of the targeted area.

4.3 Education and anthropology:

The work of educational anthropologists involves in classrooms, homes, neighbourhood and other settings relevant to education. Anthropologists are often interested and involved with various aspects of education. They regard children as total cultural being whose enculturation and attitudes toward education belong to an environment which includes family and peers. Policy recommendations on education are led through this applied research.

4.4 Urban life and anthropology:

Urban anthropologists also study the life in city, and urbanization. Applied anthropologists propose, design and implement social policy and pay attention to social forms and to urban social units. For controlling demographic trends, food habits and social change, applied anthropologists also study value – attitude systems.

4.5 Medical system:

Applied medical anthropologists deal with the diseases and the factors responsible for them. They are involved in examining the disease affecting different population, socially constructed illness and treatment of illness in effective and culturally accepted ways. The spread and distribution of diseases and the influence of cultural pattern are mainly examined by those who are specially focussed on epidemiology.

The popularity in contemporary North America is mainly due to the combination of methods used in treatment of whole being which are proved beneficial that is holistic medicine in the medical system. Using a combination of therapies which include elements of ritual, magic and modern scientific medications instead of relying only on any single therapeutic approach is common even among urban-educated elite.

4.6 Gerontology:

Research on ageing in different cultures and designing programmes for elderly in gerontology also involved contributions by applied anthropologists. They focus on the consequences of the society where the value of youth is admired and the increase in number of elderly people to be regarded as problematic.

4.7 Business and anthropology:

Anthropology is also applied in business in some key aspects which include ethnography and observation as ways of gathering data, cross-cultural expertise and focus on cultural diversity. The relationship between labour and employer has also been studied to decrease tensions which generally exist between various classes. In a common social system, different social manager, executives and workers may be categorized as different social groups. People in the society learn specific roles in their limited social system through the process of micro-enculturation.

4.8 Anthropology in sports or Kinanthropometry

The work kinanthropometry or sports anthropometry is derived from the Greek words, kineein means to move, anthropos means human and metreein means to measure. It is defined as the application of measurement to the study of human size, shape, proportion, composition, maturation and gross function. The application areas of this field are used by sports scientist, coaches, physical educationists, paediatricians, human biologists etc. In kinanthropometry,the techniques of taking various body measurements such as height, weight, diameters, circumferences, skinfold thicknesses etc. are equipped to understand human body structure and function. Selection of players for various events is done by anthropologists through the knowledge of anthropometry.

4.9 Forensic anthropology

The application of the science of physical anthropology to the legal process is often termed as forensic anthropology. For many reasons such as humanitarian, legal etc., identification of human remains, skeletal or badly decomposed body is important. Under these situations, forensic anthropologists play very ideal role. They used many standard scientific techniques developed in physical anthropology to identify remains of human beings and to assist legal officers in crime investigation.

They also work jointly with forensic odontologists, pathologists and homicide investigators to detect a decedent, discover evidence of foul play and the post-mortem interval. Not only this, they are also able to suggest the age, sex, ethnicity, stature and unique features of the suspicious remains’ decedent. Thus, the application of forensic anthropology is immensely beneficial for the scientific community as well as for the welfare of the society by reconstructing the past events and also helps in justification of the events.

Figure 1: Forensic anthropologist at work in crime scene

(Source: wwwuhwo.hawaiis.com)

5.   Applied anthropology in India:

Applied anthropology plays an important role in India. The contribution of anthropologists is needed in the policy of internal reconstruction on social and economic fronts. It was realized in 1807 that the knowledge of anthropology for smooth running of administration is important when the Board of Directors of the East India Company made a formal decision to use it in administration. Francis Buchnon was selected to commence an ethnographic survey of Bengal. Since then Risley, Dalton, Grierson, Gurdon and many others had been allotted to prepare handbooks, gazetteers, monographs, etc. on tribes and castes of India.

In the early period of census survey, their services were also employed. The various problems of the Adivasis and Harijans were highlighted by anthropologists like Mazumdar, Dube, Chattopadyay, Vidyarthi etc. and they also recommended ways and means to upgrade their socio-economic conditions. Thus, anthropologists are supportive in framing policies for the welfare of tribes and castes. Anthropologists can do great justice to the tasks of rewriting the reports on tribes and castes with the scientific training and skill. The study of generalized value-attitude systems can also be helped by anthropologists. The knowledge of anthropologists could be long-lasting in progressing the best ways of checking the alarming population growth which threatens to upset all our planning and development schemes.

Applied anthropologists have also taken part in other areas other than tribal and backward sections. B.C. Agarwal and his band of young and many other devoted anthropologists have conducted a founding work for The Space Application Centre, Ahmedabad to develop social research plan of programme production for telecasting. Satellite Television Experiment (SITE) was one of the largest and progressive experiments conducted on human communication and in this type of experiment anthropologists contributed depth, qualitative and descriptive knowledge for understanding the process of communication.

Anthropologists are very concerned about many crises of survival in which human beings are suffering and anthropologists do not overlook such crises. A number of commissions such as Commissions on Urban Anthropology to work on urgent anthropological research, on women issues, on food and food problems and on the challenges of development have been established by the International Union of Anthropological and Ethnological Sciences (IUAES) in response to these crises. Further, in order to face major challenges of Indian society, India has also induced such practical concerns of relevant anthropology, urgent anthropology, etc.

6.    Uniqueness of applied anthropology:

One of the most valuable research tools of applied anthropology is ethnography. Anthropologists study the cross-cultural perspective. The perfection in this branch of anthropology is mainly due to its holistic characteristics. In development works, applied anthropologists take the `clinical’ or `engineering’ roles. The decision making tools, including reagent information concerning the probable consequences of alternative possible choices are provided by clinical anthropologists to the client who may be an administrator or a citizen group.

However, formulation of specific recommendations for the clients is the role of engineering anthropologists. Some of those anthropologists were Raymond Firth who was more like a doctor who advises rather than like an engineer who builds whereas the anthropologists such as Nadel have a preference on social engineering as the proper approach of applied anthropology.

Summary

Applied anthropology has played a very crucial role in diverse areas. Different stages have gone through to develop this aspect. Many expert applied anthropologists can take the roles in many fields such as in administration, education, sports, crime scene investigation, business etc. In the present context, applied anthropology is involved in solving numerous problems and crises. They also help in developing the welfare of the tribal groups and many others such as in development of urban areas by setting up policies and plans etc. Applied anthropologists are helpful in upbringing the future life of the society from different perspectives. In effective and good governance, many administrative norms are applied by using the basic principles of anthropology. Various rules and regulations recommended in educational centres through the applied research of anthropology as they investigate the basic traits of the learners which have been encultured or diffused. The field of medical anthropology helps a lot at the population level by probing the diseases and the factors responsible for it. The problems of elderly are also rendered and managed by the study of gerontology which is also a part of anthropology. Many ethnographic data collected by the anthropologist help in developing and bearing the workers in business. Identifying and selection of players in different field of sports usually take help from kinanthropologist because they know the relation of body physique with the person’s ability to perform in that particular event. Forensic anthropologists play a major role in crime scene investigation and paternity disputes investigation. There is development of the field of applied anthropology in India too. The scope of this aspect of anthropology is very wide that it has supported in many forthcomings way of life.

References

• Echarya.inflibnet.ac.in/data-server/eacharya-documents/
• Kedia, S., 2008. Recent changes and trends in the practice of applied anthropology. NAPA Bulletin, 29(1), pp.14-28.
• Nath, S. 1992. Forensic Anthropology. In: Application Areas of Anthropology. Reliance publishing house, New Delhi.
• Singh, SP. 1992. Kinanthropometry . In: Application Areas of Anthropology. Reliance publishing house, New Delhi.
• Splinder, GD.1983. Anthropology and Education: An overview. In: Education and Anthropology. Stanford University press, California.
• van Willigen , J. 1993. Applied anthropology: An introduction. Bergin and Garvey, USA.
• Van Willigen, J., 2002. Applied anthropology: an introduction. Greenwood Publishing group.
• www.keyword-suggestions.com

    Suggested Readings

• Chambers, E. 1985. Applied anthropology: A practical guide. Prentice Hall.
• Pink, S. (Ed.). 2005. Applications of anthropology: professional anthropology in the twenty-first century (Vol. 2). Berghahn Books.
• Shackel, P. A., & Chambers, E. (Eds.). 2004. Places in mind: Public archaeology as applied anthropology. Psychology Press.
• Pink, S. (Ed.). 2009. Visual interventions: Applied visual anthropology (Vol. 4). Berghahn Books.