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Re: Four fields - a cynical view
Anj Petto (ajpetto@MACC.WISC.EDU)
Wed, 5 Apr 1995 17:24:16 -0600
Anita Cohen-Williams raises an interesting point. Besides being a MAWMie
(middle-aged white guy) in the academic job market, there are other trends
out there worth noting. First, in the past few years of looking for a job,
I have had more success attracting the interest of biology departments and
programs than anthro (roughly 4:1). This goes to the issue of the four
fields. I have a BA in sociocultural, but went to biological in graduate
school. The required work to become a functional biological anthropologist
has put most of my publications outside what anthro departments generally
consider worth including.
Though I had a decidely 4-field undergraduate and graduate experience, the
demands of the practice of bioanthropology have put me outside the fold.
Most anthro departments don't see the connection, so maybe we have
*already* reached the situation in European and other programs that
separate the ethnographic from the biological. I still resist that,
possibly because my undergraduate advisor/mentor/guiding light was a
Columbia PhD, but if I want to continue in academic employment, it seems
pretty clear it will probably be with a biological sciences department.
Anj
Andrew J. Petto, PhD
Coalition for Education in the Life Sciences
Center for Biology Education
675 WARF, University of Wisconsin
610 North Walnut Street
MADISON WI 53705-2397
Voice: 608.265-3497
Fax: 608.262-6801
Internet: ajpetto@macc.wisc.edu
Bitnet: ajpetto@wiscmacc
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