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Re: Jobs and Not Getting Them
Eugene A. Berkery (eberkery@NMSU.EDU)
Fri, 3 Jun 1994 13:28:22 -0600
themselves to a career in anthropology and expects to comfortably funded
is unrealistic, except as this discipline can co-opted into other fields.
Rather than complain that the system, committees or individuals are wrong,
a more Darwinian view might be taken, and the forces that keep such
entities in place examined. You cannot function in a system unless you
understand it. I think a suggestion that anthropologists go on strike is
about as unrealistic as you can get. The individuals who control the
university purse would laugh all the way to the bank. After the dust
had settled, there would be fewer jobs and the troublemakers eliminated.
Any time you are employed in a non-essential industry supported by
tax money, your financial future is at hazard. Although some of us may
regard anthropology as important and essential, it has a low priority with
the people who pay the taxes. In the early part of this century,
anthropology was a rich man's hobby.
When I was working on my degree, while employed in industry, the
company would contribute to tuition if it had application to the company
interests. While I neither sought or expected such support, I was once
asked by the educational *committee* as to what was the subject matter of
anthropology. When I told them it was *human beings*, they frowned and
said they could see no application in this company. Personally I thought
that was hilarious.
Perhaps we need a specialty such as *industrial anthropology*.
Even if they do not understand what it is they would have to have one.
Psychologists have managed to pull this off for years. If you have
included Forensic anthropology in your studies, perhaps employment as a
mortician might be accessible. After all, it is sort of reverse to digging
up bones, and it is a growing field, particularly if gladitorial
competition for academic positions catches on.
Gene Berkery
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