Answering questionnaires on line
John Mcreery (jlm@TWICS.COM)
Sat, 10 Jun 1995 08:43:44 JST
CC: To Everyone.
Dear Martha,
Please pass along to your teacher the observation that having multiple students
asking the same questions is, well, annoying. I would strongly suggest that
the class as a whole post one set of questions, and then split up to analyze
the answers. As you, yourself, are so polite, I will answer. But, please share
the results. OK?
1. Applied anthropology attempts to apply anthropological ideas and methods to
"real-world" situations. Archeologists do a lot of salvage archeology,
environme
ntal impact statements, that kind of thing. Most cultural anthropologists who
do
applied work seem to be interested in issues surrounding poverty, economic
development, and sustaining traditional ways of life that are under attack in
the modern world. Another, but smaller group is interested in applying
anthropol
ogy to business, mostly in either marketing or management consulting.
2. As an undergraduate I took a mixed program of philosophy, medieval history
an
d psychology. This was the early '60s and going to graduate school was the done
thing in my social circle. Took an anthro course and said, "Hey, I can do what
I like in all these fields and travel to strange places, too."
3.Taiwan. I was a Taoist healer's apprentice and wrote a dissertation (very
dry)
called "The Symbolism of Popular Taoist Magic."
4.The lack of a coherent paradigm and overspecialization. We've lost sight of
th
e grand goal of formulating an overall view of humanity that takes account of
all we know about cultural, linguistic and biological variation. Also, a lot of
us don't write very well, which makes what we write indigestible to people
outsi
de our particular area/"theoretical" tribe.
5.Coming to grips with the fact that if we take serioiusly the notion that the
people we work with are folks with the same rights to respect and moral
consider
ation as we ourselves, we can't avoid moral dilemmas by adopting a detached
"scientific" perspective.
6.Meet people with whom I can share ideas. My tribe (aka the people who share
my
particular cluster of interests) is pretty widely scattered these days. The net
enables contact.
Yours truly,
John McCreery
|