Anthropology In Practice

How can students and scholars effectively prepare for - and succeed at - a career in the nonacademic world of applied anthropology? This comprehensive guide, full of practical detail, presents the answers. Nolan relates how to acquire and use the skills essential for work as a practitioner. A key feature of his book is its lifetime focus: he systematically moves from preparation, to job search and negotiation, to research methods and ethics, to building a career, to maintaining relations with the academy. The result is an important reference for current practitioners - and a must-have handbook for prospective anthropologists.

An essential career-planning resource, A Handbook of Practicing Anthropology presents a comprehensive account of contemporary anthropological practice written primarily by anthropological practitioners Engagingly written and instructive accounts of practice by anthropological professionals working in corporations, governmental, entrepreneurial, and educational settings Provides essential guidance on applying anthropological principles on the job: what works well and what must be learned Emphasizes the value of collaboration, teamwork, and continuous learning as key elements to success in non-academic careers Highlights the range of successful career options for practitioners , describes significant sectors of professional activity, and discusses key issues, concerns, and controversies in the field Chapters examine key practice sectors such as freelancing, managing a consulting firm, working for government, non-profits, and corporations, and the domains of health, industry, education, international development, and the military

Marshall Sahlins (b. 1930) is an American anthropologist who played a major role in the development of anthropological theory in the second half of the twentieth century. Over a sixty-year career, he and his colleagues synthesized trends in evolutionary, Marxist, and ecological anthropology, moving them into mainstream thought. Sahlins is considered a critic of reductive theories of human nature, an exponent of culture as a key concept in anthropology, and a politically engaged intellectual opposed to militarism and imperialism. This collection brings together some of the world’s most distinguished anthropologists to explore and advance Sahlins’s legacy. All of the essays are based on original research, most dealing with cultural change - a major theme of Sahlins’s research, especially in the contexts of Fijian and Hawaiian societies. Like Sahlins’s practice of anthropology, these essays display a rigorous, humanistic study of cultural forms, refusing to accept comfort over accuracy, not shirking from the moral implications of their analyses. Contributors include the late Greg Dening, one of the most eminent historians of the Pacific, Martha Kaplan, Patrick Kirch, Webb Keane, Jonathan Friedman, and Joel Robbins, with a preface by the late Claude Levi-Strauss. A unique volume that will complement the many books and articles by Sahlins himself, A Practice of Anthropology is an exciting new addition to the history of anthropological study.

Anthropology and Art Practice takes an innovative look at new experimental work informed by the newly-reconfigured relationship between the arts and anthropology. This practice-based and visual work can be characterised as 'art-ethnography'. In engaging with the concerns of both fields, this cutting-edge study tackles current issues such as the role of the artist in collaborative work, and the political uses of documentary. The book focuses on key works from artists and anthropologists that engage with 'art-ethnography' and investigates the processes and strategies behind their creation and exhibition.The book highlights the work of a new generation of practitioners in this hybrid field, such as Anthony Luvera, Kathryn Ramey, Brad Butler and Karen Mirza, Kate Hennessy and Jennifer Deger, who work in a diverse range of media - including film, photography, sound and performance. Anthropology and Art Practice suggests a series of radical challenges to assumptions made on both sides of the art/anthropology divide and is intended to inspire further dialogue and provide essential reading for a wide range of students and practitioners.

Anthropology for Development: From Theory to Practice connects cross-cultural social theory with the concerns of development policy and practice. It introduces the reader to a set of key ideas from the field of anthropology of development, and shows how these insights can be applied to solve real-world development dilemmas. This single, accessibly written volume clearly explains key concepts from anthropology and draws them into a framework to address some of the important challenges facing development policy and practice in the twenty-first century: poverty, participation, sustainability and innovation. It discusses classic critical and ethnographic texts and more recent anthropological work, using rich case studies across a range of country contexts to provide an introduction to the field not available elsewhere. The examples presented are designed to help development professionals reframe their practice with attention to social and cultural variables as well as understand why mainstream approaches to reducing poverty, raising productivity, delivering social services and grappling with environmental risks often fail. This book will prove invaluable to undergraduate and postgraduate students who are professionals-in-training in development studies programs around the world. It will also help development professionals work effectively and inclusively across cultures, tap into previously invisible resources, and turn current development challenges into opportunities.

Design and Anthropology challenges conventional thinking regarding the nature of design and creativity, in a way that acknowledges the improvisatory skills and perceptual acuity of people. Combining theoretical investigations and documentation of practice based experiments, it addresses methodological questions concerning the re-conceptualisation of the relation between design and use from both theoretical and practice-based positions. Concerned with what it means to draw 'users' into processes of designing and producing this book emphasises the creativity of design and the emergence of objects in social situations and collaborative endeavours. Organised around the themes of perception and the user-producer, skilled practices of designing and using, and the relation between people and things, the book contains the latest work of researchers from academia and industry, to enhance our understanding of ethnographic practice and develop a research agenda for the emergent field of design anthropology. Drawing together work from anthropologists, philosophers, designers, engineers, scholars of innovation and theatre practitioners, Design and Anthropology will appeal to anthropologists and to those working in the fields of design and innovation, and the philosophy of technology and engineering.

Considering the concept of power in capoeira, an Afro-Brazilian ritual art form, Varela describes ethnographically the importance that capoeira leaders (mestres) have in the social configuration of a style called Angola in Bahia, Brazil. He analyzes how individual power is essential for an understanding of the modern history of capoeira, and for the themes of embodiment, play, cosmology, and ritual action. The book also emphasizes the great significance that creativity and aesthetic expression have for capoeira’s practice and performance.

Ranging in time and locale, these essays, which combine theoretical argument with empirical observation, are based on research in historical and cultural settings. The contributors accept the notion that all knowledge is socially and culturally constructed and examine the contexts in which that knowledge is produced and practiced in medicine, psychiatry, epidemiology, and anthropology. -- from publisher description.