ANTH 445/Seminar in Anthropology
Fall 2012/Applied Anthropology
Final exam study guide

The final exam will be worth 100 points and it will not be cumulative. It will be comprised of a combination of objective questions (e.g., multiple choice, true-false), short answers and essays.  Remember, due to time constraints we scratched the topic of anthropology and education.

The material that it will cover is as follows:

Environmental anthropology

Readings:

·         Robert Rhodes: Agricultural Anthropology (Kedia & van Willigen chap 3)

·         Thomas McGuire: The Domain of the Environment (Kedia & van Willigen chap 4)

·         Michael Paolisso: Taste the Traditions: Crabs, Crab Cakes, and the Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab Fishery.

·         Even though it was not on the syllabus you should also look at SFAA: About environmental anthropology

Videos:

·         Following the Watermen: An Anthropologist on Deal Island (Michael Paolisso)

·         Another Days Catch" Crabbing in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay Environmental studies research on Tangier Island

·         Environmental studies research on Tangier Island

·         Seed Swap Documentary (trailer only)

Pertinent Terms/concepts:

 
Pithy[1] quotes to think about:
“By learning to modify and blend traditional ethnographic methods into the ecological perspective, a new set of research tools became available to the agricultural research establishment.” Robert Rhoades

“An applied environmental anthropology requires the skills of an anthropologist: the ability to closely observe real people doing real things, to understand the causes and consequences of those actions, and to communicate those observations in an honest and credible way.” Thomas McGuire.

Development Anthropology

Readings:

·         Peter Little: Anthropology and Development (Kedia & van Willigen chap 2).

·         Anthony Oliver-Smith: Applied Anthropology & Development-Induced Resettlement (Kedia & van Willigen chap 7).

·         Arturo Escobar: Anthropology and the Development Encounter: The Making and Marketing of Development Anthropology.

Videos:

·         What Are We Doing Here

·         Declaration of Broken Promises

·         We Fear the Unknown Future

Pertinent Terms/concepts:  

Pithy quotes to think about:

“Project affected communities provide a point of convergence for the human rights and environmental movements to create an arena for an expanded civil society across borders.” Anthony Oliver-Smith

“Development anthropology, for all its claim to relevance to local problems, to cultural sensitivity, and to access to interpretive holistic methods, has done no more than recycle, and dress in more localized fabrics, the discourses of modernization and development”. Arturo Escobar

Medical Anthropology

Readings:

·         Linda Whiteford and Linda Bennett: Applied Anthropology and Health and Medicine (Kedia & van Willigen chap 5)

·         David Himmelgreen and Deborah Crooks: Nutritional Anthropology and its Application to Nutritional Issues and Problems (Kedia & van Willigen chap 6).

Videos: N/A

Pertinent Terms/concepts:  

                                                               
Pithy quotes to think about:

“The ability to conceptually bridge culture and biology and its evolutionary basis are critical components of applied medical anthropology…Addictions research, for instance, demonstrates this meshing of boundaries between the cultural construction of disease and the physiological understanding of its expression.” Linda Whiteford & Linda Bennett.

“Nutritional interests in anthropology…are connected …through holistic perspectives that consider cultural ideologies that underlie social aspects of food organization and distribution, which shape food consumption behaviors and, ultimately, have repercussions for nutritional status among populations and diverse groups.” David Himmelgreen & Deborah Crooks.

Anthropology & Business

Readings:

·         Marietta Baba: Anthropological Practice in Business and Industry (Kedia & van Willigen chap 8)

·         Charles Winick: “Anthropology's Contributions to Marketing.”

Videos:

·         Beyond Ethnography: Corporate & Design Anthropology (description only)

We also “visited”[2] with MSUM alum Natalie Peterson-Menafee via Skype on Tuesday November 20^th. Natalie is in the graduate program at Michigan State University, concentrating in in business anthropology. She currently has an assistantship with Dr. Marietta Baba, Professor of Anthropology and Dean of the College of Social Science at Michigan State University. She briefly discussed the anthropology of business and offered advice on a number of practical matters.

Pertinent Terms/concepts:  

Pithy quotes to think about:

 “We no longer have a monopoly on ethnography, nor can we assume that business will trust the anthropologists to deliver a quality product. Ethnography has escaped the grasp of anthropology and it has been appropriated by consultants and practitioners from many other fields who claim to do it just as well as we do.” Marietta Baba.

The future of applied anthropology: engaged public anthropology

Readings:

·         Setha M. Low and Sally Engle Merry: Engaged Anthropology: Diversity and Dilemmas

·         Luke Eric Lassiter: Collaborative Ethnography and Public Anthropology

·         Carole McGranahan: Introduction: Public Anthropology

·         Rylko-Bauer, Barbara; Merrill Singer and John van Willigen: Reclaiming Applied Anthropology: Its Past, Present, and Future

 Pertinent Terms/concepts:

                                                                                                                                     
Pithy quotes to think about:

“At its best, public anthropology responds to changes in both the discipline and in the world.” Carole McGranahan.

In-Class Presentations

Here’s a list of in-class presentations and presenters. They’re not in any particular order. I’m not sure yet how I’m going to do it but somehow I’ll work this material into the Final Exam.  
Hmmmm. Have a nice weekend!