ANTH 101 Intro to Cultural Anthropology

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ANTH 101Intro to Cultural Anthropology

• Applied Anthropology
• What is Applied Anthropology?
• Ethical Issues in Practicing Anthropology
• Examples
• Cultural Anthropology
• Cultural Resource Management
• Forensic Anthropology

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The Four Subfields

• Anthropology is divided into four subfields, each
  with an academic (scholarly) and an applied
  (real-world) component.

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Applied Anthropology

• Also called practicing anthropology
• Practiced in a real-world context.
• Both basic and applied research can solve
  problems.
• But applied specifically tries to solve them.

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Motives for Applied Anthropology

• Grew from desire to help disadvantaged
  informants.
• Applied anthropologists try to make a change
  happen for informants.
• Is that ethical?
• Applied research happens at home, too.

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Keeping the Research Ethical

• Our first responsibility is to our informants!
• Are they included in decisions?
• Will a change benefit them?
• Do they want the change?

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Example 1 the Green Revolution in Bali

• Rice agriculture in Bali depends on complex
  system of water temples.
• Scientists and government introduce
  genetically-enhanced rice.
• Rice stops some bugs but lets worse ones in!
• Target population was not consulted.

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Example 2 Domesticating Trees in Haiti

• Government fails to keep Haitians from chopping
  down govt trees.
• Anthropologists the trees belong to the Haitians
  (not the government)
• Record tree growth occurs
• Target population was consulted

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Example 3 Japanese Business in the USA

• Jill Kleinberg studies problem of Japanese
  companies in US
• Americans upset due to lax job expectations, lack
  of Americans in management.
• Japanese upset due to inflexibility of Americans.
• Kleinberg proposes changes to benefit everyone.

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Applied Archaeology CRM

• Cultural resource management archaeology done
  for government or business
• To salvage a non-renewable resource or work with
  native peoples.
• At least 50 of all US archaeology is CRM.

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Example Archaeology and the Highway

• UM excavated part of Manassas (VA) National
  Battlefield Park before parking lots were put
  down.
• Worked with NPS and N. VA Relic Hunter's Assoc.
  to salvage Civil War artifacts.
• Also Monocacy (MD) Natl Battlefield

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Applied Physical AnthropologyForensics

• Forensic anthropology is used to help solve
  crimes.
• Deals with skeletal analysis, DNA and other
  biomaterial.

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Example Forensic Files

• Bone and dental remains can identify a body when
  nothing else exists.
• Alone, bones can determine sex, age and race.
• We can use dental records to determine identity
  also.

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Forensic Files Questions

• Do the bones in the car belong to Madison
  Rutherford?
• How can the anthropologist tell that the bones in
  the car belong to him, or to somebody else?