Applications of Anthropology

At the beginning of the twenty-first century the demand for anthropological approaches, understandings and methodologies outside academic departments is shifting and changing. Through a series of fascinating case studies of anthropologists’ experiences of working with very diverse organizations in the private and public sector this volume examines existing and historical debates about applied anthropology. It explores the relationship between the "pure and the impure" – academic and applied anthropology, the question of anthropological identities in new working environments, new methodologies appropriate to these contexts, the skills needed by anthropologists working in applied contexts where multidisciplinary work is often undertaken, issues of ethics and responsibility, and how anthropology is perceived from the ‘outside’. The volume signifies an encouraging future both for the application of anthropology outside academic departments and for the new generation of anthropologists who might be involved in these developments.

At the beginning of the twenty-first century the demand for anthropological approaches, understandings and methodologies outside academic departments is shifting and changing. Through a series of fascinating case studies of anthropologists’ experiences of working with very diverse organizations in the private and public sector this volume examines existing and historical debates about applied anthropology. It explores the relationship between the "pure and the impure" – academic and applied anthropology, the question of anthropological identities in new working environments, new methodologies appropriate to these contexts, the skills needed by anthropologists working in applied contexts where multidisciplinary work is often undertaken, issues of ethics and responsibility, and how anthropology is perceived from the ‘outside’. The volume signifies an encouraging future both for the application of anthropology outside academic departments and for the new generation of anthropologists who might be involved in these developments.

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgements

Introduction: Applications of Anthropology
Sarah Pink

PART I: THE HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT OF APPLIED ANTHROPOLOGY IN THE U.K.

Chapter 1. Machetes into a Jungle? A History of Anthropology in Policy and Practice, 1981–2000
Susan Wright

Chapter 2. Dinner at Claridges? Anthropology and the ‘Captains of Industry’, 1947–1955
David Mills

PART II: ANTHROPOLOGY AND INDUSTRY

Chapter 3. The Pure and the Impure? Reflections on Applying Anthropology and Doing Ethnography
Simon Roberts

Chapter 4. The Need to Engage with Non-Ethnographic Research Methods: A Personal View
Adam Drazin

PART III: ANTHROPOLOGY AND THE PUBLIC SECTOR

Chapter 5. International Development, Social Analysis, and Anthropology? Applying Anthropology in and to Development
Maia Green

Chapter 6. Anthropology at the Centre: Reflections on Research, Policy Guidance and Decision Support
Mils Hills

Chapter 7. Speaking of Silence: Reflections on the Application of Anthropology to the U.K. Health Services
Elizabeth Hart

PART IV ANTHROPOLOGISTS IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN: ANTHROPOLOGY MEDIA AND LAW

Chapter 8. Anthropologists in Television: A Disappearing World?
Paul Henley

Chapter 9. Research, Representations and Responsibilities: An Anthropologist in the Contested World of Foxhunting
Garry Marvin

Chapter 10. ‘Culture’ in Court: Albanian Migrants and the Anthropologist as Expert Witness
Stephanie Schwandner-Sievers

Notes on Contributors
Index