What Anthropologists Do Today

Anthropology on the Ground ANTH 2301 What Anthropologists Do Today Right now, anthropologists are working to improve our quality of life. Anthropologists and individuals who use an anthropological lens or perspective may contribute in a variety of ways, offering much-needed resources and abilities for the twenty-first century. • Investigation. Fieldwork, also known as pure or theoretical research, is carried out in a variety of environments to address the theoretical and practical issues that form the core of anthropology. What causes cultural change? How do technologies and artefacts change within a culture? What impact do exchanges and commerce have on the evolution of cultures? This text's many chapters tell tales of anthropological study and its significance for comprehending what it means to be human. To test hypotheses and broaden our understanding of humans, each of the subfields conducts unique kinds of field research. The core of academic anthropology is theoretical study. • Development and research. Practical applications, such developing or redesigning goods or services for businesses or governments, are linked to research and development. Research and development anthropologists provide their knowledge of human behaviour and the surrounding environment to initiatives that benefit human organisations and society as a whole. Genevieve Bell, a cultural anthropologist, spent eighteen years working in research and development at Intel Corporation, the biggest semiconductor chip producer in the world. While working at Intel, she concentrated on user experience, studying how people utilise and integrate technology into their daily lives in order to create more useful and approachable products. Bell's extensive understanding of human behaviour and culture was prized by Intel since it allowed the business to more accurately predict the demands of its customers. Bell's observations enabled Intel to become a more competitive company. "Mak[ing] sense of what makes people tick, what delights and frustrates them, and... us[ing] those insights to help shape next generation technological innovations," is how she has defined her work. I'm content where I am, at the nexus of cultural norms and technological uptake. (City Eye, 2017). In a TED Salon presentation titled "6 Big Ethical Questions about the Future of AI," Bell describes how artificial intelligence is already undergoing a technical revolution that will have an impact on many facets of our life. Utilising artificial intelligence "safely, sustainably, and responsibly" is the current problem, according to her. Bell is a champion of technology for humans. Utilising the abilities and understanding she has acquired from her anthropological degree, she examines the interplay between technology, culture, and environment. She still employs an anthropological approach in her work today, saying that it's important to "think differently, ask different kinds of questions, and look holistically at the world and the systems" (Bell 2020). In 2017, Bell resigned from her position at Intel to take a distinguished professorship at the Australian National University College of Engineering and Computer Science. In this role, she oversees the School of Cybernetics and carries out ongoing research on the intersection of technology and culture. • Laws and regulations. Around the world, anthropologists are active in the formulation of public policy. The use of anthropological perspectives and abilities is becoming more and more important in the formulation of laws and policies that improve public safety and address pressing issues. Government and nongovernmental organisations might prevent some crises and better predict future concerns by addressing these issues holistically. Five public policy sectors that would substantially benefit from an anthropological perspective have been recognised by the American Anthropological Association (AAA). The AAA aims to increase the number of anthropologists working in public policy in the twenty-first century and to collaborate in informing international, national, and local organisations about the significance of anthropological knowledge and engagement in each of these areas: ◦ Social and cultural elements of health: determining how age, gender, race, and socioeconomic position impede access to healthcare. ◦ Culture and diversity in education: recognising how differences impact the way that education is delivered and the gaps that exist in the policies that are now in place because of things like evolving information technologies and shifting populations. ◦ An interdisciplinary approach to environmental studies, emphasising how anthropological knowledge helps comprehend the environmental aspects that affect humans and collaborating with government authorities that actively encourage this kind of environmental study. ◦ Economic, social, and cultural elements of the information revolution: analysing how the revolution is affecting our personal and professional life on a human level. ◦ Globalisation and its influence on public policy: with a particular emphasis on matters of conflict and warfare, as well as the consequences of globalisation on communities of transnational individuals. One of the difficulties anthropologists have is effectively informing businesses and governments about the abilities anthropologists may provide to comprehending and solving modern issues. It is critical to collaborate both inside and outside of the field to raise awareness of the opportunities anthropologists present as advocates for public policy. Many anthropologists were mobilised by the COVID-19 worldwide emergency, particularly those working in the applied area of medical anthropology. When COVID-19 cases began to be detected in the US, medical anthropologist Mark Nichter (2020), who has spent the most of his career studying emerging illnesses and global health, was returning from fieldwork in India and Indonesia. He went from Asian nations, where mask-wearing and feverish anxiety over the disease were common, to Europe and finally the US, where attitudes were more subdued. These disparate viewpoints made him consider the complexity of these worldwide occurrences as well as previous pandemics he had seen in his work as a medical anthropology. He was acutely aware of the problems with social injustice and expressed concern about the inadequate infrastructure in many nations as well as the large number of people living in camps for refugees. What would happen in places where there is a lack of availability to clean water, particularly for handwashing, and when access to any form of water is restricted? He questioned how severe this would be on a worldwide scale. Nichter employed his skills as a medical anthropology to bring about constructive change in his community when the US was under lockdown. In order to assist professors and instructors in educating themselves and their students, he first created a COVID-19 primer that included daily explanations of health issues related to COVID-19 and strategies for slowing and stopping transmission. The primer gained widespread distribution on college campuses around the globe including in the United States. In order to determine the areas of vital need for study, Nichter collaborated with other anthropologists in a special working group funded by the American Anthropological Association. In several of these study areas, structural risks were under investigation, as were regions where inequalities in mortality statistics were showing that certain groups were more vulnerable than others. Third, Nichter started pushing for the creation of contact tracing, symptom monitoring, and COVID-19 testing resources in order to better control epidemics within communities. Lastly, aware that frontline workers would be the most affected by the epidemic, he assisted in creating a grassroots and online health care worker support network. Nichter is a supporter of anticipatory anthropology. Anticipatory anthropology in the framework of medical anthropology works to strengthen the cracks that have appeared in the global health system in an effort to fortify resistance against the upcoming medical crises. "COVID-19 offers a chance to forge coalitions and generate momentum for meaningful health care reform" (Nichter 2020). In order to create and deliver messages that are culturally appropriate, anthropological abilities are becoming more and more important. Although there is a lot of focus on global health efforts in applied and practicing anthropology, there are many other kinds of interventions. Improved agricultural methods, heritage seed banks, better educational resources, and even direct engagement with people displaced by conflict, migration, or natural disasters are examples of applied anthropological initiatives.