|
|
That has been my motto (and for holding such beliefs, lord, have I paid dearly). Anthropology, unlike business and accounting, was never designed for earning cash in the marketplace. However, benefiting from an education in Anthropology and Sociology does not imply that you should take a vow of poverty. It is understandable that students should be concerned about their future careers. Some may desire a career that can make use of anthropological training, beyond academia. The Departmental and Teaching Assistants (DATA's) in the Department of Anthropology and Sociology here at UCCB are busy developing information resources to assist and guide you in thinking about, locating, and training for such careers. In the meantime, the links below should provide you with informative, sometimes stunning options.... American Anthropological Association: Resources for Students in Anthropology--includes, "What can I do with a Major in Anthropology?" and other career resources. What can I do with a Degree in Anthropology?--"A degree in anthropology provides students with one of the most diverse backgrounds available in the Arts and Sciences today. With the exception of some technical positions such as chemist or computer programmer, anthropology graduates are qualified for almost every occupation that all other Arts and Science graduates seek. These include business fields such as management, sales, and research. These also include positions in government service, in media, and non-governmental organizations as well. An anthropology degree also qualifies students for entry into a large number of graduate programs, including business, law, social work, and public health...." An Essay on Careers in Anthropology, by Gary Ferraro, along with video clips of anthropologists at work: covers many examples of anthropologists working for government and in the private sector--"....an increasing number of cultural anthropologists are becoming cross-cultural trainers for organizations that send people abroad or have multicultural workforces at home. By conducting a search for 'cross cultural training' on the Internet, you will find numerous companies that provide culture specific training." Anthropologists at Work: Responses to Student Questions About Anthropology Careers--this resource is a supplement to the video clips shown in the Gary Ferraro essay above, addressing many key questions. This document was prepared by the National Association for the Practice of Anthropology, a constituent association of the American Anthropological Association. "Anthropologists on the Job", by Shira J. Boss, Christian Science Monitor, 02 January 2001: "....From environmental groups to dotcoms, employers are realizing that the competitive edge they're after may come in the unlikely form of an anthropologist...." Applied Anthropologist at Work: a list of online news reports featuring some of the work done by applied anthropologists. "Anthropologists Go Native in the Corporate Village", by Kate A. Kane, Fast Company: How Smart People Work, October-November 1996, Issue 5, page 60: "....Anthropologist Elizabeth Briody earned her PhD studying communities of Mexican-American farm workers and Catholic nuns. For the past 11 years, though, she's been studying a different community -- the men and women of General Motors....Sue Squires did her fieldwork analyzing fishing communities in Newfoundland. Today she is a PhD anthropologist at Andersen Worldwide's Center for Professional Education in St. Charles, Illinois....Anthropologist Patricia Sachs couldn't agree more. She earned her PhD in economic anthropology studying small mining communities in West Virginia. For the last several years, however, she's applied her skills at Nynex, the telecommunications giant....Adding an anthropologist to a research team is like moving from black-and-white TV to color...We're able to observe shades of color that others can't see. Anthropologists understand complexity and can help devise answers that reflect that complexity." "Coming of Age in Palo Alto: Anthropologists Find a Niche Studying Consumers for Companies in Silicon Valley", by Katie Hafner, The New York Times, 10 June 1999: "....No longer do companies study consumers' psyches only by asking people what they think about technology and how they use it. Now they conduct observational research, dispatching anthropologists to employ their ethnographic skills by interviewing, watching and videotaping consumers in their natural habitats. In the past several years, companies like Apple, Motorola, Xerox and Intel, as well as telecommunications and cable companies, have brought anthropologists into the corporate fold. The goal is to apply what the anthropologists learn to new product concepts...." "Hot Asset: Anthropology Degrees", by Del Jones, USA Today, 18 February 1999: "....The study of man is no longer a degree for museum directors. Citicorp created a vice presidency for anthropologist Steve Barnett, who discovered early warning signs to identify people who don't pay credit card bills. Not satisfied with consumer surveys, Hallmark is sending anthropologists into the homes of immigrants, attending holidays and birthday parties to design cards they'll want. No survey can tell engineers what women really want in a razor, so marketing consultant Hauser Design sends anthropologists into bathrooms to watch them shave their legs...." "IBM's Service Science", by Michael Kanellos, C/Net, 29 April, 2004: "....IBM is combining anthropology, game theory and behavioral economics with technologies from its labs to see if it can make corporate processes run smoother. The first person recruited from outside IBM to join the group was, in fact, an anthropologist...." "Socio-Technical Kin", in the Ideas Bazaar Weblog, 17 March 2004, reprint of an article from The Economist: "....The use of anthropologists in technology firms, once a novelty, has now become commonplace. What changed?" "We're All Cyberlab Rats", by Michelle Levander, Time Magazine, 04 June 2001: "....when anthropologists entered the scene they shifted the focus from counting keystrokes to understanding how people incorporate technology into their work lives...."
CORPORATE ETHNOGRAPHY: |
Not
everything worth knowing will earn you a quick buck. Not everything worth doing
will be paid for.