Applied Anthropology

Describe the overlapping histories of applied and academic anthropology that Kottak identifies in chapter 11 (e.g., in Malinowskis work on land tenure during British colonialism). What ethical dilemmas, as well as opportunities for advocacy, arise in the funding, use, and dissemination of anthropological knowledge?

The history of applied anthropology dates back to the colonial era. As colonialists invaded foreign lands, they needed anthropologists to help smoothen their settling in the colonized area. Additionally, the foreign lands that were invaded were home to people of different cultures and beliefs. Therefore, the anthropologists would exploit their profession by studying the cultural practices and behaviors of the colonized people and inform the colonialists of discoveries about the people. Subsequently, the colonialists would use this information to develop supremacy over the natives and simplify their settling in foreign lands (Kottak, 2018).

Bronislaw Malinowski is well known to be one of the original perpetrators of applied anthropology, which was then called practical anthropology, as he helped the colonialists dominate over the natives of the colonized land (Kottak, 2018). After colonialism was overthrown, most anthropologists diverted to professions such as teaching because there was a development in education systems. Accordingly, applied anthropology was taught in tertiary institutions such as colleges, whereby people learned about other peoples cultures. This development led to academic anthropology and protests against overlooking the cultures of natives that were attacked (Kottak, 2018). Subsequently, anthropologists involved in fieldwork started handling their profession and results in high regard as they considered the values of the natives they studied.

This evolution to academic anthropology exposes the ethical issues that arose in the practice of the profession. Anthropologists are expected to preserve culture, while those who practiced applied anthropology in the colonial era used their profession to dominate the natives and impose their foreign cultural practices on them. This action was unethical based on the purpose of anthropology. However, applied anthropology also allowed for the development of academic anthropology, whereby students could learn about the cultures of the previously colonized communities. These two facts cause a dilemma, illustrating that applied anthropology was used unethically in the past, but it allowed other students to learn of cultures from other communities. Therefore, this overlap between applied and academic anthropology came with both positive and negative impacts.

References

Kottak, C. (2018). Mirror for Humanity: A Concise Introduction to Cultural Anthropology. McGraw Hill.

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