Why become an Anthropologist?

Why become an Anthropologist?

• Are you a people-person, do you like people and get on well with them?
• Would you like to do something that makes a difference in people's lives, to have a positive influence?
• Are you curious about why people behave the way they do?
• Can you deal with people who behave differently and have different beliefs, on their own terms?
• Are you, or would you be, comfortable visiting unfamiliar places, meeting strangers, participating in unaccustomed activities and eating different foods?
• Would you like to obtain the kind of training and skills that provides a wide range of occupational and career options?

If you responded positively to most of these questions, then anthropology will certainly interest you.

Even if you do not decide on anthropology as a career, anthropological perspectives and skills are still likely to be relevant and useful in everyday life and in complementing whatever your chosen field of study happens to be.

• Markus Weilenmann runs an independent consulting firm, the "Office for Conflict Research in Developing Countries" from Ruschlikon, Switzerland. He offers legal anthropological consulting services to development agencies or NGOs that operate in Africa in the domains of social and legal politics, and where there are long-lasting discrepancies between official state law and diverse socio-cultural ideas about justice.
• Marzia Balzani at the Roehampton University, London, acts as a consultant in cases of refugee and asylum seekers. Her expert evidence as an anthropologist is used to consider why such individuals should not be sent home and her reports usually reflect factors of a sociocultural and contextual nature.
• Mary-Ellen Chatwin has used her anthropological training in Switzerland, Sweden and France, where she has provided expert advice on students' eating habits and a better diet, programmes for returning displaced persons after conflict, and a food distribution project. "Anthropological input is often appreciated by local populations and communities, as they immediately realize that a 'special kind of understanding' is there. Anthropology should be applied at a national level to all development programmes that intend to make changes in the lives of countries in need (such as disaster relief, poverty reduction, and programmes for vulnerable communities and the elderly)."
• Edward Green, a Senior Research Scientist at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies, has worked in Swaziland for a number of years. He provided expert advice on anthropological fieldwork on projects that focused on waterborne diseases in rural areas, the promotion of oral hydration therapy for children with diarrhoeal diseases, and AIDS prevention. He worked closely with traditional healers because of their influence and availability. His motivation was "that public health efforts aimed at behaviour change or the adoption of new technologies can and should take advantages of their prestige, credibility, authority..."

In more general terms, the relevance of anthropology comes to the fore in our contemporary lives, almost on a daily basis:

• Contact between socioculturally different people has increased dramatically in recent times. International travel is now commonplace. It is no longer only Americans and Europeans who visit "exotic" places and people; today, these very same "exotic" people have begun travelling to Europe and America. At one time, business people, developers, tourists (and anthropologists!) travelled to "economically less developed countries", but now there is a flow of labour migrants, refugees, students and, yes, tourists and anthropologists, in the opposite direction. "Adventure tourism" and "cultural tourism" have become the vogue and visitors can now take guided tours to South African townships, Brazilian favelas (slums or squatter settlements) or Indonesian villages.
• Information, communication and electronic technology are also bringing everything and everybody in the world closer together. Communication and exposure to other sociocultural systems have become immediate thanks to television, cellular telephones, the internet, Facebook, Twitter and Steemit. Issues are now often global or transnational - war, environment, poverty, economy/economic depression, health and disease/AIDS, and, of course, fashion and music.
• Sociocultural change is continually accelerating and known or conventional ways of life and institutions are being transformed or questioned - the family, marriage, religion, diet, language and local or group identity.

The important question is: how do we make sense of not only all that is happening around the world to people and their particular contexts and sociocultural systems, but also of our own situation and our own experiences?

Erikson (2004:6) has this suggestion

In order to understand this (present) seemingly chaotic, confusing and complex historical period, there is a need for a perspective on humanity which does not take preconceived assumptions about human societies for granted, which is sensitive to both similarities and differences, and which simultaneously approaches the human world from a global and a local angle. The only academic subject which fulfills these conditions is anthropology, which studies humans in societies under the most varying circumstances imaginable, yet searches for patterns and similarities, but is fundamentally critical of quick solutions and simple answers to complex questions.

While trying to combat malaria in an African country, Western health officials showed films about the danger of malaria. In order to obtain the necessary effect on the screen the malaria mosquito was enlargened ten times its normal size. To the disappointment and amazement of the health officials, their campaign against malaria met with little success in the area. When they investigated the matter closely, members of the host group pointed out to them that they did not have such big mosquitoes in the area! This is just one example of why the target group must be consulted and why firsthand research is needed before the planning and implementation of a project. This often involves the input of anthropologists.

Paul Bohannan (1963:32), the American anthropologist, refers to the tremendous influence which the study of anthropology has had on his life when he says:

Just knowing that there are many cultures, provides you with something like binocular vision. You will have two sets of lenses through which to view yourself and your culture. The foreground stands out; the background becomes clear, and the enrichment is stunning. When you expand your perspective, some of the walls of your cultural prison will disappear.
Anthropology is the best way I know to make people more wholly human. It reveals what a privilege it is - and how much fun it is - to be human.

If we study only our own context and sociocultural system we merely produce what anthropologists call "culture-bound" explanations that cannot be applied to humans in general. What we are trying to become sensitive to is the fact that people adapt to different environments and that they do this physically and socioculturally. This, in turn, leads us to understanding behaviour in others that at first might seem strange - and this again can prevent misunderstanding between people.

Differences and misunderstandings between people are often very subtle - body language, gestures, perception of personal space - or they might be more explicit. In southern Africa, for example people dance for varying reasons and depending on a particular context, some people dance for recreation or practise dancing as a competitive "sport". Others dance " with joy" or when they celebrate a significant life event such as a wedding. Yet other (trance)- dance to communicate with the spirit world or on other ritual occasions, while others dance when they are angry or protesting - toyi-toyi

It is for the anthropologist to "translate" such expressions of differing sociocultural systems in order to prevent misunderstandings that are often based on stereotypes or presumptions.

To further illustrate this principle, here are some examples of literal (mis)- translations that can occur in the sociocultural domain of communication:

• In Flemish, the General Motors' Caption "Body by Fisher" became "Corpse by Fisher"
• In Chinese, Pepsi-Cola's slogan "Come alive with Pepsi" became "Pepsi will bring your ancestors back from the grave"
• In Brazil, a US Airline promised plush "rendezvous lounges" in its first-class sections without realising that, in Portuguese, this refers to a room for love making.

Put more simply, and to conclude this post, anthropology mainly offers two kinds of insight:

• It produces data and knowledge of the actual sociocultural variation of human systems around the world.
• It has methods of research, or fieldwork, and theoretical perspectives that make it possible to not only compare and understand such variations in the expression of the human condition, and also to discern similarities. Importantly, what anthropology offers is both matters to think about and ways or skills to think with.

Images are linked to their sources in their description and references are stated within the text.

Thank you for reading

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