Annals of Anthropological Practice最新文献

Recently resettled refugees from the Congo Wars continue to struggle with food insecurity that, in many cases, extends to before their camp and war-time experiences. Beginning in 2016, a team from the University of South Florida has studied dietary adaptation and nutritional status among refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Population census data, in-depth interviews with household heads, anthropometric measurements, dietary recalls, and focus groups—with youth and adults—allowed a look at cross-generational experiences of food insecurity and dietary transition within recently resettled refugee families. These experiences are linguistically mediated, involve cultural adaptation, and are embodied through health effects such as stunted growth, leaving both youth and adults at risk of obesity and related health complications. We found that many families are not utilizing available food-assistance benefits such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) because of confusion or difficulty accessing the online system and lack of instructional materials in an appropriate language or format. Refugee service organizations and community-based nonprofits need to be aware of the specific needs of and challenges for these refugees. Public health programming should be framed around refugee-specific needs and be cognizant of refugees’ assets and skills as visual learners to avoid a one-size-fits-all (refugees) approach.

While applied anthropological research is sometimes envisioned as a linear process, we present an alternative view based on our research with frontline workers providing long-term care (LTC) for older adults during COVID-19. We completed a rapid qualitative assessment in central North Carolina from May to November 2020. We conducted data analysis as we continued to collect data and implemented activities and interventions along the way. We report emerging findings that included the deleterious effects of isolation on older adults in both congregate and community-based LTC, the value of creatively using technology as an avenue for communication and engagement, the importance of leadership and flexibility, as well as an abundance of mental health struggles LTC workers faced in caring for older adults during COVID-19. We present how we were able to address these in a variety of ways during the inductive research process because of iterative analysis that occurred alongside continued data collection.

Every conflict referred to as a war results in the horror of loss and death. This is true of any war, and the Spanish Civil War is a good example. Many people disappeared and were never found again, mainly because nobody ever looked for them. There were several counteroffensives on the eastern war front in Spain's Levante region during 1938, which, although ending in Pyrrhic victories for the Republican Army, were forgotten for years, as were the bodies of the soldiers abandoned to the elements on the battlefields. In 2014, this research project was developed to locate, exhume, and identify four graves containing the bodies of Republican soldiers found at the site of Peña Salada, Spain. The graves were found to contain five individuals, including some considered to be juvenile soldiers, aged between 14 and 20. They displayed many signs of violence, and it was possible to infer differences in injuries from bladed weapons and firearms. There was also evidence of the pillaging and desecration of the burial site. The genetic profiles of the five individuals were obtained in order to create a DNA database, which would make it possible to compare their profiles with those of potential family members who still live with the uncertainty of not knowing the whereabouts of their loved ones. This study offers the first scientific evidence of the participation of juvenile soldiers on the Levante Front, within the context of the Spanish Civil War.

Participation in research prepares students for conducting future projects, academic, and professional success. Service learning combines classroom instruction with meaningful community engagement. This article presents an example of a class project that combined service learning and research to increase knowledge of and familiarity with fruits and vegetables through hands-on food identification. The aim was to encourage kindergarten students to eat more fruits and vegetables by acquainting them with these foods. This project was developed for a mixed undergraduate and graduate anthropology Research Methods class to provide students the opportunity to learn by applying textbook information and anthropological methods to real world issues. In addition to presenting results from a pre- and posttest research design that included interviews, taste tests, flashcard identification, time in the garden, and additional hands-on activities, the teaching method is assessed. Results were shared with the school and the garden program to optimize future healthy eating curriculum.

In this article we consider applied anthropology as it exists at the program level. While individual faculty can promote applied training, sustainability in applied education is only possible when entire faculties—and the college and university administrations that provide the necessary financial, structural, and social support—are committed to this approach. While many options for program development exist, we argue that being aware of what other programs are doing, and what is and is not working for them, is both time-saving and transformative. This article provides overviews of common applied anthropology training approaches, discusses the importance of support for applied programs, and introduces the rest of the articles in this series, which focus more specifically on particular approaches, programs, and training needs.

A growing literature evaluates online learning outcomes and pedagogy within the virtual classroom, though assessments of entire online programs are comparatively rare. As online learning takes place through multiple modalities in multiple contexts, we were particularly eager to explore the informal and hidden curricula within the University of North Texas (UNT) online program in applied anthropology–the structural situations and circumstances of learning from the assignments, approaches, and pedagogies that we formally employ. We draw on alumni assessments of value to identify where these informal and hidden areas of our curricula are, and the challenges and opportunities they present. Our results underscore how much professional socialization takes place outside the online classroom, from gaining experience with virtual communication and collaborative work teams, balancing time-management skills, and being able to apply anthropological knowledge to different work situations. Current events (this manuscript was finalized at the time of widespread COVID-19 “shelter-in-place” quarantines and shuttered offices) suggest that learning how to succeed at online collaborations and virtual work teams will rapidly become globally critical occupational skills, and professional teaching programs will be increasingly pressed to respond.

In this paper we define “The Memphis Model,” or the type of praxis-oriented, critically engaged anthropology developed and used by the Department of Anthropology at the University of Memphis. This model draws inspiration from the Grit and Grind ethos of the city of Memphis, along with its deep cultural and political traditions of grassroots activism for social justice. Here, we define how this is done in practice. The Department of Anthropology continually brings together current students, faculty, alumni, and community partners in coalition to develop approaches to address emerging social justice issues throughout the city, country, and world. This paper draws on one specific example, the Welcome Home Memphis Initiative, a long-term partnership with community housing agencies, alumni, faculty, and students to counter exploitative housing practices, to explain the process of the Memphis Model.

This paper reports the results of the National Association for the Practice of Anthropology-sponsored 2019 American Anthropology Master's Career Survey. Aimed at replicating the 2009 American Anthropological Association/Committee on Practicing, Applied, and Public Interest Anthropology MA Career Survey, the purpose of this new survey was to understand 1) how master's degree anthropology alumni have crafted careers, 2) what retrospective advice they have for departmental programs, and 3) whether they continue to identify with the profession. A total of 850 participants completed the survey. Parallel to the 2009 survey, applied anthropologists indicated overall satisfaction with their master's degree programs and reflected high variability in types of employment respondents hold. However, the lack of practical skills development and career preparation within master's programs were critiqued. We conclude with recommendations for anthropology programs to help better inform them of what their students need to learn in order to lead successful careers after graduation.

Students' education in applied anthropology can occur through a variety of sources including classroom instruction, hands-on experience and professional mentorship. Anthropology programs, and especially those with an applied focus, can help facilitate these types of experiences. This article details one such attempt: the creation and implementation of a local conference. The Texas Applied Anthropology Summit (TAAS) was first developed in 2016. The purpose of this and subsequent TAAS events was to bring together anthropological practitioners, faculty and students in an effort to build and strengthen relationships around applied anthropology in Texas. Based on data collected from past TAAS events and additional outreach with anthropologist practitioners it was determined that while key differences in practitioner and student/faculty interests exist, TAAS serves as an important networking tool for all attendees. This article also details what is needed, including programmatic support, to organize and implement a local conference.

The increasingly intractable nature of many social problems has given rise to cross-institutional and interdisciplinary collaborations in order to respond to social problems that no single entity can resolve on its own. One value of anthropology lies in its capacity to provide culturally tailored strategies for successful collaboration between different stakeholders in communities, across disciplinary fields, among public policymakers and practitioners. In this article, we revisit the emergence of a collaborative initiative to support at-risk youths of Haitian descent and their families. This work was undertaken by university researchers, juvenile justice professionals in Miami-Dade County, and community-based practitioners. Guided by a holistic anthropological perspective and a multidimensional approach to collaboration, we provide a processual analysis of almost two decades of opportunities and challenges posed by our collaboration and illuminate the importance of collaboration in identifying evidence-based solutions to social problems. While not all collaborative teams experience the same processes or operate within the same sociocultural contexts, we argue that there are some fundamental principles to establishing effective collaboration: a shared common goal, shared objectives, and time.