This course will introduce students to a number of employment possibilities for anthropologists outside academia: working in or for business or industrial corporations, development agencies, government departments, mining companies, non-government organisations, land councils, cooperatives, health organisations. We will examine the range of possible political positions, from cooperation with state planners to advocacy, client oriented research and radical anthropology, and examine the ethical issues involved. Where possible anthropologists involved in such work will be invited to share their knowledge and experience with us.

With these applications in mind we will address the practical and methodological skills that anthropology offers. Practical skills include how to gather both quantitative and qualitative data, how to conduct interviews, how to work within time frames and agenda set by commissioning agencies, how to manage fieldwork relations, how to present findings in appropriate forms. We will put these skills into practice by undertaking a class project.

Students will gain an understanding of how anthropologists contribute their skills and knowledge in a variety of employment fields. They will practice some of the methodological skills used in ethnographic research in an applied research task.

Two short papers (5% each), project proposal (10%), ethics application (10%), oral presentation (10%), workshop participation (20%) and 2000-4000 word project final report (40%).

2 hours of lectures and one hour of tutorial per week

Two first year courses to the value of 12 units in Anthropology; or Archaeology; or Geography; or Sociology; or Political Science, or permission of lecturer.

*van Willigen, J. Applied Anthropology: An Introduction, Bergin and Garvin, 1993.
*Toussaint, S. and Taylor J. (eds). Applied Anthropology in Australasia, UWA Press 1999.