Research & Review:
Visit the following website to learn about careers in Anthropology & the Code of Ethics:
The American Anthropological Association (https://www.americananthro.org), to learn more about the discipline of anthropology. Find the non-academic careers (https://www.americananthro.org/AdvanceYourCareer/Content.aspx?ItemNumber=1783&RDtoken=17085&userID=) are available for anthropologists and explain educational requirements, skills, and job duties.
The American Anthropological Association Code of Ethics (https://www.americananthro.org/ethics-and-methods)
Career Paths for Anthropology Majors
– Four Career Paths for Anthropology Majors
Careers in Government
Anthropologists work for federal, state and regional government agencies in a variety of capacities in planning, research and managerial positions. Specialties for anthropologists in government include:
international development
forensic anthropology
crime scene investigation
cultural resource management
legislative staff
natural resource management
positions in defense and national security
public administration
refugee services administrator
Careers in Education
Many anthropology alumni have established careers in primary, secondary and higher education, as teachers, professors, researchers and academic advisers and counselors. Career opportunities in academia for anthropology alumni include positions in various university programs or departments, including:
K-12 STEM Teacher
admissions advising and management
cognitive psychology
community studies
cultural studies
ecology
education
ESL specialist
ethnic studies
linguistics
medicine
neuroscience
public health
student affairs administration
Careers in Business
The perspective that anthropologists can lend to corporate management teams is valued. Career opportunities include:
clinical research coordination
human resources
inter-cultural communication
international trade
lobbyist
market research
medical anthropology
Careers in Health
A Bachelor of Science degree in Anthropology provides a holistic approach to pre-medical, pre-dental, and pre-veterinary training; it also provides the educational background for further training in the health professions, biological and evolutionary sciences, and forensic investigation.
Students that focus on biological processes in Anthropology will be well-prepared to enter advanced training programs in the following fields:
Medicine
Veterinary Medicine
Forensics
Dentistry
Pathology
Nursing
Public Health
Epidemiology
According to Newsweek Magazine (full article) (Links to an external site.), over the past 20 years, social science majors have had an increasing rate of successful admission to medical school, in comparison to their science-major counterparts. Moreover, students with a broader perspective are now in demand by health professions schools nationwide.
This article summarizes this trend by saying that “medical educators are looking beyond biology and chemistry majors in the search for more well-rounded students who can be molded into caring and analytic doctors.”
In addition, the American Association of Medical Colleges notes in a 2011 report that, “Health is a product of the interactions among biology, genetics, behavior, relationships, cultures, and environments.
Some of medicine’s most promising frontiers for improving health explore the realms of human behavior and social science.A complete medical education must include, alongside the physical and biological science, the perspectives and findings that flow from the behavioral and social sciences.”
Careers in Public Service
An emphasis in sociocultural anthropology offers good preparation for numerous public service opportunities, including positions in:
advocacy
development
community organizing
historic preservation
library science
literacy programs
museum curation
policy analysis
political activism
social work
Ethnographic Fieldwork
– Ethnographic Fieldwork
Ethnographic fieldwork is a type of anthropological research during which anthropologists immerse themselves into a specific society in order to get a better insight about the people they study.
Generally, by conducting ethnographic fieldwork, anthropologists learn cultures by observing and living the life of people they are studying. Ethnographic field work is the primary methodology employed by anthropologists, although other disciplines such as cultural studies and sociology may also employ ethnographic methods.
Ethnography involves immersion in the daily lives of a particular community of people for an extended period of time for the purpose of collecting various types of data about that community. The purpose of the ethnographic approach is to study of social interactions, behaviors, and perceptions that occur within groups, teams, organizations and communications. The goal of ethnography research is to provide a detailed insight into people’s view and actions.
Participants or situations are sampled on an opportunistic or purposive basis.t describes a specific group of people and their interactions with each other and those not part of the group. Ethnographic research is conducted to contest and/or sustain stereotypes of particular groups by telling the stories of the lived experiences of individuals.
Answer Focus Questions
Explore one sub-discipline of Cultural Anthropology from your research:
Explain how the discipline uses field method technique(s) to study a living culture, an ancient culture, or the earliest human hunter-gatherers.
Describe how important the AAA Code of Ethics are when using human subjects for research.
Identify a significant contribution within the discipline you chose.
Share why the career is of interest to you.
Provide reference citation(s) that do not have to follow a particular format. Web site link needs to be hyperlinked. 1 point.