Applied cultural anthropology is known to be “the use of ideas, techniques, and data derived from the field of cultural anthropology in the attempt to contribute to solutions to social problems” (Gwynne pp. 6). To be an applied anthropologist, you must have the basic skills of doing research, intervention, and policy development (Gwynne pp. 7-8). Applied anthropology has existed since the 19th century, but was not technically termed “applied anthropology.
” Though researchers and anthropologists were interested in studying different cultures they also worked in academia. Franz Boas for example (Gwynne pp. 55) was an academic anthropologist who also took part-time jobs in other fields of applied anthropology and became the Father of American Anthropology. After the New Deal was formed, jobs in applied anthropology were expanding. Although, applied anthropology seemed to awaken during World War II when colleges offered applied anthropology to the military to understand foreign countries and people living there. In the 1970’s the Society for Applied Anthropology was created and the “new federal legislation mandates anthropological involvement in historical, environmental, and social arenas” (Gwynne pp.
55). According to Gwynne, modern day academe has been decreasing in enrollment, but the percentage of students graduating from applied anthropology has been flourishing over the years (pp. 55). Within the applied anthropology field, jobs are practically endless. Graduates of applied anthropology are able to work in “development, advocacy, social work, the law and law enforcement, business, social marketing, medicine, and international health” (Gwynne pp. 12).
However, when working with people and doing research on them, there must be e. . history of applied anthropology because they all implement holism, the way people think, and connections to cultures which is how applied anthropology became favored within the rest of the fields of anthropology, cultural anthropology, archaeology, physical anthropology, and anthropological linguistics. These researchers are able to get in touch and participate with their informants to better understand how all these cultures can relate to each other and help change lives of people who really need help. With businesses like the WIC program, women would not receive the help they need if it was not for applied anthropologists researching what the problem was that women were not enrolling into a program that they were eligible for. Also with the help of Feng’s research, Chinas tourism problem could eventually go back to a steady pace and better environment for locals.
