April 2004. Society for Applied Anthropology - Annual Meeting in Dallas TX.

1. The Challenges of Power in Practice
Society for Applied Anthropology
Dallas, 2004

2. Crossing Borders
Work Place
Design Usability
Anthropology
“Basic”
Retail
research

3. Panel Participants
• Melissa Fischer
– The Insight Works, Inc.
• Natalie Hanson
– Temple University
• Martin Ortlieb
– Sapient
• Inga Treitler
– The TerraNova Group

4. Agenda
• Career paths
• Tales of attempted border crossing
• Tales of successful border crossing
• Lessons learned: politics of research in a
“profit driven” environment

5. Career Paths
• Educational
– Four field
– Cross/interdisciplinary
• Fieldwork
• Personal motivations
• Driving research interests
• Commitment to anthropological theory
• Cascading work experiences
• serendipity

6. Attempted Border Crossing
• Case study: trying to contribute findings
to anthropology
• Countervailing circumstances and
obstacles

7. Successful Border Crossings
• Case study:
– publications of research findings
– Participation in research forums
– Policy formation/influence
• Supportive circumstances
– Partnerships/collaborations
– Historic moment: widespread interest in public or
research communities
– Legal agreements/contracts
– Status in firm vs. outsider contractor status

8. Lessons Learned
Expectations within traditional
anthropological community
Value of non-standard avenues of
knowledge transmission
– Listservs, chatrooms, invited lectures, teaching
Competition within research community
DISCUSSION