anthropology in the news | antropologi.info

Anthropologist helps Intel see the world through customers’ eyes

Published on August 15, 2004 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, applied anthropology, corporate & business anthropology, design anthropology

MSNBC / San Jose Business Journal

When Genevieve Bell agreed to leave Stanford University for a job at Intel in 1998, it was with trepidation. She had, after all, been working her entire life toward being an academic, following the tenure track and accepting that practical applications of her work might never become apparent. “My vision was to survive the first year and not go insane,” she says now.

It’s not that she thought Intel was such a bad place to be. Quite the opposite. She just couldn’t see why a semiconductor company would want a technologically challenged cultural anthropologist on staff.

Now, as she writes up a final report on her three-year study of how Asian families interact with technology, Ms. Bell can’t imagine working anywhere else.

Ms. Bell has been credited with performing a remarkable job by making anthropology accessible — and worthwhile — to scores of engineers all over the world. >>continue

MSNBC / San Jose Business Journal

Olympic Games: ‘Great Fun for Savages’

Published on August 15, 2004 by lorenz Posted in anthropology (general), anthropology in the news, history, indigenous people / minorities, Us and Them

The Globe and Mail

One hundred years ago, three Ainu couples, a lone male and two young girls travelled to the United States to take part in a living exhibit arranged for the crowds at the 1904 St. Louis World’s Fair. They lived in a large thatched hut on the fairgrounds, part of a global village in which peoples from around the world — called the primitives — were on display.

In a run-up to the third Olympiad being held in conjunction with the world fair, U.S. officials organized something called Anthropology Days. “Hairy Ainus” were pitted against “savage Zulus” and other aboriginals in sporting contests to determine strength and speed. Anthropology Days was organized by the heads of the anthropology and physical education departments of the world exposition. The idea was to test the popular notion that “the average savage was fleet of foot, strong of limb, accurate with the bow and arrow and expert in throwing the stone.” The two-day contest was held in mid-August when many scientists were attending the fair.

The crown jewel was a 47-acre site organized by the U.S. government to display the conquered peoples of the Philippines, the newest American possession acquired during the recently concluded Spanish-American War. An homage to imperialism, the exhibit was designed to show how America would bring progress to savage peoples. >>continue

The Globe and Mail

The Magic Mountains: New Book on British Hill Stations and Hill Tribes in India

Published on August 11, 2004 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, Asia, books

Ideas Bazaar Weblog

An article about a book I retrieved from the shelves before I went away on the Raj in India and Hill Stations. The Magic Mountains examines the importance of these settlements as a means of racial separation and a subsuquent demonstration of superiority. More convincely, the author shows how much of ‘home’ was recreated up the hill rather than down on the plains. Fascinating stuff. >>continue

Ideas Bazaar Weblog

Anthropologists dig into business

Published on August 10, 2004 by lorenz Posted in anthropology (general), anthropology in the news, applied anthropology, corporate & business anthropology

Mercury News

For a summer, Dev Patnaik and his team of researchers hung out with teens preparing to go away to college. Trained in anthropology and sociology, they observed while the teens and their parents shopped for the essentials of college life. Some of the students struggled with doing their own laundry and worried about dorm living.

The strategists took it all in. Then they came up with a line of products for dorm rooms. Now items like a kitchen-in-a-box kit and a hamper with laundry instructions are marketed to the back-to-school crowds at the chain store Target.

Patnaik’s firm, San Mateo-based Jump, is part of a growing trend in which anthropologists are helping to design new products and business ventures, as well as organize the inner workings of companies.

Work done by anthropologists — who observe people in real-life settings — has translated into products including Yoplait’s portable Go-Gurt, Whirlpool’s “refrigerated oven” and Yahoo’s photo service. >>continue

Mercury News

Getting research data via the web

Published on August 9, 2004 by lorenz Posted in anthropology in the news, fieldwork / methods

Daniel M.T. Fessler, Asst. Prof. of Anthropology at the
University of California, Los Angeles, writes to me and tells about his research method. Together with his students, he runs anthropology studies and experiments on the Web. He writes: “Folks generally find participation in our studies thought-provoking, fun, or at least better than a poke in the eye with a number 2 pencil.” You can take a look at his site here