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Home » Announcements » Breaking Down Silos in Anthropology: New Collaboration Models to Improve Integration between Academia and Practice

Breaking Down Silos in Anthropology: New Collaboration Models to Improve Integration between Academia and Practice

May 26, 2020 5 Comments

Overview and Purpose

At the 2019 AAA/CASCA meetings in Vancouver, a AAA Presidential Session explored siloing between academic and practitioner anthropologists, and how these silos can be bridged. (Session #3-0370; November 21, 2019)

The purpose of this page is to create an ongoing discussion on the topic of breaking down silos, which is important to the current and future vitality of our discipline. Please click on the respective links to review the video presentations, which are based on the session presentations, then add your own comments and ideas in the Discussion section below.

Panel Organizers

Mary Butler (U Maryland College Park) and Elizabeth Briody (Cultural Keys LLC)

Session Abstract

 

Presenters

Daniel Ginsberg (AAA):  The Past, Present and Future of Practitioners in the AAA

Abstract

Watch the Presentation

 

Suzanne Heurtin-Roberts (U Maryland College Park):  Theory, Practice, and Knowledge, Oh My!

Abstract

Watch the presentation

 

Mary Odell Butler (U Maryland College Park):  De-Siloing Practice: Toward a More Visible Anthropology

Abstract

Watch the presentation

 

Elizabeth K. Briody (Cultural Keys, LLC) and Robert J. Morais (Columbia Business School):  Business Anthropology on the Road! Driving Practice onto Campus 

Abstract

Watch the presentation

 

Terry Redding (Independent consultant):  Early Connections: Creating Space within Service to Engage Students and New Anthropologists

Abstract

Watch the presentation

 

Sherylyn Briller (Purdue) and Zoe Nyssa (Purdue):  A Space for Practice: Building Collaborative Networks of Learners and Practitioners

Abstract

Watch the presentation


Discussant: Gillian Tett (Financial Times)

Watch the presentation

Bibliography

(Have you written about silos? If so, or if you have a reference to include, please let us know.)

Briody, E.K. and K.C. Erickson. 2017. “Success Despite the Silos: System-Wide Innovation and Collaboration,” In Maryann McCabe, ed., Collaborative Ethnography in Business Environments. London, UK: Taylor & Francis, pp. 26-59.

Ginsberg, D. 2019. “Anthropology Between Academia and Practice.” In Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Anthropology, edited by Mark Aldenderfer. Oxford University Press.

Tett, G. 2015. The Silo Effect: The Peril of Expertise and the Promise of Breaking Down Barriers. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.

Discussion

Please note your thoughts and ideas on this topic in the space below. Some starting questions to address in the discussion forum:

• How do we continue to break down silos between academia and practice?
• When are these silos most noticeable between academia and practice ?
• What are the benefits of removing them, or at least building bridges between them?

Share your thoughts and ideas for moving the topic forward.

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5 Responses

  1. Avatar
    Riall Nolan Reply June 23, 2020 at 1:11 am

    There are some important insights and recommendations here. “Silos” here seem to be of two different types: between non-academic practitioners and their academic cousins; and between anthropologists in general and other people out doing the world’s work. Elizabeth Briody is addressing the first of these through her roadshow with academic departments. Gillian Tett is clearly and persuasively framing the second.

    But I think we are still in need of a clearer and more useful set of messages. We could, for example, spend less time on what are essentially academic debates about what “practice” is and who does it. We could – indeed, should – spend less time talking to ourselves about how incredibly useful anthropology is.

    The messages that I think we need to start sending concern accomplishments – things that anthropologists (whether they call themselves practitioners or not) have actually done, alone or with others, to address social issues of the moment. Show, in other words; don’t just tell.

    Anthropologists have done, and are doing, a lot, but not nearly as much as we could, or should. A lot of what we say we are doing seems to have no discernible effect on the world, whether you’re taking the long or short view of things. And quite a lot that we do that is successful and useful is not necessarily recognized as “anthropological.” So I think we have two clear and specific problems that we should be addressing.

    The first is how to better train anthropologists to be more effective at working with others to create what Robert Chambers terms “good change.” The idea that anthropologists shouldn’t be associated with change is simply absurd.

    The second problem is that of selling ourselves. Again, we’ve shied away from thinking of ourselves as needing to do this, but this attitude is partly responsible for our lack of influence, or even recognition, in the public sphere.

    As a discipline, we need to find much better ways to highlight what we’re up to – not to NAPA or AAA members, but to the 99+ percent of humanity that doesn’t have an anthropology degree but struggles to get things done on a daily basis.

  2. Avatar
    Hugh S. ("Sher") Plunkett Reply June 13, 2020 at 2:46 pm

    Many thanks for posting this panel and encouraging on-going dialogue. It deals with an important and timely subject. I would not have known about it otherwise, since I did not attend the 2019 AAA Convention.

    I am one of the “hidden” anthropologists Mary Butler mentioned. I learned about anthropology as a teen in Middle school and obtained training and three degrees in social anthropology with the intention of applying my knowledge in practical ways. After seven unhappy years as an academic, I was lucky enough to be hired “off the street” overseas by USAID and spent 28 years as a “social analyst”, “agriculture officer”,”rural development officer”, and “program officer”. Thus I have some perspective on the intellectual and socio-cultural chasm between academic and applied anthropologists.

    I think that the fundamental basis for the “silos” the panel explores is that the thrust of anthropological training rests on a “grant” world-view, while much if not most anthropological practice is a “market” world-view. The market view requires that activities, services (including research), and products (including analyses) be specified and delivered according to schedules related to client needs. The requirements are documented in the Terms of Reference of contracts between the client and the specialist. The grant approach assumes that a research topic is worthy in its own right. Support for the research stems from a patron who shares that belief and sees that its results have merit or benefit. Grant support allows the researcher to define objectives and methods, and allocate resources accordingly, with minimal input from the patron.

    I found this difference in world-view most striking when, as a USAID program manager seeking research input for international development project design, I engaged anthropologists for specific enquiries at field sites. When I joined USAID after years as an academic researcher and teacher, I was employed as a Personal Service Contractor. I quickly found that my performance was strictly guided by the terms of my contract, as interpreted by my supervisor, and while my professionally-based input was appreciated, it was not given totally free rein. When I became a permanent, Direct-Hire USAID Foreign Service Officer, I not only designed and carried out research myself, but in my capacity as Mission Research and Evaluation Officer supervised local and expatriate social scientists’ research as well. I became increasing aware of and most often able to bridge the gap between differing world-views in my management role. However, I sometimes had to counsel, and even terminate employment of academy-based researchers who persisted in treating research specified by a contract as if it were a free-floating grant activity only marginally related to the contract Terms of Reference.

    As the panelists note, one important element for training anthropologists for applied work is awareness of common business practice. This should include contract and grant requirements and differences. Most anthropology students learn about grants and their requirements, and that form of research support is by far the most common for academic research. The ability to draft clear and specific contract Terms of Reference, and to understand their requirements as a researcher, so far as I know, is not a part of an academic anthropological training curriculum. I learned the hard way. I hope we can incorporate this “market-based” element into applied anthropology curricula.

    I look forward to others’ comments on this panel’s topic.

  3. Avatar
    Guven Witteveen Reply June 3, 2020 at 2:04 pm

    I value this online dissemination of the original small seating capacity on-site. In the playback of M.O. Butler it seems obvious, but applying ethnographic methods to the Practicing-vs-Campus anthropology is a natural project to sustain, year by year. For visual thinkers, it would be particularly helpful to be shown real-life instances of the proposed Silo-Bridging, both the effective AND the ineffective examples. By seeing what undertakings to seek after and what ones to avoid, the project can best move forward. In particular, what are some cases when classroom and research oriented colleagues integrate Practicing Anthro illustrations or problem sets? Complementarily, what are some cases when NAPA colleagues incorporate their fellow social scientist theories, comparative work, or documentary efforts? A gallery of real-life ebb and flow between the scholarly and the problem-oriented anthropologists would benefit colleagues in AAA and out, including among sister associations (World Council of Anthro Associations), and maybe even in the parallel worlds of allied social sciences: the interplay of practitioner & campus-based scholars in sociology, psychology, econ, and political science.

  4. Avatar
    Maryann McCabe Reply May 26, 2020 at 6:11 pm

    The 2019 AAA Presidential Session on collaboration between the academy and practice is inspiring. The opening presentations provide a good framework for understanding barriers and enticements for creating more collaboration, and the case study presentations make one wish for more.

    I wonder how we can support practitioner/academic projects and publications. Speaking as someone who has had feet planted in both worlds, I yearn for greater media presence of anthropology’s contributions to dealing with social problems. How can we encourage practitioners, faculty and students to write about joint research projects — to increase awareness of anthropology’s participation in solving community and world problems — in academic journals, scholarly practice publications (e.g., NAPA, SfAA) and public media (newspapers, magazines, radio, websites)?

    Can we develop a program to spur collaborative publishing (e.g., a program that advocates for such publications contributing to tenure for faculty and credits for students), or a prize that recognizes collaboration between academics and practitioners? The Session makes clear that anthropologists in the academy and in practice need one another to further our professional aims of theory, research and social change.

    • Avatar
      John R Campbell Reply July 6, 2020 at 9:36 am

      Maryann

      I have only today seen your comments on the debate held at the 2019 AAA meetings. I was at the AAA last year but did not attend the NAPA meetings. How are you and Dave.

      John Campbell
      SOAS/London

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AAA/CASCA Session #3-0370; November 21, 2019

Breaking Down Silos in Anthropology: New Collaboration Models to Improve Integration between Academia and Practice

Organizers: Elizabeth Briody, Mary Odell Butler

Session Abstract

Practicing/professional anthropologists still express unease at annual meetings and elsewhere about their status within anthropology. Academic anthropologists convey uncertainty about what practitioners do and ask how they can steer relevant students into meaningful practice. Students are unsure of their anthropological identity, as are those anthropologists seeking stable employment or a change in job type. In this session, we discuss professional struggles tied to a changing discipline as well as models for creating more room for anthropological diversity, unity, and equity. The issue is multi-faceted:

• Anthropological employment patterns reinforce the silos between academia and practice, resulting in high social distance and differentiated beliefs about social status
• Many practicing/professional anthropologists and those facing employment uncertainty or insecurity feel disconnected from academic anthropologists and from the AAA, leading to AAA membership loss
• Anthropology does not benefit routinely and sufficiently from a collective vision to collaborate across silos by integrating academia and practice and the work done in those spheres
• Anthropology’s impact on people, communities, and organizations is far less than it could be.

AAA is increasingly attentive to both current and aspiring practitioners and to anthropologists experiencing job insecurity by ensuring library services (i.e., AnthroSource), supporting NAPA (e.g., Careers Expo, professional skills workshops), sponsoring the EPIC conference, and encouraging representation in AAA governance (e.g., MPAAC, CoPAPIA), among other initiatives. These efforts help the discipline adapt to changing employment trends through training and networking. Yet, practice remains “siloed” and many feel detached from academic anthropology. Consequences include: AAA membership erosion, inadequate preparation of students for the job market, research that often disregards application, lack of appreciation of practitioner technical skills and contributions to anthropological knowledge, and limited understanding of anthropological work in society.

This session builds on these AAA efforts by proposing integration of practitioners and academic anthropologists in joint collaborations. The presentations begin with an overview of employment within the AAA membership, followed by a discussion of the relationship between theory and practice in science and the potential role of strong collaborative projects in raising the profile of anthropology in the larger world beyond AAA. Next, three demonstration projects serve as replicable models for collaboration in our complex, dynamic field. This session represents a call to action. What do we, as the AAA, desire for our collective future? What are our goals? How will we adopt, adapt, and create new models to develop as a collaborative discipline, using both theory and practice and reaching out to “the other”? How do we scale up collaboration within the discipline to be more engaged with each other and the world around us? We encourage your participation because “We are AAA” and this is our problem to solve.

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AAA/CASCA Session #3-0370; November 21, 2019

The Past, Present, and Future of Practitioners in the AAA

Daniel Ginsberg, AAA

Abstract

Anthropologists in business, government and nonprofit organizations do different kinds of work compared to their academic colleagues (Nolan 2013) and while AAA journals and meetings remain largely academic spaces, in the last 35 years, the Association has taken a number of steps to welcome practitioners. NAPA was founded in the early 1980s and the first NAPA Bulletin, a directory of practicing anthropologists, was published in 1985. In the 1990s, an Executive Board seat for practitioner members was introduced, the Practicing / Applied Working Group formed, and a standing Committee on Practicing, Applied & Public Interest Anthropology (CoPAPIA) was created. The 2000s saw a number of initiatives from CoPAPIA and NAPA that persist to this day, including the introduction of the Careers Expo and the publication of The Changing Face of Anthropology (Fiske et al. 2010), the gold standard resource on master’s graduates.

These efforts illuminate the diversity of anthropological practice, but more remains to be done to serve those members. Looking forward, one potential area of engagement is to systematize and enhance mentoring opportunities. NAPA’s mentoring program, founded in 1987, is arguably the most successful such program in the AAA. Now, a new Student Section Leaders group is cataloging mentoring programs across all sections to communicate to potential mentors and mentees the range of opportunities available. Since anthropology students have particular challenges learning about professional options outside of academia, we expect this initiative to appeal particularly to those with an interest in anthropological practice.

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AAA/CASCA Session #3-0370; November 21, 2019

Theory, Practice and Knowledge, oh my!

Suzanne Heurtin-Roberts, NCI

Abstract

Anthropology finds itself in a world of great, somewhat frightening, changes and challenges. It has heeded the call for participatory engagement and action research. The close relationship between theory and practice has been extolled and explored, although as a discipline we experience significant distance between the two. Anthropology’s partially unsavory history with empire and practice left a discipline rightfully wary of action. Social organization located the discipline in the university where one’s livelihood and prestige depended upon research and theory-building. Confounding the academy with its products (research and theory) and wary of practice, anthropology has engaged in the intellectual bad habit of thinking of itself primarily as a research discipline. It has dismissed, or worse, forgotten the integral part of science that is practice.

This presentation reminds us that theory and practice are integral parts of the scientific enterprise. Contemporary anthropology’s re-engagement with human struggles needs theoretically-sound research, research-based knowledge and tested applications. We see increasing opportunities across differing contexts to remedy problems in areas such as health, education, economics, climate change, and governance. What is needed is collaboration among theory builders, researchers and practitioners. The complex challenges our planet and its people face require problem solving and collective action. We must find ways to bridge the structural and social distances between the academy and practice. We must change our thoughts and habits to see us as one discipline engaged in the scientific enterprise of working on behalf of the human population as well as its home planet.

 

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AAA/CASCA Session #3-0370; November 21, 2019

De-Siloing Practice: Towards a More Visible Anthropology

Mary Odell Butler, U Maryland

Abstract

Anthropology is challenged to demonstrate its value in illuminating the serious problems facing government, the public sector agencies, businesses, economic institutions – everyone who must navigate culture effectively. My own public health clients come seeking “what we do” even when they can’t articulate what that is. Their problem is that they are getting signals from program staff that are hard to reconcile with the desired outcome of a program. They need applied culture theory, demystified to show how communities live it. They need expert ethnography with results grounded in data to support evidence-based decisions about what to fund and what results to expect. Turning ethnographic findings into evidence requires us to deliver the theory that underlie its methods. To do this effectively practicing anthropologists must be connected to the larger community of anthropology on the one hand and the broader communities in which practice occurs on the other. Yet practitioners continue to leave AAA and even anthropology. They use anthropology every day in their jobs but they themselves may no longer identify as anthropologists. Anthropology gets no credit for the good work they do. Collaborative projects bringing together academics and practitioners will lead to a higher public profile for the discipline, support linkages with organizations and communities, and strengthen the discipline. The kind of projects presented in this session can reinforce the value of an anthropological perspective beyond the academy and keep talented people in anthropology as well as in the environments where the 21st century is being built.

 

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AAA/CASCA Session #3-0370; November 21, 2019

Business Anthropology on the Road! Driving Practice onto Campus

Elizabeth K. Briody (Cultural Keys LLC) and Robert J. Morais (Columbia Business School)

Abstract

Planned cultural change is a domain spearheaded primarily by business scholars and psychologists such as Cameron and Quinn; Kotter; Lewin; and Schein. Their approach is stage-based, leadership-centric, and reflective of key issues. Those taking a holistic approach to planned cultural change, including Alvesson and Sveningsson, Briody et al., and Gluesing, attempt to understand stakeholder views and engage all stakeholders in the change process.

We build on Briody et al.’s research in which the identification of cultural obstacles and enablers was critical to the success of planned change. Business Anthropology on the Road is designed to address a key cultural obstacle – resistance to change – which has affected the majority of anthropology departments and students. Most students hope to secure full-time, non-academic employment, yet lack the necessary training, skills and departmental support to apply their education in the job market. This new educational initiative, conceptualized in spring 2018, leverages key enablers such as preparing students for the job market and appealing to faculty-member interest in helping their students find work. It represents one strategy to address resistance to change head-on.

Sponsored by the Consortium of Practicing and Applied Anthropology Programs (COPAA), our on-site workshops help fill a gap in institutions with no dedicated business anthropology courses and/or limited ability to provide career guidance. We describe our pilot program, report on the evaluations by students and faculty, and offer thoughts on the usefulness of this “on the road” model.

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AAA/CASCA Session #3-0370; November 21, 2019

Early Connections: Creating space within service to engage students and new anthropologists

Terry Redding, Independent Consultant

Abstract

“Engagement” and particularly “public engagement” are terms increasingly heard across universities. While engagement involves different communities at differing levels, the term is used here to suggest a different kind of relationship – one that invites students and new professional anthropologists to participate in association service and governance. Directionality of focus and activity is now outward facing, but also inward facing to the discipline of anthropology. This paper explores how the NAPA Communications Committee served to engage and involve young anthropologists in their first steps in service to the profession. At times the committee had upward of 18 members. Coming in, the volunteers might not have had a full awareness of the profession. Their tasks included developing the website, building and maintaining social media, and managing special projects. They worked in pairs and in teams to create, for example, podcasts, video interviews, career-related resource web pages. NAPA was proud of the work they did, but equally proud of the relationships they acquired and the connections they built. They created “community” within our midst. Their service facilitated collaboration and the equitable sharing of ideas. As newcomers to NAPA, their presence, actions, and activities helped refresh NAPA’s broader mission and open up new ideas for future initiatives. The committee’s launch and development can serve as a replicable model in recruiting, training and maintaining anthropologists in a meaningful and beneficial structure.

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AAA/CASCA Session #3-0370; November 21, 2019

A Space for Practice: Building Collaborative Networks of Learners & Practitioners

Sherylyn Briller, Purdue U; Coauthor: Zoe Nyssa, Purdue U

Abstract

Communities of practice are a well-established model for bringing people together around exploration, skill-building, learning and shared goals (Eckert, Lave & Wenger). Widely used in education and business, such collective learning models offer opportunities for creating new and better interchanges between academic and practitioner communities in anthropology. Strengthening engagement and exchange involving students, faculty and practitioners is a longstanding topic within applied anthropology education (Briller & Goldmacher; Copeland & Dengagh; Ervin; Nolan; Schon). However, we can do more to spark the imagination regarding newer forms of creative and dynamic anthropological partnerships.

We discuss how the Space for Practice functions as a live and virtual community of practice in conjunction with Purdue’s “Anthropology of Tomorrow” Initiative. This Space was conceived as an innovative teaching and learning collaboration, a hub for engagement with practitioners who work in varied settings, and an exemplar of a different type of productive academic and practice interface. Several cases studies are presented showing how we blend self-directed learning, lifelong learning, collaboration with community partners, and creative strategies for applying anthropology in the world. An important goal is to strengthen the bonds between the academy and practice – and enhance anthropology’s contribution to the creation of a better and more socially just world. By doing so, we dedicate ourselves to our mission of “Building Anthropology Networks and Impact into the Future”. Lastly, we consider ways that other anthropologists might replicate this model or use it as a starting point for designing inventive synergies linking academic and practice realms.

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