Have you ever met an anthropologist who did not want to share a story, an idea, or an insight with you? Maybe you have—but not I—and I have almost 50 years in the field. Each of us has some truth to tell. No matter our employment status, we constantly observe, evaluate, and weigh conclusions in our surroundings. For that reason, I believe that each of us has a blogpost for the World of Work Blog on the Anthropology Career Readiness Network (ACRN) website.
“Who are you,” you might ask, “to request a blog from me?”
Full transparency here: for the past two years, I have been editing the World of Work blogs with the ACRN founder Elizabeth Briody. In my career as a museum curator, I had the humbling task to edit words expressing the loftiest ideas in the tiniest wall text. Never in my retirement, however, did I imagine I would find as rewarding a project as editing the blogs here. I have met anthropologists with fascinating careers and aspiring anthropologists who present their struggles with courage and honesty. As an editor, I value the writer’s voice and am committed to preserving its style and identity.
“Why,” you might ask, “are blogs important for the website?”
To me, the blogposts are the ethnography of careers in anthropology. The ACRN website provides tools, strategies, and planning guides. The blogposts welcome with encouragement, advice, and empathy on how we use these tools to enrich the humanity of finding meaningful employment.
“How,” you might say, “can I find a subject that will speak to World of Work readers? Have all the topics been covered?”
I can assure any reader that the World of Work has immense material to explore. With so much to consider, you may wonder how to begin. I suggest that skimming through the tools for students and instructors on the ACRN website offers useful blog prompts. Here are a few ideas.
Blogs on Personal Branding
What does it mean to establish yourself as a “brand”? How do you want others to perceive your competencies and potential contributions as an anthropologist? On the ACRN website there are tools on public speaking, creating a personal website, a stand out LinkedIn account, and a strong headshot, which has been referred to on the Internet as a “virtual signature.” Take us through your challenges and choices as you created your public speaking identity, web page, social media accounts, and photo. Your experience is valuable to others.
Blogs on Interviewing and Fieldwork
Fieldwork is the core of anthropology, with credible findings more important than ever as AI tests our senses. How can we conduct fieldwork that reflects the most valid perceptions and opinions of our interviewees? How can we neutralize our preconceptions to derive authentic data? ACRN has presented student tools on methods that practitioners use such as conducting focus groups, and intercept interviews, and working with creative sources such as PhotoVoice, drawings, and collages. Many of these methods involve skilled and sensitive preparation. If you have employed these methods, did they help to reflect the essence of important belief systems? How did you evaluate your findings? To what extent did they add credibility and honesty to your fieldwork? What critiques do you have of these methods?
Blogs on Anthropology Program Options
The atrophy of anthropology programs in the United States is alarming. Your blogposts in the World of Work can help muster the zeal to keep practicing anthropology vital to employment outside academia.
Students have significant concerns about obtaining adequate employment after graduation. Are you an instructor who has found ways to increase student career readiness by using our instructor coursework checklist or our department checklist? Have you developed networks and connections for students to learn from practicing anthropologists, especially alumni of your school? Have you set up classroom opportunities to interview practitioners, job fairs, internships, Internet accounts, and/or made connections with relevant business or government offices whether local, regional, or national? Have you guided students through the subtleties and practicalities of client relationships? Have you established courses that raise awareness of what practicing anthropologists do and begin enabling students to gain some of their skills of a practicing anthropologist? Have you engaged in ACRN’s Departmental Advisory Initiative to improve student career readiness? If you have been involved in any of these endeavors, your blog is most welcome here.
Another idea that merits your attention is the founding of and sustaining an Anthropology Community Advisory Board. Eliciting board members from both academia anthropological practice and the working community can further student connections to the workforce and increase knowledge of anthropology’s value in the workplace. Have you established or worked on such a board? If so, what activities have you sponsored? A board, which could help open pathways for students through its members outside our profession, could transform the impression of anthropology‘s irrelevance to a valued and necessary asset of any successful organization.
Appreciation and an Invitation
ACRN warmly thanks all its bloggers, whose contributions signal optimism for our profession. Our blogs celebrate encouraging, advising, and informing ourselves and our colleagues. Your topic, apart from any mentioned here, is most welcome, because you wrote it. Can we count you among our valued writers? If so, please contact me at prlinn3@gmail.com.
The post Would you like to write a blogpost for the World of Work Blog? appeared first on The Anthropology Career Readiness Network.