Anthropology in Pursuit of Public Policy and Practical Knowledge

Abstract

When I look backward, it seems easy to see the threads of continuity in my life. When I look forward, it is not that easy to see a plan, which makes me wonder whether this chapter is a convenient fabrication of hindsight. Practicing anthropologists have a particular challenge to create coherent careers because there is no one path or career for using anthropology to generate practical knowledge and action. All of the women in this Bulletin have forged lives that come in part from inner sources of strength and knowledge, sometimes good fortune, and sometimes desperation. But we share the belief that anthropological knowledge is valuable and good for something, and we share the common experience of trying to apply it. In this chapter, I identify what I think are the key values, circumstances, people, and events that made me choose to be a practicing anthropologist. Although we originally were to focus on gender and how that influenced our lives, this Bulletin has become a much broader look at our lives. I follow the key circumstances, values, and decisions that led me to practicing anthropology, including my family background, educational choices and degree programs, and my first academic appointment. I describe my transition to the federal government and experience in the executive branch as a program manager encouraging and integrating anthropology into program missions for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Sea Grant College Program. My most recent work with the U.S. Senate as a legislative aide for environment and energy to a Democratic Senator is the latest addition to this story, but I do not think this is finished. As with all the chapters, I end with practical advice.