Anthropologists Wanted: Why Organizations Need Anthropology

by Laurens Bakker, Masja Cohen, Walter Faaij

In Anthropologists Wanted. Why Organizations Need Anthropology the authors present a broad and inspiring survey of anthropologists in the job market. What in fact is anthropology? What skills do anthropologists have? Where do they work? How do they add value in the workplace, according to the people who hire them? And how can anthropologists showcase their qualities to employers? The book contains unique insights for anyone who plans to study, is studying, or has studied anthropology. And for employers interested in why anthropological knowledge is important.

Anthropologists Wanted includes portraits of anthropologists and their diverse occupations, interviews with employers and academic counsellors' answers to frequently asked questions about degree programmes, anthropological skills, and tips to help you land that job.

Genres: Anthropology

182 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2021

Reviews

[Britt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book for recently graduated anthropologists. After graduation I fell into a black hole of "what now?". This book helped me gain the words to describe the skills I have as an anthropologist, as these skills can sometimes be quite vague when you need to step onto the labor market.

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

Indeed, who doesn't need to pay another hungry bureaucrat with no working experience?

[Kristine Lyckander · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this book for the last course in first year of my anthropology bachelor (Doing Anthropology) and enjoyed it a lot! Definitely drew my attention from what anthropology is in the lecture hall bubble of a bunch of like-minded people, towards what anthropology does and why it is valuable in a highly competitive job market were employers usually do not know anthropology to the core.

My main takeaways was that it is about time to get out of the academic bubble and start getting hands-on experience with work and see what you enjoy/don't enjoy. It appears that an anthropology degree is mainly meaningful beyond the things you learn, and appeals more to how you can apply the unique skills as needed in situations where there are barely any other anthropologists.

One thing I do question, however, is the positive framing of corporate and business anthropology. Many anthropologists in the book advocated for the increase of anthropologists in businesses and production sectors of society, which commonly do not have a very developed "social/culture" dimension, as it's economic nature focuses primarily on how to sell products for consumers and in return maximise profits. I definitely see the benefits of hiring anthropologists in these businesses, as they have the means to analyse people and their needs and can provide a sensitive/empathic approach in which consumer's voices are heard to a larger degree. Regardless, through my bachelor so far, we have critiqued the capitalist nature of businesses, how there is a highly unequal exchange between consumer's inputs and producer's profits, and significantly how a market-based mentality, even if it advocates for sustainable growth, is inherently premised on economic growth - which is at the core of lots of social and environmental challenges today (which rich countries, such as the Netherlands, notice the least). I worry that anthropology's input in these sectors may adopt this mentality and rather "whitewash" or even "greenwash" corporations, as this may be necessary to get a well-paid job. I do recognise that there are nuances that 22-year old me with very little work experiences probably fail to see - but if I ever consider going into corporate anthropology, I want to go back here and see what my current doubts are, and why they might shift as I grow older.

Anyways, I am excited to re-read this book post-graduation!

[Oliver Duarte Herrera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Present and future or anthropology for beginners. Really good and up dated journey.

[Nèri · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another uni read

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read because friend is an Anthropologist and wanted a physical book to read while backpacking. Some authors of the book were her prof! Such an interesting field and so fascinating to hear about.