A Field Method for Teaching Applied Anthropology

Attempts to teach applied anthropology to students of administration, education or technology encounter at least two major difficulties: the problem of making the subject matter alive and "real" in a classroom; and pressure to do this in a short space of time. With the growth of Technical Cooperation Administration ("Point Four"), UNESCO and similar programs, the need to provide such training for administrators, educators, and technological specialists has been increasing rapidly, while the time these people can spare for study has been decreasing at about the same rate. Paradoxically, there is a budding awareness that ineptness in human relations across cultural boundaries not only risks the loss of otherwise sound programs, but may also convert potential allies into enemies. It is in relation to these problems that we are presenting some results of our experience with a field seminar in the southwestern United States.