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THE TIDEWATER PROJECT AND TRENDS IN ANTHROPOLOGY

Public Anthropology

The Tidewater Communities Project is a public anthropology project. 

It is designed to make key information about the Tidewater site and its management available to the public.  The focus on the management of the property reflects the project's uniquely anthropological orientation: it uses data collected through anthropological research methods and analytical frameworks to understand the factors that have influenced the site management. Ultimately, this work is intended to help improve the management of properties contaminated with industrial wastes ("brownfields").

In recent years, advocates of public anthropology have criticized an emphasis on the production of knowledge for knowledge's sake in the field, arguing that anthropologists need to consider how we can use our research methods and analytical tools to provide information that is accessible to - and holds significance for - our many publics. 

For more about current efforts to promote a public anthropology, visit the Center for a Public Anthropology website:

Also see Robert Borofsky's short book, Why a Public Anthropology:

Activist Anthropology

The Project has three activist aims:

  1. to increase community knowledge about the Tidewater Site and its hazards,

  2. to increase community involvement in the decision-making processes surrounding the property's management, and

  3. to prioritize health considerations in decisions about the management of the property.

The activist orientation of the Tidewater Communities Project builds on trends in the field of anthropology that emerged during the 1980s.  At that time, scholars across the social sciences began to question claims that there is such a thing as "unbiased knowledge".  In the field of science studies, Donna Haraway (1988) asserted that "all knowledge is partial," in the sense that all people are embedded in particular social locations, and this shapes our interests and agendas.  Given this social embeddedness, Haraway argued that researchers should openly acknowledge the particular social locations from which we investigate the world, and reflect on how these shape our understandings.  

 

In the field of anthropology, scholars have responded to these trends to develop a branch of politically engaged or activist anthropology.  Activists anthropologists (such as Charles Hale, Shannon Speed and Dana-Ain Davis) argue that we have a duty to support the people that we work with as they struggle against forces of marginalization. 

You can find more about activist anthropology on the webpage of the Department of Anthropology at the University of Texas, Austin, which offers a program of study in activist anthropology.  You can also find a link to Charles Hale's brief article "What is Activist Anthropology?"

Applied Anthropology

The Tidewater Communities Project is an applied anthropology project. 

It uses anthropological tools to understand the real, lived processes through which the Tidewater Site has been managed, in order to improve its management. In this regard, the Project is situated within a long and robust history of applied anthropology.

Many anthropology departments specialize in applied anthropology.  You can link to a few of these programs here:

You can take classes in applied anthropology at my institution, Rhode Island College.  We offer courses in

 

  • Applied Anthropology

  • Economic Development and Globalization

  • Environmental Anthropology

  • Gender, Environment and Development

  • Medical Anthropology

 

For more information about the program, visit our website at

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or, send me an email at hdygert@ric.edu.

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