Anthropology

     Of the disciplines we have reviewed so far, anthropology is the one I would have figured reference services for it would have been the most straightforward. After going through the module, I can't decide if this feeling has been confirmed or turned inside out. On one side, anthropology produces knowledge in a way I have not really observed other disciplines do. Economics, history, and political science all seem to constantly be changing, and aside from basic concepts, most knowledge produced is related strictly to current events. Anthropology appears to me to create knowledge about people that I could really see ending up in our much beloved reference books and staying there. An anthropologist makes discoveries and observes; their research should NOT alter the subject. Alternatively, political science and economics research may involve running simulations with controls, etc. In this way, I feel that reference services can be more straight forward to anthropologists.

    However, all of the material we have read and watched shows that this is not a passive field of "facts" and truths" but is also one that is constantly changing. Any of the blogs will show that new research is constantly pouring out and changing the way we formally looked at a specific phenomenon or group of people. The field itself seems to be changing, as writers talk about their changing discipline as much as their research.

     The breadth of good web resources for information really solidified my feeling about anthropology as being a slightly different discipline for librarians to relate to; since anthropology is the study of humans and our cultural heritage; there is already quite a lot of resources out there related to this that anthropologists might want to find. Quite a lot of this is already in libraries, archives, and museums (anthropologists are also concerned with digging up the rest of this heritage). I say this only in sort of jest; humans have been interested in humans for quite a long time, and it is easier to preserve human artifacts than it is to preserve political or economic artifacts. It is also easier to digitize a human artifact and put on the web, in some form or another. Cultural anthropology is a different story.

     It is also one that is fighting to preserve cultures and publicize injustices. My anthropology professor worked with Somali Bantu refugees in America, studying them but also helping them to adjust to life in this country. Her research helped to bring light to a story of tragedy for a people whose culture was at risk of being wiped out. While my professor worked with refugees as part of her research, many anthropologists are concerned with preserving cultures in their own lands. The stories reported in Cultural Survival Quarterly are sad but it is good to see an organization that works to keep these people and these cultures alive and empowered. I am reminded of recent reports concerning the price of quinoa becoming to high for those who have traditionally grown it to afford it; while this NPR article makes it appear that this is not entirely true (http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2013/07/17/busting-quinoa-myth) it shows me that our economic, social, and political decisions can have anthropological effects. I am sure this is just one example of the disciplines we are studying being put to use for advocacy and human rights.