Anthropologists at Work: Case Studies of Creating Value in Business

Authors

  • Elisabeth Powell

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22439/jba.v13i1.7152

Abstract

This essay will provide a series of concrete cases that reflect particularly successful or rewarding projects that anthropologists I interviewed worked on. These cases provide a window into the uniquely valuable contributions of anthropology when applied by the professionals trained in and devoted to the discipline. In many of the examples, anthropologists have enhanced their business cultures and/or their customers’ and clients’ cultures.

References

Appadurai, A. (1986). The Social Life of Things: Commodities in Cultural Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511819582

Briody, E. K., Fine, G. A, Graffman, K., Krawinkler, S. A., McCabe, M., Sunderland, P, and Denny, R. (2013). “Opinions: Ethnographic Methods in the Study of Business.” Journal of Business Anthropology 2(2): 133-167. https://doi.org/10.22439/jba.v2i2.4156

Douglas, M. and Isherwood, B. (1979). The World of Goods: Towards an Anthropology of Consumption. London: Routledge.

Erickson, K. (1999). “Postal Modernism and Anthropological Relevance at Hallmark Cards, Inc.” Anthropology News 40(2): 6.

McCabe, M. and Malefyt, T. (2010). “Brands, Interactivity, and Contested Fields: Exploring Production and Consumption in Cadillac and Infiniti Automobile Advertising Campaigns.” Human Organization 69(3): 252-262. https://doi.org/10.17730/humo.69.3.g40201n788274650

McCracken, G. (1988). Culture and Consumption: New Approaches to the Symbolic Character of Consumer Goods and Activities. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Miller, D. (1998). A Theory of Shopping. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Squires, S. (2005). “Telecommunication – Product Meaning and Use.” NAPA Bulletin 24(1): 79-88. https://doi.org/10.1525/napa.2005.24.1.079

Sunderland, P. and Denny, R. (2007). Doing Anthropology in Consumer Research. Walnut Creek, CA: Left Coast Press.

Turner, V. (1967). “Betwixt and Between: The Liminal Period in Rites de Passage.” In The Forest of Symbols (pp. 93-110). Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Turner, V. (1969). The Ritual Process: Structure and Anti-Structure. New York: Aldine.

Van Gennep, A. (1960[1908]). Rites of Passage. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Weiner, A. (1992). Inalienable Possessions: The Paradox of Keeping-While-Giving. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Downloads

Published

2024-07-01

Issue

Section

Millennial & Post-millennial Perspectives