For anyone attending the American Anthropological Association (AAA) / Canadian Anthropology Society (CASCA) meetings in Vancouver later this month, here’s some career education and exploration activities to note:
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- A panel discussion of “rapid assessment” methods. This roundtable explores critical perspectives on linguistic anthropology methods with the aim of developing a methodological framework for rapid assessment that retains the analytic strength of long-term fieldwork while being feasible in both “academic” and “applied” contexts. We also seek to destabilize the binary between “academic” and “applied” by providing a framework for linguistic ethnographic research that can be applied across both contexts, but also noting logistical differences between the two.
2. The Careers Exposition – Friday from 11am – 4pm in the Convention Center.
The Expo features anthropologists who have made careers in the public, private and non-profit sectors. Participants share the creative ways that anthropologists use their skills and highlight some of the many new and emerging careers open to professional anthropologists. Past Expos have featured major corporations, federal agencies, consulting firms, nonprofits and independent consulting anthropologists.
3. Career Education and Exploration workshop
This half-day workshop is designed to engage participants in guided introspection about connections among academic, applied research, and teaching interests. Anthropologists will bring rigorously honed methodological and linguistic analytic skills to the task of researching their own (academic and nonacademic) careers, and to inform their next steps professionally.
Part One – Ethnography: Participants will work in pairs to investigate and explore their interests. Following a guide, partners will ask one another open-ended questions that illuminate motivators and drivers and explore professional expressions of these meaningful aspects of their lives.
Part Two – Narrative: Each participant will create and tell a story about a professional challenge and its solution. Drawing from narrative analysis, the group will provide feedback (following a rubric) about how these stories construct and convey identity and meaning, considering possible options for reframing: i.e. creating a more agentive stances. Participants will discuss how context (networking, informational or job interviewing) might inform design and use of these stories.
Part Three – Networking: Participants will have the opportunity to practice networking with invited professionals from a range of fields (i.e. localization, educational technology). By focusing on the formulation of professional requests, participants will cultivate networking connections and experience, ultimately recognizing their role in creating opportunities (for themselves and the field more broadly).
Hope to see you there!
