Anthropologists behaving badly? Impact and the politics of evaluation in an era of accountability

This paper discusses the move within UK social science funding to use non-academic ‘impact’ as a measure of quality and success for social research. It suggests that behind this move are a set of unspoken assumptions about what constitutes ‘good’ and ‘bad’ impact, and the paper seeks to problematize these. By way of provocation, it presents three classic cases of anthropological research, in which the impact of anthropologists on the societies in which they worked was at worst reprehensible, and at best controversial. These controversies – Darkness in El Dorado, the Human Terrain System and Fields of Wheat, Hills of Blood – are used to demonstrate the difficulty with which we can assess impacts as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, and the problems with attempting to do so

“Critical Habitat” and Other Stories

The nature of writing, that is, storytelling, is difficult to discuss in a technical manner. Often it is easier to demonstrate by example rather than theory how storytelling does and does not work. This thesis is a collection of short stories written to practice the art of writing and storytelling. They do not follow a central theme or motif; they are self-contained projects demonstrating the application of the theories discussed in the introduction. The point of this thesis is not to show the correct way to write or provide examples of perfect stories. It is to show the learning process of taking theory and applying it in actual writing practice

Anthropology of Europe redux: Deja Vu in the South

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Let our Profs be Profs

This contribution traces the impact of research and teaching audit on university life in UK. It focuses on how the audit regimes generate an entrepreneurial subjectivity among academics, thereby transforming what it means to be a “Prof”. It argues that anthropology has a role to play in drawing attention to the significance of these transformations of subjectivity

Why Waste The Wind? A Look into Small Scale Wind Energy

The human race’s dependence on fossil fuels for energy generation has started to cause major changes in the environment. Climate change is a universal issue and it is evident that our current energy schematic is not sustainable. At the University of Massachusetts, small-scale wind power has the potential to be a key component in UMass’ energy portfolio as the university shifts from reliance on fossil fuels to renewable energy. Strategically placed turbines would produce clean, renewable energy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and help to decentralize energy dependence on the Central Heating Plant. Small-scale turbines, like the eddyGT, are tested technologies that show promise for on-campus applications. In addition to starting UMass’ transition to renewable energy, monetary savings from wind-energy investment could even be put towards future renewable energy endeavors. And, though current turbine technology suffers from limited energy production capabilities, this issue is addressed by high altitude turbines which access stronger and more consistent winds. While still in the process of development, high altitude wind turbines have the potential to be an important renewable energy source in the future. Implementation of small scale wind energy at UMass will require research on wind speeds throughout campus. This data will facilitate determination of ideal locations and types of small-scale wind turbines for the campus, the first step in achieving UMass’ independence from fossil fuels

Place-Based Engagement on Chicago\u27s Northeast Side

Loyola University Chicago (LUC) is a Jesuit university with a mission to prepare students to “set the world on fire” by promoting justice in the world. Led by its School of Education, LUC has worked to engage this mission in its emerging work with public school partners guided by core principles of mutual benefit among partners, place-based engagement within our communities, and a focus on sustainable relationships. While serving others represents the genotype of our 150-year-old Jesuit university and community and civic engagement represents its phenotype, the last ten years has seen change in the university’s phenotype through dramatic growth in both the strategic approach of its place-based engagement commitments and its direct work among multiple community schools. In 2011, the School of Education engineered a radical overhaul of its teacher preparation program moving from a traditional approach to teacher education that was campus- and text-based to a field-based apprenticeship model (Heineke & Ryan, 2018). To achieve this ambitious project, the School of Education generated and solidified relationships with 20-25 core school partners where field-based learning could take place. Transformation of the teacher preparation program coincided with a comprehensive school-university partnership at a neighborhood-based public high school that currently features more than 20 academic initiatives. In 2016, LUC introduced Schools 2020 to build on this success with five additional public schools. In 2018, LUC began to serve as the Lead Partner Agency (LPA) at six Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Community School Initiatives (CSI) sites. Currently more than 1000 students are served through out-of-school (OST) programs while 100 part-time instructors (LUC faculty and students, school teachers, and community organization staff ) work with students through more than 100 unique program activities. More than $4 million in CPS-CSI funding has been secured through 2024 to support this work. In this article, we seek to present the historical context in which our university-school partnership emerged and has developed, our approaches to and examples of the work, discuss challenges that have surfaced in the work and, finally, describe horizon opportunities for LUC. We argue here for a place-based, mutually beneficial approach to university-school partnerships that places relationships at the center of the work in order to achieve sustainability over time. We believe that relationships based in trust and mutuality throughout and across our institutions lead to powerful outcomes for faculty, teachers, students, and ultimately communities. We argue here that a focus on relationships can lead to organizational and community transformation in ways that transactional operational systems may not