By Faye Powell
The Portland Upside
January 2010
The Portland Upside
January 2010
From the snow-capped peaks of the Himalayas to Brazilian rain forests, from the humid villages of Southeast Asia to our very own streets here in Portland, Oregon—these places, as well as every other corner of the earth—are the domain of anthropologists at work. Anthropologists study culture in its myriad forms, and all members of the human species and their predecessors fall within the scope of the discipline.
As applied anthropologist Jeremy Spoon states, “Our world is now more aware of cultural diversity than ever. There’s a unique role for anthropologists to be involved to better understand the human element from all facets, both past and present, and into the future.”
While most of us know Margaret Mead’s work on the South Pacific and Southeast Asian cultures, Jane Goodall’s studies of chimpanzees, and the Leakeys’ work in Africa on the origin of our species, we are less familiar with anthropologists’ contributions to the issues and problems right here at home.
I recently interviewed five faculty members of Portland State University’s (PSU) Department of Anthropology to learn how the discipline serves the communities of the Portland metro area.
According to Professor Kenneth Ames, archaeologist and chair of PSU’s anthropology department, one goal is to “conduct engaged and community-based research across local, regional and global scales. By this we mean, research that feeds back into the communities within which it is conducted and which, in some instances, instigated the research.”
When Professor Ames came to PSU, he was asked to develop a locally-based archaeology field school so students would be able to work closer to the university. The field school evolved into a community-based research program that has trained students to work with agencies such as the Corps of Engineers, Forest Service, and National Park Service.
PSU students, in collaboration with Native Americans and other community residents, helped excavate an important 15th-century Chinook site 40 miles from Portland near Ridgefield, Washington. In 1991, based on the excavation, the community erected a Chinook-style plank house that is now used for ceremonial and ritual purposes.
Indeed, the entire anthropology faculty is engaged in projects of one type or another that benefit our local community. And as students learn to use the tools of anthropology, they work on projects to solve problems that local organizations have identified.
One such project helped the Dougie Center for Grieving Children and Families identify barriers the Hispanic population faces in utilizing the center’s services. In another, a student worked with former Portland Mayor Potter’s office to do outreach in the Hispanic community.
Cultural anthropologist Sharon Carstens currently teaches an Asian-American class in which half of her students are Asian-American. Through class readings the students learn for the first time about the hardships their parents and earlier generations have endured. Films about the old country open the eyes of this young generation to their own history, allowing them to renew their empathy with older generations. This new window into their own history was so emotionally moving to some of the students that they borrowed the films to show within their home communities.
Michele Gamburd, also a cultural anthropologist, takes her research to Sri Lanka where she studies the effects of labor migration, globalization, and disasters on people and their culture. Bringing the knowledge and insights from her work in Sri Lanka home, she supervises students who study the impacts of immigration in the United States.
One student, for instance, researched the problem of limited health care among migrant laborers with asthma caused by their exposure to toxic chemicals. Another researched the militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border and its residual effect on undocumented Oregon Hispanics.
A third student studied the use of health care among workers at Portland’s day labor center. He found that they often go untreated for illnesses either because they cannot afford to take time off work or because they do not want to be perceived as weak, and thus less masculine. The City of Portland found the research valuable for providing a better understanding of the culture of these workers.
In another example of PSU’s impact on the community, archaeologist Virginia Butler’s current research work with archaeological records of ancient animal bones has significant implications for fish conservation and dam removal. She works in the Klamath Basin where water issues are a huge concern to ranchers, fishermen and environmentalists.
Excavation of these ancient bones has shown that salmon, previously thought to have been absent from the Klamath River, did once exist. In October, four major dams on the upper Klamath were ordered to be removed over the next ten years in order to reestablish salmon there. The Department of Interior is also interested in the research for its potential implications elsewhere.
While we usually assume that anthropologists only teach in colleges and universities, most actually work outside academia. In the medical field, one PSU graduate is employed by Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) to study the effects of race on doctor-patient relationships. Another works at Intel to help the company understand the use of technology in second homes in Russia, Australia, France and the United States.
A windmill company has also hired an anthropologist to study the environmental and cultural impacts of wind farms on Native American archaeological and religious sites. In such situations, anthropologists help to mitigate environmental and cultural impacts before wind farms are built.
Here in Portland, as in many places around the globe, PSU anthropologists apply their insights and tools to a wide variety of problems in medicine, business, technology, and the environment, as well as in social and public services. Clearly, Portland State University’s community-based research provides tangible results to many diverse local populations and proves just how practical anthropology can be.
______
For more information about anthropology at PSU, go to http://anthropology.pdx.edu, call 503-725-3081 or contact Kenneth Ames at amesk@pdx.edu
Faye Powell is a retired university librarian with an M.A. in anthropology. Contact her at phaysee1@gmail.com
As applied anthropologist Jeremy Spoon states, “Our world is now more aware of cultural diversity than ever. There’s a unique role for anthropologists to be involved to better understand the human element from all facets, both past and present, and into the future.”
While most of us know Margaret Mead’s work on the South Pacific and Southeast Asian cultures, Jane Goodall’s studies of chimpanzees, and the Leakeys’ work in Africa on the origin of our species, we are less familiar with anthropologists’ contributions to the issues and problems right here at home.
I recently interviewed five faculty members of Portland State University’s (PSU) Department of Anthropology to learn how the discipline serves the communities of the Portland metro area.
According to Professor Kenneth Ames, archaeologist and chair of PSU’s anthropology department, one goal is to “conduct engaged and community-based research across local, regional and global scales. By this we mean, research that feeds back into the communities within which it is conducted and which, in some instances, instigated the research.”
When Professor Ames came to PSU, he was asked to develop a locally-based archaeology field school so students would be able to work closer to the university. The field school evolved into a community-based research program that has trained students to work with agencies such as the Corps of Engineers, Forest Service, and National Park Service.
PSU students, in collaboration with Native Americans and other community residents, helped excavate an important 15th-century Chinook site 40 miles from Portland near Ridgefield, Washington. In 1991, based on the excavation, the community erected a Chinook-style plank house that is now used for ceremonial and ritual purposes.
Indeed, the entire anthropology faculty is engaged in projects of one type or another that benefit our local community. And as students learn to use the tools of anthropology, they work on projects to solve problems that local organizations have identified.
One such project helped the Dougie Center for Grieving Children and Families identify barriers the Hispanic population faces in utilizing the center’s services. In another, a student worked with former Portland Mayor Potter’s office to do outreach in the Hispanic community.
Cultural anthropologist Sharon Carstens currently teaches an Asian-American class in which half of her students are Asian-American. Through class readings the students learn for the first time about the hardships their parents and earlier generations have endured. Films about the old country open the eyes of this young generation to their own history, allowing them to renew their empathy with older generations. This new window into their own history was so emotionally moving to some of the students that they borrowed the films to show within their home communities.
Michele Gamburd, also a cultural anthropologist, takes her research to Sri Lanka where she studies the effects of labor migration, globalization, and disasters on people and their culture. Bringing the knowledge and insights from her work in Sri Lanka home, she supervises students who study the impacts of immigration in the United States.
One student, for instance, researched the problem of limited health care among migrant laborers with asthma caused by their exposure to toxic chemicals. Another researched the militarization of the U.S.-Mexico border and its residual effect on undocumented Oregon Hispanics.
A third student studied the use of health care among workers at Portland’s day labor center. He found that they often go untreated for illnesses either because they cannot afford to take time off work or because they do not want to be perceived as weak, and thus less masculine. The City of Portland found the research valuable for providing a better understanding of the culture of these workers.
In another example of PSU’s impact on the community, archaeologist Virginia Butler’s current research work with archaeological records of ancient animal bones has significant implications for fish conservation and dam removal. She works in the Klamath Basin where water issues are a huge concern to ranchers, fishermen and environmentalists.
Excavation of these ancient bones has shown that salmon, previously thought to have been absent from the Klamath River, did once exist. In October, four major dams on the upper Klamath were ordered to be removed over the next ten years in order to reestablish salmon there. The Department of Interior is also interested in the research for its potential implications elsewhere.
While we usually assume that anthropologists only teach in colleges and universities, most actually work outside academia. In the medical field, one PSU graduate is employed by Oregon Health Sciences University (OHSU) to study the effects of race on doctor-patient relationships. Another works at Intel to help the company understand the use of technology in second homes in Russia, Australia, France and the United States.
A windmill company has also hired an anthropologist to study the environmental and cultural impacts of wind farms on Native American archaeological and religious sites. In such situations, anthropologists help to mitigate environmental and cultural impacts before wind farms are built.
Here in Portland, as in many places around the globe, PSU anthropologists apply their insights and tools to a wide variety of problems in medicine, business, technology, and the environment, as well as in social and public services. Clearly, Portland State University’s community-based research provides tangible results to many diverse local populations and proves just how practical anthropology can be.
______
For more information about anthropology at PSU, go to http://anthropology.pdx.edu, call 503-725-3081 or contact Kenneth Ames at amesk@pdx.edu
Faye Powell is a retired university librarian with an M.A. in anthropology. Contact her at phaysee1@gmail.com
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