If you are looking for BANE-145 IGNOU Solved Assignment solution for the subject Applied Anthropology, you have come to the right place. BANE-145 solution on this page applies to 2022-23 session students studying in BAG courses of IGNOU.
BANE-145 Solved Assignment Solution by Gyaniversity
Assignment Code: BANE-145/ASST/TMA/2022-23
Course Code: BANE-145
Assignment Name: Applied Anthropology
Year: 2022-2023
Verification Status: Verified by Professor
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Total Marks: 100
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There are three Assignments. All questions are compulsory.
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Assignment – A
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Answer the following in about 500 words each. 20 X 2= 40
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a. Discuss the historical development of applied anthropology.
Ans) The history and development of applied anthropology are closely related to that of anthropology as an academic field, and it has always been a part of mainstream anthropology. Human evolution was the primary focus of the discipline of anthropology when it first emerged in the nineteenth century. The "progressive evolutionary theory" was the first comprehensive paradigm to formally support the emergence of anthropology as a distinct field of study. The evolution of human biology and culture was the main topic of discussion. For them, the modern western civilization represented the culmination of a long-term transformation process during which different stages of social organisation were undergone.
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The indigenous peoples of Africa, Asia, Oceania, and South and North America were regarded as exemplars of these earlier forms. As a result, their societies were referred to as "primitive societies," and their cultures as "primitive cultures." Anthropology's goal was to learn about them in order to understand the origins of social organisation and the history of humanity. Thus, the study of anthropology began as an effort to comprehend what scholars from Europe and North America called "other cultures." Archaeological anthropology sought to comprehend the prehistoric aspect of this culture, while physical anthropology sought to comprehend the biological aspect of human evolution.
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Applied Ethnology Phase
For the management of indigenous communities, Applied Anthropology was first discussed in 1896 by an American anthropologist by the name of Brinton (Foster 1969: 198). It was believed that there was a strong possibility of the complete disappearance of their identity and cultural oblivion due to the rapid assimilation of indigenous Amerindian people, frequently at a great cost to their well-being. The United States government established the Bureau of Ethnology in 1879 to gather data on the native Amerindian population and administer their affairs. It employed anthropologists' services to advise the federal government on reforms and changes that would help them gradually assimilate into American culture. Additionally, anthropological knowledge was sought to record the rapidly vanishing social practises, customs, and traditions of these communities. Thus, applied anthropology was developed in indigenous communities as a tool for public administration and as salvage anthropology to record these communities' disappearing cultural practises.
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Applied Ethnology and Colonialism
It is now widely acknowledged that in its early years, applied anthropology was seen by colonial administrators as a helpful tool that aided in the administrative handling and control of natives. In India, the situation was similar. In its early years, anthropological knowledge played a significant role in what is infamously known as "cultural technology of rule" (Dirk 2001: 9). You should be aware that colonial conquest and dominance were made possible not only by superior military technology but also by exploitation of the native population through social and cultural manipulation and intervention.
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Applied Anthropology and Multidisciplinary Movement
The years 1929–1930 were characterised by a severe economic downturn, market collapse, business closures, unemployment, and general human misery. The great economic depression is the name given to this stage. This demanded a shift toward a more humanistic perspective in business and industry as well as increased focus on the suffering and hardships that people go through on a daily basis. The effects of the financial crisis affected how business and industry functioned. It demanded that industrial management put more emphasis on interpersonal interactions and acknowledge people as a valuable resource in addition to natural resources that are crucial for productivity.
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b. Discuss ethics in anthropological research during the 2nd World War.
Ans) Anthropologists were requested to lend their specialised knowledge to the war effort during the Second World War. They played a crucial role in the conflict due to their close proximity and extensive knowledge of various regions around the world. They were essentially asked to help with understanding the national identities and cultural traditions of adversary countries so that the war could also be fought on a psychological level. In the years following the war, rehabilitation programmes were implemented using their knowledge. The ethical implications of using anthropological and cultural knowledge in waging and supporting war efforts are raised by anthropological contributions to those efforts. It is a common belief that both books and weapons were used in the war.
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Military policy making involved the use of anthropological knowledge. The relationship between anthropology and the German war effort under the Nazis has been the subject of academic study. Robert Proctor, who worked on this problem, asserts that there is a strong connection between Nazi Germany and anthropology. Only a small number of anthropologists disagreed with the Nazi regime's view of racial science. Proctor also discovered that few anthropologists opposed the deportation of Jews to Germany. Some anthropologists from countries other than Germany shared the Nazis' perspectives on racial hierarchy. For instance, E.A. Hooton continued, "We need a national breeding bureau that could suggest who should reproduce with whom in order to perpetuate good racial elements in future generations."
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Additionally, anthropologists from Europe including Evans Pritchard and S.F. Nadel worked on the war effort. Regarding how people in America perceived the Second World War, the situation was a little different. Due to the fact that it was fought against Nazi Germany, the war was viewed as "good." The non-hierarchical Boasian understanding of race had a significant impact on anthropological ideas as well. Nazis were viewed as being opposed to anthropology's fundamental principles.
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A heroic deed, in the eyes of anthropologists, was to assist the American government in the war effort. In order to gather intelligence for the Office of Strategic Services, which is now the CIA, anthropologists like Jack Harris travelled to West Africa. Although he went as an anthropologist, his primary responsibility was gathering intelligence data. It is also true that some American anthropologists opposed the idea of applying anthropological knowledge to combat. But such voices were quickly silenced.
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The American Anthropological Association adopted a resolution stating that anthropologists will assist the government with its war efforts by sharing their expertise. When Fred Eggan served as the AAA's secretary, he reported that by 1943, more than half of anthropologists in America were directly supporting the war and the other half were making some sort of contribution. Ruth Benedict carried out a noteworthy study in this vein. The US Office of War Information requested that she conduct research on Japanese culture so that it would be simpler to manage them in the event that Japan were to come under American occupation.
Assignment – B
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Answer the following in about 250 words each. (Write Short Notes) 10X3=30
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a. Anthropology and the study of ethnomedicine
Ans) The field of medical anthropology includes ethnomedicine as a significant component. It is akin to folk or traditional medicine. It merely caters to oral indigenous healthcare traditions that are common in tribal and rural areas. Ethnomedicine also considers the cultural backdrop of illness and recovery. A distinction between biomedicine and ethnomedicine is made by medical anthropologists, with the former being associated with the "western" medical system and the latter being linked to the local system of traditional and indigenous beliefs, customs, and practises associated with health and illness. Ethnomedical research considers factors such as the relationship between medical and religious institutions, the effectiveness of the traditional health care system, the methods of diagnosis and treatment, the study of traditional healers, the awareness of illness and its prevalence, and medical pluralism.
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Humans adjust to different environmental regimes not only through genetic and physiological mechanisms but also through cultural knowledge and personal coping mechanisms. The dynamic interactions between human biological (or phenotypic), sociocultural, and psychological characteristics in response to the environment are frequently emphasised by medical anthropologists to understand health-related events. It opens the door for the growth of bio-cultural medical anthropology. It is a branch of medical anthropology that emphasises the fact that people are bio-cultural beings and that the interaction of biological and cultural processes shapes how they feel physically. In the field of public health surveillance, social epidemiology has emerged as a result of the critical bio-cultural approaches used in medical anthropology.
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Interdisciplinary research is prioritised in the field of medical anthropology. It began as joint research projects between linguists, anthropologists, and human biologists; eventually, sociology, economics, and nursing were also involved in anthropological research.
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b. Complexity of capacity development
Ans) The ability of analysts to shed light on situation-specific conditions through ethnographic study has always been the strength of anthropology. In order to address issues of power inequality in relationships between the wealthy and the poor, the mainstream and the marginalised (countries, groups, and individuals), anthropological engagement with capacity development should ideally take an inclusive approach, putting an emphasis on profound, long-lasting transformations through policy and institutional reforms. The donor-recipient power divide cannot be eliminated, despite the fact that capacity development does speak for a significant shift in the development dialogue in terms of participation, grassroots ownership of development programmes, and influence on policy.
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The problem still exists that the concept of capacity development falls under a more general, all-encompassing conception of development. The idea that the sustainable development goals (SDGs) are universally applicable to all nations, erasing the "developing" versus "developed" dichotomy, has been used to address a portion of the donor beneficiary divide on a global scale. As a result, while earlier recognition by developed countries as stakeholders led to the perception that developing countries needed capacity development, the SGDs reflect a need for capacity development on a global scale. However, the donor beneficiary dichotomy and power dynamics operate at various levels—local, national, and international—and are influenced by a variety of factors that could put capacity development at a disadvantage.
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Different stances are taken by anthropologists themselves when it comes to the idea of development. Discourse analysis was used by Arturo Escobar to reveal development as a discourse and institutional practises that uphold Third World dominance. He made the case that anthropologists shouldn't work with development organisations.
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c. Roles and functions of Forensic anthropologists
Ans) A forensic anthropologist employs anthropological theory and methods to address legal issues. Forensic anthropology is regarded as the applied branch of physical/biological anthropology.
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The following are the top five duties of forensic anthropologists:
In order to identify a deceased person's biological profile (race/ethnicity, sex, age, and stature), forensic anthropologists must first examine the deceased's soft tissue, which has degraded to the point where it is impossible to do so visually.
Forensic anthropologists investigate the nature and causal agent(s) of trauma in cases of traumatic injury (such as bullet holes, stab wounds, or fractures) to human bone in order to determine the manner and cause of death.
Due to their extensive research on the rate of deterioration that occurs in cadavers over time, forensic anthropologists are able to calculate the post-mortem interval (the amount of time that has passed since a person has died).
Because they are knowledgeable in archaeological techniques, forensic anthropologists assist in finding and recovering buried or surface remains that are pertinent to the forensic investigation.
The unique identifying characteristics found in almost all skeletons are used by forensic anthropologists to positively identify a deceased person.
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Assignment – C
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Answer the following questions in about 150 words each. 5X6=30
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a. Multimedia research and gender
Ans) Because it ignored the gender distribution among its participants, research on multimedia learning comparing the effectiveness of static and dynamic visualisations in STEM disciplines has produced mixed results. Although research suggests that gender differences in visuospatial processing exist, it is impossible to make generalisations about the moderating effects of these differences on learning due to the failure of many studies to report gender compositions.
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Dr. Juan Cristóbal Castro-Alonso, a researcher in educational psychology at the Universidad de Chile who specialises in multimedia, oversaw a meta-analysis to determine whether there is a gender gap in the research on learning through visualisations and how it might be affecting student outcomes. Multimedia and video are increasingly used in classroom instruction as a result of falling production costs. Despite the lack of conclusive evidence in favour of this strategy, teachers, commissioners, and policy makers are being urged to use more static and dynamic visuals in their lessons due to the increased accessibility of digital technologies worldwide.
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b. People’s perspective on disaster
Ans) Anthropologists are interested in understanding how people define events in addition to how they define it for themselves. Definitions that are "people-centric" but are actually based on their suffering are philosophical in nature. People frequently argue and query the circumstances that affect them. Religious doctrines that aim to comprehend the suffering brought on by catastrophes actually focus on "how to suffer, not how to avoid suffering, how to make the physical pain, personal loss, and physical defeat something we can say sufferable".
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Religious philosophies all have different approaches to this question. When addressing this matter within the context of Hinduism, Anu Kapur claims that the idea of Karma is used to define and comprehend the cause of suffering. According to Kapur, pp. 96, "Karma is an absorbent that is not only a motivator, but it also soaks up pain and misery." In addition, she discusses a folk model of understanding that is based on "appeal" rather than "absorption."
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c. Traditional techniques of research
Ans) An essential traditional anthropological method employed by applied anthropologists is ethnographic study, in which the anthropologist actively engages with the culture being studied to gather data on a wide range of topics. Since the use of knowledge necessitates proper documentation, interpretation, and the use of secondary data sources, anthropologists are properly trained in data collection and analysis as applied researchers.
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Direct observation, interviewing, learning the local language, and recording data using audio-visual media are some of the techniques used to gather information. This information is then interpreted and analysed using various tools, such as SPSS (short for Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, which is used by social scientists to perform statistical analysis of data), among others. Plans and policies are created based on the information sought, and they ultimately lead to the required action. A few of them are covered in the following sections. Applied anthropologists use a variety of cutting-edge techniques in addition to more conventional ones to gather both qualitative and quantitative data.
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d. Anthropologists and NGOs
Ans) Sociologists and political scientists' interest in NGOs has continuously increased, but anthropologists have been slower to show an interest. Of course, anthropological research on groups that have characteristics with what we now consider to be contemporary NGOs has a longer history. For instance, Kenneth Little described how "voluntary associations" in West Africa acted as adaptive mechanisms for people living in communities that were undergoing rapid change. New organisational forms, such as tribal unions, friendly societies, and occupational and recreational associations, replaced or complemented tribal institutions.
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Despite the repeated advice to "study up," anthropologists have remained more at ease interacting with communities than with organisations and agencies. This has either pushed them toward forms of community-centred or "applied" work or towards grassroots viewpoints on the existence and consequences of NGOs (often informed by a critical view of outside aid and the international system). As a result, there has been a tense relationship between "NGO studies" and anthropology that occasionally is marked by fruitful conflicts and other times by silences and discrepancies.
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e. Workstation designing
Ans) We now understand that ergonomics focuses on designing machines for human use as well as designing human tasks for operating machines. This area of anthropology is primarily concerned with how to design tools, structures, and workplaces to work with human limitations and potential. There are some ergonomic goals that are extremely beneficial to people. They aim to I improve the efficiency and competence with which work is carried out and (ii) uphold and advance worker satisfaction, health, and safety.
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The anthropometric measurements of the anticipated user are given less weight in industrial workstation design, which is essentially illogical. When designing an industrial workstation, it is important to accurately estimate the physical dimensions of the workers in order to maximise production efficiency and operator physical and mental health. Small changes in workstation dimensions can have a big impact on employees' productivity and occupational health and safety. If the workstation is designed improperly with poor posture, there can be many health risks.
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f. Epidemiology
Ans) Epidemiology is the systematic and scientific study of incidents involving health in a given population using data-driven techniques. Olsen et Al’s definition of epidemiology in Olsen et al. is as follows: "the study of the distribution and determinants of health-related states or events in specified populations, and the application of this study to the control of health problems."
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In the last 30 years, the study of applied medical anthropology has become increasingly important in the field of public health. Although both medical anthropology and epidemiology had the same initial goal of describing human population health through observational methods, the cross-disciplinary cooperation between anthropology and epidemiology has been hotly contested over time. This was due to the stereotyped and unhelpful dichotomies between the two disciplines, such as deductive-inductive, quantitative-qualitative, specific-generalizable, and natural-artificial factors
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