Rachel Black

For all the wonderful contributors and people who have followed this project with interest, I have a few updates on the Cultural Encyclopedia as it heads through the editing process.

At the end of February, I submitted the finished manuscript to Greenwood Press. This happened on time (thanks to prompt contributors and quick responses to my threatening e-mails). After a few revisions, at the end of March the press sent our manuscript to be copy edited. In the meantime, I selected the images that will be included in the book (this sounds easier than it is), along with the help of Greenwood staff. I have just received the copy edited manuscript and I will be reading it over the next week. Things are moving along at an excellent pace and I am told that we are well on track for publication later this year or early in 2011.

In other news, the marketing and editorial board of Greenwood Press met and decided to give us a new title, which will be Alcohol in Popular Culture: An Encyclopedia.

Why is academic anthropological theory and sometimes training of so little use to researchers using ethnography as a research technique? How can academics create theory that speaks to applied fields and industry?

Recently, I had my first experience doing ethnography for industry. This was an eye-opening experience and it made me think about my training and the place of theory in applied anthropology. Let me explain: Initially, I was asked to carry out a literature review on the topic we intended to research in a 15-week project with a major multinational technology company. Ethnography was to be the main research technique used to study a very complex virtual and physical work environment. As I imagined, there was a great deal of academic literature on the topic we were studying. What surprised me was that it was largely useless for the type of applied work we were doing. First, my colleagues had no interest in reading lengthy articles that are written without any bullet points and where was the executive summary! Second, my colleagues had little or no formal training in anthropology and the references to canon pieces and general anthropological literature did not speak to their hands-on work reality. Finally, I realized that most of the publications seemed outdated as soon as they were published. Really, there must be something better out there but I was unable to find it.

This little experience left me wondering if theory can inform applied anthropology for industry? If so, what would it look like? I would like to have a discussion on this topic. What have others found? What solutions exist? What are their strengths and weaknesses? How can academics help industry folks doing mixed method research do ethnography better? How can we help give depth to their practice and analysis?

I called on a number of anthropology bloggers to enter into a discussion. The first post on this topic is by Krystal D’Costa on Anthropology in Practice. We hope that the conversation will grow and continue. Please feel free to link blog posts and leave comments.

My response will follow shortly.

These days I am thinking about Porta Palazzo a lot. I am making the final revisions to my manuscript, which is an ethnographic study of this incredible market in Turin, Italy. From 2001 to 2003 I did fieldwork in the Porta Palazzo market. It is a place I always come back to not only physically but mentally. It is a place that is always the same each time but also incredibly different. I think I could not have chosen a more complex and beautiful field site.

I am not the only one thinking about Porta Palazzo. Singer and songwriter Gianmaria Testa wrote a beautiful song entitled “Al mercato di Porta Palazzo.” Testa eloquently captures the tensions and pleasures of the market.

The Society for the Anthropology of Food and Nutrition (SAFN) has a new blog! FoodAnthropology was launched just a few weeks ago. It is an attempt to create a place for popular dialogue around the topic of nearly anything to do with food and anthropology–academic, yet fun!

Please contact me or David Beriss if you are interested in contributing.

I’ve done research on the history of mineral water in Italy but I remain an adamant proponent of bottled water. Last year while working at the University of British Columbia, I got involved with helping a group of students petition the university to have water fountains repaired and put back into service. There cannot be enough water fountains in the world! Whenever I see one, I stop for a drink.

I came across this video on World Water Day and I thought it made some great points about America’s water problem.