Testimonials from Teachers Who 
Have Participated in the Project

This was a truly, excellent pedagogical exercise. It provided our second year anthropology majors with a valuable historical perspective on both the discipline and its changing theoretical perspectives. It also added an unanticipated dimension to the course content - students had a far broader range of material to draw on when discussing issues in class. When some of the summaries were put up on the www.publicanthropology.org website in early April, the whole class had a publishing party!  The students loved seeing their summaries published on the web.

Naomi Adelson, York University

The best part about this project was the "reality factor." Because students knew their work was going to be part of a web site, they approached their work with great seriousness. It allowed them to see and appreciate ways in which the discipline has changed during the century, as well as to get a taste of subfields with which they may have had little familiarity.

Elizabeth Chin, Occidental College

It was a great success both in the context of the senior seminar and as a pedagogical device more generally: we intend to repeat the exercise in other classes. They learned in the course of working on the abstracts to read an article several times in several different ways, to look for the author's own objectives in writing the article, to place those objectives in historical and theoretical context, to distinguish between types of supporting evidence--in other words, to understand academic writing and how to read and use it. We think this has been a terrific part of the seminar. Thank you for including us in the project.

Laurie Hart, Maris Gillette, Zolani Noonan-Ngwane, Haverford College

Contrary to my expectations, students loved doing the American Anthropologist project summaries. The opportunity to see how anthropologists bring abstract theories to bear on specific and diverse archaeological and ethnographic material was only the beginning. More than one student commented spontaneously during the course of the semester that they were learning not only how to think more clearly in constructing their summaries, but learning how to write more clearly as well.

Gregory Starrett, University of North Carolina at Charlotte

The students praised the project and learned much from it. The choice of the 1980 and 1997 years in the AA gave the students insights into how much the discipline had changed in this period - a first-hand sense of intellectual history. I regard this as the best theory class I have ever taught, and this project was the key to its success.

Grant D. Jones, Davidson College

The AA project, used along with other writing requirements in my course, was so successful that I will use a modified version of the project next time I teach undergraduate Anthropological Theory. The students each read a wide variety of articles in all the subfields and in addition to evaluating the actual content, interpreted their content in terms of what the author's theoretical influences were. This really helped them imagine how they would interpret data themselves.

The word limit taught them to extract the really important parts of each article without getting lost in the minutiae, an important skill. The idea of rating the articles for clarity really gave them a sense of what good writing is, how a weak argument can be finessed with wordy baggage, as well as how a good argument can be obscured in a heap of confusion.

In addition, reading obituaries and tributes to some of the major figures they read in class made the field seem far more "real" to them, almost as if the authors were their professors rather than some sterile, distant figures.

All in all it was a fantastic exercise which they really enjoyed. It really pushed their boundaries outward and stretched their skills enormously. Plus they had fun with it.

Tina Thurston, Baylor University

Participating in this project has proved valuable for students in the History of Method and Theory in Anthropology course. As a senior anthropology major, Joshua Slaven, explained to a local news reporter (who did an article on the project): "I feel this was a valuable experience for everyone involved. It provided a great opportunity for us to introduce ourselves into the annals of Anthropology." Students could see the complex dynamics of the field and the different ways people with different talents contributed to the field’s growth.

Larry Nesper Department of Anthropology Ball State University

In the course of the project my students came more fully to appreciate the historical depth of contemporary theoretical issues in anthropology, the relation among the four subfields, and the ways in which the terms of anthropological discourse have changed (or not changed) in recent decades. In addition, and perhaps more important, the project was very useful in the professionalization of these students, who learned to write brief formal abstracts, within tight time and length constraints. The fact that these abstracts will be read by others was a strong motivation for them to produce a quality product.

Michael E. Harkin, University of Wyoming

The students reviewed the 1920s. It was an interesting exercise. They had been brought up on a diet of theoretically informed anthropology. The American Anthropologist articles were mostly descriptive - indeed, many were little more than lists. The students thus had to put themselves into a time when anthropology was perceived as a largely empirical endeavor of collecting and presenting "facts". This led to many interesting discussions about the assumptions underlying anthropological work. Reading primary materials, the students gained a much clearer appreciation of the nature and limitations of historical particularism.

Great idea! Thanks for getting it up and running and for your encouragement along the way.

John Barker, University of British Columbia

Students were clearly drawn into the project by the opportunity it gave them to write summaries that would be published on the web. Most impressive was the way the project demystified the history of anthropology and the institutionalization of published academic research. By reading summaries of a cross-section of published research from 1899, 1917, 1932, 1952, 1973, and 1992, the students gained a much more realistic understanding of anthropology’s history instead of the narrow view of "classic" articles offered in most courses.

From an instructor’s point of view, it was liberating to take such an open-ended approach to collectively digesting a substantial selection of anthropological readings. The project was an inversion of the usual "top-down" procedure of professors choosing a set of selected readings and working through them with the students.

Jonathan Hill, Southern Illinois University

Students who participated in the AAA Article Review project gave very positive feedback regarding their experience. They stated that the project changed the way they now read journal articles, that they have a better understanding of how journal articles are constructed, and that they now have more confidence in reading articles that are not in their own subfield.

I strongly recommend this project.

Beverly Fogelson, Wayne State University

The exercise was wonderful, and offered students insights into contemporary anthropology that I don't think they would otherwise have achieved. I found the summaries to be very useful writing assignments, as the students had to think carefully about what information to convey in the short space allowed, and how to convey that information both accurately and succinctly. Thanks for including my students and me.

Peter Peregrine, Lawrence University

My students and I learned a great deal and gained a number of benefits from the American Anthropologist archive project. I used the summary writings in my Anthropological Research and Writing class and it worked extremely well on several levels. First, we used the summaries to work on writing and editing skills. Each student was paired with another student after each round of writing. The students read and edited one another's work. As my students had varying degrees of writing abilities, the stronger writers were able to help their peers. This not only encouraged wonderful group dynamics, but also served to hone the writing skills of all the students. Secondly, we used the summaries as a way to discuss theory in anthropology. Summarizing articles from 1896 and 1986 gave us a basis for a comparison of the approaches to anthropology over the past century. While articles from the 1800s were characteristically written with a more empirical bent, the articles from 1986 were much more invested in theoretical orientations. This comparison enabled us to trace the arc of anthropological approaches over a long period of time, ultimately giving the students an invaluable sense of how the discipline has grown and developed throughout the twentieth century. I found it rewarding as a teacher to be able to give my students some concrete form of acknowledgement for their hard work. Having something like a publication on the public anthropology webpage was a great incentive for them. The students enjoyed being able to claim a small contribution to the field of anthropology, and it made me proud. Thanks for organizing such a great project.

Susan R. Dauria, Bloomsburg University

Thanks again for the opportunity to participate in the AA project during the fall of 2001. The students seemed uniformly pleased to be a part of the project and excited that their work would be web-published. I think they enjoyed being part of a large project like this that would also serve as a research tool for the profession. It was also a wonderful way to study the development of anthropological theory, as we had 1944, 1976, and 1995 to summarize. Students were able to see first-hand how the field developed and how theory was always at least behind the scenes of even the most descriptive articles. All in all, a very worthwhile experience for my students!

Mark Allen, California State Polytechnic University, Pomona

From my viewpoint, this project was an unqualified success. My students pitched in and tackled ten articles each, beginning with the early 1900’s, and continuing for each decade of the twentieth century. This gave them an opportunity to see changing styles of research and writing, different theoretical orientations, and a variety of issues. Their sophistication grew along with that of our discipline, and their summaries became more complete, more analytical, and more critical as they moved through the decades. Their writing improved dramatically over the semester, so that by the last summary, their grades were markedly higher. The students’ enthusiasm for the project was sustained throughout the semester, and in class they brought up articles they had read that pertained to our discussions. It was empowering to students to have read and understood a difficult article, and then to have summarized and evaluated it.

Susan Applegate Krouse, Michigan State University

My students and I agreed that this project was "a real learning experience." I had selected the years 1890, 1947 and 1964 in order to give us an long-term overview of the "anthropological project." This breadth of perspective was wonderful! The 1890 articles seemed so fluffy compared to those of the 1960's, prompting a lot of good discussion on the history of the discipline and wonderful insights into the world-view of the last century.

Students also appreciated being able to engage with "real professional articles." They liked hearing about what each other were reading. I recall particularly fondly the wonderful discussions we had about bifurcate merging and the existence of ethnocentric assumptions in anthropologists' work.

Thanks again for inventing and organizing this project!

Anne Chambers, Southern Oregon University

It was a great project for the students! Watching students participate in the Archive Project also reanimated much of the American Anthropologist literature for me. The project, in other words, proved beneficial for both of us. And there was an added plus: One student summarized an article from the 1940s by an emeritus professors. It let him see the history of the discipline through the department (and the department in relation to the discipline’s history).

John M. Norvell, University of Montana

Students in my second year introduction to cultural anthropology class commented that the AA archive project (1) gave them an appreciation for the historical and discursive development of anthropology; (2) helped foster important intellectual skills, including identifying an author's argument and summarizing it in more contemporary language; (3) was great for starting classroom discussions, and (4) showed students just how much our ways of thinking about culture and different lifeways has progressed over time.

As an interesting aside, I was surprised to learn that students found the most recent material easier to understand than that of the earlier publications. It seems the technical jargon and advanced concepts we worry about so much today were not as much of a barrier as were the longer sentences, language style, and less organized argument structure typical of past academic writing. Because of the uniqueness of the project, I never worried about students plagiarizing or buying their written assignment.

Heather Young Leslie, University of Alberta

My impression of the project is overwhelmingly positive. First, I found a new respect for the simple skills of summarization. Second, I came to appreciate the results would indeed be useful to readers down the line. Third, the process engendered a solidarity among participants as we grappled with the details of making the project. Finally, I played the "line on the vita" card and students perked up.  Thanks for the opportunity to participate in this venture.

Myrdene Anderson, Purdue University

Now that we have concluded Oberlin's portion of the American Anthropologist Project, I'm particularly gratified at the responses of my eleven participating students. They found the project a very valuable complement to their Culture Theory course and especially liked the opportunity to explore issues in the field through the American Anthropologist. Working on the 1985, 1998, 1999, and 2000 volumes enhanced the students' understanding of a number of contemporary debates and theoretical developments. We were delighted to be a part of the project.

Jack Glazier, Oberlin College

Students in the theory course really enjoyed reading the relatively early (our years were 1936, 1938, 1940, and 1943) work of some of the anthropologists that we were studying in class and seeing how their work, and style changed over the years. The articles also created some interesting discussions about the differences in writing styles, questions asked, issues addressed, etc. over the years of the discipline in general.

I think it was a very good exercise for the students and they enjoyed working with articles in a more professional way. I have to admit that I really enjoyed reading some of the articles written by folks who worked hard in the trenches but whose names have been lost in time.

Linda Cool, Union College

Participating in the AA project was a once in a lifetime experience for my students at Cleveland State. Since we do not offer any graduate courses, this was an opportunity for the students to get a taste of advanced thinking and writing, coming to terms with materials that were outside the scope of the usual undergraduate textbook. It was interesting to watch the students develop into better writers as each summary was prepared during the course of the project. To a student, I observe marked progress in the ability to synthesize the material and present an objective summary in a clear, concise form.

The project also provided me with a challenge in presenting the materials in the context of the discipline of anthropology and the context of social life in the early years of the twentieth century. I would enthusiastically recommend this type of project to any instructor. I learned as much as my students did.

Jeff Williams, Cleveland State University

The undergraduate public anthropology project was a great success. I have been working with undergraduates conducting original research for more than a decade, and I can say without hesitation that this project has been among the most enthusiastically received assignments I have introduced in my class on qualitative research. While undergraduate teaching has always been an unrecognized fountain of originality, bringing the work of all of the participating students to the attention of the public will, I hope, entice some of our more specialized colleagues (and particularly those who do not directly teach undergraduates) to reconsider the merits of working with enthusiastic young students. The project reminded me, yet again, that these students are not only our future anthropologists, but the very people whose responsibility it will be to bring our discipline to the center of public debate. I for one look forward to utilizing this new resource as a teaching tool in future classes.

David Napier, Middlebury College

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