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Interview
with Karen |
| 1) |
Tell me about your job. Is what you do different in any way from what others in
your occupation do?
I am currently in my second year as an anthropology PhD student at a large university. In addition to conducting research, I am responsible for teaching an undergraduate course.
Right now, most of my research concerns figure skating—its culture and treatment by the media. This kind of research is part of a new trend in anthropology. More and more anthropologists are conducting research “at home,” that is, studying contemporary western culture rather than going abroad to study other cultures.
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| 2) |
Can you tell me about your background and how you got into this field?
I first became interested in the field of anthropology in high school when I took a special course in archaeology (archaeology is one area of anthropology). Our class spent the summer digging up the remains of an old Iroquois village.
Based on this great experience, I decided to major in anthropology at university. During the summers, I got jobs as an archaeological field assistant with a local conservation authority and with an archaeological consulting company.
When I reached the graduate level, however, I switched the focus of my studies to social anthropology. I had taken a course in non-verbal communication and wanted to apply what I had learned to North American figure skating. I was intrigued by how skaters communicated through costumes, movement, and dance, and by how our society viewed them.
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| 3) |
What
personal characteristics are required for someone
to be successful in your job?
You need to be extremely self-disciplined, organized and hard-working in order to survive the many years of education required to become and anthropologist.
In addition, you should be good with people. As an anthropologist, you have to interview many different types of people when you are studying a culture. You must be able to get along with them and be objective and non-judgmental.
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| 4) |
How much job security is there for people in your field?
Unfortunately, there is very little job security in this field right now. For financial reasons, many universities are only hiring new professors for short-term contracts. In order to ensure that they are hired back every year, professors must keep up-to-date with their research and constantly publish.
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| 5) |
What other jobs could you do with the skills you have gained in this field?
Although most anthropologists are employed by universities, other jobs are available. Anthropologists are experts in understanding society’s beliefs and behaviours. As a result, they are often hired by market research firms to study consumers.
Large corporations often hire anthropologists as consultants on contemporary cultural trends. |
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| 6) |
What do you think the future holds for people in your occupation?
More and more people are graduating with PhDs in anthropology, but universities are downsizing. As a result, the competition for academic positions at universities will be fierce. A lot of anthropologists will be forced to find work outside of the university.
Fortunately, anthropologists have many skills that are valued by the private sector: research, writing, interview and language skills, and creativity.
Because of limited government funding for research, more anthropologists will have to focus on “at home” research of contemporary culture, rather than going to distant locales in other countries.
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| 7) |
What are the biggest challenges in your job?
The biggest challenge is the level of education necessary. It takes 2 years to get a master’s degree and 5 years to get a PhD. This is time-consuming and tedious. It is also financially draining for many students. You get a little money for teaching at the graduate level, but not much.
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| 8) |
Are there many opportunities in your field? What should people do to get
started?
To secure an entry-level position at a university, you need to have a PhD, numerous publications, and teaching experience. Such educational qualifications are important even when applying for jobs in the private sector.
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Likes
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"The first thing that I really like about my job is the flexible hours because anthropologists don’t normally have very strict or fixed schedules so most of us are able to take off days when we really don’t feel like working.
A second thing that I enjoy is teaching, because for me it’s really rewarding to pass on knowledge to my own students.
And another thing that I really enjoy is the opportunity to travel because, during our fieldwork, anthropologists are able to travel all over the world. A lot of my colleagues, for example, have been to places like Peru, Fiji, and all throughout Europe."
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Dislikes
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"First, the high amount of education required is often really stressful for a lot of people because it involves 11 years of post-secondary school.
Also, for a lot of people there’s poor financial stability, because after 11 years you don’t really make a whole lot of money.
And thirdly, the lifestyle is very unstable and there’s not really a whole lot of jobs available so you need to be able to move around from city to city."
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Advice
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“Basically, it’s really important for you to try and get high marks, be really persistent, and try and take any opportunity that you can to travel because that’ll give you exposure to different cultures and different perspectives.”
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A
Day in the Life
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9:00 am - 10:00 am
Preparing for class: going over the lesson plan; familiarizing myself with the weekly readings; coming up with questions and ways to promote discussions.
10:00 am - 11:00 am
Doing research at the library: searching databases for titles of books and articles relating to my project; finding the materials in the library.
11:00 am - 12:30 pm
Teaching a tutorial class: answering questions about readings and lectures.
12:30 pm - 2:00 pm
Teaching another tutorial class: answering questions about readings and lectures.
2:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Continuing with my research: reading and taking notes on the materials I gathered in the morning.
5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Working on my dissertation: organizing my ideas; writing a few pages.
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Breakdown
of Activities
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Working by yourself
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Working with co-workers
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Serving customers / clients
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Working with numbers
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Writing or drawing
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Making or creating things
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Running machinery
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On the phone
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Using computers
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Working outside
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Working inside
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Working at a desk
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On your feet
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Doing physical work
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Travelling
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