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Urthred
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13 Mar 2009, 4:30 am

Im currently majoring in Anthropology in college and despite the fact it can be highly social i find the area fascinetating and would like to presue a career in the field (archaeology specfically) and i was wonder if anyone with aspergers here currently worked in the anthropological field and dealt with social situations multiculturally?



postpaleo
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13 Mar 2009, 7:46 am

Yup, although the use of Asperger's and myself is let's say hazy as to a definitive use for me. But I do have a hallava list of other labels they seem to think fit. Does that work for you?

Did pro Arch (Archaeo Whores we do it for the money) work for years, didn't count them I'd have to ask The Wife, who did do the college in Anthro and History and we traveled together for a long time doing the countless projects, and I did non pro work for I forgot, 15, 20? I had to teach her PHD what she had in her own backyard and she taught me out of class. I'm road kill now, it can be a rough life. But sure met an awful lot of people that appeared, in hind sight, as on the spectrum. I think that's why so many felt like family to me and I to them. Me and college? That's a no. I had to retrain a bunch though. The pro world is a lot different then Academic, a lot.

Sorry just noticed your post count,
Welcome home. :D



GreatCeleryStalk
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13 Mar 2009, 12:54 pm

I did my BA in cultural anthropology. I want to do a PhD in Educational Anthropology after I finish my master's. I worked with an indigenous group of transnational migrants from Mexico and found my ASDs helpful in working with others in a multicultural context. Observing and learning different social codes was helpful for me in terms of understanding that of American culture in general.



Urthred
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13 Mar 2009, 1:25 pm

thanks folks thats actually a big help.



phil777
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13 Mar 2009, 4:01 pm

Currently started in Bio anthropology (that's anthropo based on the evolutionnary theories). Meh, haven't really worked in the field yet, but considering Montreal is a multi cultural city, would that count? ^^;



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13 Mar 2009, 8:02 pm

Anthropology's always interested me, I've taken the introduction course, and next term I'll be taking Intro to Biological Anthropology. It would seem that about 3/4ths of the classes for the Anthropology major at Oregon State University don't have an actual teacher in the class, you just watch a bunch of videos (either online or in a classroom where the videos are remote-operated) and take online quizzes. Any other universities like this?



GreatCeleryStalk
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13 Mar 2009, 11:23 pm

DNForrest wrote:
Anthropology's always interested me, I've taken the introduction course, and next term I'll be taking Intro to Biological Anthropology. It would seem that about 3/4ths of the classes for the Anthropology major at Oregon State University don't have an actual teacher in the class, you just watch a bunch of videos (either online or in a classroom where the videos are remote-operated) and take online quizzes. Any other universities like this?


Nope. My Intro to X courses were generally lecture-based. Everything else was an intense seminar-style or lab/fieldwork based course.



postpaleo
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14 Mar 2009, 12:03 am

I should have been more specific with the word pro. I should have used contract, meaning bidding on projects. All within that type casting weren't field, meaning on the spot. There was an awful lot of lab and paper writing and even more specialization behind the actual field work and some of the work needed to be sent else wheres for even more specific. For an example flotation analysis. I didn't get into that aspect of it till much later, the actual interpretation of the project. At that point to move above would have been very hard, for me, with out the degree. Even at that point I couldn't actually sign my name to it, but that was still ok by me.

About the best advice I can give you would be get your hands dirty. But not knowing your time or monetary element I can't be a lot more specific. No money and have time, look for an active group in your area. Have money and time, field school or see what your school is up to. The more you get into it, the more you will see what really interests you. I was lithics, prehistoric, get me on an historical site and I wasn't real happy, which is a lie, but my heart was elsewhere.

And no I didn't really do it for the money. I was always amazed they actually gave me money to do what I would have done for free.

As an aside and I hope you take this in the manner I really mean it GreatCeleryStalk. You have your PHD at your age, what did they do hold you back in school a year? :wink:



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14 Mar 2009, 1:01 am

No PhD just yet, sadly. Still working on the master's. Will be finished in July.



postpaleo
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14 Mar 2009, 1:29 am

My deepest sympathy's. Watched more then few go through that. I didn't see the ones going after the PHD as much, but sometimes they got back in the field for a brief project or two. It's worth it, they're doing wonderful things now.

But as another aside, any that might read this that are more like me, you can get your hands dirty as well. I was an exception in the field and it took a long time to get there, but I did and there were a couple of others without the paper too. And surprisingly as well, maybe to some, an actual degree in Anthro or even more rarely Arch wasn't as common as one might tend to think.



arielhawksquill
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14 Mar 2009, 8:24 am

I got my undergraduate degree Anthropology, because I really wanted to understand human beings (since I didn't understand them instinctively, I had to do so intellectually.) However, I didn't pursue it further because I didn't want to teach. There isn't any way to practice anthro that doesn't involve being a professor at a university--most field work is funded by institutions which only grant money to anthropologists affiliated with a college or university. Also, being head of a dig or project means managing and bossing other people, which is not my strong suit.



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19 Mar 2009, 12:35 am

Any job prospects in Anthropology? :)



Urthred
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19 Mar 2009, 1:48 am

yes, a few at the B.A level it increases with masters and doctorate


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19 Mar 2009, 1:59 am

Jobs at the BA level are very sparse, and are often in the Cultural Resource Management/Contract Arch areas. Expect to spend a lot of time with a spade and a screen and to be paid around $7-8 per hour. Sometimes you can find other employment in anthro at the BA level, but it's difficult.

I chose to do a master's in something else just for employability purposes. PhD will come in a few years.

If you want to stay in anthropology you're going to have to plan on graduate school; a PhD is pretty essential.



Urthred
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19 Mar 2009, 2:11 am

yeah i know im getting the basic out of the way right now cureently then i plan to swap to a better school with a specialty in archaeology. if you have any recomendations for a good archaeology college im open to suggestions.


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19 Mar 2009, 9:46 am

Urthred wrote:
yeah i know im getting the basic out of the way right now cureently then i plan to swap to a better school with a specialty in archaeology. if you have any recomendations for a good archaeology college im open to suggestions.


You should do some research online, using a tool like http://www.gradschools.com/Subject/Archaeology/21.html which shows all the accredited archaology graduate programs available. If you limit it to schools in the USA which offer a PhD, then there are only 32 choices--and if you limit it further by knowing what you want to do (i.e. are you interested in American Indians? Classical Greece? do you want to do underwater archaeology?) then you can narrow your choices down to just a few schools.

Next you visit thse schools' websites and check out the departmental webpages--see what professors you'd be working under there, and what their research interests are and maybe read some of their published works. By the time you do that then the choice will become clear which programs you want to apply to.