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It was 1972 and I was talking to a group of fellow anthropology graduate students just prior to leaving the country to conduct my dissertation research when I pronounced that applied should never go in front of anthropology. In my view, anthropology was an intellectual discipline and that if someone wanted to “help” people they should become social workers. Ratchet forward several decades and once again I’m speaking to anthropology students only now I’m telling them that if their research does not aid people in how they live, there is no reason to conduct it. So, what happened?
ANTHROPOLOGY ISSN 2473-4772 http://dx.doi.org/10.17140/ANTPOJ-1-e001 Open Journal Editorial Ticking All the Boxes * *Corresponding author * Anthony P. Glascock, PhD Anthony P. Glascock, PhD* Interim Head and Professor Department of Anthropology Drexel University Department of Anthropology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA Philadelphia, PA, USA E-mail: glascock@drexel.edu It was 1972 and I was talking to a group of fellow anthropology graduate students just prior to leaving the country to conduct my dissertation research when I pronounced that applied Volume 1 : Issue 1 should never go in front of anthropology. In my view, anthropology was an intellectual disci- Article Ref. #: 1000ANTPOJ1e001 pline and that if someone wanted to “help” people they should become social workers. Ratchet forward several decades and once again I’m speaking to anthropology students only now I’m Article History th telling them that if their research does not aid people in how they live, there is no reason to Received: January 18 , 2016 th conduct it. So, what happened?
Accepted: January 19 , 2016 th Published: January 25th, 2016 What happened is that I became interested in aging and old age just before I took my first job, and I decided to focus on issues surrounding the definition and treatment of the elderly Citation in non-industrial societies. This research was still fairly abstract and certainly far removed Glascock AP. Ticking all the boxes. from “helping” people. However, it was a fairly short journey from analyzing secondary data Anthropol Open J. 2016; 1(1): e1.
to actually conducting research on the treatment of the elderly. This research led to an interest doi: 10.17140/ANTPOJ-1-e001 in the relationship between health and aging, which in turn led to a focus on home health care and, lo and behold, a decade later, I was being issued a series of patents – yes, an anthropolo- gist with technology patents – for a behavioral monitoring system to be used in the residences of at-risk elderly. One start-up company and a sale of the patents to General Electric later, I was launched on a career as a consultant, helping health care providers deliver care through the use of a variety of technologies. As a result of this journey, I encourage students who are either pursuing graduate studies or entering the job market to focus on issues surrounding health and care delivery.
Thus, I welcome the launch of Anthropology-Open Journal, since, as the British are fond of saying, it ticks all the boxes: it focuses on the intersection of anthropology and biology and health; it is online; and it is open access. Let me venture to say that what we have with ANTPOJ is a vision of where the discipline is headed. First, by almost every measure, there is no more relevant subject matter today than health and care provision. Not only does it absorb an increasingly large share of society’s resources, but maintaining health is one of those cultural universals that link all societies and peoples. Second, the Journal being online and open access just makes sense in the world we live in. The paramount goal of all researchers is to have their findings read by the largest possible audience so that their findings impact the work of others. How better to reach this goal than to have their work made readily available by a journal such as ANTPOJ.
Thus, it is my sincere hope that anthropologists and individuals from related fields take full advantage of what ANTPOJ has to offer. The Journal will only succeed if researchers are willing to both submit contributions and encourage their colleagues to do the same. There are many deserving outlets for our work, but I have high hopes that ANTPOJ will become one of those journals to which people turn to read the latest and best research reporting. I personally plan to spread the news of ANTPOJ far and wide and I encourage everyone reading this to do the same. Once again, my kudos to those responsible for taking the important step of making Copyright Anthropology-Open Journal a reality.
©2016 Glascock AP. This is an open access article distributed un- der the Creative Commons Attribu- tion 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the origi- nal work is properly cited.