Post WWII: Emergence of Applied/Medical Anthropologists
- The success of the reconstruction of Europe influenced many other international development projects
- Developers attempted to "modernize" the economies and healthcare systems of poor countries
- Traditional practices of the local people stood in the way of the developers success
- Anthropologists were summonsed to "troubleshoot" the problems that arose with the local people. They were to identify and get rid of any cultural obstacles that stood in their way.
- Edward Wellin and Benjamin Paul(Harvard Anthropologist) argued that ethnography is essential for successful development projects because it helps the planners identify sources of resistance in the local population
- George Foster, medical anthropologist and consultant for international health in early 1950s, focused on how the "burecratic" attitudes of the planners and the "institutional culture" of the development organization contribute to program failures and NOT the cultures of the local people
- Anthropologists expressed the need to learn about the cultures of the local population BEFORE development begins
- Developers vs. Anthropologists: "The west is the best" The developers felt like the anthropologists were working against them instead of for them. It took the developers 30 years to recognize the need to learn about the local people before