WHAT IS RURAL ANTHROPOLOGY? - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The rural anthropology studies the living conditions of the population living in the camps. Anthropological research allows the development of conclusions and recommendations from the studies of the studied areas. This field of science is intended to consult the residents of the communities about their specific activities.

The multidisciplinary approach of rural anthropologists makes it possible to analyze from the field, the social conditions in which the population under study lives. It seeks to document everything that is not documented.

The information is collected through unstructured interviews, the observation in which one interacts with the interviewees and their environment. The data measurement is done qualitatively. The dimensions to be studied are: cultural, social and economic-productive.

The development of rural areas lies in the expansion of potential, bearing in mind the consultation in the decision-making process of the communities, about how it will be the best way to carry them out. This detail contrasts the results of the investigations of other professionals.

The interaction between the government, the private sector and civil society allow the materialization of activities conducive to planning and executing public policies, the generators of rural socio-economic development, in a coordinated manner.

What are the characteristics of rural anthropology?

Rural anthropology is important as a tool for evaluating and establishing proposals, of qualitative origin, for the establishment and / or monitoring of public policies.

It is interdisciplinary and contrasts may arise between anthropological proposals and those of other disciplines.

Governments in the past established public policies without taking into account the impact of their implementation on urban and rural populations.

The trend is the inclusion of previous qualitative studies in rural areas where an agrarian reform, infrastructure projects, and others could be implemented.

How has the role of rural anthropologists been in some countries?

There is a socio-economic gap between rural regions with respect to urban ones, since it has sought to raise the standard of living in rural areas without taking into account the presence of farmers or indigenous ethnic groups. Anthropologists, through their work from academia, have investigated these challenges.

Public projects are measured quantitatively with few qualitative measurements about the well-being that they would introduce in rural areas, for this reason it is important to know the realities prior to the implementation of the referred projects.

The well-being to be generated must be taken into account as a set of ideas that can provide the communities to benefit.

For this reason, anthropologists have dedicated their study of rural areas and put their efforts into providing a documentary and field research work.

The extension and research activities of public planning and development agencies make it possible to publicize current situations, susceptible to improvement, which carry with them comprehensive plans to achieve desired situations of prosperity.

The academy generates research works in this sense, with a holistic vision in which the whole is the sum of the parts.

What are the characteristics of the interdisciplinary work of the rural anthropologist?

Rural anthropologists provide qualitative answers to the problems presented by the studied communities while the infrastructure teams carry out the calculations of public projects and consider the environmental impact to be generated.

Rural anthropologists rely on the work carried out by sociologists, psychologists, historians and political scientists in order to locate the context in which the rural areas studied or to be studied have developed.

The importance of the interdisciplinary nature is vital because the disciplines complement each other between the conclusions and recommendations that they reach.

Public policy is unlikely to be successful if issues that affect people are not taken into account.

What are the resources that rural anthropologists should use for their extension and research activities?

Locate the rural areas of your country, to choose which is the one that presents the greatest difficulties according to the information provided by the central banks and statistical institutes, since they are the ones who have the legal responsibility to measure the socioeconomic variables.

The review of recent textual references of works carried out by universities, governments and unions at the local, regional, national and international levels is important to support the thematic axis of the research to be carried out.

Likewise, the methodology to be used will be based on the field study with interviews and direct observation, the time and financing resources to carry out these activities must be obtained through the pertinent institutions.

The distribution of the sample of the rural population to be studied is divided into groups by age, gender, and ethnic origin. This allows selecting the target number of semi-structured interviews required. The questionnaire of closed questions and with simple selection is very useful.

The content of the questionnaires and interviews should take data related to the local economy: The agricultural, manufacturing and commercial activity. Likewise, it is recommended to know about political preferences and religious practices at the time of preparing the indicated instruments.

What results can be expected from the work of rural anthropologists?

Research in rural areas generates conclusions about the study of reality. One of them is that the public policy agenda must take into account the diversity of opinions of ethnic groups and experts residing in the place studied.

Multidisciplinary work is key to be able to propose, design, execute and implement public policies that result in the development of rural areas, anticipating the least socioeconomic and environmental impact on them.

References

1. Adams, J. (2007). Ethnography of Rural North America. Illinois, Newsletter of the Society for the Anthropology of North America.
2. Camors, V., et al (2006). UNESCO: Anthropology and Development: Some Experiences from Three Cases of Intervention in the Uruguayan Rural Environment. Recovered from: unesco.org.uy.
3. Dilly, B. (2009). Omerta 2009 Journal of Applied Anthropology: Toward a theory of engagement: development anthropology in a rural river town in Iowa. Retrieved from: omertaa.org.
4. Feito, M. (2005). Anthropology and Rural Development. Contributions of the Ethnographic Approach to Production Processes and Policy Implementation. Misiones, National University of Misiones.
5. Hernández, R., et al (2007). Chilean Rural Anthropology in the Last Two Decades: Situation and Perspectives. Santiago de Chile, University of Chile.