Student Researchers’ Reflections on the AAA Undergraduate Fellowship

Abstract

When the American Anthropological Association offered its Undergraduate Research Fellows program in 2019–2020, the intent was not only to obtain ethnographic insights into the college‐workforce transition for anthropology majors, but also to provide a meaningful educational experience to the participating student‐researchers. Previously (Ginsberg and Jackson, this issue), we have situated the fellowship program with reference to ethnography of higher education and native ethnography; in this paper, by contrast, we contextualize it with scholarship on high‐impact practices in undergraduate education, including research opportunities, collaborative assignments, and community‐based learning. We then present reflections from the student‐researchers themselves regarding what they learned through participation in the fellows program. In their reflections, the fellows describe a process of becoming more central members of three overlapping communities of practice: the AAA research team, their respective home departments, and the discipline of anthropology overall. We conclude by discussing reasons why anthropology is particularly well suited to provide undergraduate research opportunities, and why doing so would strengthen the discipline as well.

Determinants of Research Engagement: A Sociodemographic Analysis of First-Year University Students in Peru's Northern Macroregion

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Anthropology Majors Prepare for Life after College

“…Some disciplines have undertaken a process of “tuning” to better articulate what skills and perspectives their undergraduate students learn, as well as their professional applications in a variety of fields (American Historical Association 2016; National Communication Association 2016). In anthropology, although such work remains descriptive and preliminary (Jackson, Nogueras, and Ginsberg 2017; Loker 2016), anthropologists know that the skills and perspectives they offer are of use to business, government, and nonprofit employers, and in a few industries, the value of anthropology is generally accepted; historic preservation, public health, and user experience research are prominent examples. Guidance is available to those who know where to look, as many anthropologists who have established themselves in practice have gone on to write books advising the next generation on how to parlay their training into a professional career (Briller and Goldmacher 2020; Ellick and Watkins 2011; Nolan 2003, 2017).…”