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Anthropology: the perfect lens

Jeroen de Vos

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OR: The need for anthropologists

By people who don’t know they need them

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Jeroen de Vos: mail@jeroendevos.nl

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Jeroen de Vos: mail@jeroendevos.nl

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Jeroen de Vos: mail@jeroendevos.nl

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Jeroen de Vos: mail@jeroendevos.nl

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Jeroen de Vos: mail@jeroendevos.nl

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Jeroen de Vos: mail@jeroendevos.nl

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Jeroen de Vos: mail@jeroendevos.nl

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Structure

  • Introduction: who am I?
  • Why did I chose to study Cultural Anthropology?
  • My educational path
  • Learnings

Jeroen de Vos: mail@jeroendevos.nl

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Structure

  • Introduction: who am I?
  • Why did I chose to study Cultural Anthropology?
  • My educational path
  • Learnings

Jeroen de Vos: mail@jeroendevos.nl

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Jeroen de Vos

  • Working on crossroad technology / humanity
  • Involved in research inside and outside academia

Jeroen de Vos: mail@jeroendevos.nl

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Jeroen de Vos

  • Working on crossroad technology / humanity
  • Involved in research inside and outside academia
  • Anthropology in entrepreneurship
  • Anthropology in consultancy
  • Anthropology in big data research (@Universiteit van Amsterdam)

Jeroen de Vos: mail@jeroendevos.nl

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Jeroen de Vos

  • Anthropology in entrepreneurship

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Jeroen de Vos: mail@jeroendevos.nl

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Jeroen de Vos

  • Anthropology in entrepreneurship
  • Anthropology in consultancy

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Jeroen de Vos: mail@jeroendevos.nl

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Jeroen de Vos

  • Anthropology in entrepreneurship
  • Anthropology in consultancy
  • Anthropology in big data research (@Universiteit van Amsterdam)

Jeroen de Vos: mail@jeroendevos.nl

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Commonalities / Red Thread

  • Understanding people with all there ambiguities, inconsistencies
  • Scaling qualitative insights (stories / narratives)
  • Both using technology as a means to do research
  • And looking at the role of technology in our way of understanding

Jeroen de Vos: mail@jeroendevos.nl

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Structure

  • Introduction: who am I?
  • Why did I chose to study Cultural Anthropology?
  • My educational path
  • Learnings

Jeroen de Vos: mail@jeroendevos.nl

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Social curiosity

Jeroen de Vos: mail@jeroendevos.nl

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What is cultural anthropology?

Jeroen de Vos: mail@jeroendevos.nl

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What is it not?

Psychology: problem driven + individual focus

Sociology: away from narratives into statistics and generalisations

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Jeroen de Vos: mail@jeroendevos.nl

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What is it?

Psychology: problem driven + individual focus

Sociology: away from narratives into statistics and generalisations

Cultural anthropology:

  • Understanding people, groups of people,
  • The organisation of society
  • Why people walk the way the walk, talk the way they talk
  • Understanding someone different from yourself

Jeroen de Vos: mail@jeroendevos.nl

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Structure

  • Introduction: who am I?
  • Why did I chose to study Cultural Anthropology?
  • My educational path
  • Learnings

Jeroen de Vos: mail@jeroendevos.nl

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LAS

Utrecht University

  • Interdisciplinary
  • Major: Cultural Anthropology

Jeroen de Vos: mail@jeroendevos.nl

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Cultural Anthropology

Learn about building block of society / living together:

  • Language
  • Religion
  • The state / the people
  • The urban / the rural
  • Family relations
  • Politics
  • Power relations

Jeroen de Vos: mail@jeroendevos.nl

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Research Master

New Media & Digital Culture (Universiteit van Amsterdam)

  • How technology shapes society
  • How people shape technologies

Jeroen de Vos: mail@jeroendevos.nl

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Structure

  • Introduction: who am I?
  • Why did I chose to study Cultural Anthropology?
  • My educational path
  • Learnings

Jeroen de Vos: mail@jeroendevos.nl

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Learnings

  • The perspective cultural anthropologists can offer are very much needed
    • Although little jobs or positions will be available marketed at anthropologists
  • If anthropology is the lens, who is looking at what exactly?
    • It needs a focus / object: it's very useful combined with other disciplines / perspectives!
  • But it does require constant translation
    • You have to get to adopt the language of the people / organisation you would like to work in
  • In this translation typical anthropologist’s skills should not be forgotten
    • Eager to learn / unstoppable curiosity, the ability to be adaptive, being socially sensitive, being entrepreneurial (venturing in new fields), being analytical

Jeroen de Vos: mail@jeroendevos.nl

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AMA: Questions?

Jeroen de Vos: mail@jeroendevos.nl