Teaching ‘Practicing’

Teaching continues to be one of the most interesting, challenging and important tasks confronting any professional social scientist. Although most professional reputations are built primarily upon the results of research and writing; teaching is an essential element for the continuity and growth of the very disciplines and systems of knowledge to which generations of professionals have contributed. Students, undergraduates and graduates alike, challenge teachers in two important ways. First, they want to see and understand the relevance of what we know and do to the world in which they live, as they see it. Next, they want to successfully acquire and adapt such knowledge and skills to the life circumstances and social issues of their world. Some students want to change the world, many more want to find a comfortable niche where they can continue to grow and flourish as members of society. We offer another issue of Practicing Anthropology to teachers and students who can learn much from identification and discussion of the issues or problems faced by these contributors as they worked in countries in the Americas, Africa and Asia.