Native American Consolation: Bureau of Ethnic Research and Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology Models, A Comparative Study

Kathleen Van Vlack

Applied Anthropology has a long history of working with contemporary communities to find solutions to social, cultural, environmental, and economic problems, and many have spent their careers working on these issues with Native American communities. This essay explores how the Bureau of Ethnic Research (BER) and its contemporary form, the Bureau of Applied Research in Anthropology (BARA), set the standards for research conducted in Indian country through their contrastive research approaches. This paper describes the BER top-down approach of American Indian development projects and the BARA ground-up approach of the Nevada Test Site American Indian Program projects. Attention is given to how these initiatives have affected social-cultural issues and long-term research relationships with Native American communities. [Applied Anthropology, Native Americans, Methodology, Consultation]

The Applied Anthropologist, No. 1, Vol. 29, 2009, pp 33 - 45

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