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Area of Focus: Anthropological practice, natural resource management, and poverty reduction
I find the notion of "anthropological praxis" to be compelling
and motivating, the idea that the insights and methods of anthropology are
put into "practice" in communities. My focus then is not product
oriented, as it would be with work that is strictly research, but process
oriented—being part of community routines so that change can be fostered
within existing cultural systems. In this way, the benefits of change can
be optimized because change can be better absorbed, rather than be a wedge
of intrusion that disrupts a community and diminishes the ability of people
to take care of themselves.
For 15 years, I have worked in the area of natural resource management. I have been part of the "partnership movement" that has shifted natural resource decision-making from a disruptive presence in communities that created political gridlock and the inability to implement policy, to one that is collaborative and community based. I have learned that the best decisions are the ones that are shared among the widest spectrum of society, with the focus on taking care of the land so that it takes care of us, as Native Americans continue to teach us. Those of us close to this work have come to call it "community-based ecosystem stewardship."
A second focus is on urban development and poverty reduction. A number of recent initiatives to reduce poverty have a "top down" approach that depend on driving change through institutional programs. That will never work because it colonizes the poor and makes them dependent on formal systems with their vagaries of funding. Instead, poverty reduction must be an empowerment process by which people better understand their conditions, begin to define their opportunities more broadly through a reflective process, and then link to helpful agencies whose role is one of expediting and facilitating.
Biographical Sketch
Kevin was raised as a farm boy in Nebraska, immersed in extended family, spear fishing down at the river, and wandering town looking for mischief. His family moved to Denver when he was a teenager, where he got hooked on the West and travel. Amidst raising a family and life experiences, he managed to get a psychology degree from Colorado State, a Master's in anthropology from Catholic University and a doctorate in anthropology from the University of California at Davis. He loves rural living in southern Oregon, music jamming with friends, and playing with spouse, kids, grandkids and friends. He began his anthropological practice in 1979 and will likely continue until the polar caps freeze back up. Along with other associates, he started the Center for Social Ecology and Public Policy in 2005 and sees that organization as an excellent means by which to advance his professional work.
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