Note from the Editor

Abstract

In this issue of Practicing Anthropology I took the liberty of assuming the role of "guest editor" in order to publish a set of articles organized thematically around the topic of "Appalachia" and "The Commons." This topic is one offered as a potential contribution to the Society and its members from the perspective of methods and mission. Contributors to this issue are all practitioners trained in anthropology, are committed to advancing applied/practicing/ engaged anthropology as a field of study, and are committed to ameliorating the (nearly) unlivable conditions many coalfield Appalachia residents currently face. What sets these practitioners apart to a certain degree is that, in all cases but one, they have been working with nonacademic organizations, coalitions, individuals, agencies, administrations, corporations, foundations, and in other multisectoral affiliations to develop co-equal collaborations among contributors for a decade or more. They have been able to sustain these relationships for so long because, with a few of exceptions, they all live in or very near the communities and citizens with whom they collaborate. Like the business anthropologists included in Goldmacher and Santee' issue (Practicing Anthropology 36[2]), when they go to work, they are in or close to their "site" of anthropological practice. Therefore, their community and organizational relationships have become far more than private/public/ academic partnerships; they are now their reference groups, their personal communities of practice, and, not uncommonly, their professional raison d'être.