Interview with Marietta Baba, May 23, 2007

Interview Summary

Marietta Baba is an anthropologist whose extensive work in revitalizing business anthropology in the 1980s has earned her the nickname "mother of business anthropology." In the interview, Baba and the interviewer, Keri Brondo, first discuss what business anthropology is, what sub-fields are within it, and how it differs from organizational anthropology. Baba provides information on her family's background and how her childhood experiences shaped her as a person and later a professional. Baba outlines how she developed one of the first business anthropology programs at Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan. Baba and Brondo also discuss the automobile industry's crisis in the 1980s, the American Anthropological Association's (AAA) dilemma with the IRS, people who have had an impact on her professional development, Baba's key contributions to business anthropology, professional ethics, and hybrid anthropology.

Interview Keyword

Anthropologists Anthropology Professional organizations Society for Applied Anthropology Business anthropology Anthropological methodology Practicing anthropology

Interview LC Subject

Society for Applied Anthropology Applied anthropology Anthropology Business anthropology.

Interview Rights

All rights to the interviews, including but not restricted to legal title, copyrights and literary property rights, have been transferred to the University of Kentucky Libraries.

Interview Usage

Interviews may be reproduced with permission from Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, Special Collections, University of Kentucky Libraries.