The Fox Project

This paper describes one instance in which Sol Tax sought to fuse applied and academic anthropology into a new anthropological practice that he called “action anthropology.” The Fox Project was one of several attempts to create a “clinical science” which produced better anthropological theory as it solved pressing community problems. It broke with conventional applied anthropological projects in several ways. The action anthropologists operated with more autonomy and were, at times, very active political advocates for the tribe. None of the project's cooperative economic and social programs, popular media materials, and educational programs survived their departure, however, and only the scholarship program had a lasting impact. Moreover, the action anthropologists were not as collaborative as they claimed, and their power‐brokering with whites may have added to Mes‐quaki political dependency. In addition, action anthropology never broke with academic anthropology as dramatically as Tax claimed. Despite his populist rhetoric about the limits of academic anthropology, he retained considerable faith in the reigning constructs of science and cultural analysis of his time. The Fox action programs were never “natural experiments” that generated new theories of culture change. In addition, the project's ethnographic writings essentialized Mesquaki culture and failed to anticipate subsequent tribal activism. Despite its mixed legacy, it remains an intriguing experiment that suggests ways of making academic anthropology more socially and politically relevant. A full appraisal of Tax's theory of action anthropology will require revisiting his other action projects as well.