Welcome Guest Contributor Josh Brown

A warm welcome to our new Guest Contributor, Josh Brown! Josh is from Sacramento CA, and he's an Anthropology Major (Physical), so he's going to treat this subject with the eye of science.

An open dialogue discussion about the application of anthropology to the study of Bigfoot.
- By Josh Brown

I want to begin this open dialogue discussion with a brief introduction. My name is Josh Brown, and professionally I am a kilt maker based in northern California. In my 40 years on this earth, my life direction has taken many divergent paths. I studied Anthropology at Georgia State University in the 90’s under some of the best instructors on the planet. This alone helped to shape my thought process to grasp and understand almost every aspect of my life.

In short, Anthropology answers every question I have concerning belief, culture, understanding species, and life placement. I have lived in Africa for 6 years, studied Bag piping and the Indian Sitar for 25 years, I have delved into eastern religion and philosophy, studied intensively western culture and religion, worked for Apple Computer for 12 years, and have finally settled into owning my own business making kilts and sporrans (Of which I truly enjoy).

I remember as a young child in the 70’s, my father took me to see the movie “Sasquatch”, which forged a lasting (Yet passive) interest in this phenomena. Boggy Creek, Patterson-Gimlin, the voice of Leonard Nimoy narrating the “In search of “ Bigfoot episode, Steve Austin coming to heads with a very 70’s Bigfoot costumed Andre the Giant were all bits and pieces of that phenomena that I enjoyed and let stir my imagination.

I think many of you born in the 70’s and 80’s may be able to relate to what I’m hashing up here! Americans love the unknown, especially the paranormal and cryptid. Fast forward to the new millennia to find this love affair has been infused with the digital culture of our day-HD video, HD and digital audio recordings, Paranormal and Cryptid TV shows (Where the results end up being less than what the show title claims), Youtube, etc.

Something is happening within this realm that I find exciting and even challenging. We are beginning to accumulate small pieces of physical evidence that are being scrutinized through peer review, as well as a watershed of video and audio evidence that can then be studied and reviewed by different scientific disciplines (As well as the public) for verification. While still considered a pseudo-science by the mainstream, we also are seeing some of the highest academic scholars taking a stab at giving the idea of Bigfoot at least a chance to be studied under a scientific standard .

Even as recently as 10 years ago this would be a career ender for any Phd. bringing forth, or showing any professional attention to this subject. I must also mention the seriousness of the many new breed of Bigfoot hunters such as Matt Moneymaker who are trying to directionalize the search and research of Bigfoot into something more organized and serious.

As many of you reading this, I too am extremely interested in this subject. There are many things happening within this field that I feel warrant the use of “Applied Anthropology” as a guideline to understanding, interpreting, and even proving the existence of Bigfoot. Pure and simple. Take a look at these 2 accepted definitions of the terms “Anthropology”, and “Applied Anthropology”:

1. Anthropology -The study of the human species and its immediate ancestors
2. Applied Anthropology - The application of anthropological data, perspectives, theory, and methods to identify, access, and solve contemporary problems.

As an armchair Anthropologist, I want to take this science and apply it to all aspects of the “theory of existence” of Bigfoot. This will be an ongoing posting, posted in parts from time to time to create a platform for others to read, digest, and contribute in a manner that might help to create new paradigm concerning this subject based on Anthropological method in a language that is easily understood. Since we all are skeptics to some degree, I encourage intelligent counterpoint as part of this discussion.

Since in no way am I presenting myself as an expert in any field of Bigfoot research, or Anthropology for that matter, it is my hope that through this op-ed we can create a serious, thought provoking, and even entertaining dialogue on the subject of Bigfoot that elevates all of our knowledge. I will present my opinion on certain aspects of known (And recently released) evidence and its probability when measured against my understanding of the Anthropological method. Critique and questions encouraged from that point on…

First installment will tackle the base question regarding Bigfoot:

What exactly is it.

Stay tuned-