Anthropology trained us to identify systems of oppression, those “invisibilized” dimensions of culture that reek of prejudice, privilege, and disproportionate power dynamics. These are the very theore…
Over the past several days, the anthropological community has been forced to confront instances of abuse, exploitation and discrimination latent in the discipline. A tweet from Cultural Anthropology…
You ever see those quippy article titles–the perfect combination of academic punnery and inside theory humor–pop up on your newsfeed, only to click through and discover that your…
On December 9, 2017, #MeToo ralliers in New York City, many of whom are survivors of sexual violence, took a stand against prominent men who have reportedly committed…
By Emma Louise Backe The lights on the stage dim, a lone spotlight hovering over a dark figure clad in loose robes. Just as Kylo Ren’s red lightsaber…
By Priya Chandrasekaran, Taylor C. Nelms, Valerie Olson, Elizabeth Reddy, Heather Thomas, and Nicholas Welcome At the annual meetings of the American Anthropological Association in late 2017, a…
By Emma Louise Backe 2017 was a year for grappling with monstrosity, the deeds and discourses perpetrated by private citizens and public officials, as well as the explosion…
By April Beisaw Another Christmas has passed without a personal visit from the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, or Yet to Come? Same here. In Dickens’ A Christmas…
By Emma Louise Backe Anthropology Matters! was the exhortation of the 116th American Anthropological Association Annual meeting this year in Washington, D.C. The frenetic energy of the 115th…
In this edition of Anthropology Blogging 101, we feature Andrew Reinhard, founder of Archaeogaming. His application of archaeology to virtual worlds and digital gaming platforms like World of…
(Warning: Blade Runner 2049 spoilers.) From the outset of Blade Runner 2049, Agent K (Ryan Gosling) is promised the possibility of a miracle. No longer more human than…
By Simone Abram Why does the world need anthropologists? This is the question posed at an annual meeting of the Applied Anthropology Network of the European Association of…
We find ourselves in a period of worlding and otherworlding, of recognizing that the microcosms in which we operated were not simply illusory but untenable, shielding us from…
By Haley Bryant I think we have a lot to learn about ethnographic practice from street magic….stay with me, here. What is Magic? David Blaine, Street Magic When…
By Maria Menegaki Based on the paper ‘When Science Fiction meets Religion: The Case of Jediism’ which I presented in Piran, Slovenia in 2015 in terms of the…
By Kate McGrath I am a scientist. Some people would probably call me a woman-scientist, and those people are jerks. Though it’s easy to forget, women make up…
By Steven Dashiell One lesson they teach in a PhD program: think strategically. In most of undergrad (and even masters-level) work, the objective of the student is to…
In honor of World Anthropology Day 2017, we’re sharing the text from an AnthroTalk presentation on what it means to do geek anthropology, given at George Washington University…
By Astrid Countee “Only Forward,” that is the message of Netflix’s latest superhero show, Luke Cage. A message that seems to have shown up just in time for…
We didn’t want to go, we didn’t want to kill them, but its persistent silence and outstretched arms horrified and comforted us at the same time… The moral…
In 2015, mainstream geek culture began to emerge as more than simply a popular and bankable enterprise–throughout the year, creative projects in the genre provided models of diversity…
After the results of the election, there was a new kind of energy at the AAA’s, a nervousness and a palpable anticipation. There was a sense that this…
By Haley Bryant Upon opening my eyes, I see that a figure has appeared on the horizon: a young boy adorned in the iconic red vestments of the…
As The Geek Anthropologist has expanded over the past several years, the editors have had a number of discussions about our identity as an online publication. Though our…