Author: ptoner
ptoner , January 8th, 2020
On January 6th, 2020, Joe E. Watkins, president of the Society for American Archaeology, wrote to U.S. President Donald Trump to protest the latter’s threat of military action…
ptoner , November 27th, 2018
Renato Rosaldo. Ilongot Headhunting, 1883-1974: A Study in Society and History. (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1980) Rosaldo’s book is an illuminating example of what has been termed “microhist…
ptoner , September 21st, 2018
It has been almost three weeks since a massive fire destroyed the building and most of the collections at Brazil’s National Museum. It is an unmitigated disaster for…
ptoner , September 29th, 2017
Although perhaps best known in the social sciences for his Yankee City series of books, W. Lloyd Warner’s first ethnography was his still-impressive A Black Civilization: A Social…
ptoner , September 29th, 2017
“Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” (Samuel Beckett, Worstward Ho) It has been almost two years since STUAnthroBlog was last functioning regularly….

ptoner , October 15th, 2015
Very interesting and productive class this morning in ANTH 2523, Social Anthropology. The class worked in three groups to analyze exchanges and kinship relations as described by Annette…

ptoner , October 9th, 2015
According to the most systematic early study of the subject in cultural anthropology, “barbaric cultural practices” include: the invention or practice of the art of pottery the domestica…
ptoner , September 28th, 2015
There is an interesting podcast over at Slate as part of their “Working” series on the topic of “How does a forensic anthropologist work?”. It is an extended interview…
ptoner , September 18th, 2015
Over the past couple of days, I have come across a number of items pertaining to indigenous knowledge of, and responses to, climate change. Of course, climate change…
ptoner , September 14th, 2015
About 20 years ago, I attended some kind of workshop or gathering for postgraduate anthropology students at the Australian National University, where I was a PhD student in…

ptoner , September 14th, 2015
The next cover of National Geographic will feature a very exciting development in the world of physical anthropology, with the story of the discovery of Homo naledi,…
ptoner , September 3rd, 2015
After a lengthy hiatus, I am happy to report that STUAnthroBlog is set to relaunch for the 2015-16 academic year. The reasons for its temporary demise were multiple,…