There and back again
The East Cape road heading to Cabo Pulmo. Around 2012. Photo: Ryan B. Anderson. It’s fitting that I’m writing my last post for this site in Cabo Pulmo,…
Author: Ryan
Anthropology Blog Resurvey Project #3: The Blogroll (plus)
As promised, here’s a list of the anthropology and archaeology blogs that are still active from Jason Antrosio’s archive from 2017. I found one site that’s actually not…
The 2023 Anthropology Blog Resurvey Project #2
Well, by now most of you have heard the news that this blog is closing down. That whole conversation was happening in the last couple of months, but…
The 2023 Anthropology Blog Resurvey Project
As many of us already know, in the last decade or so we’ve seen some big changes with anthropology & archaeology online, particularly in relation to blogs. In…
Adventures in chatGPT #3: Jack Kerouac Edition
When I first heard about chatGPT, the main thing I was concerned about, like many others, was that students would use it instead of writing their own work.…
AABA Statement supporting Trans Lives
The AABA, along with several other organizations, has just released a statement in support of trans lives. Here’s an excerpt: The American Association of Biological Anthropologists, the American…
Anthropology after Twitter and the power of old things in new hands
Esoteric caption: The power of old things in new hands. Practical caption: This is one image I have on hand while I’m here at the airport that I…
Dehumanization, 9/11, and anthropology
Cover of the North County Times, 9/12/01. Photo: Ryan Anderson. There are a few different things that brought me to anthropology. One of them was 9/11. More specifically,…
Summer anthropologies #2: Leslie White goes to a baseball game (Part 3)
Oracle Park, last game of the season, 2023. In the last post of this installment of the summer anthropologies series, I ended with the point that major league…
Summer anthropologies #2: Leslie White goes to a baseball game (Part 2)
Postcard with interior view of the Colosseum by Francis Frith, circa 1870. In part one of this installment, I mentioned Leslie White’s call to expand the purview of…
Summer anthropologies #2: Leslie White goes to a baseball game (Part 1)
View from the upper deck of Oracle Park, 2023. Photo: Ryan Anderson. A couple months ago, just after the 2023 baseball season started, I was sitting in the…
Salvaging what is good
Photomicrograph of various seeds. By Alexander Klepnev: Own work, CC BY 4.0.* This post is more practical than nostalgic. Yes, sometimes I like to look back and think…
Summer anthropologies #1: The Nameless Summer
Publicity photo from the making of The Endless Summer. Photographer unknown. Public Domain. Bruce Brown’s mid 1960’s surf epic The Endless Summer is one of the key elements…
Summer anthropologies: beaches and baseball
Mid to late 1990s beach scene. North San Diego County, CA. Photo: Ryan Anderson All the grades are in, summer is here, and we can all start ‘relaxing’…
Adventures in chatGPT #2: A conversation with Nick Seaver
After writing my last post about chatGPT, I got in touch with Nick Seaver to see what he had to say about some of these issues. Here’s our conversation:…
Adventures in chatGPT: Meet David Wilkie, anthropologist
So curiosity finally got the best of me and I started looking into this whole chatGPT thing that is poised to bring about the ruin of society. I…
Holding our anthropological spaces
I’m not sure when it happened, but at some point the anthropological community that used to be online shifted mostly to Twitter and other platforms. Maybe this was…
No Open Access Today, Anthropology: On the latest AAA-Wiley Announcement
Last November, it looked like some good things were on the horizon for Open Access and the American Anthropological Association’s publishing portfolio: At this morning’s #AAA2021Baltimor…
The search for the worst anthro job ad: An interview with Dada Docot
In September 2021, Dada Docot sent out a half-serious tweet about finding the Worse Anthro Job Ad for 2021. The post got attention, and the search took off.…
Fragments of Reparation & Recognition in the Golden State
Aerial image of Bruce’s Beach park (highlighted in color), Manhattan Beach, Los Angeles. Adapted from Google Earth, 2021. On September 30, California Governor Gavin Newsome signed Senate Bill…
The masked and the unmasked
Standard issue mask from Kaiser Permanente. Photo: Ryan Anderson 2021. Before 2020 and COVID-19, I never thought much about masks. Now I think about them all the time.…
Anthrodendum, the revival
Earlier in 2020, we faced a decision. For the past couple of years, things have definitely slowed down here on Anthrodendum. You may have noticed. So we asked…
Putting down our “lenses”
Nikkormat and 50mm lens. Photo by Ryan Anderson 2020. Years ago I read an article about a photographer. I don’t actually remember who the photographer was, but this…
Anthropology gets a little more open (access)
Still locked, the gate pulls open ever so slightly more. Photo: Ryan Anderson, 2020. There’s news in the world of open access anthropology. The gates have opened, just…