Anthropology Boycott: Supporting BDS, Voting Against AAA proposal
After a long time thinking about it, I’ve decided that I support the BDS Movement for boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel. But I plan to vote against…
Category: English
Wofford College Commencement Address 2016
** On May 15, 2016, I had the honor of delivering the Commencement Address at Wofford College, the college I attended for my undergraduate degree. Here is the…
An Interview With Reviewers 1, 2, and 3
This is the third post in a sequence called Strange Rumblings in the Meritocracy. [What follows is an edited and condensed transcript of an interview I conducted with…
The Land of Lakes and Volcanoes . . . and a Canal
Anthropology and Nicaragua’s Interoceanic Canal The cab driver sized me (M. Petriello) up, “¿A dónde nos vamos?” (Where are we going?) he asked, assessing the fee and my…
The Nicaraguan Interoceanic Canal and Heritage Protection
Why consultations with Indigenous communities matter The construction of the Nicaragua Interoceanic Grand Canal has garnered only a sporadic interest in the news media, one that does not…
After the End of Disease: Rethinking the Epidemic Narrative by Dora Vargha
In conversations with people living with polio in Hungary, I often encountered members of the tight-knit community referring to themselves as “dinosaurs”. We are a breed that is…
HH-39: Why Good Science Doesn’t Need Eureka Moments
Dendrochronology—literally the study of tree time—is a multidisciplinary science that yields accurate and precisely dated information through the detailed analysis of growth rings in trees. Today, nea…
The Anthropology of the Built Environment: What Can Environmental Anthropology Learn from Infrastructure Studies (and Vice Versa)?
*A commentary on Part I of our Engagement thematic series, The Nature of Infrastructure. By Ashley Carse, Vanderbilt University § I am honored to have an opportunity to…
Under Surveillance: Islamophobia and Muslim Student Associations
In 2012, the Associated Press released a news report titled “NYPD monitored Muslim students all over Northeast.” In the article, we learn that the New York City police…
Almost no one can afford to retire
For the Chronicle of Higher Education, I wrote about the retirement crisis in academia, but it applies to US workers generally: America’s contingent faculty are not alone in…
Malcolm James, “Urban Multiculture: Youth, Politics and Transformations in a Global City” (Palgrave, 2015)
How is youth culture changing in a globalised city? In Urban Multiculture: Youth, Politics and Transformations in a Global City Malcolm James, a lecturer at the University of…
An Open Letter to the American Anthropologist and Responses
An Open Letter to the American Anthropologist Nadia Abu El-Haj Susan Slyomovics The recent issue of the American Anthropologist included a section presenting nine views on anthropology in…
Creator brands: Brands that make culture
At their most powerful, brands actually make culture. Creator brands, let’s call them. Nike changed the way we thought about exercise, fitness, bodies and diet in the 1970s…
Anthro in the news 5/16/16
Is voting “sacred” in India? Mukulika Bannerjee, associate professor of social anthropology at the London School of Economics and director of the South Asia Centre, published an op-ed…
Brooke Schedneck, “Thailand’s International Meditation Centers” (Routledge, 2015)
In her recent monograph, Thailand’s International Meditation Centers: Tourism and the Global Commodification of Religious Practices (Routledge, 2015), Brooke Schedneck examines Buddhist meditati… Visit New Books in Anthropology…
CFP: Special Issue on “Ethnographies of Security”
See below a CFP for a special issue of the journal Qualitative Sociology on “Ethnographies of Security,” to be guest edited by Anthropoliteia contributor Rebecca Hanson The policies…
Activating and Deactivating Heritage Symbols
On the Tubman $20 and Other Symbolic Controversies After a long controversy between students and upper-level administration, Yale University decided not to remove the name of John C.…
Taking up Space
Nine years ago when I started my doctoral studies not only was I in a fertile intellectual endeavour undertaking fieldwork, reading theory, stretching my brain and writing,…
Anthropoinsults
Referring to industrial pollution as the anthropocene lets the polluters off the hook. It has gone on some time now, so as the word isn’t going away its…
Tomorrow! Free training call on “What You Need To Know About Contaminated Drinking Water: A Focus on Lead”
Learn about water testing, particularly for lead, including what people need to know about testing, what to look for, who should do the testing, and how testing should…
Earthly togetherness: making a case for living with worms by Filippo Bertoni
In this short essay, I will try to convince you of the importance of earthworms in thinking about politics. If this sounds like an argument, that is because…
NZ animal welfare & public consultation
The Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) regulates animal welfare in NZ, and it currently has two proposals out for public consultation. Interested parties have until Thursday 19 May…
All Hail the Entrepreneur!
by Thomas Chambers In an article in last week’s Guardian, Stuart Heritage argues that “without The Apprentice, Donald Trump would still be a failed boardgame salesman”. Heritage accuses the show…
The week ahead
I’ve realised that going back to work in a couple of weeks means remembering how to make and keep a schedule. (Who knew?! That’s how long I’ve been…