The Family Lives of the Last Neanderthals
Two anthropologists explain a novel genetic analysis of ancient DNA and artifacts that suggests Neanderthals in Siberia lived in close-knit communities. This article was originally published at The C…
Category: English
Indigenize #afsam22: Ten Facebook Posts Gathered
While every year should be Native American heritage year, November is Native American Heritage Month and thus a good time to reflect on the ways that the recent…
Alive in the Flapping of Infinite Orange Wings
Monarch butterflies’ epic annual migration from North America to Mexico inspires an anthropologist to reflect on this insect’s precarious life cycles through the lens of “multispecies ethnography.” …
Chris Salter, “Sensing Machines: How Sensors Shape Our Everyday Life” (MIT Press, 2022)
Sensing machines are everywhere in our world. As we move through the day, electronic sensors and computers adjust our thermostats, guide our Roombas, count our steps, change the…
David Morgan, “The Thing about Religion: An Introduction to the Material Study of Religions” (UNC Press, 2021)
Common views of religion typically focus on the beliefs and meanings derived from revealed scriptures, ideas, and doctrines. David Morgan has broadened that framework radically to encompass the…
Mike Owen Benediktsson, “In the Midst of Things: The Social Lives of Objects in the Public Spaces of New York City” (Princeton UP, 2022)
How ordinary urban objects influence our behavior, exacerbate inequality, and encourage social change Assumptions about human behavior lie hidden in plain sight all around us, programmed into the…
Brazil’s Pendulum of Politics
“There’s a struggle that repeats itself throughouthistory, over and over again – the oppressorsagainst the oppressed.”—Simon Bolívar Interestingly, when Simon …
Purple in Cycles
A poet-anthropologist speaks to the labyrinthine experiences of domestic violence—the entrapment, the hope for freedom. ✽ During the final week of domestic violence awareness month in October, I…
Seeking Election to UBC’s Board of Governors
My paperwork has now been accepted and I am officially a candidate. I seek your support for election to UBC’s Board of Governors. I last served as an…
Alessandro Duranti on his edited volume, Rethinking Politeness with Henri Bergson
Interview with Q https://global.oup.com/academic/product/rethinking-politeness-with-henri-bergson-9780197637869 The following dialogue is a transcript of an interview by a member of our sta…
Book Review: Violent Utopia: Dispossession and Black Restoration in Tulsa by Jovan Scott Lewis
In Violent Utopia: Dispossession and Black Restoration in Tulsa, Jovan Scott Lewis explores the 1921 Tulsa Race Massacre in the city’s Greenwood neighbourhood (known colloquially as ‘Black…
‘A Social History of Anthropology in the United States’ (revised and updated ) by Thomas C. Patterson
Thomas C. Patterson. A Social History of Anthropology in the United States. 2nd ed. Routledge, 2021. 240 pp., bibl., index. Twenty years after its first release, Thomas Patterson,…
The Dirt
Discard Studies is an interdisciplinary field of research that takes systems of waste and wasting as its topic of study, including but beyond conventional notions of trash and…
Early Career Ethnographers of the NHS: Series Introduction
REBECCA IRONS Social Science and Humanities research with and on the NHS has never been more urgent than in a post-pandemic context. However, interdisciplinary collaboration with health servic…
Emily Weinstein and Carrie James, “Behind Their Screens: What Teens Are Facing (and Adults Are Missing)” (MIT Press, 2022)
What are teens actually doing on their smartphones? Contrary to many adults’ assumptions, they are not simply “addicted” to their screens, oblivious to the afterlife of what they…
Ep#98 Human Centered Design & “Futurising” Insights: Dr Vaike Fors on Emergent Mobility Technologies
The Familiar Strange · Ep#98 Human Centered Design & “Futurising” Insights: Dr Vaike Fors on Emergent Mobility Technologies This week, Familiar Stranger Emma conducts her first interview! Emma…
Museum Anthropology Review Volume 16: Studies in Museum Ethnography in Honor of Daniel C. Swan
Social media is changing again and it seems like a good time to give Shreds and Patches more love and attention. My collaborator and special issue co-editor Michael…
Prof. B. B. Lal: My reminiscences
Prof. B. B. Lal, Eminent archaeologist who rediscovered India’s ancient civilization buried under colonial barrage Subhash Walimbe Formal faculty, Deccan College PGRI, Pune 411 006 subhashwalimbe@gma…
Katzie First Nation sues BC Hydro over impact to Alouette River salmon | Vancouver Sun interview
I was interviewed for a story about a recent court filing by Katzie First Nation. I include, below, the section of the story that quoted me and the…
Palmer Strategizes Treaty-Making, 1853
In 1853 Joel Palmer, newly appointed Indian Superintendent of Oregon, was working to keep the peace between the tribes and settlers in Oregon. The plan was to remove…
Mario Nisbett, “The Workings of Diaspora: Jamaican Maroons and the Claims to Sovereignty” (Lexington Books, 2021)
Engaging the past, the present, and the future, The Workings of Diaspora: Jamaican Maroons and the Claims to Sovereignty (Lexington Books, 2021) shows how the lived experience of Jamaican Maroons is…
SAFN 2022 Awards!
Congratulatory cake! Green Tea Milles Crepe Cake by Wishing Town Bakery, New Orleans, photo by David Beriss Amanda Green (SAFN Award Committee) and Jennifer Jo Thompson (SAFN President)…
Running for reelection as Joint Faculties Senator (UBC-V)
I have formally submitted my papers for re-election as a Joint Faculties Senator at UBC-V Senate. Here is the statement I included with the nomination forms. I seek…