Tinderbox: Building an ingenuity machine
Several weeks ago, Mark Bernstein announced the latest Tinderbox, the “tool for notes.” I almost always sign up for these updates. I almost always give the new edition…
Chilcot report is a damning indictment of Blair and Bush’s war in Iraq
Today Sir John Chilcot released his report on the run-up to the 2003 invasion of Iraq and its aftermath (you can download the report here). He summarised his findings…
Sandra Postel: Repairing the Water Cycle
Originally a podcast…
On the UK Referendum #Brexit
For me, the UK referendum story began a year ago with another referendum: that of Greece. Elected in January 2015 on a promise to end austerity, throughout the…
“Greek law is a side issue“Der Zugang von Schutzsuchenden zu Rechtsinformationen auf der ostägäischen Insel Chios
In Griechenland gibt es fünf Hotspots, in denen die Verfahren von Schutzsuchenden, die über die Ostägäis in die EU einreisen, gesammelt abgewickelt werden sollen. Zwar wird in den…
Review of Bourdieu’s (2014) On the State
Review of Bourdieu, P. (2014). On the State: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1989-1992. P. Champagne, R. Lenoir, F. Poupeau, & M. C. Rivière (Eds.). London: Polity.…
Automation and the Future of the University
Conference in Durham deserves your attention… Attendance at the workshop is free but registration will be required, since places are limited. For enquiries and registration, email gerald.moore@d…
Island Story: Journeys Through Unfamiliar Britain, JD Taylor
Just started JD Taylor’s book, bought in Waterstones sociology section yesterday. Brilliant. I mean, the placing of this book in that shelving – shame its four floors up…
MythGeographies – walking stuff
this came through today, and is interesting enough to recycle. I hope they will not mind, given a certain promotional tone, I suspect not. Dunno exactly how or…
Li Hongxias Tod – Der lange Weg zur Gerechtigkeit
Ein Sarg im Wohnzimmer – als Andenken und als Anklage. Die Familie der im März ermordeten Li Hongxia versucht verzweifelt, die Aufmerksamkeit der Öffentlichkeit auf sich zu lenken…
Graham Harman: Morton’s Hyperobjects & the Anthropocene
synthetic zero “Harman will consider the similarities and differences of the terms ‘hyperobjects’, coined by Timothy Morton, and ‘anthropocene objects’. The concept of Hyperobjects refers to entiti…
Reclaiming Detroit: Decolonizing Archaeology in the Postindustrial City
This entry is part 10 of 10 in the Decolonizing Anthropology series. By Krysta Ryzewski Detroit moves quickly; issues of scale and pace in a city of this…
An Interview with Dr. Lori Hall-Araujo, Curator and Assistant Professor at Stephens College
In fall 2016, Lori Hall-Araujo will begin a position as Assistant Professor and Curator in the School of Design and the Costume Museum at Stephens College in Columbia,…
How Did We Ever Live Without GPS?
You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you are going, because you might not get there. —(attributed to) Yogi Berra I’m writing this post…
Scared of my own voice
I publish under a pseudonym, that of the ‘The Anxious Anthropologist’. This suits me as it’s like donning a mask and going to a party. You get to…
An anthropologist walks into… a gym
Katie Hejtmanek is a cultural anthropologist who studies the culture of strength sports (powerlifting, weightlifting, CrossFit) in the United States. Her articles for BarBend offer not only interesting…
How robots took over our lives and we failed to notice
The dystopian vision of a future in which robots take over the human race is as old as it is powerful—and is always in ‘the future’. Or is…
Call for Papers der under.docs: Kategorien, Typen und Stereotype
Die under.docs der Universität Wien veranstalten von 20. bis 22. Oktober 2016 eine Fachtagung zu Kommunikation mit dem Schwerpunkt “Kategorien, Typen und Stereotype in den Geistes- und Sozialwis…
The politics of decency #Brexit
I have lots of things to say about Brexit. As a Romanian, holding a French passport, resident of the UK for the past 18 years, whose wife and…
Anthro in the news 7/4/16
Presidential woes in Afghanistan Source: Adam Ferguson/The New Yorker The New Yorker carried a long piece describing the role of Ashraf Ghani, who trained as a cultural anthropologist,…
The Flexibility of Language
An interesting article came out today entitled Bojophrenia: a new word for a new world. Of interest to linguists, discourse analysts or anthropologists looking to describe the ever changing…
Fixing things: Moving image stories into case stories by Jenna Grant
During her pregnancy, Puthea went to a private maternity clinic for regular ultrasound exams. This clinic was one of the larger and more popular in Phnom Penh at…
golden age of barbarians w/ james c sott
synthetic zero “How did so many of us, Homo sapiens, quite late in our species history, come to live in sedentary heaps of people, grain, and domesticated animals…
Democracy on speed #Brexit
The question, when it came, was striking in its simplicity: “should the United Kingdom remain a member of the European Union or leave the European Union?” Two boxes.…