Being Polyamorous: Part 1
“Hi, I’m Viola and I’m Polyamorous” *Although very open and keen to discuss her experiences and sexual preferences, “Viola” cited bullying and security concerns. Out of respect for…
Thompson on Sills, ‘Toxic War: The Story of Agent Orange’
The use of the defoliant Agent Orange by the United States is one of the most controversial actions of the Vietnam War. InToxic War: The Story of Agent…
Critical interventions in birth in the first 1000 days by Jennifer Rogerson
Choice and the assigning of value in the practices and crafting of life-giving work In healthy birthing initiatives described by, among others, the World Health Organization, emphasis has…
Disciplinary Peace Above All Else? by Nadia Abu El-Haj
“When It’s Time to Vote, Don’t Boycott Academics – Cut the Purse-strings” raises important questions about the power of economic divestment in the struggle for Palestinian rights. In…
Impfskandal in China: Furcht und Fragen der Eltern
Vergiftete Milch, verpestete Luft, verdorbenes Speiseöl: Chinas Bürger sind solche Meldungen gewöhnt. Dennoch versetzt der Skandal um ungekühlte Impfstoffe aus der ostchinesischen Provinz Shand…
Notes on peership: A conclusion
This post follows a few ideas I expressed last year, as I started the second year of my MA in anthropology here at Leuven. It was a moment…
„Lass dich doch mal ein bisschen schlagen, sonst wirst du verwelken!”
Slowakisches Osterbrauchtum als Ausdruck tradierter sexistischer Praxen. Der folgende Beitrag soll einen Einblick in meine persönlichen Erfahrungen mit einem „traditionellen“ Brauch geben, den ich als…
Racism in/and Medicine
In The Pain Gap: Why Doctors Offer Less Relief to Black Patients (2016, The Daily Beast), Keith Wailoo (Princeton professor in History and Public Affairs) discusses how the treatment of…
The Khanty Bear Feast revisited
The honored bear’s head (Photo Antti Tenetz) I have visited the Western Siberian Khanty in the vicinity of the oil towns in the Surgut region for twenty years…
Remembering Rana Plaza
by Rebecca Prentice It’s been three years since the most deadly disaster in garment manufacturing history: the April 24, 2013 collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory building…
Stop Blaming Parents for Our Society’s Failures
Yet another parenting article popped up in my Facebook feed this week. Not a How-To parenting article, which is annoying enough, but a You’re-Doing-Everything-Wrong parenting article. Generation X’s…
Yale radio project latest
Just in: “This week Ellen Carey talks about her beautiful and ground breaking work, and Rob Green articulates the downfall of the art economy and closing of his…
Rethinking BDS
A shorter version of this post will soon appear online as a podcast, in coordination with the motion put to a vote among the membership of the American…
J’Accuse: How Not to Have a Political Debate about BDS
Anthropologists for the Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions presents this essay by Lisa Rofel and Daniel Segal on the debasement of the political debate about the boycott by…
5% unemployment is a lie
For Quartz, I wrote about the very misleading 5% unemployment rate, a statistic which discounts 1) the long-term unemployed and the lowered labor participation rate 2) the explosion…
New York values
For the Globe and Mail, I wrote about the New York primary, in a piece published the day before. The piece discusses not only the candidates — three…
Philadelphia Street Style: Monika, Walnut St
Monika described her style to me as “a good mix of ’90s, classic style, and a little bit of western minimalism.” I’m not sure what western minimalism is,…
War in Syria and the Refugee Crisis
There are different ways in which the war in Syria and the ensuing refugee crisis can be made sense of anthropologically. When a crisis looms large on the…
In the Journals – April 2016 Part I by Michelle Pentecost
Welcome to the first stack of ‘In the Journals’ for April! It’s a bumper crop, so find a cosy corner and some coffee to comb through it all.…
Advanced Course in Arabic Manuscript Studies
Scholars, Scribes, and Readers: An Advanced Course in Arabic Manuscript Studies6-10 June 2016, Cambridge University Library, Cambridge, UK The Islamic Manuscript Association, in cooperation with Camb…
Flatulanthropology #BODY
When Jon was a PhD student at Edinburgh University in the early 1990s, there was a running joke about the possibility of developing a project on ethnoscatology –…
David Vetter and the Children of Mars
On September 21st, 1971, David Phillip Vetter was born with SCID (severe combined immunodeficiency). This rare hereditary immune disorder prevented him from fighting off infections caused by everyday…