To Understand Donald Trump is to Not Explain Donald Trump
There is something very strange about this US presidential election. There is an air of stress, with bursts of odd comic relief, sliding uncontrollably from the grimly serious…
Three new books on the Anthropocene coming out this spring
Several new titles on the Anthropocene worth checking out (plus the one I mentioned earlier this week). Here they are: The Great Acceleration: An Environmental History of the…
Oscar Watch: Geeky Nominations & Movies That Should Have Been Nominated
By Emma Louise Backe 2016 Oscars season is rife with controversy. While the Oscars, like the SAT’s, are known to be somewhat of a rigged system–one that depends…
Seeking Refuge from Gender-Based Violence
In late 2015, the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) warned of an impending refugee flow from Central America in large part because of the threat of…
Links & Contents I Liked 174
Hi all, Development news features a new aid poem; UNESCO’s app fail on freedom of expression; how traditional organizations struggle with social media in emergencies; child sponsorship works!…
The World’s Most Sustainable Technology
To my mind, a well-made Acheulean hand ax is one of the most beautiful and remarkable archaeological objects ever found, anywhere on the planet. I love its clean,…
Four cheers for Finland! #EVENTS in the North (but not only there)
To conclude this Allegra week, it is time for yet another events’ post! These are always a thrill to us: they allow us to get in touch with…
Muslims in Medieval France
Early Medieval Muslim Graves in France: First Archaeological, Anthropological and Palaeogenomic Evidence Yves Gleize , Fanny Mendisco , Marie-Hélène Pemonge, Christophe Hubert, A…
I did a thing and people liked it.
I was asked by a friend working at my university’s Center for Diversity and Inclusion to deliver a talk for the school’s annual event. I (wisely) settled on…
Teh new ethnographeez
I’m in a reading group with sociologists — no, really, it’s been a good experience — and they said to me “it’s been a while since we read…
Critical thinking: Who’s up for it?
Petition diversifying Philosophy By Georgette Veerhuis A month ago on Thursday 21 January 2016 I attended the symposium Diversify Philosophy at the VU. It sounded mysterious. Why does…
Colin Anderson at NYFW Mens, Washington St, New York
Colin is wearing a women’s coat from Landeros New York in this shot. New York Fashion Week may have split into two separate events (mens’ and women’s), but…
Beyond the Vaccination Rift
“Man is by nature a social animal … for [whom] the whole must necessarily come before the part.” —Aristotle Parents who do not vaccinate their children have faced…
Childbirth in the Americas: Part Six
Examining Boundaries in Adolescent Birth in Mexico Adolescents as reproducers are often considered a problematic category because of their paradoxical duality as children who have babies. For women ou…
Kelly Ray Knight’s addicted.pregnant.poor by Kirsten Bell
addicted.pregnant.poor By Kelly Ray Knight Duke University Press, 2015, 328 pages addicted.pregnant.poor is the sort of ethnography you start reading and don’t put down again until it’s finished. …
Glocalising Social Media
Image: UCL Press By Jordi Bok As anthropologist Daniel Miller takes place behind the microphone to start his lecture, a whistle blows through the lecture room. It is…
Crisis, ISIS, Synthesis: Where is Libya Going?
Just as the pace of subjecting Libya to a new phase of international discipline quickens, the elites of the small club of recolonizing powers that nominate themselves “the…
The rise of a celebrity culture
These images are from the Pantheon database at the Macro Connections group at Media Lab at MIT. They map what the Media Lab calls “historical cultural production” and the relative…
In the Journals – February 2016
Welcome back to In the Journals, a look at recent publications in the world of security, law, crime, and governance. The February issue of Cultural Anthropology is…
A 21st Century Update
Global Health Policy Toward Traditional Healers Introduction Much has occurred in the world of traditional medicine since the World Health Organization (WHO) first appealed for the integration of…
On Capoeira
In recent years, Capoeira has become an international hit, but within Brazil it remains a cultural and political minefield. The state has had a love/hate relationship with ca…
On Capoeira
In recent years, Capoeira has become an international hit, but within Brazil it remains a cultural and political minefield. The state has had a love/hate relationship with ca…
When Sperm Compete, Nature’s Call Leads to Bigger … Testicles
[In humans, the testes] are from an inch and a half to two inches long, about an inch and a quarter from the anterior to the posterior border,…
The politics of migrant material culture
Analyzed as archaeological phenomena, these historical phenomena differ based on the environmental and political nature of the different migrations. But, in both cases, the i…