The Tools We Build Will Build Us: The Coming AI Trap
After much deliberation, here is my hot take on AI: we desire it, but we don’t actually need it. The fact that something is technically possible doesn’t automatically…
After much deliberation, here is my hot take on AI: we desire it, but we don’t actually need it. The fact that something is technically possible doesn’t automatically…
The APLA Book Prize in Critical Anthropology recognizes work that best exemplifies creativity and rigor in the ethnographic exploration of … More
The theme of this year’s American Anthropological Association meeting in New Orleans was “ghosts.” Never before had I seen contributors cling so tightly to the organizing theme of…
In a perhaps misguided effort to preserve love of writing, enthuse about independent critical mental facility, to “exercise the metaphoric muscle”, as Mick Taussig would say, and just…
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1111/apv.12445?domain=author&token=4C3TESRPRVSEVSXAETSN Abstract: This paper considers a course on critical thinking in Vietnam with a case s…
A phone full of photos of shelves full of food. Photo by Ariana Gunderson. Ariana Gunderson Greetings from the field! I’m in Leipzig, Germany for a year to…
Written by Sharon Kumar Introduction Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become an integral part of modern society, revolutionizing industries, enhancing daily …
I interviewed the much missed Keith Hart about a half dozen times across the last 30 or so years, each time planning to do something with it but…
Alexander Strecker (ed). Bread for the LIving, Bread for the Dead. Tavros Press, Athens 2025. 137 pp. ISBN 978-618-87697-0-0 David Sutton (Southern Illinois University) &n…
The School for Advanced Research Honors Authors David Wengrow and the Late David Graeber Santa Fe, NM (November 21, 2025) — The School for Advanced Research (SAR) announces…
2026 AJJ Annual Conference May 23-24th, 2026 Akita University Conference Theme Entanglements and Embodiments: Anthropology, Ethnography and Sensing Japan Location The conference will be held …
We look forward to seeing many of SAFN’s members at the AAA meeting in New Orleans. For those of you attending the event, we are sharing a list…
Keith Hart 6th November & Paolo Virno on 7th November. Death is sad, but I imagine them plotting strategies on storming heaven and would love to read their…
Written by Vanessa Chang Introduction The influential computer scientist Mark Weiser once wrote that “a good tool is an invisible …
Academic Freedom, Immigration, and Carceral Regimes At the American Anthropological Association Annual Meetings, New Orleans Cosponsored by APLA (Association for … More
November 10, 2025 from 3 pm – 4 pm on ZoomZoom: Find your link on AAA Communities or on the email sent through the FoodAnthro listserv. Our Business…
Liberals—defined as people with progressive social beliefs who generally support capitalism implicitly because they don’t know what it is or because they have a poor understanding of it,…
“They should know better.” Well, they don’t. What now? I see a lot of rhetoric these days about how certain people in certain political cults–oh, you know the…
Contesting Indonesia by Kirsten E. Schulze proposes a compelling framework of a national imaginary for understanding Islamist, separatist, and communal violence in Indonesia, grounded in interviews an…
How the anthropology of reciprocity helps explain our reliance on plastic in healthcare. Single-use disposable medical plastic waste is a huge issue. But rational, scientific solutions will only…
by Jehron Muhammad This year, during the African Union’s annual summit, held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, African leaders elected the …
Julian Baggini. How the World Eats: A Global Food Philosophy. Pegasus Books. New York. 2025. ISBN: 978-1-63936-819-8. Richard Zimmer (Sonoma State University) What does a philosopher …
SAFN is honored to recognize Lucas E.A. Prates with the 2025 Thomas Marchione Food as a Human Right award for his ongoing research in Brazil’s Amazon. This annual…
I spent part of the summer of 2025 in Kalama Conservancy, in northern Kenya’s Samburu County. The conservancy, part of the Gir Gir group ranch, covers 16,000 hectares…