When Women’s Laughter Keeps Men in Line
Among the Mbendjele gathering-hunting people who live in the Republic of Congo, “women’s laughter manages to keep men in line.” Drawing from ethnographic research by Jerome Lewis, anthropo…
Tag: cultural anthropology
An Anthropologist in the World Revolution – Pt. 1 by Keith Hart
Michael Wesch, an assistant professor of cultural anthropology at Kansas State University, well-known for his inspiring YouTube lectures and documentary shorts, has received over a hundred application…
The Real Race Problem – Part 2
On the eve of the one-hundred and eighth anniversary of W.E.B. Du Bois’ newspaper The Crisis, we are presenting, in its entirety, a lecture from the distinguished anthropologist,…
The Real Race Problem – Part 1
On the eve of the one-hundred and eighth anniversary of W.E.B. Du Bois’ newspaper The Crisis, we are presenting, in its entirety, a lecture from the distinguished anthropologist,…
Modalities of Culture Change: A Query
A hybrid flower photographed by makamuki0 and circulated under a CC0 license. Hybridization as a mode of cultural change was discussed prominently in Theorizing the Hybrid, a 1999…
The Culture of Corruption
Many of us know that political corruption is not new to the world. It is an unsavory, human practice with a history that extends far back into ancient…
The University of Tartu, Appreciated
I recently spent an extended time in Tartu, Estonia. I had the wonderful opportunity to be a Fulbright Specialist visiting the Departments of: (1) Estonian and Comparative Folklore,…
Social Stratification
Stratification. 1 Approaches: 1 Functionalist perspectives: 2 Talcott Parsons. 2 Kinsley Davis and Wilbert E. Moore. 2 Marxist perspective: 2 Weberian perspective: 3 Stratification in contemporary usage. 3…
Social Fact
Social Fact In Durkheim’s sociology, a social fact is a social phenomenon that has a coercive effect upon the individual. Thus, although, social facts may originally be…
Teaching Anthropology in 2018
Recently, a colleague contacted me with a very interesting and specific question. At the time, I was on the road and too busy to address his inquiry. I…
There’s Something in the Water
A recent death in the family necessitated a return to the United States after living abroad for the past ten years. A family member in Miami has a…
The Struggle for Power by Keith Hart
Book Review: The Rise and Fall of Nations: Ten Rules of Change in the Post-Crisis World by Ruchir Sharma, London: Allen Lane, 2016; pp 464, £25. Ruchir…
What is the Museum Anthropology Review Business (Labor) Model?
Alternate title: How to give away $99,000 worth of articles. Although it has become normalized in open access/scholarly publication reform discussions to speak in this way, it often…
What is the current status of confidentiality and non-disclosure policies at HAU?
What is the current status of confidentiality and non-disclosure policies at HAU? Why can’t the policies be published? Those are my questions. This is my context. Alex Golub…
A Quick Trip to Beijing
Late last month, I was fortunate to have a chance to return quickly to Beijing as a member of an Indiana University delegation visiting the Chinese Academy of…
Shaligrams Featured on “The Familiar Strange”
Hey everyone, My work on Shaligram stones has been featured on the popular anthropology blog The Familiar Strange. Check it out. “Living Fossils” — The Familiar Strange
Anthropology and the New Human Universal
World society today resembles nothing so much as the eighteenth century ancient régime that Kant had every reason to believe had been abolished by revolution. Now a rich,…
Becoming White
Policing Whiteness Karen Brodkin’s 1998 book, How Jews Became White Folks and What That Says About Race in America was a crucial entry in a genre of studies…
An Anthropologist’s Obsession with Outlander
I have been on hiatus from blogging for some time, mainly due to two factors. First, I launched a public anthropology podcast, Anthropologist on the Street (huzzah!), which…
Gun Violence in American Schools
There is something terribly wrong going on in American schools today. A silent epidemic is spreading throughout the country like a cancer. What does it say about a…
Environmental Anthropology: An Anthropologist’s View of a Cove Cleanup
The curse of the anthropologist: finding culture everywhere in nature. Today, the neighborhood in which my husband and I now live hosted a cleanup in a nearby cove.…