5 Questions About War Virtually
Join us for a free 25-minute live Q&A between former SAPIENS Media and Public Outreach Fellow Yoli Ngandali and anthropologist Roberto J. González about his new book, War…
Tag: Culture
Review: Bigger Fish to Fry: A Theory of Cooking as Risk, with Greek Examples
David E. Sutton, Bigger Fish to Fry: A Theory of Cooking as Risk, with Greek Examples, Berghahn, 2021, ISBN 978-1-80073-223-0 (hbk), ISBN 978-1-80073-224-7 (ebook), 142 pages. Amy Trubek…
At the Limits of Cure for Tuberculosis
As part of a tuberculosis screening, a radiologist in Germany examines a lung X-ray of a refugee from the 2022 Russian war in Ukraine. Matthias Balk/Picture Alliance/Getty Images…
Requiem for a War Robot
An experimental robotic pack mule, the Legged Squad Support System, walks alongside U.S. Marines on patrol. Sarah Dietz/U.S. Marine Corps Excerpted from War Virtually: The Quest to Autom…
“What are people claiming when they say that a food is local?” An Interview With David Beriss
Local food or not? Photo by David Beriss David Sutton In this fifth installment of interviews with anthropologists about their work on food I talk with longtime friend…
Hard Water
I. That cloud hovering looks like it came all the way from Ukraine, sadness has darkened our skyline. The rain is hail shattering the landscape into pieces of…
How Dr. Li Wenliang Went From a Whistleblower to a National Hero
A memorial at Wuhan Central Hospital in Hubei province, China, honored Li Wenliang, who died on February 7, 2020. STR/AFP/Getty Images On January 3, 2020, Li Wenliang, an…
#MeToo Anthropology and the Case Against Harvard
On February 4, The Harvard Crimson broke the news of an open letter, signed by 38 faculty members, in support of John Comaroff. This prominent professor of anthropology…
Should You Feel Bad About Your Pandemic-Era Plastic Waste?
Plastic waste has grown exponentially across the globe during the pandemic. Matthew Williams-Ellis/Universal Images Group/Getty Images “Sometimes I want to avoid producing excessive waste…
“Cowboys and Indians”—When Dirt Rocks Are Dynamite
The Lone Ranger and Tonto. Silver Screen Collection/Archive Photos/Getty Images “With his faithful Indian companion Tonto, the daring and resourceful masked rider of the plains led the fi…
Margaret Mead Imagined Different Futures
Anthropologist Margaret Mead (center), actor Robert Redford (left), and historian Lola Van Wagenen (right) attend “A Future With Alternatives,” a symposium held in 1978 in New York City.…
The Cultural Anxieties of Xenotransplantation
In January, news broke that David Bennett Sr.—a 57-year-old man with a serious heart disease—received a heart from a genetically modified pig. The eight-hour operation, which took place…
#Hackademics- Hacks for Succeeding in Academia #1: Balancing Family Drama Trauma Fieldwork & Teaching
I recently participated in a webinar with the American Association of Biological Anthropologists and the Sausage of Science Podcast. We discussed mental wellbeing in academia and Dr. Rebecca…
The Nightmare of Pandemic-Era Teaching
Teachers face increasing challenges—from staff shortages to widely varying student achievement levels—with omicron infections sweeping across the country. Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronic…
A Lens on Cyprus Reunification
[no-caption] Vasili Sotiropulos Panikos sat on a beach in Cyprus, dressed in a blue Speedo and straw hat, sipping whiskey with his friends. Behind him, the Mediterranean Sea…
How “Wilderness” Was Invented Without Indigenous Peoples
Anthropologist Spencer Greening, a member of the Gitga’at First Nation, maps 2,000-year-old fish traps in an intertidal area as part of his graduate studies in Indigenous resource management…
Egyptology Has a Problem: Patriarchy
Ramses II built many temples to his own divinity, like the Ramesseum in Luxor, originally called the Temple of Millions of Years to imply his reign would never…
Ten Treasures (and a Bonus): A Selection of Anthropological Gems You Might Have Missed from the Past Few Years
I began interviewing authors of fabulous new anthropology books for this space back in 2016. While completing 11 interviews, I also amassed a backlog of more terrific books…
Consumer Culture Won’t Lead to Body Positivity
Focusing on what bodies can do shifts attention away from cultural lenses that focus on how bodies look. Holly Falconer/Getty Images I have an 8-year-old daughter. From time…
How Filipino Sailors—and Coconuts—Helped Create Mexico’s National Drink
While visiting Oaxaca, Mexico, last year, I joined a mezcal tasting tour. The guide, Antonio, asked participants to introduce ourselves. When I told everyone I was an anthropologist…
Guided by the Past
Hosts Dr. Ora Marek-Martinez and Yoli Ngandali share how they found their way to archaeology and what it means to be Black and Indigenous archaeologists. From defying the…
The Hard Labor That Fuels the Hair Trade
The majority of hair that India exports comes from waste—such as the strands gathered in this picture of a street collector in Chennai. Emma Tarlo Every evening, for…
The Spring a Time for Calving and Cleaving
This poem was partly inspired by my first foray into the world of Sámi reindeer herding back in 2013. In this new year of 2022, I’ve been reflecting…
When Anthropology Meets the Graphic Novel in Thailand
The graphic novel The King of Bangkok follows the story of Nok, a blind man who makes his living selling lottery tickets on the streets of Bangkok. Claudio…