Matryoshka Song
If you missed the introduction to “Matryoshka Song,” you can find it here. I put an awl case on my belt around my waste, just like the placard…
Tag: Culture
Dressing Fish
[no-caption] Abigail Chabitnoy As an Indigenous poet with background studies in anthropology, the more I have reconnected with my culture through poetics, the more I have questioned acade…
Kenyan Mothers Take on Police Violence
Lucy Wambui is a convenor of the Mothers of Victims and Survivors Network in Nairobi. Ed Ram I first met Sarah Wangari three weeks after her son Alex…
What Do Goats and Wars Have to Do With Glacier Loss?
A local guide stands near Shali Kangri glacier in the Ladakh region of the Indian Himalayas. Hélène Lapierre-Messier For scientists, the layers of ice that make up glaciers…
Rethinking Masculinity: Fathers as Caregivers
The author, Aaron Jackson (center), with Wayne (left), a father whose thoughts about masculinity change as he raises his son Nick (right). Aaron J. Jackson This article was…
What Misspellings Reveal About Cultural Evolution
[no-caption] DrAfter123/Getty Images Something about me must remind people of a blind 17th-century poet. My last name, Miton, is French, yet people outside of France invariably misspell i…
“The State” Is a Story We Tell Ourselves
Protestors filled Plaza San Martín in Lima, Peru, last November to demonstrate against the legislative coup that removed then-President Martín Vizcarra from power. Ernesto Benavides/AFP/Getty…
Introducing the Other “AI”: Anthropology Intelligence
[no-caption] DrAfter123/Getty Images “The last thing a fish would ever notice would be water.” —attributed to anthropologist Ralph Linton I sat in a drab Soviet hotel room in…
Five Questions for Gillian Tett
In this upcoming free live event, Yoli Ngandali, SAPIENS media and public outreach fellow, asks Gillian Tett five questions about her new book, Anthro-Vision: A New Way to…
When the Guinea Pig Goes Gourmet
“Do you eat guinea pig?” I asked Leonardo. We were perusing the menu in a restaurant in Lima, and I wanted to know what my Peruvian friend thought…
Ethiopia
[no-caption] Jenn/Flickr In the poem of the same name, Ethiopia’s special place among African groups is put in high relief. Ethiopia symbolized hope of independence for Nigerian nationali…
What’s Behind the U.S. War on Science?
Thousands of demonstrators joined the March for Science in Washington, D.C., in 2017 against then-President Donald Trump’s attacks on science. Astrid Riecken/The Washington Post/Getty Images …
Deaf and Incarcerated in the U.S.
Deaf incarcerated people may have trouble accessing prison programming and educational opportunities due to a lack of necessary accommodations. Michael Williamson/The Washington Post/Getty Im…
How Migrant Filmmakers Practice Archival Activism
Participants of FunKino, a collaborative filmmaking laboratory in Italy, discuss ideas for storyboarding in 2019. FunKino—Cinema for Inclusion project promoted by Zabbara In the first sce…
And You Watch as We Make Woodwater Again
[no-caption] Arterra/Universal Images Group/Getty Images and you wonder how we remember our culture of traumatization our body beings tied to a land we were told was not ours…
When “Voluntary” Return Is Not a Real Option for Asylum-Seekers
Wrestling with the themes of violence, hope, and resilience, Pakistani artist Imran Qureshi often makes delicate use of red—the color of blood. Imran Qureshi “Love Me, Love Me…
How to Survive Climate Change in the India-Bangladesh Borderlands
Homes along a river in the Sundarbans face a concrete embankment that protects land on the opposite side from rising waters. Megnaa Mehtta The Sundarbans is a region…
What Will It Take to Stop Swimming in the Waters of Racism?
[no-caption] Klaus Vedfelt/Getty Images In the weeks leading up to the one-year anniversary of the murder of George Floyd, I passed dozens of Donald Trump 2024 banners and…
A Letter From COVID-19
[no-caption] Beastfromeast/Getty Images In June 2020, I published a “Letter From COVID-19” in the Italian newspaper la Repubblica. At the time of writing, Italy was still under lockdown…
Why We Need a Truth Commission on White Supremacy
The author leads a teacher training seminar as part of a genocide education project run by the Documentation Center of Cambodia, a local nongovernmental organization heavily involved in Cambodia’…
Anti-Asian Racism’s Deep Roots in the United States
People protest anti-Asian hate crimes on April 4 in New York City. Spencer Platt/Getty Images Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, incidents of harassment, discrimination, and violen…
Kamala Harris’ Refusal of the One-Drop Rule
When Kamala Devi Harris was sworn in as vice president earlier this year, many people in the U.S. and around the globe recognized that gender and racial barriers…
How Black Caribbean Communities Are Reviving an Ancestral Dance Tradition
Bèlè dancers and musicians help shape how some Martinicans envision their future society. Benny René Charles As public discussions about social justice and Black resistance continue in th…
Does “Reasonable” = “Racist”?
What can anthropology contribute to the critical conversation about race in America, following the welcome jury decision in the Derek Chauvin trial? After they amassed and presented a…