Book Review: Not in Our Genes
I’ve been slacking on writing book reviews and so I need to get back to it so the next several posts will be just that (unless something happens…
Tag: Culture
Science as a Structure of Violence
The study of human diversity and subsequent racialisation of people has been examined and critiqued but has escaped interrogation as an institution by which structural violence is enacted.…
A Brief History of Race in the Western Thought
Race, as a concept, has important ontology in American society. In order to understand the relationship between race, genetic research, and the American class structure, it is necessary…
The Paradox of Hyper-connectedness and Solipsism in Contemporary America
Try walking around the mall, on a crowded sidewalk, or through a university campus and there is one thing that stands out: people are engulfed in their phones.…
About those Ancestry dot com commercials
In the fall 2017 quarter I kicked off my intro to cultural anthropology course with one of those Ancestry dot com videos. These are all over the place,…
Africa in the World: Event Highlights from Johannesburg
“Africa in the World: Shifting Boundaries and Knowledge Production,” a joint conference of AAA and the African Studies Association begins May 25th in Johannesburg, South Africa. The confe…
Why Aid Remains Out of Reach for Some Rohingya Refugees
[no-caption] Sajjad Hussain/Getty Images Ameena (a pseudonym) is a 25-year-old Rohingya refugee in New Delhi, India, who is seven months pregnant with twins. Her face is gaunt. Often…
How Fracking’s Appetite for Sand Is Devouring Rural Communities
[no-caption] “Do you want to see the mine?” asks Harlan*. “Of course,” I reply. He fetches his boots. We head outside with his wife Edith and follow a…
Why do people not leave Facebook?
Last week – April 25 – Facebook posted the 2018 first-quarter data on revenues and users (here the original post from Facebook.) The perhaps unexpected take-home message is…
Western Science Is Finally Catching Up to Traditional Ecological Knowledge
Indigenous groups in northern Australia have observed—and even indicated in ceremony and story—kites and falcons, or “firehawks,” deliberately transporting lit sticks in order to spread fire. …
Not That Innocent: fertility, vengeance and serpentine symbolism within pop music
By Mac Spencer In the summer of last year, globally scrutinised pop star Taylor Swift quietly deleted every piece of content from her online accounts. A brief social…
Letting Silence Have a Voice in #MeToo
On December 9, 2017, #MeToo ralliers in New York City, many of whom are survivors of sexual violence, took a stand against prominent men who have reportedly committed…
Ep. #12 Cultural imaginaries, deepfake videos, hatred in anth, & social dissociation: this month on TFS
This month, Ian (1:12) asks how we should engage when people describe their culture one way, but our observations of their behavior don’t match those descriptions. What is…
When Gaming the System Is the Only Way to Parenthood
[no-caption] Miguel Gaggiotti Sonsoles* and her partner had set their hearts on adopting a child. They lived in a nice Barcelona neighborhood, and from the start, Sonsoles explained,…
Grid girls and the Presidents Club: Women and sexist jobs
In 1995, my friend’s 17-year-old daughter Ermina was looking for work in Santiago, Chile. The obvious job available to her was posing in a short skirt beside cars…
Marching for Science w/Valorie Aquino – This Anthro Life
On this episode of This Anthro Life, hosts Ryan Collins and Adam Gamwell are joined by TAL correspondent and guest host Astrid Countee and by a very special…
Anthropology Is Boring: Bring Other Books
I was determined to make sure that I was never bored during my fieldwork. Vibrant informants and constant social interaction were to be the key to my successful…
Beth Comstock and 7 truths for the C-suite
(This post was first published on Medium, April 3, 2018.) Anyone who works as a creative, a strategist, a planner, a story teller, a PR specialist, or a…
The Personhood and Rights of Apes
I spent the earliest part of my career as an anthropologist studying captive chimpanzees at the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro, NC. While there, I always made a…
Victimisation of Mary Prince: Early Rescue-Industry history
I’m always on the lookout for guided walks where I’ll be shown sites and hear histories not in the Establishment’s textbooks. Black History Walks showed me this plaque located in…
Where a River of Life Became a Border of Control
[no-caption] Wenting Li/SAPIENS The floor of the El Paso International Airport’s baggage claim area is a marble mosaic design; blue stones represent the Rio Grande (or Río Bravo,…
For Preppers, the Apocalypse Is Just Another Disaster
[no-caption] David Williams/SAPIENS My first encounter with a group of preppers in St. Louis, Missouri, started at the bar of a restaurant about a decade past its prime.…
Strike4Decrim on Women’s ‘Day’ Soho 8 March 2018
I was glad to be able to participate in the Strike4Decrim events on the evening of 8 March – International Women’s Day. In general I’m no fan of…
How Billy Graham Married Evangelism and Anthropology
In 1960, Billy Graham met with Maasai people while preaching throughout Africa. James Burke/Getty Images On March 2, millions watched the funeral of the Rev. Billy Graham, one…