The Surreal World of Money
What’s your favorite coin? Is it a refined, delicate, and dignified Roosevelt dime? A useless but comfortingly familiar Lincoln penny? The ubiquitous Washington quarter? I prefer silver dollars,…
Tag: Culture
The Struggle to Protect a Tree at the Heart of Hopi Culture
To Hopi traditionalists—Hopis who practice traditional culture—the humble one-seed juniper tree has deep cultural meaning. Mark Sykes A rumbling, low boom unfurled over the land like a cu…
The Church of the Solar Eclipse
Extreme eclipse chasers travel the world roughly every 18 months to witness a total solar eclipse from inside the path of totality. Murray Anderson-Clemence/Getty Images Glenn Schneider r…
Cooking Up an International Market for Quinoa
The bright-red cuchi wila quinoa has a bitter-tasting outer coating, called saponin, that protects the plant from predators and houses a black seed. This heritage variety of quinoa…
The Perils and Privileges of an Amazonian Hallucinogen
As practices associated with the use of ayahuasca grow in popularity, so do concerns about the appropriation of Indigenous traditions. Barbara Fraser Jens Kossmagk gazed into the darkness…
the congo dandies
Description by RT Documentaries: ““La Sape” is a unique movement based in Congo that unites fashion-conscious men who are ready to splurge money they don’t really have…
Wisdom Without a Country
In the oasis of his studio, Constantin Brâncuși revolutionized sculpture by drawing out the “being that is within matter”—the cosmic essence or spirit that exists underneath the surface.…
Conversations and Podcasting as Social Technology
This episode is a little different from our normal content. In it we feature a presentation Adam gave for Pivotal Labs in which he explores This Anthro Life’s (and…
Nigerian migrant women as subjects: Sex work in fiction
Anti-trafficking campaigners often single out Nigerian women as the worst case of what they call sex trafficking. I first wrote about this years ago and note that, despite…
Nigerian migrant women as subjects: Sex work in fiction
Anti-trafficking campaigners often single out Nigerian women as the worst case of what they call sex trafficking. I first wrote about this years ago and note that, despite…
For African Asylum-Seekers, a Treacherous Journey Is Only the Beginning
Sprawling, makeshift camps in the mountains of northern Morocco are home to large numbers of sub-Saharan Africans who await their chance to cross into Spain. Isabella Alexander Africans…
Reconsidering How We Honor Those Lost to War
Cities in the southern U.S. are currently under pressure to take down statues of Confederate leaders, whose publicly sanctioned presence is a constant source of injury to many.…
The Moral Code of Chinese Sex Workers
The risks of earning a living in the sex industry are lessened by workers protecting one another’s safety and best interests. Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images One hot afternoon…
How Our Modern Lifestyles Perpetuate Slavery
An immigrant farmworker listens to activist Ethel Kennedy and a representative from the Florida-based human rights organization Coalition of Immokalee Workers speak as part of the Robert F.…
Google Trends as life advice?
[this post first appeared on Medium] I was in Portland last week looking for artisans to interview for the Artisanal Economies Project and stumbled upon a vintage clothing…
TAL + SM: Anthropology and Science Journalism, A New Genre?
Click here to check out the podcast This Anthro Life – Savage Minds Crossover Series, part 3 by Adam Gamwell and Ryan Collins This Anthro Life has teamed…
Anthropology + Science Journalism = A New Genre? w/ Daniel Salas of SAPIENS
Click here to check out the TAL + SM blog post This Anthro Life has teamed up with Savage Minds to bring you a special 5-part podcast and…
How and Why Hazing Evolved
Sailors aboard the USS Lexington celebrate crossing the equator with an elaborate hazing ritual on April 5, 1944. Participants include Her Highness Amphitrite (seated left), King Neptune (seated…
Anthropology has Always been Out There w/ Ed Liebow and Leslie Walker of the AAA
This Anthro Life has teamed up with Savage Minds to bring you a special 5-part podcast and blog crossover series. While thinking together as two anthropological productions that…
TAL + SM: Anthropology has Always been Out There
This Anthro Life – Savage Minds Crossover Series, part 2 by Adam Gamwell and Ryan Collins, with Leslie Walker This Anthro Life has teamed up with Savage Minds…
For the Love of Us All, No More Deplorables, Snowflakes, or Nasty Women
8 Labels I Never Want to Hear Again There are several words that have gained in popularity over the last few years that I don’t ever want to…
Capturing the Art of Imprisonment
Over the span of about four decades, the late Russian artist Vasily Konovalenko (1929–1989) produced more than 70 wonderful gem-carving sculptures that depict themes and scenes of Russian…
Capturing the Art of Imprisonment
Over the span of about four decades, the late Russian artist Vasily Konovalenko (1929–1989) produced more than 70 wonderful gem-carving sculptures that depict themes and scenes of Russian…
Wearing slammerkins and dreaming: Sex work in fiction
In Slammerkin, Mary is a street prostitute in mid-18th-century London. Thrown out of her dismal basement home by a mother absolute in condemnation of Mary’s pregnancy at 14,…