There’s No Shame in Shame
Everyone feels shame somewhat differently. However, new research suggests that the underlying triggers of our shame have much in common. A study published today in Proceedings of the…
Tag: Culture
Bud Caddell
Whenever I have the chance to talk to Bud Caddell, I take it. This’s because while I know the future is badly distributed (in Gibson’s famous phrase), I fervently…
For anthropologists, is interdisciplinarity ever truly a meeting of equals?
I recently read a Twitter post which asserted that interdisciplinarity was never a meeting of equals. As an anthropologist working outside of an academic department I met this…
Parting Words
I was fascinated to learn from an October 2015 article in the Independent newspaper the little-known fact that British “prime ministers leave secret instructions for nuclear missile submarine…
Seafood Fight
On the wild west coast of Vancouver Island, the tiny hamlet of Kyuquot lies nestled in the folds of British Columbia’s rumpled shoreline. It’s a wilderness paradise with…
Don’t panic: the smart city is here!
Ding Wang, in her own words, ‘has a special interest in pursuing degrees whose names consist of two random words’ (specifically Tourism Management, Design Ethnography, and now Dig…
Why We Must Talk About Race
I grew up a black woman in urban Los Angeles during the age of the civil rights movement. “Race” was all around me, woven into the fabric of…
A View From the Train Tracks
In September 2015, the disturbing image of a drowned Syrian toddler named Aylan Kurdi, whose body had washed ashore on a beach in Turkey, triggered an international outcry…
What does social media tell us about sociality in Grano?
‘Good morning’ message received on WhatsApp [double-click on the image to see the video]. So, what does the ethnography of social media use in southeast Italy tells us? In my…
Making Love—and Nations
Staunchly opposed to marriages outside his nation, John Ross, the principal chief of the Cherokee from the late 1820s until his death in 1866, helped introduce restrictive laws…
Health in a Rwandan Hospital Garden
Hospitals have many tools at their disposal. A garden is not typically one of them (not in the healthcare system I am accustomed to in the United States,…
Heritage Destruction in Cholula, Mexico
Heavy machinery working next to the Guadalupe psychiatric hospital at the base of the Great Pyramid of Cholula and sanctuary to the Virgen de los Remedios. Photo courtesy…
Everybody’s an Ethnographer!
Dhruv Sharma has a background in anthropology, has worked in various countries as an ethnographer, and also holds a master’s degree in design ethnography from Dundee University. His doctoral …
The Half of the World That Doesn’t Make Out
When the South African Thonga peoples first saw Europeans kissing in 1890, their reaction was disgust at such gross behavior. The same thing happened 100 years later for…
Feelings into words: Harvest Festival Part 2
Describing, in words, what it’s like to be at a rave is one of the most difficult things I’ve had to do for my research. How can one…
“Throw Me Something, Mister!”
The parade crowds were already forming as I held on to my oversized cowboy hat and made my way to the krewe’s meeting spot. I could see our…
What’s the matter with Ethnography?
Robert Potts is a filmmaker, lecturer, designer, and PhD candidate at the HighWire Centre for Doctoral Training who takes special interest in a diverse range of subjects including shared narr…
Anthropologists in Outer Space
Anthropologists studying outer space might sound like fringe science, like something from “The X-Files” or some “ancient aliens” TV show, but we have been studying outer space as…
They flirt, they share porn and they gossip
The last four months of 2015 were tough. I was locking myself in a claustrophobic student carrel every day, spending 9 hours staring at a computer screen but…
The Hidden Cultural Values of Massholes and Y’all Qaeda
Y’all Qaeda may be the newest sarcastic term for the Oregon militiamen, but embedded in the critique of militiamen as terrorists akin to Al Qaeda and ISIS (another…
Relevant Teaching for the 21st Century
Defending Anthropology 101 and the Mega-Class In February 2016, I was honored to participate in several sessions around the theme “Defending Anthropology 101 and the Mega-Class: Relevant Teachin…
Defending Anthropology 101 and the Mega-Class: Relevant Teaching for the 21st Century
On 4-5 February 2016, honored to participate in several sessions around the theme “Defending Anthropology 101 and the Mega-Class: Relevant Teaching for the 21st Century.” The idea of…
Confessions of a Blackhawks Fan
On June 15, 2015, the Chicago Blackhawks hockey team won their third Stanley Cup championship in six years, putting them in contention for the status of a sports…
Food Is Health
Food is health. I’ve known it since I was a kid growing up in Wisconsin. My dad was diagnosed with diabetes when I was a baby. His disease…