For the Love of Cats in Turkey
On a visit to feline-friendly Turkey, an anthropologist considers what long-standing practices of caring for cats reveal about human societies. ✽ While visiting eastern Turkey to climb Mount…
Tag: Culture
Dissertation: Living with Javelinas: On the Co-production of Human-Javelina Conviviality in Texas
Abstract This dissertation investigates the coexistence of humans and javelinas in Texas. Through a blend of traditional ethnography, ethology, and GIS mapping, the study explores the dynamics…
Fishing for Dust
A poet-historian from Manipur, India, shapes tensions between violence and beauty into an allegory, calling residents and readers alike to stay awake. “Fishing for Dust” is part of…
Living as Stateless Palestinians in Jordan
Israel’s war on Gaza that erupted in 2023 continues a long history of systemic displacement of Palestinians. Over 2 million Palestinian refugees currently live in Jordan in indefinite…
The Revolution Will Be Hilarious: Comedy for Social Change and Civic Power – review
Caty Borum‘s The Revolution Will Be Hilarious: Comedy for Social Change and Civic Power considers how comedy intersects with activism and drives social change. Borum’s accessible text draw…
Contesting Moralities: Roma Identities, State and Kinship – review
In Contesting Moralities: Roma Identities, State and Kinship, Iliana Sarafian challenges established scholarly practices that attempt to define Romani identity, instead exploring how individuals navig…
Strange Future
A Nigerian eco-activist and poet wonders what future lies ahead in the face of climate change impacts and resistance to large-scale emission reductions. “Strange Future” is part of…
Poems of Witness and Possibility: Inside Zones of Conflict
Anthropological poems from around the globe speak to people’s creative will, resistance, and resilience—and the significance of our shared humanity. ✽ In July 2023, SAPIENS put out a…
Taking on Parkinson’s Disease—With Boxing Gloves and Punching Bags
In a California gym, people living with Parkinson’s practice noncontact boxing to redefine their experience of the disease and maintain a sense of self. ✽ The smell of…
Our Edited Volume is Out:
Nurturing Alternative Futures: Living with Diversity in a More-than-Human World I am pleased to announce that Nurturing Alternative Futures: Living with Diversity in a More-than-Human World is cur…
Earlier I Had Nightmares, Now I Have Insomnia
A Kashmiri poet-anthropologist records the restless despair many feel under Indian occupation. If you missed the introduction to “Earlier I Had Nightmares, Now I Have Insomnia,” you can…
Subversive Archaism: Troubling Traditionalists and the Politics of National Heritage – review
In Subversive Archaism: Troubling Traditionalists and the Politics of National Heritage, Michael Herzfeld considers how marginalised groups use nationalist discourses of tradition to challenge state a…
How Racism Shapes the U.S. Opioid Epidemic
Public health officials say opioid use and related deaths have reached a crisis point in the U.S. An interview with anthropologist and psychiatrist Helena Hansen unpacks the racial…
A Long Road Ahead
SAPIENS’ 2023 poet-in-residence questions where peace of mind can come from for Indian-occupied Kashmir. If you missed the introduction to “A Long Road Ahead,” you can find it…
This Militarization
A poet-anthropologist conveys her life when she was coming of age under the increasing mobilization of military forces in Indian-occupied Kashmir. If you missed the introduction to “This…
Documenting the Kashmir Conflict Through Poetry
SAPIENS’ 2023 poet-in-residence sketches the history she speaks to in three poems from Indian-occupied Kashmir. “Speak up for your lips are not sealed, and your words are still…
Why Shoes Do Not Make the Runner
East African runners wearing “super shoes” have outpaced global marathon records. But the shoe fervor—alongside older stereotypes about African runners’ “natural” abilities—means athletes’ hard work o…
Being LGBTQ+ in U.S. Protestant Churches
As homophobic and transphobic rhetoric sweeps the U.S., some churches are increasingly welcoming LGBTQ+ parishioners who participate in religious life and help reconcile Christianity with a spectrum o…
Anthropologists on Palestine
Amid the war on Gaza and long before, anthropologists have been speaking out against Israel’s occupation of Palestine. Here’s a curated list of their perspectives as scholars and…
Can We Understand One Another?
The Mead-Freeman controversy draws to a close, with some answers to who was right and who was wrong. But, in the end, can anyone ever really understand cultures…
Best of SAPIENS 2023
In another year of exceptional challenges and hardships, anthropologists tackled a range of issues and questions about what it means to be human. Here are some of SAPIENS’…
Weaving Stories: Two Women Speak
Author and poet Sia Figiel and activist and anthropologist Doris Tulifau share their stories of being Samoan women. They also discuss the violence and challenges they’ve faced and…
Sex, Lies, and Science Wars
The Mead-Freeman controversy reaches its climax. Scientists, scholars, and Samoans debate the nature of sexuality, culture, and truth. After anthropologist Derek Freeman publishes Margaret Mead and S…
American Anthropological Association 2023 Talk: Making Pigs Dirty: Conflicting Perspectives on Javelinas and Hogs in Texas
I co-chaired a panel at the 2023 meeting of the American Anthropological Association titled “The America Animal.” Abstract: Other-than-human animals comprise a large part of the so…