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…
Tag: economics
The Making of a Community Activist
The construction of a proposed natural gas pipeline in Puerto Rico’s Jobos Bay would threaten one of the island’s largest estuaries and the people who depend on it.…
Trump’s Slogan: More About the “Make” Than the “Great”
The famous catchphrase of the Trump campaign subtly taps into the United States’ spirit of making. But what does it actually mean? Alex Milan Tracy/Associated Press President Donald…
Inside a Moroccan Marijuana Farm
With my gaze fixed on the horizon, I stood at the bow of a ferry that carried me across the Strait of Gibraltar. One by one, the peaks…
Who Is Ecotourism’s Winner – Nature, Culture or Capital?
by Sara Loh ‘Capitalism thrives on crisis. This is its engine of innovation and creativity’ – Sian Sullivan For neoliberal conservationists around the world, the environmental crisis has…
Lessons From a Forgotten Amazonian Slaughter
For decades, conservationists have viewed subsistence hunting by Indigenous peoples in the Amazon as a contributing factor to “empty forests”—forests where trees remain but wildlife is all but…
A Field Guide to Trump’s Swamp
The president-elect has populated “the swamp” with power brokers who are marred by potential conflicts of interest. Andrew Harnik/Associated Press For me, a social anthropologist who has …
How Hostels Have Turned Backpackers Into “Brokepackers”
Hostels used to be reliably inexpensive options for backpackers. That is no longer the case. Michelle Jones In May 2014, having recently completed my master’s degree in anthropology,…
The Long Path to Enlightenment
A common Indian folk tale tells the story of a forest-dwelling hermit who had neither possessions nor troubles, except that a mouse was nibbling away at his loincloth.…
Minimalism Versus Simplicity
Last summer, I read Marie Kondo’s The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, which inspired me to clean out my closet and organize my clothes. I admit to feeling…
Simplicity Is Essentially a State of Mind
Simplicity is an elastic term that can mean just about anything. Consider Andrew Carnegie, the steel magnate and robber baron who by the early 20th century was the…
The Silk Ribbon of Highways
A thousand years ago, the Silk Road was in its heyday. Caravans hauling tons of commodities and luxury goods crisscrossed Asia and the Middle East from Xi’an, China,…
Gold Glimmers in the Amazon
For centuries, explorers have searched the Amazon for treasures. Today, gold lures thousands who dream of finding their own fortunes, or at least a better life. Michael Klingler…
Gold Glimmers in the Amazon
For centuries, explorers have searched the Amazon for treasures. Today, gold lures thousands who dream of finding their own fortunes, or at least a better life. Michael Klingler…
The Hidden World of Car Parking Helpers
An informal parking attendant in Bucharest’s historic quarter points out an empty spot to oncoming cars. Ştefan Mako Each day between 7 and 8 a.m., 71-year-old Jan,* his…
How Tourism Reinvented Jesus’ Baptism Site
The Yardenit Baptismal Site is a pilgrimage place that many visitors say allows them to connect to events outlined in the Bible, including the baptism and ministry of…
Camaraderie in the Face of Greek Austerity
At a pharmacy in Vyronas, Greece, Dimitris (left) provides a referral for medical care while Soula (top center) helps fill prescriptions. All services at this and other community-based…
11th Annual Wine Economics Conference
We recently received the following announcements, which may be of interest to all of you wine anthropologists: (1) CALL FOR CONFERENCE PAPERS The 11th Annual Conference of the American Association…
Selling Dreams of the Good Life in Kazakhstan
In Kazakhstan, as in other countries around the world, multilevel marketing companies like Mary Kay appeal to potential recruits by promising new economic opportunities and a revitalized sense…
Do the Olympics Make Economic Sense?
The 2016 Rio Olympics cost an estimated $11.46 billion. Most would say the Olympics don’t make financial sense. So why do countries want to host them? Felipe Dana/Associated…
Review: Two Books on Hunger and Food Security
De Schutter, Olivier. and Cordes, Kaitlin Y. 2011. Accounting for Hunger: The Right to Food in an Era of Globalisation. London/New York: Hart Publishing (288 pp). Timmer, C.…
Imagining the Future & Economic Fictions
“The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the living,” Marx remarked in The Eighteenth Brumaire, and although we may all make…
Imagining the Future & Economic Fictions
“The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the living,” Marx remarked in The Eighteenth Brumaire, and although we may all make…
Imagining the Future & Economic Fictions
“The tradition of all dead generations weighs like a nightmare on the brains of the living,” Marx remarked in The Eighteenth Brumaire, and although we may all make…