“We don’t have to whisper”: Fieldnotes from Odesa
I met Engineer Yakiv[1] on board a merchant ship I had joined just south of Sri Lanka in early 2013. I was there to study seafarers’ perceptions of…
I met Engineer Yakiv[1] on board a merchant ship I had joined just south of Sri Lanka in early 2013. I was there to study seafarers’ perceptions of…
An experimental robotic pack mule, the Legged Squad Support System, walks alongside U.S. Marines on patrol. Sarah Dietz/U.S. Marine Corps Excerpted from War Virtually: The Quest to Autom…
In January, news broke that David Bennett Sr.—a 57-year-old man with a serious heart disease—received a heart from a genetically modified pig. The eight-hour operation, which took place…
Teachers face increasing challenges—from staff shortages to widely varying student achievement levels—with omicron infections sweeping across the country. Santiago Mejia/San Francisco Chronic…
Inherited Buddhist objects and their associated ritual care connect the dead with the living. Buddhist things are not only material. They contain spiritual and emotional power, even when…
“Muslims go to Mecca once, if they are not unnecessarily wealthy (laughing), but people of all kinds come to visit Mevlana [‘s musealized tomb] every year. Why? Because…
Reconstruction of a chamber grave from eastern France. B. Clarys/PCR espaces et pratiques funéraires en Alsace aux époques mérovingienne et carolingienne This article was originally publ…
In Auckland, New Zealand, Māori people celebrate the rising of Mataraki, also known as the Pleiades star cluster, as the start of the new year in July. Hannah…
In this free live event, Poetry Editor Christine Weeber and SAPIENS Public Anthropology Fellow Eshe Lewis will speak with Justin D. Wright, a doctoral student in sociocultural anthropology…
When you lose someone the future dies. Or, at least, the one with them, that you thought about with them, in it. I imagine any relationship that ends…
“Lessons We Learn” is part of the collection Lead Me to Life: Voices of the African Diaspora. Read the introduction to the collection here. The past flashes like…
“Window” is part of the collection Lead Me to Life: Voices of the African Diaspora. Read the introduction to the collection here. I. Finding myself lost in…
[no-caption] Pixabay/Pexels “Elder” is part of the collection Lead Me to Life: Voices of the African Diaspora. Read the introduction to the collection here. We don’t talk…
It is often hard to part with the objects left behind by loved ones—even everyday things. Ashton/Flickr I have been told many stories by people who found it…
Clemson Tigers teammates celebrate a successful play against the Boston College Eagles in 2020. David Grooms/TigerNet.com/Flickr This article was originally published at Black Perspective…
The author, Aaron Jackson (center), with Wayne (left), a father whose thoughts about masculinity change as he raises his son Nick (right). Aaron J. Jackson This article was…
[no-caption] Jenn/Flickr In the poem of the same name, Ethiopia’s special place among African groups is put in high relief. Ethiopia symbolized hope of independence for Nigerian nationali…
Humanity’s long history with medicinal compounds might explain some of the preference for one delivery mechanism over another. Xathity Perm Prayochn/EyeEm/Getty Images If you’re watching …
[no-caption] Glenn H. Shepard Jr. When I discovered the poetry of Paul Celan as an undergraduate, I had little idea his words would later guide me through dark…
[no-caption] Rouzes/Getty Images Renee (a pseudonym) closed her eyes, lay her head in her brother’s arms, and gently drew her last breath. Minutes before, she had chugged a…
[no-caption] Johannes Plenio/Pexels The sun opens, shutters. The social scientist wants to know where to look, keeps widening her gaze. Over here on the earth, a girl fries…
Thousands of couples were wed in a mass ceremony in South Korea on February 7, 2020. Some of them had only met a few weeks earlier, after being…
[no-caption] Angus Krieg SAPIENS host Jen Shannon speaks with biological anthropologist Helen Fisher about her research on love, sex, and everything in between. Fisher is the author of…
Anthropologist Victor Turner’s work on transitional states may shed light on people’s pandemic experiences of the betwixt and between. Pixabay/Pexels As a parent of two kids in elementary…