Ethnographic Designs for Buen Vivir: Fieldnotes from Nicaragua
Co-Authored by Alex Nading, Josh Fisher, and Chantelle Falconer What does it mean to find value in urban ecologies? This question sparked our collaborative research in Ciudad Sandino,…
Tag: ethnography
Ep. #15 Designing agency: Vijayendra Rao talks development, anthropology, and making social change
Vijayendra Rao, the lead economist at the World Bank in the research department, talks to our own Ian Pollock about the role that anthropology and ethnography could play in helping…
Book Review: Masters of Craft: Old Jobs in the New Urban Economy by Richard E. Ocejo
In Masters of Craft: Old Jobs in the New Urban Economy, Richard E. Ocejo explores four traditionally working-class jobs – barbering, bartending, distilling and butchery – that have been…
Ep. #14 Thesis writing, picturing cults, Muslims with caste, & fieldwork boredom: this month on TFS
Ian (1:25) starts us off by asking, just how well-written does a thesis need to be? “As anthropologists, basically what we do is write… whether it’s writing your field notes,…
Gun Violence in American Schools
There is something terribly wrong going on in American schools today. A silent epidemic is spreading throughout the country like a cancer. What does it say about a…
Ep. #13 TFS presents Anthropod: “Podcasts and Pedagogy: audio in the anthropology classroom”
“Storytelling: that’s part of the power of podcasts, and just the power of ethnography in general, to really have people tell their own stories. And I think it’s…
“Living Art” and aesthetic learning – An interview with filmmaker Tina Krüger
Living Art is a sensory oriented film that uses audiovisual methodologies to study the aesthetics and embodiment of contemporary art. I became interested, as a researcher on the…
Competitive Hardship: ethnographic guilt and early-career pressure to conduct ‘authentic’ fieldwork
Jennifer Cearns is currently conducting ethnographic research in Miami, USA, and Havana, Cuba, focusing on practices of material and digital exchange, sharing and reciprocity within and between capita…
Ep. #12 Cultural imaginaries, deepfake videos, hatred in anth, & social dissociation: this month on TFS
This month, Ian (1:12) asks how we should engage when people describe their culture one way, but our observations of their behavior don’t match those descriptions. What is…
From the Field: A drive through north western Afghanistan
by Magnus Marsden I am often asked what it is like to do fieldwork in Afghanistan. To give a sense of doing fieldwork in the country today, I…
Stephen Hawking, Dis-Incorporated
As Helene Mialet’s ethnography examines the role of his assistants, his students, and the media in the social construction of ‘Stephen Hawking: the great genius’, she also shows…
Hadas Weiss: Reflections on Moishe Postone’s legacy for anthropology
As anthropologists, we strive to speak up for the often marginalized and underprivileged populations we study. Aiming to do so rigorously by heeding the structures that create and…
Book Review: Fragile Conviction: Changing Ideological Landscapes in Urban Kyrgyzstan by Mathijs Pelkmans
In Fragile Conviction: Changing Ideological Landscapes in Urban Kyrgyzstan, Mathijs Pelkmans offers an ethnography of everyday life in a former mining town in southern Kyrgyzstan that focuses on the…
Book Review: Among Wolves: Ethnography and the Immersive Study of Power by Timothy Pachirat
In Among Wolves: Ethnography and the Immersive Study of Power, Timothy Pachirat offers an experimental contribution to scholarship on social science methodology. Written in the form of a play,…
CfP – Speaking more broadly: Adapting anthropological concepts for a broader audience
Following up on our previous post, AAA in San Jose – Anthropological Concepts for Non-Anthropologists, Jennifer and I would like to take this opportunity to circulate a call for…
CfP – Speaking more broadly: Adapting anthropological concepts for a broader audience
Following up on our previous post, AAA in San Jose – Anthropological Concepts for Non-Anthropologists, Jennifer and I would like to take this opportunity to circulate a call for…
Anthropology Is Boring: Bring Other Books
I was determined to make sure that I was never bored during my fieldwork. Vibrant informants and constant social interaction were to be the key to my successful…
Lee Hoffer on the Opioid Epidemic
Last week, the OSU Undergraduate Anthropology Club invited Lee Hoffer, Associate Professor of Anthropology at Case Western Reserve University, to give a guest lecture on the opioid epidemic.…
Doing Development the Right Way: A Conversation with Charles Piot
Anthropologist Charlie Piot has been conducting research on the political economy and history of rural West Africa for over thirty years. His first book, Remotely Global: Village Modernity…
The Bitcoin Controversy
Most people have already heard of Bitcoin. However, very few know what it is or how it originated. Many people know that it is some form of “cryptocurrency”…
Transnational Youth, Culture, and Politics in International Schools
Author: Nishadh Rego, a transnational youth, migrant, and new citizen of Australia. He is currently Policy and Advocacy Coordinator at the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Australia. Check out some…
#Podcast Interview Round Up: The Best of February
Did you forget to give a Valentine’s Day present to your ears? Don’t worry, because you can still make amends through the gift of anthropology podcasts. Yes, it’s…
The Facebook Data Scandal and Why Anthropology Should get More Comfortable with Journalism
There’s anthropological spirit in investigative journalism that anthropologists could better acknowledge. Regardless of whether it has a anthropology qualification attached or it is embedded in comple…