“Laying the Cards on the Table”
Michel Leiris. Phantom Africa. Translated by Brent Hayes Edwards. Africa List Series. 720 pp., 37 halftones, 3 fascimiles, 1 map. Calcutta, London, and New York: Seagull Books, 2017.…
Tag: Field notes
Living Monuments: Imagining Ancient Gene Pools in the Middle East
In 1927, the Polish-Jewish physical anthropologist Henryk Szpidbaum published an account of his recent expedition to Mandate Palestine on behalf of the Polish Society for the Exploration of…
Fear and Loathing in Atlanta
Content warning: racism, violence, mention of miscarriage. I was on my way to the airplane that would take me back home, to Canada. I boarded the train between…
Unearthing Knowledge: Forensic Anthropology and Technologies of Memory
What is commonly known as the Colombian conflict refers to more than six decades of enduring violence. During these years, a number of peace agreements have been signed…
Arsenic and Old Pelts: Deadly Pesticides in Museum Collections
All museums use pesticides and preservatives, though their health impacts are not always known; ethnographic collections can thus pose a health risk. Here we open one cold case…
‘Cultures in the Body’: Dance and Anthropology in Revolutionary Cuba
The short documentary Historia de un ballet (History of a Ballet, 1962) dramatizes an ethnographic encounter central to a creative process. Director José Massip followed Cuban choreographer Ramiro…
Special Focus: Fields, Furrows, and Landmarks in the History of Anthropology
Read the full Focus Section here. The post Special Focus: Fields, Furrows, and Landmarks in the History of Anthropology appeared first on History of Anthropology Newsletter.
Alexander Reshetov and the History of Russian Ethnography
Alexander Mikhailovich Reshetov (1932–2009) was a prominent Russian anthropologist and historian of anthropology. He authored more than 500 scientific publications dedicated to the culture of East an…
Fair Necropolis: The Peruvian Dead, the First American Ph.D. in Anthropology, and the World’s Columbian Exposition of Chicago, 1893
Given just how many people participated in the Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893, it is understandable that historians have used the well-documented presence of a manageable few individuals…
Have Anthropology Museums Become History Museums? A Visit to Museum für Völkerkunde in Hamburg, Germany
During the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, German universities inspired the reformation of higher learning institutions throughout Europe and the United States (Barth et. al. 2005). Early museum…
The intangible narcotic: What does ‘vibe’ mean, really?
There’s a term that comes up pretty frequently when talking about electronic music events. A search within my interviews (excepts from which are quoted here) and field notes…
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…
Special Focus: History of the History of Anthropology Newsletter
Read this focus section. The post Special Focus: History of the History of Anthropology Newsletter appeared first on History of Anthropology Newsletter.
Writing in and from the Field
[Savage Minds is pleased to run this essay by guest author Ieva Jusionyte as part of our Writers’ Workshop series. Ieva is Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Latin American Studies…
Yin and yang at Harvest Festival: Part 1
NOTE: I will not be discussing my regular research topic (drug use) in this post, out of respect to the organizers of Harvest. All names have been changed.…
A state of trance: Inner peace rising from chaos
The experience of getting inside Sound Academy for Armin van Buuren was the low point of the night. After an evening of rain and dancing at the electronic…
A happy ending for 30,000 mollyed-out kids running around Toronto.
My heart dropped into my stomach when I first saw the announcement. Fireworks and junk during Zedd’s finale. “You’re welcome for this 3-second photo op,” thought the cleanup…
Psytrance, a world unto itself
Most of what I knew about psytrance (psychedelic trance) raves before I actually went to one came from this article in Vice: Psytrance really is a counter-culture in…
Field Notes: This data collection is interfering with my dancing.
The following is a selection of some of the more entertaining notes from my first official field research night. (The last post was a preliminary getting-a-feel-for-things outing.) I…
Eat, sleep, anth, repeat: It begins
Sunglasses in the darkness. White shorts, no shirt. Perspiration shining on his skin in the wild, flashing lights. A familiar-looking backpack on his shoulders, strapped over his muscular…
Why I am not setting up a nonprofit in Bali, Indonesia
It was a warm spring day in May 2014, I was cloaked in a light blue cap and gown, surrounded by my family, and racing to my graduation…
Why I am not setting up a nonprofit in Bali, Indonesia
It was a warm spring day in May 2014, I was cloaked in a light blue cap and gown, surrounded by my family, and racing to my graduation…
Seeing Beyond Prison Bars
One afternoon in 2014, my friend Mawardi and I were combatting the humid heat with cool, sugary, drinks at a cafe situated in a rice field on the…
Seeing Beyond Prison Bars
One afternoon in 2014, my friend Mawardi and I were combatting the humid heat with cool, sugary, drinks at a cafe situated in a rice field on the…