Review and Interview: Nurturing Masculinities
Nurturing Masculinities: Men, Food and Family in Contemporary Egypt. Nefissa Naguib. University of Texas Press. 2015. Katharina Graf (SOAS, University of London) Nefissa Naguib’s book ‘Nurturing Masc…
Tag: Gender
A historical view of a long heated debate: what could be more menacing than the singular "they"?
The use of ‘they’ as a replacement for ‘he or she’ pronouns has been gaining momentum not only because it lets one slip around those steadfast predefined gender…
(Almost) Anthro Blogging 101: Lady Science
In this edition of Blogging 101, we’re featuring Lady Science, a blog and publication started by Anna Reser and Leila McNeill. Anthropology and geek culture also involves studies…
Web Roundup: Controversy and Commerce by Sara M Bergstresser
There have been many controversies about substantial and sudden jumps in pharmaceutical prices, the most memorable/infamous surrounding Martin Shkreli, the [widely despised and thoroughly unrepentant]…
Gender and Disaster Beyond Men and Women
Over the past two decades, considerable attention has been given to the multiple interactions between gender and disaster. Yet the study and integration of gender in disaster and…
Advancing Equity in Higher Education
We must address issues of access and success for our students. It is a summer afternoon and I am sitting in my office with one of my students,…
Con-Men: Understanding the Gendered Language of the Comic Book Convention
By Steven Dashiell Featured image based on an Creative Commons image by GabboT. I can clearly remember my first time ever going to a comic book convention. It…
The Untold Story Behind Fiji’s Astonishing Gold Medal
A teary-eyed member of Fiji’s women’s rugby team raised the Fijian flag after the men’s rugby team won the Olympic gold medal. Viewers watched on a big-screen TV…
When Nature Has to Conform to Culture: Highly Sensitive People in a Nonsensitive Culture
Elaine Aron’s book The Highly Sensitive Person was like my own personal Da Vinci Code—riveting, compelling, and totally solved a mystery about myself I didn’t know existed. My…
#FreeHoma: Anthropologists in dangerous contexts
Anthropology is a discipline that was born out of colonial encounters and systems of power. Anthropologists have historically been complicit in supporting the people, systems and ideas through…
Call for #Reviews: Recent Publications on #Gender
While gender remains a mostly female domain of inquiry, our list of recent publications features not only male authors, but also discusses contemporary masculinities. In What Makes a…
The emotional toll of masculinity
This personal essay published in the Washington Post’s Parenting section, provides a lot of insight into the powerful norms and ideals of masculinity in (North) American society. In…
Derrida on complacency and vulgarity
In Benoît Peeters’ biography of Jacques Derrida, there is an intriguing interview with Derrida that was never published. Peeters writes: In 1992, Jacques Derrida gave Osvaldo Muñoz an…
Sarah Richardson’s Sex Itself: The Search for Male and Female in the Human Genome by Paula Martin
Sex Itself: The Search for Male and Female in the Human Genome Sarah Richardson University of Chicago Press, 2013, 320 pages In Sex Itself: The Search for…
Tinderbox: Building an ingenuity machine
Several weeks ago, Mark Bernstein announced the latest Tinderbox, the “tool for notes.” I almost always sign up for these updates. I almost always give the new edition…
An anthropologist walks into… a gym
Katie Hejtmanek is a cultural anthropologist who studies the culture of strength sports (powerlifting, weightlifting, CrossFit) in the United States. Her articles for BarBend offer not only interesting…
Book Forum––Sabine Arnaud’s On Hysteria by Todd Meyers
Sabine Arnaud’s On Hysteria: The Invention of a Medical Category Between 1670 and 1820 focuses on the socio-medical category before its better-known (and more heavily studied) late ninet…
Joanna Kempner’s Not Tonight: Migraine and the Politics of Gender and Health by Christine Labuski
Not Tonight: Migraine and the Politics of Gender and Health Joanna Kempner University of Chicago Press, 2014, 232 pages In her thoroughly engaging new book, Not Tonight: Migraine…
Between Male and Female
Laverne Cox, the actress who plays Sophia Burset on the Netflix series Orange Is the New Black, made television history by being the first openly transgender actress to…
Consumption, Performance and Identity in Cosplay
By Emma Louise Backe Every year, hundreds of thousands of fans congregate at conventions like San Diego’s Comic Con, Atlanta’s Dragon Con and Emerald City Comic Con, to…
Did Women and Children Exist in Prehistory?
Stone tools, like Acheulean hand axes, remain well-preserved for eons because they are stones first, tools second. Fired ceramics remain well-preserved for millennia because they are, in essence,…
Mass Violence and Teachable Moments
This past weekend, Orlando, Florida witnessed the worst mass shooting in America’s recent history. This violent, planned attack in a public place is tragic, and our hearts go out…
The Ultimate Proletarian and the Neoliberal Condition
“Proletarian” has acquired many layers of meaning over the centuries, possibly in part because the many, historically changing situations of proletarians became more complex. Since the advent of…
Food Anthropology, A Tribute to Sidney W. Mintz
What are your essential articles for teaching a Food Anthropology course? What most distinguishes Food Anthropology from other ways of studying food? What are the most important insights…