Asifa Majid on language and olfaction
(I am republishing a lot of ‘legacy content’ from our PLOS Neuroanthropology weblog, which has been taken down, along with many of the other founding PLOS Blogs. Some…
Tag: General
Giving names to aromas in Aslian languages
The sanitary and mechanical age we are now entering makes up for the mercy it grants to our sense of smell by the ferocity with which it assails…
Life in the Dark
Image by Pexels from Pixabay (I am republishing a lot of ‘legacy content’ from our PLOS Neuroanthropology weblog, which has been taken down, along with many of the other found…
Community-Based Research is Hard, and Worth It
The Salt Spring Dollar I began studying the Salt Spring dollar (SSD), a community currency used on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia, Canada, for my May-August MA fieldwork…
Reflections on the 2021 AusSTS ‘Situated Practices’ Workshop
Workshop participants on a sound walk through downtown Melbourne. Credit: Giles Campbell-Wright The 2021 AusSTS interdisciplinary workshop, hosted by the Deakin University Science & Society Networ…
Harnessing Indeterminacy: The Technopolitics of Hydrocarbon Prospects
A drillship in the sea. Resource: Unsplash. Amidst an international crisis sparked by the scandalous confessions of a mafia boss and a pollution and climate change-triggered marine disaster…
Like, Share, Comment, and Follow: Labor and Capital on Instagram
Screenshot of the Instagram profile of the influencer discussed in the blog. Social media content creator Ishita Mangal (@ishitamangal) uploaded a post with multiple slides on her Instagram…
DEI celebrates its first birthday
Looking back at an extraordinary year – in every sense – the Digital Ethnography Initiative has celebrated its first birthday with colleagues from the Department of Social and…
Key Insights for Thinking and Doing Interdisciplinary and Transdisciplinary Work: Contributions from Latin America
Ryoji Iwata/ Unsplash In April 2021, the First ESOCITE-LALICS Conference took place, albeit virtually. This was the first virtual Conference organized with the collaboration of the Asociación Latinoam…
Days of Their Lives: The Limits, Possibilities, and Parallels of Media-Ted Research during a Pandemic
On a regular day, a Hindi soap opera production set in Mumbai is home to upwards of 100 artists and technicians – production associates, actors, make-up artists, costume…
Swarming Syphilis: On the Reality of Data
(Editor’s Note: This blog post is part of the Thematic Series Data Swarms Revisited) Treponema pallidum spirochetes under microscope using a modified Steiner silver stain. Obtained from the…
Maps as Cultural Objects
In the Digital Age, maps are closer to us than ever before—a quick tap on a smartphone and you’re off to the nearest Starbucks for a quick coffee…
Centavitos Against Food Insecurity: Structural Violence, Charity, and Technical Fixes in Guatemala
On March 23rd, 2021, the 2020 yearly results for the “Gran Cruzada Nacional por la Desnutrición” (Great National Crusade for Malnutrition) were presented in a press conference held…
Land, Property, Technology: Exploring Blockchain as Infrastructural Promise
A view from the Rift Valley escarpment, illustrating a landscape that far exceeds official registries. Photo by author. In my work, I explore the ways in which blockchain…
Multiple Modes of Being Human
(Editor’s Note: This blog post is part of the Thematic Series Data Swarms Revisited) Evolution (photo by and copyright of Oliver Berger) In the last couple of years,…
Thinking with a Database
In 2019, the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority notified television channels that they were not allowed to host the Pakistani Senator Hafiz Hamdullah on air. The reason: Hamdullah…
Angelology and Technoscience
(Editor’s Note: This blog post is part of the Thematic Series Data Swarms Revisited) Scene of angels at Karlskirche, Vienna, Austria (Photo by Lukas Meier on Unsplash) The…
Girls, Gadgets, and Gatekeepers: What is Ethical Feminist Fieldwork When Working with Children?
There is no Institutional Review Board (IRB) or equivalent body in India. The ethics of research are left to the purview of researchers, their supervisors, and departments. Therefore,…
Cargo Ships and Comrades: On the Occasion of the Beached Ever Given
In 2018, we took a cargo ship from Barcelona to New York City and made a short film called Slop Chest [1] about the blurry distinction between work…
Entrepreneurship and Technologies
Everyone is an entrepreneur – a new ethos is sweeping through our economic world. While the promises of ‘being your own boss’ and ‘deciding about your working hours’…
Screenshots of the Field: Viral Loads and the Contagious Potentials of Digital Ethnography
Over the course of the past six months, I have been actively doing fieldwork on HIV care in Turkey on Zoom. Believe it or not, for an anxious…
Building Collaborative Habits, Establishing Sustaining Relations: What is the Role of a Scholarly Society Today?
For decades, the in-person academic conference has been a core aspect of the scholarly society’s mandate and programming. But the disruption COVID-19 has brought to in-person travel has…
Assembling an Actor-Network Theory Archaoelogy
Elevated view of a Medieval Water Reservoir located within an inselberg. When I first thought of putting Science and Technology Studies (STS) and archaeology in conversation, several aspects…
Cultureels ethnographic film festival 12-18 April 2021
Anthro students arrange an online festival of ethnographic films on 12-18 April 2021. More information from this web address: https://www.cultureels.com/