On the Edge of the Body
By Renata Carvalho Anthropology’s many attempts of conceptualising the body into clear and useful analytical categories has raised significant ontological questions that problematise the very basi…
Tag: health
Book Review: Pandemic Solidarity: Mutual Aid during the Covid-19 Crisis edited by Marina Sitrin and Colectiva Sembrar
In Pandemic Solidarity: Mutual Aid during the Covid-19 Crisis, Marina Sitrin and Colectiva Sembrar explore how communities in different areas of the world mobilised to help one another during the…
Recognising the Spirit of Ubuntu in Khayelitsha Community Response to the Covid-19 pandemic
by Megan Anderson In the second-largest peri-urban settlement in South Africa, Khayelitsha, the coronavirus has proliferated with recorded cases over 6,500. The township has become one of the…
Enigmas of Corporeal Justice: Surrogacy and Legality in India
Over the last two decades, India has become a popular global destination for what is commonly referred to as reproductive tourism, wherein clients travel from one part of…
The Diet of the Future Is a Menu That Draws From the Ancient Past
The author wears an outfit he made using ancient tools, methods, and materials while filming the National Geographic TV show The Great Human Race in Alaska. Brent Meske/Courtesy…
5 Questions About Eating Like a Human
In this free live event, SAPIENS Media and Public Outreach Fellow Yoli Ngandali asks archaeologist, primitive technologist, and chef Bill Schindler about his new book, Eat Like a…
How People Actually Use Their Smartphones
[no-caption] John Cei Douglas In 2022, the smartphone, first introduced by IBM, will celebrate its 30th birthday. Most of us now use a smartphone every day—whether we like…
Allying With Parasites to Fight Industrial Oil Palm
A Ganoderma fungus epidemic attacks oil palm trees at a plantation in Indonesian-controlled West Papua. Sophie Chao In October 2019, I traveled through an oil palm monocrop with…
Can Anthropology Help Heal Puerto Rico’s Diabetes Crisis?
Diabetes can present additional complications for patients in times of stress, such as during evacuations after Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico in 2017. Joe Raedle/Getty Images “Doctors do…
Chelation Chronicles – 1H 2021
This blog post is focused on my chronic health issues. The series was initially focused on learning to detox heavy metals using the Andy Cutler Chelation (ACC) protocol,…
Book Review: Michael Young, Social Science and the British Left, 1945-1970 by Lise Butler
In Michael Young, Social Science and the British Left, 1945-1970, Lise Butler explores the relationship between social science and public policy in left-wing politics through the figure of social…
Chasing the Myths of Mexico’s “Superrunners”
Surrounded by torch-bearing supporters, runners kick a ball as part of a traditional rarajípare racing event practiced by the Rarámuri people of Mexico. Marcos Ferro On a mesa…
A Letter From COVID-19
[no-caption] Beastfromeast/Getty Images In June 2020, I published a “Letter From COVID-19” in the Italian newspaper la Repubblica. At the time of writing, Italy was still under lockdown…
Unlikely Blessings
[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…
Death as Something We Make
[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…
Can Social Scientists Help Control Epidemics?
A poster in an Ebola response center breaks down the evolving response to the epidemic—including efforts to address social and cultural concerns. Annie Wilkinson On May 24, 2014,…
When Kinship Is Traced Through Women, Their Health Follows
Among the ethnically Mosuo community in China, some groups are matrilineal, meaning inheritance passes from mothers to their children rather than from fathers to sons. Patrick Aventurier/Gamm…
What Is Vaccination Equity?
Born in Mexico, Rosario (a pseudonym) has worked as a cleaner in the Los Angeles public hospital system for more than three decades. But despite meeting California state…
Social Distancing in a Sumatra Rainforest
An Orang Rimba man named Nyeruduk stands in front of a tent on a rubber plantation in Sumatra. Dedi Supriansyah On an otherwise silent night in March 2020,…
What Does the American Dream Have to do With the COVID-19 Vaccine?
Protestors gather outside Dodger Stadium, a mass vaccination site in Los Angeles, in January. Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images On January 30, protesters disrupted a mass…
How Imperialism Gave Us 2020
Violence and disease have long been intertwined in the Americas. Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images The world is caught in the grip of a deadly pandemic and yet another wave…
Time to Rethink Teeth
Tooth enamel growth starts before birth and continues until adult teeth are fully formed. Ksenia Chernaya/Pexels Four years ago, I found myself cataloguing some dusty containers of about…
What Makes Vaccines Social?
[no-caption] Luis Alvarez/Getty Images Now is a pressing time for vaccinating the U.S. population (and the world) against COVID-19. But there are social hurdles that need to be…
Sanderien Verstappen: Hidden behind toilet rolls: visual landscapes of COVID-19
During the lockdowns of spring 2020, short videos became a popular means of reflecting on new experiences of quarantine and social distancing. Passed around on social media platforms,…