Reviving humanity: Africa’s lessons for post-Covid education
Many months after Covid-19 hit Africa, education systems, like in other parts of the world, are struggling to figure out the way forward. Schools have started to reopen…
Tag: Inequality
No questions asked: the rise of loan sharks in lockdown South Africa
Flipping through my fieldnotes written back in the early days of the South African lockdown, it’s the stoicism of my research participants that strikes me. When president Cyril…
Podcast # 2 is online! Guest: Aleeha Ali
In this episode, Puck de Boer talks with Aleeha Ali, who studied sociology in Pakistan, did a research master’s in anthropology in the UK and is currently a…
Adam James Moore: The human cost of city upgrading in ‘pro-poor’ Medellín
On 1st March 2018, a group of protestors blocked a dual-carriageway in front of Acevedo Metro (and Metro cable line) Station in the North of Medellín, Colombia. Those…
Convivial networks: how migrants cope with the pandemic in South Africa
Stanley (not his real name) is among many Zimbabwean migrants who left their home country, escaping the economic downturn and political instability. In search of greener pastures, he…
Richard H. Robbins: The Economy After Covid-19
Richard H. Robbins, SUNY Plattsburgh One feature of both the economic recession of 2007/2008 and the present Covid-19-induced economic collapse is increased central bank bouts of quantitative easi…
Isolated twice: international students in Switzerland during Covid-19
We live in a German-speaking canton of Switzerland. As the Covid-19 pandemic gained momentum in Europe, one of the first things we stopped doing as a family with…
Bolsonaro’s politics of death, Covid-19 and racial inequality in Brazil
Covid-19 infections and deaths in Brazil continue to grow at an alarming pace: at the time of publication (8 July 2020), the Latin American country has recorded over…
The plight of domestic workers during India’s lockdown
Bhaagya (not her real name) is in her early thirties. She is married, and has two teenage children. She cooks and cleans for several households in Bengaluru, a…
Localising support to displaced populations during and after Covid-19
As Covid-19 continues to spread at a worrying pace, refugees around the world run the double risk of being hit by the virus and by the negative impact…
Brushes with racism in Minnesota and why Black lives matter
Black lives matter across any geographical border. My research and my own racial encounters confirm what I have known in my soul: our fates are inextricably linked. And…
India’s lockdown tragedy: bleeding along the fault lines of a nation
As India comes out of a long and harsh lockdown, and Covid-19 cases are rising with worrying speed, it is important to reflect on the Indian government’s response…
Social Inequality in Times of Pandemics
We should not expect COVID-19 to behave in the same way as historical pandemics of plague. But both show how inequalities exacerbate mortality outcomes. It’s a gorgeous, warm…
Wording sociality and health: COVID-19’s lexicon revisited
Anthr{dendum} welcomes guest blogger Elena Burgos Martinez. It is all a matter of words. The recent emergence of a wealth of COVID-19-related material shows that we all narrate…
Connection and Inequality in the Remote Classroom
The switchover to remote teaching in the wake of COVID-19 has prompted a flurry of conversation among academics regarding technology’s (in)capabilities in replicating the conventional in-person classr…
Book Review: The Meritocracy Trap by Daniel Markovits
In The Meritocracy Trap, Daniel Markovits argues that rather than aiding social mobility, the concept of meritocracy has become the single greatest obstacle to equal opportunities in the…
Teaching the social determinants of health during the COVID-19 pandemic by David Ansari
I teach an undergraduate course called Cultural diversity, structural barriers, and multilingualism in clinical and healing encounters at the University of Chicago. The title is a mouthful, and…
Book Review: Higher Education and Social Inequalities: University Admissions, Experiences and Outcomes edited by Richard Waller, Nicola Ingram and Michael R.M. Ward
In Higher Education and Social Inequalities, Richard Waller, Nicola Ingram and Michael R.M. Ward bring together contributors to explore and evidence how university admissions, experiences and outcomes…
Book Review: Social Mobility and its Enemies by Lee Elliot Major and Stephen Machin
In Social Mobility and its Enemies, Lee Elliot Major and Stephen Machin offer a thought-provoking assessment of the state of social mobility in Britain. In the context of much social and…
Book Review: Posh Boys: How the English Public Schools Ruin Britain by Robert Verkaik
In Posh Boys: How the English Public Schools Ruin Britain, Robert Verkaik explores the role that public schooling plays in reproducing inequality in Britain, showing how public schools enable wealthy…
Writing disability
Writing inequalities Writing disability through rewriting representations of inequality and vulnerability. Image: R. Cupitt 2018 When writing inequalities, the language we use and our writings betray …
Book Review: The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap by Mehrsa Baradaran
In The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap, Mehrsa Baradaran studies the crucial role that financial structures have played in creating and maintaining racial inequalities in the…
Book Review: The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap by Mehrsa Baradaran
In The Color of Money: Black Banks and the Racial Wealth Gap, Mehrsa Baradaran studies the crucial role that financial structures have played in creating and maintaining racial inequalities in the…
Book Review: The Class Ceiling: Why It Pays to be Privileged by Sam Friedman and Daniel Laurison
In The Class Ceiling: Why it Pays to be Privileged, Sam Friedman and Daniel Laurison offer a unique and encapsulating analysis of class inequality at the top end…