Clothed-Minded Views on Burqinis
In late August, a Muslim woman on a beach in Nice, France was forced to remove her top and was allegedly fined for wearing a burqini, a modest…
Tag: Knowledge Exchange
The Prominence of Consent
Is understanding consent as “simple as tea?” Increasingly, we have begun to think that it is common sense to see rape and other forms of sexual assault almost…
Sunken Treasure
Finders Keepers? Reproductions of the treasure found on the Nuestra Senora de Atocha. Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons. The Nuestra Senora de Atocha, a Spanish galleon carrying a…
Vikings, Citizen Science, and Being Wary of Media
There are only two things of archaeological interest my friend Ralph has brought up in our daily carpool commute so far this year. The first was the discovery…
Unsettling Gender Normativities through Dance and Music
The annual Istanbul LGBT Pride Week will kick off at the end of June in Turkey. For the 24th consecutive year, the event will incorporate the traditional parade which will…
Being Polyamorous: Part 1
“Hi, I’m Viola and I’m Polyamorous” *Although very open and keen to discuss her experiences and sexual preferences, “Viola” cited bullying and security concerns. Out of respect for…
The Bone Lab Goes To School
“You’re the lady that taught us about the bones last year,” one of the students exclaimed as I made my way through the door of Bedford Village Public…
The Tip of an Archaeological Iceberg
Stonehenge, the Neolithic monument in Wiltshire, England. The site and its surroundings were added to the UNESCO list of World Heritage Sites in 1986. Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons.…
On Exploring Masculinities in the Middle East
Nasreddin Hodja miniature at the Topkapı Palace Museum Library in İstanbul. Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons “Eat, eat my fur coat,” said Nasreddin Hodja to criticize societal attitudes th…
Detention for Unaccompanied Children
Exploring Child Migration through a Legal and Anthropological Lens Part I: Overview In 1985, a 15-year old girl named Jenny Lisette Flores fled the El Salvadoran civil…
Stolen Art
Hiding in Plain Sight Bell-krater featuring an elderly satyr and a young Dionysus. Attributed to Python (Greek, South Italian, Paestan, active mid-4th century BC). Polaroids of this bell-krater…
Where We Draw the Lines
Weighing Commitments to Community and Heritage The AAA Statement of Ethics asks anthropologists to “do no harm,” an injunction that is deceptively simple. After all, anthropologists can rarely…
Seeking Refuge from Gender-Based Violence
In late 2015, the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) warned of an impending refugee flow from Central America in large part because of the threat of…
A 21st Century Update
Global Health Policy Toward Traditional Healers Introduction Much has occurred in the world of traditional medicine since the World Health Organization (WHO) first appealed for the integration of…
Sensuality and Sexual Topographies in the Middle East and North Africa
Two Lovers by Reza Abbasi, Persian miniaturist 16th century. Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons A rich intellectual engagement in matters related to sexuality occupies the histories of the Middle…
Care Comes Home
Hydrangeas flourishing in my grandmother’s garden. Photo courtesy of Alison Witchard I have spent most of the past year thinking about and engaging with anthropological literature on care…
10 Trillion Gallons of Water Should Drown China’s Yangtze Gorges World Heritage Application
The Three Gorges Dam Main Wall, 2006. Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons The Yangtze River begins in the Tibetan Plateau and flows eastward into the East China Sea at Shanghai. …
Making Connections Through Simulation
F-5N Tiger II Simulator at NAS Fallon. Photo Courtesy Joseph K. Robinson The simulator operator warned me that I might get sick. I stepped down from the platform…
The Shah of Snakes
Why Shahmaran Matters Shahmaran. Photo courtesy Aynur Ocak-Gundogan Within the cultural fabric of Anatolia and the plains of Mesopotamia lies the story of Shahmaran, a beautiful woman with…
San Bernardino
San Bernardino, National Forest, from Space. The raw satellite imagery shown in these images was obtain from NASA and/or the US Geological Survey. Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons Long…
Anthropological Irony
Cultural Relativism and the Destruction of Cultural Artifacts by the Islamic State Nimrud Assyria, Lamassus Guarding Palace Entrance, Before Destruction. Photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons. Cultural rel…
Curation of Migration
Moving Matters Traveling Workshop (MMTW) reunites artists, academics and performers that share the experience of serial migration. The flexible format of the workshop exhibits work or specific perform…
Knowledge from an Object
Considering the material culture aspect of art conservation, this column is a continuation from my April 2015 column, Preserving Visual Culture and my tour of the U of…
Futurecasting Anthropology
Futurists are scientists that use data analysis, ethnographic methods and other scientific procedures to design and make predictions about our future. To do this, they do something called…