Mercury’s Toxic Touch
In Peru’s gold-rich Amazonian region of Madre de Dios (the Mother of God), the global demand for the precious metal has incentivized migration from the Andes to the…
Tag: Month
Gifting Water in a Climate-Impacted Megacity
One hot summer afternoon in Ezbet Khariallah in June of 2018, I take a long slow drink out of an olla-style charitable water fountain, or sabil. The water…
The Chilean Estallido, Plebiscite 2020, and Legacies of Truth-Telling
On November 25, 2019, Chilean feminist collective, Las Tesis, gathered in Santiago’s Plaza de Armas. Against a backdrop of anti-Piñera graffiti painted on government buildings, museums, and Catholic…
Anthropology of Wage Theft in Colorado
The theft of immigrant workers’ wages is a growing problem in the United States. In March 2018, University of Denver law student Katie Brown won $15,000 in County…
Indigenous Survival Politics in the Promotion of a National Discourse
In January 2018, 10 members from an Ainu traditional performance group, Sapporo Upopo Hozonkai (Sapporo Upopo Preservation Society, hereafter SUH), traveled from Sapporo, the capital city of Hokkaido…
Making, Holding, and Guarding as Spatial Politics of Healing
“I wouldn’t want anyone to get attached to a space. But if, for the sake of an example, there is going to be a space, then it needs…
Creators of the Contemporary in Africa
In Ghana, the creative culture and the contemporary art sphere is in a period of exponential growth and reconfiguration. Across Accra and Kumasi, the contemporary creative scene has…
Plumbing the Depths in Lahore
Waste water inspections open up questions about bureaucratic processes and interactions. In the summer of 2015, the top tiers of the Punjab political and civil administration met in…
MPAAC, Sexual Harassment, and Immigration
[pquote] MPAAC embodies the spirit of the previously distinct committees but now functions as a single entity to generate more coordinated and focused efforts vis-à-vis both the discipline…
Trump’s Wall and the Dictator Aesthetic
Well, look, we’re going to have a border. It’s going to be a real border, and we’re going to build a wall and it’s going to be a…
Of Populists and Mutants
Venezuela’s public murals depict ongoing relations between “the people” and Chávez. In the days following Donald Trump’s inauguration, a number of Latin American commentators rushed to establish para…
Advertising Populism in Hungary
In 2015 the government used billboards to promote its anti-immigration stance. A satirical opposition hit back. Visitors to Hungary in in the spring of 2015 were likely to…
Marching for Science in London
An anthropologist joins demonstrators and asks, “What happens next?” A marcher makes their point with a sign at the 2017 March for Science in London. Aneil Tripathy I…
Dream Factories in the Time of War
On Sunday, February 26, 2017, the Arab world held elections—anyone who had access to a cell phone and wanted to pay the extra fee to send an SMS…
From Erdoğan’s Turkey to Trump’s America
Since signing a petition to end state violence against Kurds in southeast Turkey, academics critical of the Turkish regime have come under increased scrutiny. These “dopey academics” as…
Cosmopolitan Conceptions in Global Dubai
A 21st century reprohub Since the beginning of the new millennium, the Arab world has experienced unprecedented levels of political violence and disruption. However, against this bloody backdrop,…