How Scientific Taxonomy Constructed the Myth of Race
[no-caption] Hiroshi Watanabe/Getty Images As a graduate assistant in biological anthropology at the University at Buffalo, I was tasked with curating the primate skeletal collection. The…
Tag: Opinion
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…
Stop Destroying African American Cemeteries
A gravestone in the Morningstar Tabernacle No. 88 Cemetery in Cabin John, Maryland. Craig G/Flickr In the late 19th century, a group of once-enslaved, free African Americans in…
Anarchism In Practice Is Often Radically Boring Democracy
Most anarchist organizing requires the full participation and consensus of all members. Sterling College/Flickr Two hours into a weekly planning session, the 15 or so black-clothed, tatto…
DNA Testing of Immigrants Is Unethical
The collection of genetic biodata for the reunification of families must safeguard individuals’ agency, provide meaningful informed consent, and protect privacy. DNA testing has been used for nearly…
Bridging the American Cultural Divide
[no-caption] Jondave Libiran/Pexels The Sufi mystics like to tell a story about an old man crossing a rickety footbridge that spans a deep gorge. When he reaches the…
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…
Partnering with Nonhumans for Climate Action
Arctic sea ice is breaking up and melting as the world’s atmosphere and waters warm. Julianne Yip Arctic sea ice is dying: Its extent, volume, and thickness have…
Without Norms, Societies Fall Apart
From time to time, I meet an American who likes to tell me that the United Kingdom, the country of my birth, has a weaker democracy than the…
The CDC Needs Social Science
[no-caption] John Moore/Getty Images The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as the primary agency in the United States that monitors, predicts, and responds to chronic disea…
Microcultures can lead to emerging trends
In the Polish language, the word ‘microculture’ arguably does not carry many connotations. Our daily reality is dominated by culture in its general sense: European, Polish, pop or…
The Travesties of India’s Tribal Boarding Schools
[no-caption] Biswaranjan Rout/AP Photo The Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS) in Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India, is the world’s largest boarding school. KISS is a private school that…
Spelling a Nation’s Name
Ruined buildings serve as reminders of the lives lost and displaced by the Kosovo War more than two decades ago. Erina Baci I’ve been rewriting a grant application…
Should I enrol in a PhD if I want to be a business anthropologist?
This article deals with a common problem for professional profiles working with companies. Is it worth doing a PhD if you are going to work in the private…
An Archaeology of Marijuana
In June, the recreational and medical marijuana industry in my home state of Colorado reached US$199 million in monthly sales, a new record. The growth of this industry…
What White Power Supporters Hear Trump Saying
President Trump frequently uses language that White power extremists understand as expressing support for their views. Angus Greig Donald Trump’s path to the U.S. presidency in 2016 was…
When the Gift of Immigration Comes With Strings
[no-caption] Rachaphak Kitbumrung/Getty Images A year ago, I found myself trying to ease the tension rising in a makeshift classroom in Istanbul, Turkey, where I was a volunteer…
Saber leer
En el año 1975 España contaba con una tasa de analfabetismo altísima, este fue uno de los déficits que nos dejó cuarenta años de dictadura franquista, donde la…
Ignorantes voluntarios
Nueva reforma educativa. Otra más. Desde 1970, terminando el franquismo, hasta la actualidad contamos con un listado de siete leyes, que serán ocho si se aprueba el anteproyecto…
Reflecting on the Rise of the Hoteps
Egyptian culture and art have been harnessed by some African Americans as a focal point for Black pride. Steve Evans/Flickr A meme circulating on social media shows “the…
It’s Time to Study Reparations
The moment has come for a government commission on slavery and its present-day impacts; the moment has come for profound change. Last year on Juneteenth—an annual holiday commemorating…
Anthropology and Economics in the Public Eye
How can anthropologists approach the influence of economists? The COVID-19 pandemic and how to mitigate its effects is only one recent public and policy issue on which anthropologists…
Why the Whiteness of Archaeology Is a Problem
Most archaeological projects in the U.K. and U.S. are largely conducted by people of European descent. Wessex Archaeology/Flickr One hot, sunny day in the Sonoran Desert, I (William)…
Dear White Anthropologists, Let Not Symbolism Overshadow Substance
Racism permeates the academy. We will need more than performative allyship and symbolic statements condemning racism in society if we are to build a more inclusive anthropology. …