What Orangutans Taught Me About Motherhood
[no-caption] Sascha Wenninger/Flickr The first time I saw wild orangutans, in Borneo back in 2017, it was a mother-infant pair that caught my eye. The mother, Bibi, had…
Tag: Opinion
Coronavirus Is Killing the Hope of Asylum
As orders to “stay at home” swept across the globe in March and April, some questioned what those mandates meant for people without a place to call home,…
The Symbolic Power of Virus Testing
Protests against stay-at-home orders to prevent the spread of the coronavirus have occurred across the country, as shown here in front of the Michigan State Capitol in Lansing.…
The benefits of hiring a person with a mental disability
In this rapidly changing world, it is not only medicine, technology and science that improves the lives of people. What is equally life-changing is that our society is…
Coronavirus and 5G, or Why the Bat Doesn’t Cut It
In her book, Psychology of Conspiracy Thinking [in original Psychologia myślenia spiskowego] (2016), Monika Grzesiak-Feldman cites a late-1970s study in which researchers tested the theory that people…
Will “Faith Not Fear” Spread the Coronavirus?
U.S. President Donald Trump spoke at an evangelical megachurch in south Miami in January 2020. Lynn Sladky/AP Photo As Easter fast approaches, epidemiologists and observers worry that the…
Why the Earth Must Be Mapped
A lidar scan of a site in Mexico reveals the boundaries of a ceremonial area. Chris Fisher The climate crisis represents humanity’s greatest threat. Our daily news is…
When Harmony Silences Resistance
Pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong hold up their hands to represent their five demands for the city’s government. Vivek Prakash/Getty Images Since Samuel (a pseudonym) started marching…
The Flygskam Scam
In reading and thinking about my eco-anxiety, I’ve recently learned of a Swedish neologism that describes a new way of thinking about air travel: flygskam: flight guilt. I…
The Flygskam Scam
In reading and thinking about my eco-anxiety, I’ve recently learned of a Swedish neologism that describes a new way of thinking about air travel: flygskam: flight guilt. I…
Why Are Languages Worth Preserving?
This illustration represents how Indigenous peoples around the globe, as highlighted by depictions of a few specific communities, are striving to keep endangered languages alive as dynamic source…
Dear Graduate Student…
Dear Graduate Student, Here we are, well into another semester. Many of you are in the field already or preparing for the field. If you are already there,…
“Yes, We Can” and the Power of Political Slogans
“Hey Joe, instead of saying, No we can’t,” retorted Senator Kamala Harris to Vice-President Joe Biden. “Let’s say, Yes, we can.” With that single line, Harris resurrected an…
Sweating Through a Gym’s Gender Barriers
For women, powerlifting gyms can be hostile territories. Westend61/Getty Images As I walk into the gym, my nostrils flare at the smell of sweat and old iron. My…
Without Parking, Those Who Live in Vehicles Have Nowhere to Go
Public parking spaces in Seattle have become crowded with resident campers who have few other options. Graham Pruss This article was originally published at The Conversation and has been …
What to Call US Border Detention Centers?
The controversy over the term “concentration camps” stems from the connotations it carries, setting up analogies that risk hyperbole and overlook the complexities of historical comparison. The governm…
Gun Violence Harms, Even if You’ve Never Been Shot
Shoes representing the estimated 7,000 U.S. children who were killed by gun violence since the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting cover the Capitol lawn in 2018. Saul…
Playing with Conspiracy Theories
What might viewing conspiracism as a form of play tell us about the workings of contemporary culture, our capacity for critical thinking, or how we build new understandings?…
Proud to call myself a “Business Anthropologist”
For the past seven years, anthropology has become the central theme of my life. My undergraduate thesis was focused on problematizing career opportunities in anthropology. Around that same…
Why Land Acknowledgments Matter
[no-caption] Fred Harvey/Library of Congress This article was originally published at The Conversation and has been republished under Creative Commons. In Toronto, before singing “O Canad…
How Some Tried—and Failed—to Kill “Race” in Latin America
DNA sequencing is now used extensively in medicine, forensic science, and explorations of ancestry. Andrew Brookes/Getty Images When the structure of DNA was first revealed in 1953, it…
The Very Modern Problem of Human Slavery
More than 70 percent of enslaved people today are women and girls—such as this woman from Nepal, who was sold by her parents as a child. Jonas Gratzer/Getty…
Stonewall Mythology
How we tell the story of Stonewall matters. This June marks the fiftieth anniversary of the riots at The Stonewall Inn in New York City. The days-long series…
Work for a Life
For students moving from studying anthropology to working in Silicon Valley, how can learning from worker struggles and solidarity movements in anthropology make their work more ethical? Anthropologis…