Tag: politics
When Disaster Tests the Strength of Human Cooperation
In the Andes, minga, a form of collective labor, has existed for centuries, often helping communities weather disasters. But how does it work in practice? ✽ Judith grew…
Minoritarian Liberalism: A Travesti Life in a Brazilian Favela
While a graduate student in social anthropology, Moisés Lino e Silva’s curiosity about the scarcity of freedom and lack of liberty in Brazilian favelas led him to Rocinha,…
They eat our sweat
In They Eat Our Sweat, Daniel Agbiboa engages the road transport sector in Lagos, Nigeria, to reveal how corruption operates through a dialectical “double capture” of state and…
Aaron Rosebury on Eleanor Marx
This is an interesting read: on-eleanore-marxDownload
In Lebanon, Solar Power Is Booming. Why?
An anthropologist explores whether Lebanese turning to solar power is a story of resilience, environmental triumph, or something else. ✽ I recently returned to Lebanon, where I have…
Oct 22 1965 Sydney arrests
The report on this 1965 anti-war protest is marginally better than most current press release churnalism, of course it favours the Police and the future PM McMahon (who…
A Mass Shooting in the “Evangelical Vatican”
The recent violent attack on Club Q, an LGBTQ nightclub in Colorado Springs, happened in a place shaped by decades of anti-LGBTQ organizing by evangelical Christian groups. ✽…
What Commentators Get Wrong (and Right) About North Korea
An anthropologist argues that unfair portrayals of North Korea as a hopelessly irrational hermit state has huge implications for policy and security. ✽ This month, North Korea tested…
Q and A with Professor Tim Newburn on Orderly Britain
We speak to Professor Tim Newburn about his new co-authored book, Orderly Britain, written with Andrew Ward, which explores facets of daily life – dog mess, smoking, drinking, parking, queuing,…
Beveridge Revisited: Why does poverty still stalk the UK?
On the 80th anniversary of the Beveridge report, the five ‘giants’ he sought to slay are alive and well and stalking this green and pleasant land. A new book…
Making a Multispecies Community in the Texas Hill Country: AAA2022 Talk
Below is a recording of the talk I am giving in person at the 2022 annual American Anthropological Association meeting on November 10. Video of my talk
Heritage Forensics Is Tackling Devastating New Forms of Cultural Erasure
In the Caucasus, researchers are using aerospace technology to expose the clandestine obliteration of Armenian cultural heritage. These new methods of archaeology will prove necessary in the global…
Brazil’s Pendulum of Politics
“There’s a struggle that repeats itself throughouthistory, over and over again – the oppressorsagainst the oppressed.”—Simon Bolívar Interestingly, when Simon …
REVIEW: The intimate life of dissent
The Intimate Life of Dissent examines practices of refusal and resistance through the friendships, kinships and solidarities which withstand and obstruct them. The authors of this edited volume…
Study Study Study – then read like Bhagat Singh
Most interesting post of the day, and by far, has been this attached article on Bhagat Singh and anarchism, shifting to socialism. A few points fist though. I…
Seeing Is Not Believing
“We bet on mining,” peasant leaders (dirigentes) say of the decision to permit one of the world’s largest open-pit copper mining projects on lands occupied by Quechua-speaking communities…
When Women Answer the Call of Duty
From Syria to Ukraine, the sight of women taking up arms to fight for a cause calls audiences to attention. Why? ✽ In 2019, the video game Call…
Archaeology at the Borders of the Refugee Crisis
Archaeological methods, which are typically used to study the past, can also illuminate the experiences of today’s displaced people. This article was originally published at Knowable Magazine and…
What’s Behind the Backlash to Lightyear’s Animated Kiss?
What do Twitter debates over Disney-Pixar’s recent family film tell us about today’s parenting politics in the U.S.? ✽ On June 17, Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation…
An Archaeology of Personhood and Abortion
Opinions about fetal personhood and abortion have fluctuated enormously throughout history and differ in surprising ways between cultures. ✽ After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade…
Selected Ho Chi Minh, in translation.
Have this in my hand, having helped translate a part of it, cannot recommend it more highly. The full Đường Cách Mệnh trans will follow next year, also…
Book Review: The Digital Border: Migration, Technology, Power by Lilie Chouliaraki and Myria Georgiou
In The Digital Border: Migration, Technology, Power, Lilie Chouliaraki and Myria Georgiou explore how digital technologies are shaping experiences of migration today, focusing particularly on the 2015…
In recovery
After two months of radio four brainwash, it is good to be in recovery, getting back to normal with Radio M-L and happy to leave the sinking remain/brexit…