The Same Old Song and Dance: Nothing Has Been Done to Reduce Mass Shootings
We are only a few days removed from the horrific mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX where nearly two dozen people were murdered in cold…
Tag: racism
Why “The Great Replacement Theory” is not a Theory, and why that Matters
The notion of a “theory” comes from science. As such, the term conveys all the legitimacy upon which the scientific method relies. It should not be tossed around…
Decolonising indigenous knowledge? Reading circle 12 May 2022 noon Finnish time
Indigenous knowledge, or better indigenous ways of knowing, have been key to anthropological debates on human-environment relations in the Arctic, even more so since climate change has increased…
Race, Security, and the Contradictions of Humanitarianism
In this webinar series, we explore the relationship between mobility and humanitarianism in the course of four episodes. We – this is Till Mostowlansky, an anthropologist at The…
The flea, the canyon, and racism: Reflections on outrage
By Benjamin Koponen On January 22nd, 2022, an elderly white woman punched me in the arm while I, a black man, was biking to help a friend paint…
Ten Treasures (and a Bonus): A Selection of Anthropological Gems You Might Have Missed from the Past Few Years
I began interviewing authors of fabulous new anthropology books for this space back in 2016. While completing 11 interviews, I also amassed a backlog of more terrific books…
Heritage out of Control: Don’t trash my holocaust
It was an ordinary, unseasonably cool, summer day in a sleepy town just forty minutes outside of Berlin. Oranienburg once was home to Sachsenhausen concentration camp, one of…
It’s Not “Just” a Symbol
“Tails” side of the new U.S. quarter featuring Maya Angelou The new Maya Angelou quarter is a symbol, yes. But not “just” a symbol. Because, symbols matter. If…
The Shitty Affairs of British Colonialism in Malaya: Manicuring “Native” Agriculture through Race-Specific Livestock Interbreeding
In January 2020, I accidentally came across a series of photographs at the UK National Archives documenting agricultural and livestock experimentation in 1930-1940s British Malaya. The peculiarity of…
Book Forum: Reflections on Dána-Ain Davis’s Reproductive Injustice: Racism, Pregnancy, and Premature Birth by Sameena Mulla
Dána-Ain Davis’s Reproductive Injustice: Racism, Pregnancy, and Premature Birth (NYU Press, 2019) is a vividly written ethnography highlighting how medical racism shapes birth outcomes for Black …
“Stop the Shot”: Resistance through Science, Religion, and Law
On August 4, an interesting event took place: “Stop the Shot”. This was a video press conference organized by the Truth for Health Foundation in the US, which…
#BookReview: Digital Divisions
In the search to close the digital divide, which has been even more exposed since the COVID-19 pandemic, the insights about technological use within schools given in Matthew…
Naming the Virus, Becoming the Virus: Affective Forces of Threat from Hà Nội to Atlanta and the Possibility for Anti-Racist Solidarities
“Chống dịch như chống giặc” (“Fight the pandemic like an invader”) has become Vietnam’s slogan in its battle against COVID-19. From the pandemic’s onset until April 2021, Vietnam…
On The Culture of Harassment in Archaeology: An interview with Barbara L. Voss
[Content advisory: This article discusses harassment and discrimination in archaeology, including discussion of sexual assault.] On the morning of March 30, 2021, three articles on the culture of…
‘Race,’ ‘Diversity,’ and the University
If this was a good time for Canadian academia, you would not be able to tell from the blanket of almost absolute silence that has been pulled over…
The German Catechism
For many, the memory of the Holocaust as a break with civilization is the moral foundation of the Federal Republic. To compare it with other genocides is therefore…
This safety asphyxiates us: The banal border in Barcelona
Last month, while in Spain, we woke up to the news that local residents in the Canary Islands were planning to set up patrols to attack immigrants. In…
Whedon, Fandom, and Cancel Culture
By Alissa Whitmore “A guy who goes around saying ‘I’m a feminist’ usually has an agenda that is not feminist. A guy who behaves like one, who actually…
Visions of Black Futurity Amidst the Double Pandemic of COVID-19 and Police Brutality by Nadia Mbonde
When I ask Willow, an Afro-Puerto Rican young woman in her 20s, if quarantine has helped reduce the stigma of mental illness, she responds: I think it will…
Jaime A Alves: F*ck the Police! Murderous cops, the myth of police fragility and the case for an insurgent anthropology
‘Blue lives matter,’ says the mantra of police fragility. The mythology about defenseless officers being hunted and killed by criminals is indeed a powerful one, mobilized by right-wing…
Does “Reasonable” = “Racist”?
What can anthropology contribute to the critical conversation about race in America, following the welcome jury decision in the Derek Chauvin trial? After they amassed and presented a…
The Ugliness of Multispecies Intersubjectivity: Pandemic Racism and the Love of Animals in the U.K.
Content and Trigger Warning: This post contains profanity and strong references to violence against Black Lives Matter protesters, but more specifically, protesters who are Black, Indigenous, and peop…
The Racial Thinking behind ALS Diagnosis
Beliefs about which bodies can and cannot develop certain diseases risk rebiologizing race in genomic research and care. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a neurodegenerative disease that typical…
Taking Stock in California: Inequity & Grief
Having meaningful conversations about systemic racism and social immobility can connect people as much as the act of absorbing someone else’s microcosm of grief and relating to it.…