Grass Trilogy
If you missed the “Introduction to Grass Trilogy,” you can find it here. By Ochirbatyn Dashbalbar Translated by Jessica Madison Pískatá 1. Grass O grass—presently my dear father,…
Tag: relationships
Introduction to Grass Trilogy
The sacred mountain Altan Ovoo rises in the Dariganga region of eastern Mongolia. Jessica Madison Pískatá I first arrived in eastern Mongolia in August 2011 by way of…
Yoik
Deep in the Arctic Circle, in the far north of Scandinavia, people belonging to the Sámi ethnic group herd reindeer. Nowadays only a minority of Sámi people still…
Tea Fit for a Queen
Tea sipping has a distinctly queer pedigree. To serve tea properly, one must be skilled in the art of verbal delivery. During last summer’s Women’s World Cup, Alex…
“L’étranger”: Ariane Benoit on the Fluid Mosaic
Introduction Ariane is an anthropologist and a performer who chose to combine these two disciplines in her professional and personal life. She is now based in Montreal, Canada,…
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,…
What to Expect When You’re Not Expecting Down Syndrome
Down syndrome is typically caused by an error in cell division during fetal development, which results in an embryo with three copies of chromosome 21 instead of two. Marcel Hirshegger/SAPIEN…
Does Your Microbiome Shape Your Friendships?
[no-caption] Sara López Gilabert/SAPIENS It is early morning on a wide plain in Amboseli National Park in southern Kenya. With a small Dixie cup and a wooden tongue…
Ep. #41: Mediocrity, Confusing Cake, Public Accountability & Gift Reciprocity: This month on TFS
Simon (0:48) kicks off this panel by asking us about mediocrity. He reflects on his fieldwork in Iran, where he observed – particularly in the education sphere –…
Love-Politics and the Carceral Encounter
For community organizers in New Orleans, action to oppose the carceral state first requires the building of community. We were in the middle of one of Voice of…
Fat Gets No Respect (But That Should Change)
Every human has it. But nearly every human society sees it differently. Fat. What purpose does it serve? In this video, a collaboration between SAPIENS and Aeon, anthropological…
For Chimps, Human Touch Can Hurt
At a sanctuary in Cameroon, caregiver Henriette holds Gnala, a 2-year-old chimpanzee who had previously lived in a human household as a pet. Amy Hanes/Sanaga-Yong Chimpanzee Rescue The…
Why Don’t Westerners Eat Off One Plate?
The Hadzabe share food and daily tasks. Ryan Jarvis “Why don’t your students love each other?” asked Kaunda, a Hadza hunter, as we sat around the campfire overlooking…
Six photos of my father at 91 by Alessandro Duranti
I have chosen to tell a story based on six photographs I took of my father, Ivio Duranti (1918-2009) in the last year of his life. He was…
The Rise of Emotional Robots
[no-caption] David Williams/SAPIENS Listen to the companion episode of SAPIENS: A Podcast for Everything Human! When Dan White first pulled Pepper out of the box, it was slumped…
Is Robot Empathy a Trap?
[no-caption] David Williams/SAPIENS Can robots care? And why should we care if they do? SAPIENS host Jen Shannon meets Pepper the robot, and host Chip Colwell goes on…
Cuando regatear al sistema es el único camino para crear una familia
[no-caption] Miguel Gaggiotti Sonsoles* y su pareja deseaban adoptar un niño o niña. Vivían en un bonito barrio de Barcelona y, según explicó Sonsoles, se consideraban idóneos para…
Why Envy Might Be Good for Us
Nyae-Nyae in northern Namibia is the last place in the country where Ju/‘hoansi are free to hunt in the traditional way. James Suzman This article was originally published…
The Evolutionary Enigma of the Human Eyebrow
[no-caption] Pexels This article was originally published at The Conversation and has been republished under Creative Commons. Eyebrows. We all have them, but what are they actually for? …
When Gaming the System Is the Only Way to Parenthood
[no-caption] Miguel Gaggiotti Sonsoles* and her partner had set their hearts on adopting a child. They lived in a nice Barcelona neighborhood, and from the start, Sonsoles explained,…
Humanity’s Surprising Variety of Approaches to Toilet Training
[no-caption] David D/Flickr This article was originally published at The Conversation and has been republished under Creative Commons. Are 2-year-olds too young to start toilet training? …
Grief Can Make Us Wise
A candlelight vigil on February 15 honored the victims of the recent mass shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida. Jim Rassol/Getty Images In the first hours…
When It Comes to Love, Is Three (or More) a Crowd?
Even today, performances of Romeo and Juliet move audiences for how the couple’s ardent love imperiled them. Robbie Jack/Getty Images Passionate love is a dangerous thing, or so…
Why Do We Wrap Presents?
[no-caption] Buppha Wuttifery/Getty Images The holiday season is here. That means presents under Christmas trees, next to menorahs, accompanying Kwanzaa candles, traded at white elephant …