The Value of Anthropology: My Story
Dr. Agustín Fuentes argues that it is human creativity that is the defining characteristic of our species ( see my review of The Creative Spark here: Book Review- The Creative…
Tag: research
Ep. #22 Just the way things are: Steve Woolgar talks mundane governance, & the rules that run our lives
“Although this stuff is very ordinary, very day-to-day, very unremarkable… it’s actually quite dangerous, too.” Steve Woolgar, emeritus professor at the Saïd School of Business…
Race, Rural Livelihoods, and Contested Conservation Landscapes
A visit to Basu Farms in Pembroke Township, about 60 miles south of Chicago, provides a glimpse into the entanglement of land tenure, black history and self-determination in…
Ghosts in the Machine: On losing control to the technoscape
“There have always been ghosts in the machine. Random segments of code that have grouped together to form un-expected protocols. Unanticipated, these free radicals engender questions of free…
Ep. #19 Anthro & policy-making, digital disruption, online research, & what is love? This month on TFS
This month, Simon starts us off (1:08) asking, how can we make the knowledge we gain from anthropology matter for policy and government? “There’s no reason why [anthropology]…
Its Only an Evil Cactus if Donkeys Chase You: Ethics and Psychedelics with Hamilton Morris – This Anthro Life
When TAL first interviewed Hamilton Morris, it was shortly after he and his production team had finished season 1 of Hamilton’s Pharmacopoeia. Now, Morris has completed two seasons…
What’s in Your Bag, Anthropologists?
From the Andean highlands to Appalachia, anthropologists from across the discipline open their field bags to reveal favorite pens, recording equipment, emergency granola bars, and—of course—scarves. W…
A Ludicrous Relationship? A Conversation between Anthropology and Game Studies
Editor’s Note: This is a co-authored piece written by Spencer Ruelos and Amanda Cullen, both PhD students in the Informatics department at UC Irvine. Introduction Most work at…
Consulting, Big Data and Social Justice w/ Dr. Tricia Wang – This Anthro Life
Dr. Tricia Wang sees her work consulting as sitting at the crossroads of data and social justice. As a global tech ethnographer, Dr. Wang is obsessed with how…
Modern Lives and Stone Age Minds: The Ambiguous Rhetoric of Evolutionary Mismatch
Over the last three decades, popular science authors have used evolutionary mismatch theory to shed light on a vast number of modern social problems, pointing to differences between…
Ep. #17 Slamming doors, predicting futures, picking sides & citing informants: this month on TFS
With Julia’s PhD submitted (!!!) and Jodie back from her travels, the band is finally back together! Jodie starts us off, (2:04) asking if a theory from psychology…
Populations, Race, and The Sorites Paradox
The sorites paradox (also called the paradox of the heap) refers to a particular logical contradiction that arises from the analysis of vague terms (Sainsbury, 2009). Terms like…
The Role of Scientific Discourse in Chile’s Trans Rights Movement
También disponible en español aquí. On June 18, 2018, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced the removal of “transsexuality” (a term based on psychiatric diagnosis and maligned by…
Ep. #16 The costs of efficiency: Cris Shore talks neoliberalism in the public sector
“Rather than always studying poor, peripheral peasants, pastoralists, and fishermen, let’s turn the critical gaze of our discipline, which we do so well, let’s pivot it round like…
Politics in environmental research infrastructure formation: When top-down policy-making meets bottom-up fragmentation
By: Elena Parmiggiani, Helena Karasti, Karen Baker, and Andrea Botero The environmental sciences have been a fertile ground for the development of scientific infrastructures (a.k.a. cyberinfrastructur…
Book Review: Not in Our Genes
I’ve been slacking on writing book reviews and so I need to get back to it so the next several posts will be just that (unless something happens…
Science as a Structure of Violence
The study of human diversity and subsequent racialisation of people has been examined and critiqued but has escaped interrogation as an institution by which structural violence is enacted.…
A Brief History of Race in the Western Thought
Race, as a concept, has important ontology in American society. In order to understand the relationship between race, genetic research, and the American class structure, it is necessary…
Ethnographic Designs for Buen Vivir: Fieldnotes from Nicaragua
Co-Authored by Alex Nading, Josh Fisher, and Chantelle Falconer What does it mean to find value in urban ecologies? This question sparked our collaborative research in Ciudad Sandino,…
Ep. #15 Designing agency: Vijayendra Rao talks development, anthropology, and making social change
Vijayendra Rao, the lead economist at the World Bank in the research department, talks to our own Ian Pollock about the role that anthropology and ethnography could play in helping…
51 essential rules for doing research
Be free. Eat sweets. Do not go to university (but use the university to print for free). Resist academic hierarchy. Do not believe what professors say. Doubt, always.…
Parrotfish: The Charisma of Conservation in the Caribbean
During the week of Easter, the beaches of the Dominican Republic were converted into billboards for the campaign to stop the consumption of parrotfish. Pictures taken from drones…
Indigenous Women’s Engagements with Technology: From Anomaly to Autonomy
Introduction: Satellite Túpac Katari Editor’s note: this post is also available in Spanish, from the link in the sidebar. In 2013, Bolivia became the last of South America’s…
Fear and Loathing in Atlanta
Content warning: racism, violence, mention of miscarriage. I was on my way to the airplane that would take me back home, to Canada. I boarded the train between…