Islam: el Occidente de Oriente
Ruinas grecobúdicas de Táxila, en el Punjab indio Inicio de la conferencia inaugural al XXXIIII Congreso de Filósofos Jóvenes, València, 9 de abril 1996. Islam: El Occidente de…
Tag: Ritual
Can Social Scientists Help Control Epidemics?
A poster in an Ebola response center breaks down the evolving response to the epidemic—including efforts to address social and cultural concerns. Annie Wilkinson On May 24, 2014,…
Can the Holy Spirit Be Livestreamed?
A pastor reaches out to his global congregants online to emphasize the importance of pandemic lockdowns. Pastor Samuel K Majok—Online Ministry Every Sunday, during her fieldwork, Cristina…
Jonathan D. Hill reflects on his career
What moment of fieldwork interaction do you still think about, amazed that you got to witness it and/or record it? While doing fieldwork in 1981 for my doctoral…
What’s Behind Match Day’s Algorithm?
The opening of Match Day letters at medical schools across the U.S., including Penn State College of Medicine (shown here), has become an annual rite of passage. Penn…
Sutton Hoo’s Story Goes Deeper Than The Dig
The Sutton Hoo archaeological site revealed a treasure trove of Anglo-Saxon artifacts, including this iron helmet featuring a flying bird with dragon heads. Gary Todd/Flickr I first saw…
Love Poem for the Shape of the Field
[no-caption] Johannes Plenio/Pexels The sun opens, shutters. The social scientist wants to know where to look, keeps widening her gaze. Over here on the earth, a girl fries…
El ocre como elemento simbólico en la prehistoria
A la luz del reciente estudio del ADN de los huesos de unos gemelos recién nacidos de hace 31.000 años enterrados en el yacimiento de Krems-Wachtberg (Austria), en…
What a “Safe and Dignified” Burial Means During a Pandemic
Bamileke community members typically mourn the deaths of loved ones through drumming, singing, and other collective rituals. Bobyphoto/Wikimedia Commons A few months into the pandemic, a …
Finding Calm—and Connection—in Coffee Rituals
When I arrived from the Philippines to the airport in the city of Gondar in northern Ethiopia early last year—before the pandemic started—I was greeted with an intensely…
Palabras como ritos
Armatolo pintado por Richard Parkes Bonington en 1825 Reseña de la compilación de Julian Pitt-Rivers y John George Peristiany, Honor y gracia (Alianza, Madrid, 1993), publicada en Babelia,…
How Sweat Lodge Ceremonies Heal War’s Wounds
Heated, dome-shaped sacred structures called sweat lodges (the architecture of one shown here) have been used for generations by Indigenous peoples in North America to support healing, revitaliza…
dear gretas
[no-caption] Javier Zayas Photography/Getty Images In my poem, I call up anarchs. Who are they? Anarchs are us: born leaderless and classless—and born to groove. Our species, Humo…
Midsommar: ritos de paso, crisis de pareja y pasteles de carne
En el siguiente artículo pondremos todo nuestro conocimiento antropológico en el film estadounidense-sueco de Ari Aster, Midsommar, propuesta que vio la luz en 2019 bajo fondo de terror…
The Evolution of Comfort Food
The winter holiday season will feel different this year for many: Extended families may not be able to gather, leaving holiday meals shared with smaller groups, or digitally,…
The Cookout (and All Other Manners of Heavenly Black Things)
[no-caption] Manny Rodriguez As a poet and an anthropologist, I often write about the cycles of Black grief, death, celebration, and life. As a Black queer descendant of…
The Pandemic and the Process of Becoming
Anthropologist Victor Turner’s work on transitional states may shed light on people’s pandemic experiences of the betwixt and between. Pixabay/Pexels As a parent of two kids in elementary…
El canibalismo en la prehistoria
El canibalismo nos impresiona, nos repugna y nos fascina a partes iguales. Supone uno de los mayores tabúes de las sociedades occidentales y una costumbre asociada a otros…
More than arm’s length: reimagining rituals in a technologically mediated pandemic-centric era
Anthrodendum welcomes guest blogger Dr. Caitlin E. McDonald, a digital anthropologist at Leading Edge Forum, a technology industry research organization, and a trustee for Ellpha Citizen, a charity…
The power of bingo during COVID-19 by Carrie Ryan
As lockdowns impose physical distancing, communities are imagining new ways to connect, and there is one surprising, shared tactic communities across the world are using to bolster social…
A Curator’s Search for Justice
In October of last year, I found myself with my family in the heart of a sacred forest of the Mijikenda people of Kenya. One of the elders…
The Masked Man
Several weeks ago, I finally entered the 21st century. I didn’t get the latest smartphone, AirPods, or an electric vehicle, nor did I join the Noom diet. I…
Explaining the Emergence of Coronavirus Rituals
People in Rome, Italy, go out on their balconies at a specific time to give one another a round of applause during the coronavirus lockdown. Alessandra Tarantino/AP Photo…
Corporate “Sorcerers” Reveal the Magical Power of Capitalism
The destruction of forests contributes to widespread drought through atmospheric processes that can seem like sorcery. Pixabay/Pexels To Indigenous Marind communities living in West Papua…