Support Academics for Peace! Sign the Petition!
Recently, a petition written by Turkish academics has circulated online, demanding an end to the Turkish government’s attacks on the Kurdish provinces of the country. Since the website…
Tag: Stuff
Top 10 (or thereabout) of 2015
As we embark on yet another Allegra year, let’s take a look back: what were your favorite posts for 2015? Reading this list of our ‘Top 10 or…
Anonymous Reviewer – we need to talk! #rejection
A while back I experienced bitter disappointment as yet another funding application was rejected. The fact that I was only one of thousands of disappointed applicants did little…
Happy 2016 Everyone!
We’re back – and full of energy for YET another exciting Allegra year! We hope that your break was enjoyable and relaxing (and do not tell us that…
Will the Next Margaret Mead Please Stand Up? The SAPIENS-Allegra Competition to Discover New Public Anthropologists
The anthropologist is a peculiar creature. We study the world, yet too often do not share our insights with the world. Our work explores some of the most…
Interview with Edward E. Curtis IV
The goal should be human rights, freedom, and dignity for all, and Black Muslims in the United States have been at the vanguard of this struggle in the…
God Exists in Yemen, part 2: the Moral Economy of Rizq
This is the second part of a long essay, first part of which was published here. 1.1. The Yemeni Arab Spring: crisis and revolution So how did I…
GOD EXISTS IN YEMEN, part 1: On the meaning of livelihood
If you can rely on God with due reliance, He will provide you with sustenance in such a manner as He provides birds and beasts. (A saying of the…
Youth Mobility, Bondage and Freedom in Cameroon, C.1940s-C.2000: National and Transnational Perspectives
On Sunday 7 July 2015, the Cameroon Radio and Television in its weekly Sunday Program, Cameroon Calling, broadcasted what shocked the public audience. It had chosen as its…
Rethinking political agency in the Middle East #project
This Allegra focuses on an exciting new feature incorporated into our beloved website a while back: namely Projects! What this feature entails are collaborations – events, even research ventures…
In defence of our universal double standards
The two series of terrorist attacks that hit Paris this year, have given rise to a series of debates and mutual accusations about grief, identity, and double standards.…
Revisiting a Writing Process: Ode to Academic Freedom #humanrights
This week we have dedicated an unusual amount to one single publication. This has in part been because of the unabashed claim – from one of Allegra’s founders…
Book Launch: Revisiting the Origins of Human Rights
The cozy University of Helsinki Think Corner turned out to be too small for the book launch of Revisiting the Origins of Human Rights, edited by Pamela Slotte…
Toward a Messy History of Creative Tensions #humanrights
To the blind believer in human rights, nothing so messy as history is truly necessary. To question, to complicate, to ‘problematize’ has been thought to come at too high…
Introducing ‘Textbook Narrative of Origins’ #HumanRights
Where does the history of human rights begin: centuries, even millennia earlier, or a mere few decades ago? What constitutes this history and what can we really learn from…
Thematic week: History of #HumanRights
This Allegra week will be devoted to a theme that we have not previously addressed, namely the history of human rights. Furthermore, this thematic week will be arranged…
Anthropology as the study of composite worlds – an interview with Philippe Descola
An academic interview is just a snapshot but it can offer a vivid account of a life’s work. The following is an edited version of an interview with…
‘Auto-rewilding’ landscapes and the Anthropocene – Interview with Anna Tsing
Anna Tsing is professor of anthropology at the University of Santa Cruz, California and the Nils Bohr professor at Aarhus University, Denmark, where she heads the Living in…
Crisis and Continuity: A Critical Look at the “European Refugee Crisis”
Writing ethnography in sites and times of “crisis” is a challenge that more and more anthropologists are dealing with, as this historical moment is punctuated with multiple crisis…
Are there alternatives to traditional academic publishing models ? #OA
As shown by the myriad of events highlighted during International Open Access Week, the amount of talk and initiatives regarding open science and the transition toward an open access…
A conversation with De-Colonizer: Research and Art Laboratory for Social Change #Palestine
De-Colonizer: Research and Art Laboratory for Social Change is a project that we, as Allegra Lab, could not ignore when doing our researches for this thematic thread on…
“We cannot give up hope” – A conversation with Gish Amit on his book #Palestine
Gish Amit is a historian who has been involved in non formal education for twenty years. He taught cinema and literature at the Arab Democratic School in Jaffa,…
Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions Movement: to Be or Not-to-Be? #Palestine
A few months ago a fellow anthropologist colleague forwarded me a petition: Anthropologists for the Boycott of Israeli Academic Institutions. The main goal is to voice opposition to the…
The Road to Oslo and Its Reverse #Palestine
“If we fail to defend our cause, then we should change the defenders, not the cause.” (Ghassan Kanafani) Oslo has often been defined as a watershed moment in…