Call For Papers: Ten years after – The Muhammad Cartoons
In September I will be one of the keynote speakers at a conference in Aalborg, Denmark on the Muhammad Cartoon Controversy. We’re looking for people to join us.…
Tag: Uncategorized
From a. to A.
Introduction I would love telling tales from the city where the city served as a powerful stage for the different characters like in James Joyce’s ”Dubliners”. The city…
My new book – The View From Flyover Country
Big news! I’ve collected the best of my essays from my time at Al Jazeera into an ebook, available as a Kindle download for $5.00. If you would…
Public anthropology
In recent weeks Savageminds drew attention to the need for anthropology to be more engaging and public, with posts by Erin Taylor and Alex Golub. Taylor called on…
“From Arab Spring to Arab Winter”: Special Journal Issue
Why didn’t the 2011 uprisings lead to democratization? That’s the question posed by articles in a special issue of the journal Democratization. Photo Credit: tolkien1914 via Compfight cc…
Whatever Happened to Democratization in Egypt?
“Pathways of Post-Uprising States” according to Ray Hinnebusch’s article in the most recent issue of the journal Democratization. Democratization theory–a continually developin…
BRAND WITCHCRAFT: How brand partnerships can be toxic
A successful brand becomes part of the consumer’s culture and values, behaviour, attitudes and social identity. I recently spoke to the CMO of a well known global digital…
Narrative captivity: Losing Orphan Black for want of a half-fan
I am a long standing fan of Orphan Black but this season they lost me. I tuned in for the opening episode of the new season, and it…
American Music. Listening with numbers
Thanks to Thomas Ball, I am looking at a wonderful article that uses big data to examine American music over 50 years. Here are a couple of excerpts.…
Metaphors of Power
the idea of upward anthropology depends on a spatialized metaphor for power. Power increases as you move up the scale and decreases as you move down. It’s a…
“The teacher next door”
I was giving history lessons to 10th graders, and once I had managed having a Socratic circle about the qualifications of a good leader. Our key example was…
Hello world!
“You must allow yourself to write what goes on in your mind the way you interpret it.”
Momente der Stille …
Leider hat unser Server gerade Probleme, sodass viele unserer Beiträge auf unserem Blog zurzeit nicht hörbar sind. Wir hoffen, dass es hier bald wieder ganz viel zu hören…
More thoughts on vocal fry
Thanks to Laura Fullton, I have a clearer fix on vocal fry. Laura found the very interesting work by Ben Trawick-Smith on the topic. Ben calls it a “creaky…
Redaktionstreffen im Semester
Am Montag, den 20.04.2015 findet um 19 Uhr wieder das reguläre Redaktionstreffen im Semester statt. Ihr seid alle herzlich eingeladen in die Schillerstraße 6, 4. OG, Raum 417…
William Bunsen Professor of Anthropology at Hudson University
I am so sorry to be a day late making this announcement, but I want to share with you the exciting news of my new appointment as the…
Capitalism and the exquisite choice: anti-economics from Alice Waters and Steve Jobs
Alice Waters opened her restaurant Chez Panisse in 1971. Steve Jobs started selling his Apple I computer in 1976. From these beginnings, and in a relatively brief period,…
Vocal fry, and what we can do about it
Many people have remarked on the inclination of some young women in the US to use “up-talk” in everyday speech. You’ve heard this, I know. It’s that rising…
The Upward Within
This past Wednesday, we hosted another workshop session , this time at the Society for Applied Anthropology (SfAA) annual meeting. It was not well attended, possibly due to…
Santa Massive (an anthropologist proposes a cultural reform)
The December holidays recede gently from view. We are now 3 full months away from them. We can visit the “Christmas” issue with some objectivity. It’s a problematic…
The real message of advertising?
If the art of advertising (one of them anyhow) is closing the distance between the brand and the consumer, you can’t do much better than this. Do we…
Recognizing Indigenous Pacific Struggles in the Lei at Selma
By Hinemoana of Turtle Island: Lani Teves, Natalee Kēhaulani Bauer, Fuifuilupe Niumetolu, Maile Arvin, Kēhaulani Vaughn, and Liza Keanuenueokalani Williams Last week during the 50th year commemoratio…
Good Mother Nature: Ayahuasca neoshamanism as cultural critique (conference video)
This paper imports nuances of nature-culture theory in Amazonian anthropology and demonstrates ways in which the reimagining of ayahuasca use in Australian society involves the modern idea of…
Human Economy postdoctoral fellowships and doctoral scholarships
UNIVERSITY OF PRETORIA THE HUMAN ECONOMY RESEARCH PROGRAMME POSTDOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS – CALL FOR APPLICATIONS The University of Pretoria’s Human Economy Research Programme has funding for six postdocto…