A Desperately-Needed Anthropological Perspective on Refugees: A Conversation with Sophia Balakian about Her Brilliant New Book, “Unsettled Families: Refugees, Humanitarianism, and the Politics of Kinship”

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A conversation with Sophia Balakian about her brilliant new book, “Unsettled Families: Refugees, Humanitarianism, and the Politics of Kinship.” Sophia concludes our conversation with this timely assertion: “The normalization of dehumanizing rhetoric and violence against immigrant communities, people who are undocumented, and those who support them has to be continually unsettled and undermined using whatever tools we have.”

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Tracing Racial Histories: An Anthropologist Amuk in the Archives (also, Venezuela)

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In this conversation, I catch up with Robert (“Bob”) Vernon, a friend who’s had a few lifetimes’ worth of fascinating and non-linear careers both before and after our time together in grad school at the University of Virginia, back in the ’70s. His latest scholarly venture takes him far from

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Detectives Need Fiction Writers

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There’s been a lot of commentary written about the tragic Brown and MIT shootings the past two weeks. As we struggle to process the traumas, the anthropologist in me is also struggling to make sense of the reporting. Some of the commentary was spot on, some of it was wildly

Anthropology, Creative Writing, Crime Read more

What about Work?

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A conversation about a new book that should be required reading for — well, anyone who cares about work in America.

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An Unlikely but Necessary Conversation: When Enemies Meet

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It’s so easy to see our enemies as — well, enemies. What does it take to re-see them as human? Late in life, Erika Jacoby and Ursula Martens took an incredible journey. Not the sort of journey that takes you by jet halfway around the world. No, the sort of

Anti-Semitism, Empathy, Essentializing, History, Intercultural communication, Risk, War Read more
Chants at Columbia U

Have Students Stopped Reading? Thoughts on Some Protesters’ Outrageous Chants

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Source here I get why social justice-oriented college students are furious with Israel.  (I am, too.) I get why they are protesting to support Palestinians’ right to an independent homeland.  (I support that, too, though the boundaries are up for negotiation.) While I find it a deeply offensive, emotion-based tactic,

Academia, Anti-Semitism, Binary thinking, Education, Essentializing, History, Israel, Judaism, Language politics, Learning, MidEast, Othering, Politics and society, Public anthropology, Sephardic Jews, Social activism, Teachers Read more

Let’s Agree . . .

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That the deaths of civilians killed by the IDF targeting Hamas leaders, command centers, and weapons caches are tragedies. That the continuing occupation of the West Bank and the Golan Heights by Israeli settlers is unethical, illegal, and outrageous. Once we agree on these disturbing points, it is equally critical

Anthropology, Anti-Semitism, Israel, MidEast, Palestinian rights, Politics and society, War, Women's issues Read more

Remembering My Friend, Véronique Amenan Akpoueh (d., Aug. 3, 2023)

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Ours was not an ordinary friendship. Race, class, religion, citizenship, educational background, and (for 14 years) parental status divided us. Language brought us together. Curiosity and intellectual companionship kept us going. Véronique and me in the village (1993) (photo by Philip Graham) Initially, Véronique (given that personal name in the

Africa, Africanist scholarship, Anthropology, Beng, Cultural Anthropology, Culture, Friendship, Humanistic anthropology, Intercultural communication Read more

What Day is It? Depends on whose Calendar You Consult

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Just when you think you know what day it is, along comes this research on the ancient Mayan calendar. By fifth grade, most schoolchildren know that a week contains seven days, a month contains either 30 or 31 days (or 28 days, in those strange “leap years”), and a year

Calendars, Cultural Anthropology, Cultural Relativity, Culture, Maya, Time Read more

Science and “Alternative” Science; or, some Quick Meditations on the Virtues of a Feedback Loop

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Many non-Western epistemologies and healing systems have long posited close ties between mind, body, and emotion. Or, rather, these outlooks have categorized as a single feedback loop what Western world views, including biomedical science, have long categorized as three distinct zones of experience (not to mention, many sub-zones). Why else

Health care, Medical anthropology, Medical issues, Science Read more
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