November 9th, 2016 found me as shocked and depressed as any Hilary Clinton supporter — and not only because the xenophobic, racist, sexist, and generally despicable Donald Trump had just been declared the winner of the U.S. presidential election. The anthropologist in me was also alarmed for my discipline. We
Last Monday, I watched the riveting Cape Verde vs. Spain soccer match in a pub in central London as the World Cup debutantes shocked sports enthusiasts with a 0-0 draw. There, I saw fellow pub-goers move from having no idea what or where Cape Verde is, to becoming passionate fans.
I’m touched to learn that this blog has just been listed in a roundup of the 60 Best Anthropology Blogs to Follow in 2026 (listed at #25). Thank you to FeedSpot Reader for this honor. I will try hard to continue to earn it.
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.”
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
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
A conversation about a new book that should be required reading for — well, anyone who cares about work in America.
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
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,
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