Why Doesn’t Diversity Training Work?

The Challenge for Industry and Academia Uncommon Sense Starbucks’ decision to put 175,000 workers through diversity training on May 29, in the wake of the widely publicized arrest of two black men in a Philadelphia store, put diversity training back in the news. But corporations and universities have been doing diversity training for decades. Nearly […]

New Articulations of Biological Difference in the 21st Century: A Conversation

This conversation is prompted by continued frustration about how race is discussed and understood by the public and by those researchers who remain determined to draw clean lines around people who share particular physical characteristics. We make the case that knowledge of human evolution and population genetics should be a core aspect of “diversity requirements” […]

Recalled to Life: On the Meaning and Power of a Die-In

Die-in at the 2014 annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association. Photo credit: Aries Dela CruzI have never died before. In the beginning of December, at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association in Washington, D.C., I made my way down to our hotel’s main lobby with a few of my friends, to join […]

uncommon sense: There’s More to Uganda

In a small village in eastern Uganda, I sat on the porch of my host’s home. A retired head teacher, he has a rumbling, stentorian voice that commands authority. As we sipped tea, he looked over at me and asked: “Is it true that in your country it is legal for a man to go […]

Reflections on Kara Walker’s “a Subtlety, or the Marvelous Sugar Baby”

A recent installation of Kara Walker’s “a Subtlety, or the Marvelous Sugar Baby” prompted anthropologist Elizabeth Chin to approach Anthropology Now with a powerful idea for commentary. With the former Domino Sugar Refinery as the exhibit space and evocations of Sidney Mintz’s Sweetness and Power as one of many shared points of reference, we invited […]

Throw a Survey at It: Questioning Soldier Resilience in the US Army

The banquet hall at the Philadelphia hotel hosting the 2011 Second World Congress for Positive Psychology was packed as keynote speaker Martin Seligman approached the podium. As the unofficial spokesperson for the bourgeoning field known as “the science of human happiness,” the former head of the American Psychological Association does double duty as both a […]

Feature Preview: The Sound of Silence

Look for the full essay with additional photos in the September 2014 issue of Anthropology Now. by Maria Frederika Malmström In this new project, part of an extensive study about materiality, affect and transformative politics in Egypt, I explore the absence of sound in the floating landscape of Egypt. Scholars have discussed the role of […]

Why Anthropology Still Matters: Faye V. Harrison

The latest piece by Gina Athena Ulysse from her running series on the Huffington Post, Why Anthropology Still Matters, offers an engaging look into the work of anthropologist Faye V. Harrison. “Needless to say, Harrison has shattered ceilings as the first Black person and only the second woman to take the helm in the history […]

Experiencing the Divine

Tanya Luhrmann, an anthropologist at Stanford, writes in the NYTimes about faith and the experience of divine forces:  To experience God as walking by your side, in conversation with you, is hard. Evangelical pastors often preach as if they are teaching people how to keep God constantly in mind, because it is so easy not […]

Rouhani’s Visit to the UN

Narges Bajoghli, an anthropology PhD student at NYU, writes in The Guardian about Iranian winds of change: Students, activists, artists, and political prisoners rallied behind Rouhani just before the 13 June vote to bring him a 51% victory, hoping to bring about change and some breathing room in Iran again. Ahmadinejad’s presidency was characterized by […]