Breastfeeding in the Classroom Adrienne Pine was in a jam. The assistant anthropology professor at American University was about to begin teaching “Sex, Gender & Culture,” but her baby daughter woke up in the morning with a fever. The single mother worried that…
Reflections from Papua New Guinea: Making ‘friends’ and the desire for ‘white men’ Not long ago, I received a text message from a young woman, a minor acquaintance I'd only met a couple of times: Hi Barb its something personal bt I think u sud help me out plis… if posible plis I really want 2 make frend wit one of whom u…
Gender The structuralism of Claude Lévi-Strauss and the critique of Feminist Anthropology are discussed in an Iranian.com piece on gender. The problem with structuralism is that it discards the concepts of freedom and choice, merely emphasizing…
FGM Speaking to Voice of America, Medical Anthropologist Elise Johansen joins the widespread call to end Female Genital Mutilation: …FGM, a practice which dates back thousands of years, persists despite widespread recognition of its harmful physical…
Breaking Up in a Digital Age Illana Gershon of Indiana University appeared at WBEZ91.5 and discussed some the finding presented at her book, The Breakup 2.0: Disconnecting over New Media: When anthropologist Illana Gershon interviewed her Indiana University students as part…
The Universality of Homosexuality Reflecting upon Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s assertion that there are no homosexuals in Iran, this Slate Magazine article discusses recent anthropological research conducted by Barry and Bonnie Hewlett and considers if homosexuality…
Homophobia in Soccer Type the name of Philipp Lahm into the Google search engine and the first thing its “autocomplete” feature throws up about Germany’s national football captain is “Philipp Lahm schwul” – “Philipp Lahm gay”. As elsewhere in Europe,…
Women’s World Cup Anthropologists discuss football/soccer and culture at The New York Times and CNN: Beatriz Vélez, former anthropology professor at the Universidad de Antioquia in Medellín, studied the gender dynamics of football in her home city beginning in the…
Bearing Witness CNN runs a two-part story on the traumas of rape in wartime. The first part highlights the work of Vitoria Sanford among Mayan women in Guatemala: It began as a headache. Then her throat started to feel tight. A dull pain welled in her chest and…