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 […]

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 […]

Outreach and Activism in Lebanon: A Dynamic Struggle for Gender Equality in Wake of the Arab Spring

Editor’s Introduction:  From an anthropological perspective, “education” embodies more than just formal schooling. In this post from Lina Abirafeh, a Gender Based Violence specialist working with the United Nations, we are introduced to the kinds of collaborative, culturally responsive campaigns designed to promote gender equality and end violence against women in the Middle East. To […]

Health Workers’ Lives On The Line

​In December, nine Pakistani health workers, most of them women, were murdered as they went door-to-door delivering polio vaccines to the children of their neighbors. Media attention to this event has focused on the fact that the CIA recently used a fake vaccination campaign as a cover when searching for Bin Laden, claiming to be […]

U.S. Border Troubles: From Pakistan to Akwesasne

Recent protests in Karachi against continued U.S. drone strikes should serve as a reminder that the violation of international law and Pakistani sovereignty in the interests of U.S. security predates the recent discovery and killing of Osama bin Laden. Under Bush and Obama, the U.S. government’s justification for these military operations is Pakistan’s unwillingness and […]

Minding Arab Fundamentalism

Gabriele Marranci, an anthropologist based at the National University of Singapore, writes  at his blog on the revolts in Arab Countries and on how anthropologists have helped to perpetuate the myth of a fundamentalist Arab-Muslim mind: Although we need to acknowledge that each revolt finds its raison d’être in local contexts and issues, we have […]

Highway 60 Visited: Part 2

This continues our special essay by our new editor, Assaf Harel. Part 1 was posted on Thur, March 3rd, please click here to read Part 1. Two units of security forces remained in the area. Partly police partly military unit, the notorious Border Police is feared and admired for its efficient use of brute force. […]

Highway 60 Visited: Part 1

Highway 60 coils through the southern hills of Hebron and Judea, dissolves into Jerusalem, reemerges from it toward Samaria, and as it nears the biblical Mounts of Blessing and Curse, it escapes the West Bank. Roughly reflecting the ancient Route of the Patriarchs – a path which followed the imaginary line of this hilly region’s […]

Becoming Monsters in Iraq

As many as 40 percent of combat veterans returning from Iraq are crippled from psychological problems. A growing number of anti-war veterans acknowledge the toll of post-traumatic stress, but refuse to let their suffering be claimed as a disorder. Instead, they see the trauma as the natural reaction to the acts of war.