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 […]

Why Anthropology Still Matters: Paul Stoller

Upon receiving the Anders Retzius gold medal for his significant scientific contribution to anthropology, Paul Stoller reflects on the meanings of the discipline and ponders over its value in this market economy with anthropologist, Gina Athena Ulysse, in her new interview series, Why Anthropology Still Matters on Huffington Post. Read the entire piece on the […]

Dig Wars!

The American Anthropological Association has written to the Travel Channel objecting to and asking for changes  in the TV show “Dig Wars,” in which contestants are sent to various locations with metal detectors to see if they can locate and dig up antiquities. The material they dig up is called “loot,” and is evaluated for […]

Clutter and Stress

Jeanne Arnold talks to the Boston Globe about cluster, stress and he latest book: With the 21st century’s constantly evolving technological innovations and the wild success of bulk-shopping stores, our hoarding habits have gotten worse. Some of us feel like we’re drowning every time we take a moment to look around our homes. A recently […]

Capitalism and Intuition

Grant McCracken, an anthropologist, provides some business and management advice at Forbes.com: For decades, the mandate of successful executives was to set a plan and stick with it. Those days are gone, says Grant McCracken […] “Capitalism used to be so analytical, precise, and rule-oriented,” he says. “The whole job of management was staying away from what […]

An Anthropologist to Head the World Bank?

The White House named Jim Yong Kim as its nominee to head to World Bank. Jim Yong Kim is the president of Dartmouth College, an anthropologist, a physician and a global health expert. This nomination forms a radical break from the traditional profiles of the World Bank leaders. Shall this appointment be approved, this would be […]

Weather Control

This interesting anthropology-related news bite appeared at ESPN: BOGOTA, Colombia — Colombia’s top prosecutor is questioning why a shaman, or medicine man, was paid $2,000 to keep rain away from the closing ceremony of the Under-20 World Cup. The attorney general’s office opened the investigation Tuesday after the comptroller’s office in Bogota questioned cost overruns […]

The Banking Sector

BBC Business Daily dedicated its 29th of December program to “The Banking tribe:” Anthropologists spend decades studying the culture and rituals of obscure tribes in Africa and the Amazon but Dutch anthropologist Joris Luyendik tells Justin Rowlatt why he’s decided to study bankers instead. Press here or here to stream to program online, or alternatively press here to […]

Trash

The Seattle Times introduces the work of David Giles, an anthropology graduate student whose research interests revolve around trash: For his doctoral thesis, the University of Washington student is examining how cultural assumptions of what is appetizing lead to the disposal of surplus, edible food. He’s become a pro at vaulting into Dumpsters, picking through […]

David Graeber

David Graeber is the subject of the cover story in the latest issue of the Bloomberg Businessweek magazine where he is is profiled as one of the founding activist of the Occupy Wall Street movement: David Graeber likes to say that he had three goals for the year: promote his book, learn to drive, and […]