China and the Olympics

Anthropologist Susan Brownell studies sports and the Olympics: My question, "will the Olympics change China, or will China change the Olympics?" was really an attempt to prod my audiences to think about the bigger question of the implications for the developed West of China's rise, because Westerners seemed so concerned about the question of whether […]

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 […]

The Meanings of Debt

David Graeber discusses economics at CNN.com Blogs: …If the study of history shows us anything, it’s that it all comes down to power. The people on the top know that everything is negotiable. If there’s a real problem, you can always work something out – which is what we saw in 2008, when the financial […]