While out running errands this morning on Connecticut Avenue in the far northwest part of Washington, D.C., I was struck by how quiet it was — even compared to other Sundays — in terms of low traffic density. And quietness. Then I heard it: the noise of several Harleys in unison moving south on the [...]
I hope that some people reading this blog have seen the 1965 documentary, Dead Birds. If you haven’t, please try to do so. It’s a very long film, in black and white. I viewed it in a college class many years ago. For me, the big lesson was that the Dani people of highland New [...]
• Reality anthropology–who knew Since this blog has existed (August 2009 start-up) the only time anything about cultural anthropology has made the front page of the New York Times, till now, was the death of Claude Lévi-Strauss. And, hey, this coverage is about live people. In California. With jobs and kids. What could be more [...]
The major source of health information for South Asians in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area is not the family doctor: it’s the internet. In this respect, South Asians probably resemble most Americans. In other respects they do not. The Washington, D.C., metropolitan area has the fifth largest South Asian population in the United States. To [...]
A study published in the journal Evolution and Human Behavior discusses the fact that, among humans, men have thicker jaws than women (noted in this week’s Anthro in the News). Professor David Puts of Penn State University suggests that men have thicker jaws than women as a result of an evolutionary process of selection, over [...]
Via the always fascinating Somatosphere blog, an announcement about an upcoming conference: “Medical Anthropology in Europe: Shaping the Field” June 1-2, Oxford, UK “Medical anthropology has just as long a history in Europe as in North America. However, European medical anthropologists are often unknown in Britain. One reason is that they often do not write [...]
Question: Who knew that marijuana can improve your night vision? Answer: Many people around the world. For example, Jamaican fisherman who smoke cannabis or drink a tincture infused with it say that they can see better when they are out fishing at night. It helps them avoid dangerous reefs. But why believe what they and [...]
• Africa is not a big country In a letter to the editor of The New York Times concerning an article on the global war on AIDS, Steve Black zings it for totalizing “Africa.” He writes, “Now just imagine what would happen to investment in the United States if articles did not distinguish between the [...]
One can hardly blame Kristof for admiring the beauty of Gabon, pictured here in a creative commons licensed Flickr image from carlosoliveirareis, but maybe he could have said more about the ugliness masked by the idyllic landscapes? Nick Kristof‘s in love. It’s so great for him and for his readers, who grow weary with all [...]
The Nacirema are a large and diverse group of people who live south of Canada and north of Mexico (spell the tribal name backward in case you haven’t figured out who they are). In the mid-20th century, Horace Miner wrote a clever parody about the culture of this tribe. The nickname continues to have some [...]
