Anthropology

Anthropology

episodes

Interviews with anthropologists about their new books.

David E. Sutton, "Bigger Fish to Fry: A Theory of Cooking as Risk, with Greek Examples" (Berghahn, 2021)

March 28, 2024

Bigger Fish to Fry

David E. Sutton
Hosted by Miranda Melcher

What defines cooking as cooking, and why does cooking matter to the understanding of society, cultural change and everyday life? Bigger Fish to Fry: A…

SunAh M. Laybourn, "Out of Place: The Lives of Korean Adoptee Immigrants" (NYU Press, 2024)

March 27, 2024

Out of Place

SunAh M. Laybourn
Hosted by Leslie Hickman

Dr. SunAh M. Laybourn’s Out of Place: The Lives of Korean Adoptee Immigrants (NYU Press, 2024) explores the experiences of Korean adoptees, the larges…

Neil Gong, "Sons, Daughters, and Sidewalk Psychotics: Mental Illness and Homelessness in Los Angeles" (U Chicago Press, 2024)

March 27, 2024

Sons, Daughters, and Sidewalk Psychotics

Neil Gong
Hosted by Michael Johnston

Sociologist Neil M. Gong explains why mental health treatment in Los Angeles rarely succeeds, for the rich, the poor, and everyone in between. In…

Rana AlMutawa, "Everyday Life in the Spectacular City: Making Home in Dubai" (U California Press, 2024)

March 26, 2024

Everyday Life in the Spectacular City

Rana AlMutawa
Hosted by Michael Johnston

Everyday Life in the Spectacular City: Making Home in Dubai (U California Press, 2024) is a groundbreaking urban ethnography that reveals how middle-c…

Maarten Couttenier, "Anthropology and Race in Belgium and the Congo (1839-1922)" (Routledge, 2023)

March 24, 2024

Anthropology and Race in Belgium and the Congo (1839-1922)

Maarten Couttenier
Hosted by Ari Barbalat

Maarten Couttenier's Anthropology and Race in Belgium and the Congo (1839-1922) (Routledge, 2023) examines the history of Belgian physical anthropolog…

Cristina Rocha, "Cool Christianity: Hillsong and the Fashioning of Cosmopolitan Identities" (Oxford UP, 2024)

March 24, 2024

Cool Christianity

Cristina Rocha
Hosted by Jeff Adler

When did Christianity become cool? How did an Australian church conquer the world and expand into Brazil, a country with its own crop of powerful mega…

Laura Menin, "Quest for Love in Central Morocco: Young Women and the Dynamics of Intimate Lives" (Syracuse UP, 2024)

March 23, 2024

Quest for Love in Central Morocco

Laura Menin

Following the 2011 wave of revolutions and protests in North Africa and the Middle East, new discussions of individual freedoms emerged in the Morocca…

Fran Martin, "Dreams of Flight: The Lives of Chinese Women Students in the West" (Duke UP, 2021)

March 20, 2024

Dreams of Flight

Fran Martin
Hosted by Yadong Li

Dreams of Flight: The Lives of Chinese Women Students in the West (Duke UP, 2021) explores the significance of transnational educational mobility in t…

Lisa Messeri, "In the Land of the Unreal: Virtual and Other Realities in Los Angeles" (Duke UP, 2024)

March 16, 2024

In the Land of the Unreal

Lisa Messeri
Hosted by Noopur Raval

In the mid-2010s, a passionate community of Los Angeles-based storytellers, media artists, and tech innovators formed around virtual reality (VR), bel…

Jonas Tinius, "State of the Arts: An Ethnography of German Theatre and Migration" (Cambridge UP, 2023)

March 15, 2024

State of the Arts

Jonas Tinius
Hosted by Adam Bobeck

State of the Arts: An Ethnography of German Theatre and Migration (Cambridge UP, 2023) is a bold and wide-ranging account of the unique German public …

Amber Worlds: The Global Amber Trade in the China-Myanmar Borderlands

March 15, 2024

Amber Worlds

Alessandro Rippa

What role do China and other Asian countries play in the global amber trade? And, what can we learn about the big challenges of our time by studying a…

Charlotte Setijadi, "Memories of Unbelonging: Ethnic Chinese Identity Politics in Post-Suharto Indonesia" (U Hawaii Press, 2023)

March 15, 2024

Memories of Unbelonging

Charlotte Setijadi
Hosted by Michele Ford

The ethnic Chinese have had a long and problematic history in Indonesia, commonly stereotyped as a market-dominant minority with dubious political loy…

Pankaj Jain and Jeffery D. Long, "Indian and Western Philosophical Concepts in Religion" (Rowman and Littlefield, 2023)

March 14, 2024

Indian and Western Philosophical Concepts in Religion

Pankaj Jain and Jeffery D. Long
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Philosophical concepts are influential in the theories and methods to study the world religions. Even though the disciplines of anthropology and relig…

Religious Minorities Online

March 13, 2024

Religious Minorities Online

Erica Baffelli, Alexander van der Haven, and Michael Stausberg
Hosted by Raj Balkaran

Religious Minorities Online (RMO) is the premier academic resource on religious minorities worldwide, reflecting the state of the art in scholarship. …

David E. Gilbert, "Countering Dispossession, Reclaiming Land: A Social Movement Ethnography" (U California Press, 2024)

March 12, 2024

Countering Dispossession, Reclaiming Land

David E. Gilbert
Hosted by Stephen Pimpare

Two decades ago, a group of Indonesian agricultural workers began occupying the agribusiness plantation near their homes. In the years since, members …

Xin Gu, "Cultural Work and Creative Subjectivity: Recentralising the Artist Critique and Social Networks in the Cultural Industries" (Routledge, 2023)

March 11, 2024

Cultural Work and Creative Subjectivity

Xin Gu
Hosted by Dave O'Brien

How can artists survive today? In Cultural Work and Creative Subjectivity: Recentralising the Artist Critique and Social Networks in the Cultural Indu…

Mara Albrecht and Alke Jenss, "The Spatiality and Temporality of Urban Violence: Histories, Rhythms and Ruptures" (Manchester UP, 2023)

March 10, 2024

The Spatiality and Temporality of Urban Violence

Mara Albrecht and Alke Jenss
Hosted by Roberto Mazza

The Spatiality and Temporality of Urban Violence: Histories, Rhythms and Ruptures (Manchester UP, 2023) asks how the city, with its spatial and tempor…

Laura Huttunen and Gerhild Perl, "An Anthropology of Disappearance: Politics, Intimacies and Alternative Ways of Knowing" (Berghahn Books, 2023)

March 10, 2024

An Anthropology of Disappearance

Laura Huttunen and Gerhild Perl
Hosted by Yadong Li

All over the world, people disappear from their families, communities and the state’s bureaucratic gaze, as victims of oppressive regimes or while mig…

Priyanka Basu, "The Poet’s Song: ‘Folk’ and its Cultural Politics in South Asia" (Routledge, 2023)

March 6, 2024

The Poet’s Song

Priyanka Basu
Hosted by Dave O'Brien

How can culture be authentic in the modern world? In The Poet's Song: Folk and its Cultural Politics in South Asia (Rouitledge, 2023), Dr Priyanka Bas…

Will Rollason and Eric Hirsch eds., "Compliance: Cultures and Networks of Accommodation" (Berghahn Books, 2023)

March 4, 2024

Compliance

Will Rollason and Eric Hirsch
Hosted by Yadong Li

Compliance, namely everyday accommodations, is a practice allowing us to work and live with others. Exploring compliance from an anthropological persp…