Anthropology – Understanding – Possibility
Reconsidering the purpose of Living Anthropologically and adjusting to global convulsions. We need to document history, interconnection, & power. We need to care for others as we attempt to build a world together
To the question of “What is Anthropology?”: Anthropology is a generous comparative inquiry into the conditions & potentials of human life.
With anthropologists saying many things about culture, is it any wonder the students and the public are confused?
“The first anthropological emotion is hope” (Carole McGranahan) and also via Ingold, Trouillot, Lennon & Ono “Happy Xmas (War Is Over)”
Anthropology and Storytelling – Stories that must be told to transform the anthropocene. And yet: Can anthropology spell out relevance for a wider audience?
Resources and thoughts on Teaching Cultural Anthropology for fall 2014: “Teaching is the other side of participant observation” (Tim Ingold, Making 2013:13)
Fieldwork and the ethnographic monograph invited closure around cultural wholes. Anthropology can defend the concept of culture while jettisoning the word.
Meshing Tim Ingold’s “Against space” with Andrew Delbanco’s “College”: College is a place, not commodified space, of growth and movement, not retention.
Thinking about the purpose of anthropology: “Ultimately, anthropology will only matter… if it evokes a purpose outside of itself” (Trouillot 2003, 5)
An impassioned plea to lower the arrogance decibels. In the wake of Steven Pinker’s “Science Is Not Your Enemy” assessing humanities & science together.
Could epigenetics finally re-write the script about human nature? Maybe, but first we have to go over The Edge’s promotional tribute to Napoleon Chagnon.
A Call for Blog Posts (CFBP) for an anthropological analysis of Richard Dawkins versus Edward Wilson on Social Conquest of the Earth.
Anthropology insists sex, gender, and sexuality include human activity and imagination–explaining why “gender is a social construction”
On the sorely-felt need for humility, empathy, and sympathy. On science, intelligence, Adam Smith, economics, Wealth of Nations, Theory of Moral Sentiments.
Anthropology’s Moral Optimism: Four Field Manifesto & alternative visions of humanity. Capitalism is not the most beautiful or respectful of shared planet.
An assessment of cultural relativism & anthropology in 2011 as “Before you Judge, Stand in Her Shoes” dueled with “Don’t walk a mile in her shoes.”
To challenge “Why we celebrate killing” anthropology must emphasize political economy, going beyond idea of instincts shaped by culture.