An Account of Intimate Interest
This poem is an account of materiality through time-tracking and place-making, viewed from within the contours of home while wearing the ethnographer’s lens.
The Politics of Bad Writing
Let’s be honest. Anthropology is plagued by dull, pretentious, and sometimes even meaningless prose: language that is at best imprecise and at worst incomprehensible. Now and then, examples of clear and evocative writing emerge from the literature like flowers from the weeds. Yet many anthropologists will privately acknowledge that the general state of the discipline’s …
Public/applied/professional anthropologists on gentrification. Reflections from Milan, Italy.
Milan, Italy’s economic capital, continues to experience notable growth, with a projected 1.1% increase in added value for 2024, according to Assolombarda – an association representing entrepreneurs in the metropolitan city and surrounding provinces of Lodi, Monza, Brianza, and Pavia. Despite these positive economic indicators, the city faces conflicting dynamics that disproportionately impact its most vulnerable populations.
Episode 9: The humanness of humanity has a history
In the 9th episode of PUAN podcast, co-host Saumya Pandey interviews anthropologist Mark Goodale on the history of human rights. The humaneness of humanity has a history. And Goodale’s work shows that this history is foregrounded in relation to geopolitical and economic history. He asks if a distinction at all can be drawn between politics and economy …
Continue reading “Episode 9: The humanness of humanity has a history “
Climate Change and Retreatist Anthropology
Laura Nader, in a 2013 interview (De Lauri 2013)—the message of which is no less salient today—stated: “For me anthropology is the freest of scientific endeavors because it potentially does not stop at boundaries that interfere with the capacity of the mind for self-reflection. This is a moment for new syntheses in a world that …
Continue reading “Climate Change and Retreatist Anthropology”
“Je suis venu récupérer mon bien”. The ancestors to respect, the anthropology to refound
This paper is one of a series, written in Italian, called “Diary of an Insurrection”, a public dialogue with the reader with which the author reflects upon the global developments of Black Lives Matter. This is the fourth reflection and examines the concept of “original mixedness”, previously defined as the informal potential of the differentiation, …
Illumination in Dark Times: David Scott on Stuart Hall
The following interview was recorded at the House of Literature in Oslo on October 15, 2019. The interview has been transcribed by Gard Ringen Høibjerg (INN University College), and edited and amended for clarity by Sindre Bangstad, David Scott and Antonio De Lauri. Sindre: First of all, David, I am going to cite one of …
Continue reading “Illumination in Dark Times: David Scott on Stuart Hall”
Bergen Anthropology Day 2019
Friday 13. September, 12:00-16:10. Tivoli (1st floor), Det Akademiske Kvarter, Olav Kyrres gate 49 12:00-13:00 Complimentary lunch (Tivoli, 1st floor) 13:00-13:10 Welcome and introduction: Ståle Knudsen (UiB) 13:10-13:30 “Mare Nullius? Sea Level Rise and Maritime Sovereignties in the Pacific – An Expanded Anthropology of Climate Change”, Edvard Hviding (UiB) 13:30-13:50 “Transoceanic Fishers: Multiple Mobilities …
Anthropology of Humanitarianism Network (AHN)
Convenors of AHN are Carna Brkovic (University of Goettingen) and Antonio De Lauri (Chr. Michelsen Institute Bergen) ——————————– EASA (European Association of Social Anthropologists) established Anthropology of Humanitarianism Network (AHN) as a platform to initiate a broad (inter-)disciplinary discussion on the meanings and practices of humanitarianism and on the possible future directions of an anthropology …
Continue reading “Anthropology of Humanitarianism Network (AHN)”
A View from Beyond the Ivory Tower: An Addendum to Elizabeth Dunn’s “The Problem with Assholes.”
I am a fourth generation academic. I am the daughter, niece, granddaughter and great-granddaughter of professors. I left academia soon after I got my PhD, because I had neither the money nor the patience to keep playing the adjunct/visiting appointment/job market game. I became a teacher. So my fight is not your fight. But by …
The Problem with Assholes
Anthropology has an asshole problem. If the recent revelations about misconduct at the journal HAU have made one thing clear, it’s that there is a culture of mistreatment and bullying in the discipline. There is a pervasive elitism that enables some people – those at elite institutions or in structural positions of power – to …
Suggested by Public Anthropologist – Contrarian Anthropology
Once in a while Public Anthropologist will suggest a new or recent book that we believe “everybody must read”. We start the “Suggested by Public Anthropologist” series with Laura Nader’s Contrarian Anthropology. The Unwritten Rules of Academia, which is a call to reinvigorate anthropology’s principal attitude: crossing boundaries. As Nader puts it in the introduction of …
Continue reading “Suggested by Public Anthropologist – Contrarian Anthropology”
Genocide: A Conversation with Alex Hinton
Alexander Hinton is Director of the Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights. He is Professor of Anthropology and Global Affairs at Rutgers University, Newark. He was previously President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, and currently holds the UNESCO Chair in Genocide Prevention. His most recent book on an international tribunal …
Continue reading “Genocide: A Conversation with Alex Hinton”