Teaching from the Textbooks: An Archaeology of the Current Historical Moment

On the last day of class, my advanced theory students would break up into small groups and each have the option of choosing one such old anthropology textbook from the box of them that I had selected from the shelf. They would then spend the next 15 to 20 minutes exploring the book (looking at the table of contents, skimming chapters, reading the introduction, etc.) in order to answer three basic questions...Truthfully, I have never had quite so much fun, nor gotten so much out of, teaching from a textbook.

Theory as reproduction: Reflections on the history of feminist anthropology in Australia Part 3

The Familiar Strange · Theory as reproduction: Reflections on the history of feminist anthropology in Australia Part 3 We’re back this week and with a very special collaboration. As part of AAS2019, we had a chance to record an enlightening roundtable on the history of feminist anthropology in Australia. You can find parts 1 and … Continue reading Theory as reproduction: Reflections on the history of feminist anthropology in Australia Part 3

A Memory of History or History of Memory? – A War Memorial ‘Simpson and His Donkey’

I remember when I was a little girl, I was fascinated with war memorials. Stone colossi towering over people, gravely staring into the infinite as if seeing something none living can see. Looking at these selfless men and women who exchanged their mortal lives for the immortality of memory made me wonder why certain people and events are chosen to be remembered, and others – to be forgotten.

Land, Labour & Society in Aceh: Chandra Jayawardena’s unpublished fieldnotes

This post is a little outside our usual mandate, but we are intrigued by the idea that Professor Robinson proposes: an interactive online project  she is working on to share and find publication avenues for the works of the late anthropologist Chandra Jayawardena. What would it mean to use field notes that have undergone no analysis? What is it like using the raw data of someone who can no longer have a say on how it is assessed?