A while ago I read something on Twitter that got me thinking. The tweet read something along the lines of: “What kind of sci-fi dystopia are we living in where robots taking all our jobs is considered a problem?” A slightly more positive spin on this is: “The problem isn't that robots are taking over our jobs, the problem is that we've created a world where that's somehow a bad thing.” These feel like somewhat glib responses to increasingly complex questions about inequality and automation; however, what they actually ask are fundamental questions about what we value and how we structure society. In essence: “Why should we work?”
Ep #71 Entrepreneurism in Academia and Ethics on The Ground: This Month of TFS
The Familiar Strange · Ep #71 Entrepreneurism in Academia and Ethics on The Ground: This Month of TFS This week on TFS, the Strangers continue with our new panel format and dive deeper into the topics of entrepreneurism and ethics. They talk about how universities and by extension academia is becoming more and more business-like … Continue reading Ep #71 Entrepreneurism in Academia and Ethics on The Ground: This Month of TFS
Boob Boxes: Post-Mastectomy Prosthetics and the Artifice of Breast Cancer
I chose to go flat. But I almost wasn’t allowed to. This is largely due to the unacknowledged psychological tension that underlies deeply gendered illnesses: that it is possible to have one’s gender or sex taken away by disease or disability; literally eaten by cancer and its aftermath. The sick person is then framed as one who has been robbed of the “natural” trappings of motherhood, wife-dom, and feminine sexuality. The aesthetics of breast cancer therefore remained fixated on a loss of idealized womanhood.
Ep # 70 Familial Ties and Family Debts: Susan Ellison on Alternative Dispute Resolution in Bolivia
The Familiar Strange · Ep# 70 Familial Ties and Family Debts: Susan Ellison on Alternative Dispute Resolution in Bolivia This week we bring you an interview with Dr Susan Ellison from Wellesley College. In this interview, Familiar Stranger Alex asks about her experiences working in the city of El Alto and the neighbouring town of … Continue reading Ep # 70 Familial Ties and Family Debts: Susan Ellison on Alternative Dispute Resolution in Bolivia
Taking Stock in California: Inequity & Grief
Having meaningful conversations about systemic racism and social immobility can connect people as much as the act of absorbing someone else’s microcosm of grief and relating to it. Ideally, I think, the conversations should encompass both the macro issues and the micro everyday scenes: acknowledging the social values that might hinder social change and communicating the process of witnessing everyday pain that reminds us of our shared humanity.
Ep #69 An Anthropologist’s Guide to the US Elections: This Month on TFS
The Familiar Strange · Ep #69 An Anthropologist's Guide To The US Elections: This Month on TFS Hello and Welcome back to The Familiar Strange! We are so happy to be back and we can’t wait to keep talking strange with you all! We’re kicking off this new season with a panel with Familiar Strangers, … Continue reading Ep #69 An Anthropologist’s Guide to the US Elections: This Month on TFS
Theory as reproduction: Reflections on the history of doing feminist anthropology in Australia Part 1 and 2
The Familiar Strange · Part 1:Theory as reproduction:reflections on the history of doing feminist anthropology in Australia The Familiar Strange · Part 2:Theory as reproduction:reflections on the history of doing feminist anthropology in Australia Content Warning: mentions of themes of sexual assault and rape. In this very special collaboration, TFS would like to present a two … Continue reading Theory as reproduction: Reflections on the history of doing feminist anthropology in Australia Part 1 and 2
End of 2020: A Message From TFS
The Familiar Strange · End of 2020: A Message From TFS The end of 2020 is in sight! What a year it has been for all of us. The team at TFS would like to say thank you to all our listeners this year and to everyone who has listened in to our podcasts and … Continue reading End of 2020: A Message From TFS
Mission By Mail: Evangelism in a Pandemic
Religion is no "opiate of the masses." Rich and poor, educated and ignorant alike flock to the call of certainty in these uncertain times. Rather than action based on the fear of an angry deity’s surveillance and judgement, this is an escape from the unease within. Certainty is a kind of social power. It indicates authority. Certainty reinforces identity through the use of prescribed language. Certainty is a foundational part of action. Today’s pandemic religion is about something you can be sure of. It’s about a bid for authority seen as stolen by science, by government, by secularism, and by technology. In the same way that 'thoughts and prayers' are more of a dismissive platitude than an actual step towards healing, it’s “Amen” at a distance without much in the way of getting directly in the trenches to rescue the drowning.
Ep# 68“Landing on the Earth”: Ashley Carruthers on Organic Farming and Cycling in Vietnam
The Familiar Strange · #68:Landing On The Earth; Ashley Carruthers On Organic Farming And Cycling In Vietnam This week, we bring you an interview with Dr. Ashley Carruthers. Ashley is a lecturer of anthropology at the Australian National University’s School of Archaeology and Anthropology. His research interests include migration, mobilities, rural-urban relationships, networks and infrastructures, … Continue reading Ep# 68“Landing on the Earth”: Ashley Carruthers on Organic Farming and Cycling in Vietnam
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