Author: Rebecca Hendershott, PhD Candidate in Biological Anthropology at ANU. When people ask her what this means, Rebecca says she chases monkeys through the forest. I study primates – both because they are interesting in their own right, and because they offer insight into our own species. Each and every primate individual I’ve met has felt … Continue reading Just a Primate Person
Outsource Your Adulting
My life reached a whole new level of weird recently. I signed up to a fortnightly subscription for deodorant delivery. My husband and I, as busy, professional DINKs1 (sort of – I’m on a PhD scholarship, but still, there are two of us) outsource a lot of our adulting responsibilities – we’ve been taking advantage of … Continue reading Outsource Your Adulting
A look back at the Pulse Nightclub Massacre: feelings in fieldwork
Author: Ian Pollock About one year ago, on June 13th, 2016, I was in a village down the Flores coast, south of my primary field site, where I had been invited to attend a wedding. I expected I would be in that village all day, bopping around the various rituals, feasts, and celebrations, taking notes, … Continue reading A look back at the Pulse Nightclub Massacre: feelings in fieldwork
Ethnographers vs ‘Tourists’
Anthropologists love to compare themselves to tourists. Nothing more confirms the merit of anthropology and its commitment to ‘in-depth’ fieldwork than the cultural missteps of globetrotters – especially wealthy Western ones – as they bumble through quagmires of etiquette and faux pas in the act of rubbing up against foreign cultures across the world. Anthropologists … Continue reading Ethnographers vs ‘Tourists’
Differences between ethnographers and ‘tourists’
Author: Simon Theobald The joy of travelling Anthropologists love to compare themselves to tourists. Nothing more confirms the merit of anthropology and its commitment to ‘in-depth’ fieldwork than the cultural missteps of globetrotters – especially wealthy Western ones – as they bumble through quagmires of etiquette and faux pas in the act of rubbing up … Continue reading Differences between ethnographers and ‘tourists’
Are You an Intellectual, or a Member of the Intelligentsia?
In some ways, it’s easier than ever before to be an expert in something - YouTube can teach you almost anything you want to know. At the same time though, it’s not the best time in history to purport to be an expert, either. And in a ‘post-fact era’, where politicians can make statements like … Continue reading Are You an Intellectual, or a Member of the Intelligentsia?
Spirit Blinders
Author: Ian Pollock Earlier today, I bought a cheap sweater. (I think Australians call this a “jumper.”) As any student of commodity chains knows, that sweater, sitting in a big-box store, embodied a range of economic and social processes. Follow the thing, and it leads you back to the factory where it was made, the … Continue reading Spirit Blinders
Academic Jargon & Knowledge Exclusion
Author: Alex Di Giorgio, PhD Candidate in Anthropology at the University of Tasmania and Research Assistant for Larrakia Nation I remember my first year of university as being an introduction to the big bad world of academic writing. Taking home my first reading brick - back when they still existed – I was faced with … Continue reading Academic Jargon & Knowledge Exclusion
Academic Neologisms & Knowledge Exclusion
Author: Alex Di Giorgio, PhD Candidate in Anthropology at the University of Tasmania and Research Assistant for Larrakia Nation I remember my first year of university as being an introduction to the big bad world of academic writing. Taking home my first reading brick - back when they still existed – I was faced with … Continue reading Academic Neologisms & Knowledge Exclusion
Is Art the Limit of Embracing the Uncomfortable?
In today's polarising political climate, exacerbated by preferences for quick answers, it is becoming harder to appreciate the messiness of life. Except when we go to art galleries or find ourselves on a therapist's couch. Why can't we appreciate our discomfort anywhere else? There are few human conditions that people fear or misunderstand more than … Continue reading Is Art the Limit of Embracing the Uncomfortable?
The Familiar Strange 