Culture like Relativity

One of the prominent ways to think about culture is as a system of symbols or beliefs. For example, Clifford Geertz wrote in 1973: Believing, with Max Weber, that man is an animal suspended in webs of significance he himself … Continue reading »

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Applied Anthropology as Limit

Of late I’ve been saying that the constraints that come with applied work are useful for doing good theoretical and empirical work. Just as experimental models bring demands to the research process that can clarify methods and outcomes, so too … Continue reading »

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Oppression, Mental Health, and the House Science Committee

By Steven Folmar, Associate Professor and Associate Chair of Anthropology, Wake Forest University      On September 15 of this year, I learned from my Program Officer at the National Science Foundation (NSF) that the House of Representatives Committee on Science, Space … Continue reading »

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Our Brains as Alien Technology

Cargo Cult PlaneOur brains are alien technology. We don’t understand how they work, and the glimpses we have gotten so far indicate that our brains work quite differently than our own smart technology.

After a century of research, we are just beginning …

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Bringing Scholarly Book Review into the Digital Age: The American Anthropological Association Initiative

American Anthropological AssociationBetter, faster, stronger. Whether Superman or Daft Punk, the motto works. But until now, these words didn’t apply to how academic books got reviewed. The American Anthropological Association (AAA), with support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and prominent …

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Nicholas Wade and His Determinist Genes

TroublesomeThe subtitle of Nicholas Wade’s new book, A Troublesome Inheritance: Genes, Race, and Human History, is transparent. In combining genes, race, and human history, Wade makes a simplistic argument: genes determine race, and race determines human history. Wade is …

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Student Blogging and Effective Teaching: Neuroanthropology in Action

Play and the PostNeuroanthropology and the Power of Student Blogging
by Daniel H. Lende

This spring, in my graduate class on Neuroanthropology, the students crafted excellent posts that brought together their own interests with the interdisciplinary approach at the heart of this new …

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Graduate Students Doing Neuroanthropology

Moose in PoolOver the coming days I will put up posts from my Spring 2014 Neuroanthropology course. All my graduate students did a great job!

Topics to be covered:

-Craft Beer
-Neuroarchaeology
-Sensory Anthropology
-The Adolescent Brain
-Embodiment and Yoga
-Adult …

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