anthony k webster🐿
@ethnopoetics.bsky.social
linguistic anthropologist, linguistic relativist, philologist, humanist, kayaker, tree grower, midwesterner, purdue alum
Pinned
The art of failure in translating a Navajo poem
The pun, or to use a more erudite, and perhaps more precise term – paronomasia, reigns over poetic art, and whether its rule is absolute or limited, poetry by definition is untranslatable.Roman Jak...
journals.openedition.org
If you're interested, for those that I don't know, here is a thread with some open access articles I've published on Navajo poets and poetry
The art of failure in translating a Navajo poem
journals.openedition.org/jsa/14602
The art of failure in translating a Navajo poem
journals.openedition.org/jsa/14602
This book by Johannes Fabian is also 30 years old this year, it had an important influence on how I thought about doing ethnography; to me, it is a far more interesting book than anything Chomsky ever published (and Fabian was no fan of Chomsky)
February 2, 2026 at 12:10 PM
This book by Johannes Fabian is also 30 years old this year, it had an important influence on how I thought about doing ethnography; to me, it is a far more interesting book than anything Chomsky ever published (and Fabian was no fan of Chomsky)
"As native speakers of English, we can scarcely be expected to find anything funny about our rising intonation in questions or our aspiration of "p," "t," and "k"...We cannot truly participate with the native Zuni in his feeling that there is something...absurd about these speech habits"--S. Newman
February 2, 2026 at 1:36 AM
"As native speakers of English, we can scarcely be expected to find anything funny about our rising intonation in questions or our aspiration of "p," "t," and "k"...We cannot truly participate with the native Zuni in his feeling that there is something...absurd about these speech habits"--S. Newman
It's rather surprising to realize that Keith Basso's Wisdom Sits in Places is turning 30 years old this year. I first read the book as a manuscript, pre-publication, and it has had a lasting influence on my thinking, about anthropology and about language
February 2, 2026 at 1:10 AM
It's rather surprising to realize that Keith Basso's Wisdom Sits in Places is turning 30 years old this year. I first read the book as a manuscript, pre-publication, and it has had a lasting influence on my thinking, about anthropology and about language
But endless stories in mankind quarterly, I mean quillette, about napoleon chagnon never get boring
February 1, 2026 at 10:58 PM
But endless stories in mankind quarterly, I mean quillette, about napoleon chagnon never get boring
Reposted by anthony k webster🐿
"Perhaps the future of Sloth will lie in sinning against what now seems to increasingly to define us--technology. Persisting in Luddite sorrow, despite technology's good intentions, there we'll sit with our heads in virtual reality, glumly refusing to be absorbed"--Thomas Pynchon
January 31, 2026 at 10:24 PM
"Perhaps the future of Sloth will lie in sinning against what now seems to increasingly to define us--technology. Persisting in Luddite sorrow, despite technology's good intentions, there we'll sit with our heads in virtual reality, glumly refusing to be absorbed"--Thomas Pynchon
Reposted by anthony k webster🐿
"Behind the abstract talk of liberties and freedoms in much of 21st century neoliberal and libertarian discourse lies a much grubbier story of hunting and gathering, primordial beginnings, & adamantine differences. Only by understanding this can we understand the mystique of evolutionary psychology"
June 3, 2025 at 5:40 PM
"Behind the abstract talk of liberties and freedoms in much of 21st century neoliberal and libertarian discourse lies a much grubbier story of hunting and gathering, primordial beginnings, & adamantine differences. Only by understanding this can we understand the mystique of evolutionary psychology"
Just a reminder that pinker has been peddling racist pseudoscience for years. It seems clear that much evolutionary psychology was the hand maiden of white supremacy
Harvard author Steven Pinker appears on podcast linked to scientific racism
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
Harvard author Steven Pinker appears on podcast linked to scientific racism
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
Harvard author Steven Pinker appears on podcast linked to scientific racism
Psychologist and writer’s appearance on Aporia condemned for helping to normalise ‘dangerous, discredited ideas’
www.theguardian.com
January 31, 2026 at 1:11 PM
Just a reminder that pinker has been peddling racist pseudoscience for years. It seems clear that much evolutionary psychology was the hand maiden of white supremacy
Harvard author Steven Pinker appears on podcast linked to scientific racism
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
Harvard author Steven Pinker appears on podcast linked to scientific racism
www.theguardian.com/science/2025...
Reposted by anthony k webster🐿
The Atlantic was founded in 1857, the New York Times in 1851. So it's a bit surprising that David Brooks is leaving the Times for the Atlantic, given that the Atlantic is only six years younger.
January 30, 2026 at 4:13 PM
The Atlantic was founded in 1857, the New York Times in 1851. So it's a bit surprising that David Brooks is leaving the Times for the Atlantic, given that the Atlantic is only six years younger.
"Unless we are able to deal with statements such as 'a white person is black' in ways other than rejecting them as contradictory, there is no point in doing anthropology"--Johannes Fabian
January 30, 2026 at 3:21 PM
"Unless we are able to deal with statements such as 'a white person is black' in ways other than rejecting them as contradictory, there is no point in doing anthropology"--Johannes Fabian
"It was a cheerful, careless, unpremeditated half-hour, which returned like the scent of a flower to the memories of some of those who enjoyed it, even at a distance of many years after, when they lay wounded and weak in foreign lands."--Thomas Hardy, The Trumpet-Major
January 30, 2026 at 2:31 AM
"It was a cheerful, careless, unpremeditated half-hour, which returned like the scent of a flower to the memories of some of those who enjoyed it, even at a distance of many years after, when they lay wounded and weak in foreign lands."--Thomas Hardy, The Trumpet-Major
I was delighted to block the Atlantic on bluesky
January 30, 2026 at 2:30 AM
I was delighted to block the Atlantic on bluesky
Evening reading, Mary Swift's paper on the ethnopoetics of a Kashaya gambling narrative
January 29, 2026 at 1:55 PM
Evening reading, Mary Swift's paper on the ethnopoetics of a Kashaya gambling narrative
As an anthropologist, I prefer empirical evidence instead of sweeping claims. There is no empirical evidence that "hunter-gatherers" existed in "stagnation" for "200,000." This is the same nonsense that allowed people to look at contemporary people as "living relics"(of course it's by Nicholas Wade)
January 27, 2026 at 7:44 PM
As an anthropologist, I prefer empirical evidence instead of sweeping claims. There is no empirical evidence that "hunter-gatherers" existed in "stagnation" for "200,000." This is the same nonsense that allowed people to look at contemporary people as "living relics"(of course it's by Nicholas Wade)
Working on my lecture for tomorrow, using examples from these two articles (one by O'Connor and one by Rushforth), on speaking of and to relatives in Northern Pomo and Bearlake Athapaskan
January 27, 2026 at 7:13 PM
Working on my lecture for tomorrow, using examples from these two articles (one by O'Connor and one by Rushforth), on speaking of and to relatives in Northern Pomo and Bearlake Athapaskan
"He disappeared in the dead of winter:
The brooks were frozen, the airports almost deserted,
And snow disfigured the public statues;
The mercury sank in the mouth of the dying day.
What instruments we have agree
The day of his death was a dark cold day."--W.H. Auden
The brooks were frozen, the airports almost deserted,
And snow disfigured the public statues;
The mercury sank in the mouth of the dying day.
What instruments we have agree
The day of his death was a dark cold day."--W.H. Auden
January 27, 2026 at 3:14 PM
"He disappeared in the dead of winter:
The brooks were frozen, the airports almost deserted,
And snow disfigured the public statues;
The mercury sank in the mouth of the dying day.
What instruments we have agree
The day of his death was a dark cold day."--W.H. Auden
The brooks were frozen, the airports almost deserted,
And snow disfigured the public statues;
The mercury sank in the mouth of the dying day.
What instruments we have agree
The day of his death was a dark cold day."--W.H. Auden
Reposted by anthony k webster🐿
When you’ve lost Sepp Blatter.
January 27, 2026 at 12:10 AM
When you’ve lost Sepp Blatter.
Laurel, IN, now known for something more than where the last wild passenger pigeon was killed
January 26, 2026 at 9:00 PM
Laurel, IN, now known for something more than where the last wild passenger pigeon was killed
I couldn't last three pages of this book
"'Against the Machine' is about the human costs of modernity, though the tone of Kingsnorth’s cultural critique is stern and prophetic."
M. D. Usher on Paul Kingsnorth’s "Against the Machine": https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/paul-kingsnorth-against-machine-christianity-technology-cynics-review/
M. D. Usher on Paul Kingsnorth’s "Against the Machine": https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/paul-kingsnorth-against-machine-christianity-technology-cynics-review/
January 26, 2026 at 4:14 PM
I couldn't last three pages of this book
No classes today
January 26, 2026 at 4:13 PM
No classes today
Winter wonderland
January 25, 2026 at 3:15 PM
Winter wonderland
dibé naakai léi’
tsin ałnáosdzid
hanii eegai nisin
--Rex Lee Jim
tsin ałnáosdzid
hanii eegai nisin
--Rex Lee Jim
January 25, 2026 at 2:04 AM
dibé naakai léi’
tsin ałnáosdzid
hanii eegai nisin
--Rex Lee Jim
tsin ałnáosdzid
hanii eegai nisin
--Rex Lee Jim
The obituary for Clark Wissler in the Richmond, IN newspaper begins with a discussion of James Mooney, also from Wayne County. Mooney was easily the better anthropologist
Dr. Clark Wissler, Wayne Native, Dies; 26 Aug 1947; Palladium-Item
www.newspapers.com/article/pall...
Dr. Clark Wissler, Wayne Native, Dies; 26 Aug 1947; Palladium-Item
www.newspapers.com/article/pall...
Dr. Clark Wissler, Wayne Native, Dies; 26 Aug 1947; Palladium-Item; 1
Clipping found in Palladium-Item published in Richmond, Indiana on 8/26/1947. Dr. Clark Wissler, Wayne Native, Dies; 26 Aug 1947; Palladium-Item; 1
www.newspapers.com
January 25, 2026 at 1:06 AM
The obituary for Clark Wissler in the Richmond, IN newspaper begins with a discussion of James Mooney, also from Wayne County. Mooney was easily the better anthropologist
Dr. Clark Wissler, Wayne Native, Dies; 26 Aug 1947; Palladium-Item
www.newspapers.com/article/pall...
Dr. Clark Wissler, Wayne Native, Dies; 26 Aug 1947; Palladium-Item
www.newspapers.com/article/pall...
Reposted by anthony k webster🐿
“Poetics of Living breathes new life into both ethnopoetics and the poetics of interaction and, ultimately, creates something intellectually rather exciting. Kuniyoshi Kataoka, Makiko Takekuro and Takeshi Enomoto have put together a book worth reading” ―Anthony K. Webster
September 24, 2025 at 12:20 PM
“Poetics of Living breathes new life into both ethnopoetics and the poetics of interaction and, ultimately, creates something intellectually rather exciting. Kuniyoshi Kataoka, Makiko Takekuro and Takeshi Enomoto have put together a book worth reading” ―Anthony K. Webster
Evening reading, waiting for the winter event
January 24, 2026 at 2:07 AM
Evening reading, waiting for the winter event