Society for Cultural Anthropology
@culanth.bsky.social
Challenging the boundaries of the discipline since 1983. Account managed by a volunteer team of Contributing Editors. Posts this week by Social Media Team.
In “Waste Donations,” Kevin Yildirim explores how interdependencies are forged within precarious urban conditions through the auspices of charitable giving. 1/2
October 26, 2025 at 1:57 PM
In “Waste Donations,” Kevin Yildirim explores how interdependencies are forged within precarious urban conditions through the auspices of charitable giving. 1/2
In “Morally Immunizing Debts,” Ferda Nur Demirci explores how underground mineworkers in Soma, a lignite-coal basin in Turkey’s North Aegean region, forge new approaches to self and intimate other through readily available consumer loans and ongoing financial obligations.
October 25, 2025 at 11:45 AM
In “Morally Immunizing Debts,” Ferda Nur Demirci explores how underground mineworkers in Soma, a lignite-coal basin in Turkey’s North Aegean region, forge new approaches to self and intimate other through readily available consumer loans and ongoing financial obligations.
Lyle Fearnley and Chen Sun's “Green Involution” takes on China's Green Revolution through an ethnographic analysis of young rice scientists caught between fast-paced academic careers and the slow cycle of agricultural research. 1/2
October 25, 2025 at 11:42 AM
Lyle Fearnley and Chen Sun's “Green Involution” takes on China's Green Revolution through an ethnographic analysis of young rice scientists caught between fast-paced academic careers and the slow cycle of agricultural research. 1/2
such as role-playing and virtual training, inevitably frame threats as omnipresent and prioritize officer survival. Moreover, in so doing, they stage a form of radical presentism that elides the historical and structural conditions of violence. 2/2
October 24, 2025 at 11:29 AM
such as role-playing and virtual training, inevitably frame threats as omnipresent and prioritize officer survival. Moreover, in so doing, they stage a form of radical presentism that elides the historical and structural conditions of violence. 2/2
This article by Rishabh Raghavan examines how artisanal fishermen in Ennore, Chennai, use acts of refusal, both individual and collective, to cope with and contest the toxic effects of industrial pollution. Read here: journal.culanth.org/index.php/ca...
October 24, 2025 at 11:20 AM
This article by Rishabh Raghavan examines how artisanal fishermen in Ennore, Chennai, use acts of refusal, both individual and collective, to cope with and contest the toxic effects of industrial pollution. Read here: journal.culanth.org/index.php/ca...
Amid genocidal violence in Gaza, "the dead body becomes a site of anticolonial resistance for the living, an example of Palestinian refusals to relinquish autonomy over death, and a form of self-determination and agency that is necessary to imagine and achieve liberation."
September 25, 2025 at 7:43 PM
Amid genocidal violence in Gaza, "the dead body becomes a site of anticolonial resistance for the living, an example of Palestinian refusals to relinquish autonomy over death, and a form of self-determination and agency that is necessary to imagine and achieve liberation."
What does deforestation sound like?
September 24, 2025 at 1:28 PM
What does deforestation sound like?
SCA Fridays is BACK!! Please join us this Friday for a discussion launching our recent Theorizing the Contemporary series on *Unbuilding* - details below.
September 23, 2025 at 2:26 PM
SCA Fridays is BACK!! Please join us this Friday for a discussion launching our recent Theorizing the Contemporary series on *Unbuilding* - details below.
In our current journal issue, Natacha Nsabimana explores how repetitive exile—the cycles of political violence and forced expulsion in Rwanda and Burundi—reshape political subjectivity and understandings of the nation.
September 15, 2025 at 5:00 PM
In our current journal issue, Natacha Nsabimana explores how repetitive exile—the cycles of political violence and forced expulsion in Rwanda and Burundi—reshape political subjectivity and understandings of the nation.
Often dismissed as suffering a particular form of PTSD, people who have survived and are continually affected by Mexico City's earthquakes sense the material shifts in the city and its geology. For Elena, who marks the growing cracks in her apartment, the earthquake never ended.
August 28, 2025 at 9:34 PM
Often dismissed as suffering a particular form of PTSD, people who have survived and are continually affected by Mexico City's earthquakes sense the material shifts in the city and its geology. For Elena, who marks the growing cracks in her apartment, the earthquake never ended.
In 1924, the Argentine state massacred hundreds of Indigenous workers. A century later, memories of colonial violence remain. As Tamar Blickstein describes in our series on settler colonialism, colonial policy rendered Qom and Moqoit people exterminable.
August 27, 2025 at 4:47 PM
In 1924, the Argentine state massacred hundreds of Indigenous workers. A century later, memories of colonial violence remain. As Tamar Blickstein describes in our series on settler colonialism, colonial policy rendered Qom and Moqoit people exterminable.
Hello from @skort.bsky.social 👋 starting another school year over here. If you're also gearing up for a new term, we're sending curious, critical, compassionate vibes to you on your campus.
August 25, 2025 at 8:35 PM
Hello from @skort.bsky.social 👋 starting another school year over here. If you're also gearing up for a new term, we're sending curious, critical, compassionate vibes to you on your campus.
Check out the seven articles in our latest journal issue! Each one a guaranteed banger, each one open access. Give them a read here: journal.culanth.org/index.php/ca...
August 22, 2025 at 5:17 PM
Check out the seven articles in our latest journal issue! Each one a guaranteed banger, each one open access. Give them a read here: journal.culanth.org/index.php/ca...
INDIANA JONES AND THE UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATION CAPITULATING TO EVERY DEMAND OF A REACTIONARY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
August 18, 2025 at 7:16 PM
INDIANA JONES AND THE UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATION CAPITULATING TO EVERY DEMAND OF A REACTIONARY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
🚨The latest issue of Cultural Anthropology is now published!🚨
Featuring 7 original research articles: from waste+charity & debt+coal in Turkey to earthquake sickness in Mexico & rice science in China; from police training in Maryland to exile in east Africa & industrial waste in India.
Featuring 7 original research articles: from waste+charity & debt+coal in Turkey to earthquake sickness in Mexico & rice science in China; from police training in Maryland to exile in east Africa & industrial waste in India.
August 15, 2025 at 9:00 PM
🚨The latest issue of Cultural Anthropology is now published!🚨
Featuring 7 original research articles: from waste+charity & debt+coal in Turkey to earthquake sickness in Mexico & rice science in China; from police training in Maryland to exile in east Africa & industrial waste in India.
Featuring 7 original research articles: from waste+charity & debt+coal in Turkey to earthquake sickness in Mexico & rice science in China; from police training in Maryland to exile in east Africa & industrial waste in India.
Over the last eight years, I have crisscrossed the United States as an anthropologist, trying to make sense of why the rifts in our national culture run so deep.
@culanth.bsky.social president @anandian.bsky.social in The Guardian
@culanth.bsky.social president @anandian.bsky.social in The Guardian
August 9, 2025 at 9:50 PM
Over the last eight years, I have crisscrossed the United States as an anthropologist, trying to make sense of why the rifts in our national culture run so deep.
@culanth.bsky.social president @anandian.bsky.social in The Guardian
@culanth.bsky.social president @anandian.bsky.social in The Guardian
As syllabi are being put together, don't miss this Teaching Tools series on "Teaching Ecological Distress" compiled by @alicerudge.bsky.social @soasanthro.bsky.social et al.
A toolkit with guided readings & activist/pedagogical tools for teaching ecological distress across contexts.
A toolkit with guided readings & activist/pedagogical tools for teaching ecological distress across contexts.
August 8, 2025 at 5:20 PM
As syllabi are being put together, don't miss this Teaching Tools series on "Teaching Ecological Distress" compiled by @alicerudge.bsky.social @soasanthro.bsky.social et al.
A toolkit with guided readings & activist/pedagogical tools for teaching ecological distress across contexts.
A toolkit with guided readings & activist/pedagogical tools for teaching ecological distress across contexts.
Recent attempts to shift attention from the seemingly coherent object of infrastructure to attend to a more unruly ecology reveal infrastructure’s entanglement with broader systematic imbalances—of climate, economy & culture.
— @hannahcknox.bsky.social & Itay Noy in our new series "Unbuilding"
— @hannahcknox.bsky.social & Itay Noy in our new series "Unbuilding"
August 7, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Recent attempts to shift attention from the seemingly coherent object of infrastructure to attend to a more unruly ecology reveal infrastructure’s entanglement with broader systematic imbalances—of climate, economy & culture.
— @hannahcknox.bsky.social & Itay Noy in our new series "Unbuilding"
— @hannahcknox.bsky.social & Itay Noy in our new series "Unbuilding"
From our Settler Colonialism series University of Chicago anthropology professor Teresa Montoya:
In Diné Bikéyah as well as Palestine, water continues to be a precious resource to be controlled physically such as through built infrastructures or even legally.
In Diné Bikéyah as well as Palestine, water continues to be a precious resource to be controlled physically such as through built infrastructures or even legally.
August 6, 2025 at 9:15 PM
From our Settler Colonialism series University of Chicago anthropology professor Teresa Montoya:
In Diné Bikéyah as well as Palestine, water continues to be a precious resource to be controlled physically such as through built infrastructures or even legally.
In Diné Bikéyah as well as Palestine, water continues to be a precious resource to be controlled physically such as through built infrastructures or even legally.
Don't miss our Theorizing the Contemporary series from July:
"Settler Colonialism: Unsettling Exceptionalisms with & through Israel-Palestine" edited by J. Kēhaulani Kauanui & Ather Zia.
The collection illuminates the common structural dimensions of settler colonial projects across the globe.
"Settler Colonialism: Unsettling Exceptionalisms with & through Israel-Palestine" edited by J. Kēhaulani Kauanui & Ather Zia.
The collection illuminates the common structural dimensions of settler colonial projects across the globe.
August 6, 2025 at 12:20 AM
Don't miss our Theorizing the Contemporary series from July:
"Settler Colonialism: Unsettling Exceptionalisms with & through Israel-Palestine" edited by J. Kēhaulani Kauanui & Ather Zia.
The collection illuminates the common structural dimensions of settler colonial projects across the globe.
"Settler Colonialism: Unsettling Exceptionalisms with & through Israel-Palestine" edited by J. Kēhaulani Kauanui & Ather Zia.
The collection illuminates the common structural dimensions of settler colonial projects across the globe.
See the full article here: journal.culanth.org/index.php/ca...
July 20, 2025 at 6:11 AM
See the full article here: journal.culanth.org/index.php/ca...
In this article on "reactive regulation," Indivar Jonnalagadda
shifts "attention away from the overly privileged lens of planning," to "illustrate the wider bureaucratic field through which competing claims to the city are translated into documents, records, and governable relations.”
shifts "attention away from the overly privileged lens of planning," to "illustrate the wider bureaucratic field through which competing claims to the city are translated into documents, records, and governable relations.”
July 19, 2025 at 5:01 AM
In this article on "reactive regulation," Indivar Jonnalagadda
shifts "attention away from the overly privileged lens of planning," to "illustrate the wider bureaucratic field through which competing claims to the city are translated into documents, records, and governable relations.”
shifts "attention away from the overly privileged lens of planning," to "illustrate the wider bureaucratic field through which competing claims to the city are translated into documents, records, and governable relations.”
Sahana Ghosh, in this article, argues that "postcolonial militarism cannot be understood as a coercive project alone; it is simultaneously a constructive one, particularly a reproductive one." Read here: journal.culanth.org/index.php/ca...
July 18, 2025 at 9:49 AM
Sahana Ghosh, in this article, argues that "postcolonial militarism cannot be understood as a coercive project alone; it is simultaneously a constructive one, particularly a reproductive one." Read here: journal.culanth.org/index.php/ca...
Janet E. Perkins writes in this article, "Public maternal health spaces constitute a crucial stage in the performance and constitution of the state, and that embodied enactments of care through sheba and jotno prove central to this constitution."
journal.culanth.org/index.php/ca...
journal.culanth.org/index.php/ca...
July 18, 2025 at 9:42 AM
Janet E. Perkins writes in this article, "Public maternal health spaces constitute a crucial stage in the performance and constitution of the state, and that embodied enactments of care through sheba and jotno prove central to this constitution."
journal.culanth.org/index.php/ca...
journal.culanth.org/index.php/ca...
What if modernity’s harm isn’t just what it extracts, but how it historicizes? Cameron Hu argues fracking is a "nigh-inevitable project to adjust, direct, and accelerate geological processes on the premise that the Earth, now burdened with historicity, is somehow too slow."
July 17, 2025 at 5:12 AM
What if modernity’s harm isn’t just what it extracts, but how it historicizes? Cameron Hu argues fracking is a "nigh-inevitable project to adjust, direct, and accelerate geological processes on the premise that the Earth, now burdened with historicity, is somehow too slow."