National Association for the Practice of Anthropology
The number one rule in practicing anthropology is to be empathetic. This rule is incredibly important in today’s technological landscape. As we get increasingly intimate with our devices, work places, and institutions, producers are beginning to employ empathy —— often under a process called human-centered design. The popularity of this “innovative” design philosophy made me wonder:…
Have you ever been wished happy birthday by your ATM? Genevieve Bell, leading tech anthropologist has. And she says it’s creepy. Check out some fieldwork in action as anthropologist Sarah Lamb interviews 105 year-old Agnes Mullay. When death becomes political. Kristian Tamtomo reflects on Geertz & Greek tragedies. Finally, more anthropologists are getting political, including…
Well, it’s the end of March and many anthropologists have made their way to Santa Fe for SfAA. (Yay alliteration!) However, others decided not to come amid uncertainty and fear with the immigration ban. Should we be thanking kiwis and kumquats for our large brains? Or hop on the primal diet bandwagon since subsistence diets…
Linguistic anthropologist Jena Barchas-Lichtenstein refutes the demonization of “filler words” such as “like” or “um”. She outlines how these discourse markers matter for social interaction and that attempts to banish such words are really a bias against women and younger generations who are assumed to use them more frequenlty. Anthropology professor turned politician? While an…
Human centered design and design thinking are on the up and up. Consultancies, agencies, and industries worldwide are finally understanding the power of a human centered research process. There is no shortage of kitschy case studies that highlight the value of this approach. My favorite is the story of a hospital system that was years…
Dr. Paul Stoller is asking American society to think about creating a more inclusive set of cultural values that accounts for our diverse and even still rapidly diversifying society. Gotta find them all? Anthropologists have partnered with a computer scientist to design a facial recognition system for… LEMURS! Sociologist Sarah Thorton uses ethnography to document…
Will you be participating in anthropology day tomorrow? I look forward to the surge of stories about anthropology and anthropologists in the news. If you’re a practitioner and you’re publishing something—please send us a note, we’d love to feature you! Who’s asking whom to be their valentine? Biological anthropologist Helen Fisher of match.com reports that…
The last week and a half have been pretty intense. I hope you can find a brief respite in hearing about the good work of our fellow colleagues. I cannot wait to see the results of the Human Generosity Project. In such divided times, I can think of no better question than under what conditions…
Hello NAPA family, After a brief hiatus and some technical issues, AnthroCurrents is back! My name is Julia Wignall, and I am joining the NAPA communications team as the new AnthroCurrents writer. My immediate predecessor Walter Pond has done an amazing job and certainly left me some fun and challenging shoes to fill! You can…
Hello folks. We’ve been having some technical issues lately but hopefully this has been worked out. So you should see AnthroCurrents appearing very soon in this space!
The NAPA Communications Committee is happy to announce that the AnthroCurrents blog, started by Cathy White and most recently authored energetically by Walter Pond, is set to relaunch under the stewardship of Julia Wignall. Julia currently works as an anthropologist performing data analysis, ethnography and research at Seattle Children’s Hospital. She finished her Master’s in…
Greetings, Practicing Anthropologists! It has been a quick 8 months, or so, since I started posting the AnthroCurrents blog twice each month. I have enjoyed the process, the sharing, and your comments. However, it is time for me to move on to other endeavors, ones that do not leave time for this activity at the…
The National Association For The Practice of Anthropology is a section of The American Anthropological Association (AAA) – contact GC