AnthroCurrents – May 1, 2015

A biweekly look at recent stories on anthropology and practicing anthropologists in the popular media

• Salon covers Fareed Zakaria’s defense of a liberal arts education on The Daily Show and includes a video clip. Rick Scott is probably sorry he ever said the word “anthropology” at this point.
• The Edwardsville Intelligencer posted an article spreading the word about anthropology as it is today—a discipline that helps prepare its students for a wide variety of jobs out in the world we all live in (not in some remote outpost amongst some idealized “other”). The anthropology students in this article are actively using what they learned in their jobs today.
• Turn that frown upside-down: anthropologist Sarah Mathew views raids amongst the Turkana as a form of cooperation instead of simply bloody conflict. Where else could one apply this perspective?
• The New York Times ran a wonderful obituary for Sheila Kitzinger, anthropologist and champion of natural childbirth.
• I hesitate to even bring this up, because anthropology is slapped around quite a bit in this National Review piece by Jay Nordlinger. Hang in there, it is quite a ramble before he takes an abrupt turn and starts berating anthropology. I admit, the article left me mystified—he talks around whatever his point is endlessly without actually making it.