AnthroCurrents – May 15, 2015

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

• Anthropologist Scott Atran addressed the United Nations Security Council on ISIS’ success in recruiting. You can read the highlights (and see a link to the video) in this New York Magazine article.
• Canada’s Metro reports on Ford’s first cultural anthropologist, Michael Thomas.
• Anthropologist Mukulika Banerjee’s work on voting as ritual makes a strong appearance in an article lamenting the elections in the UK. Banerjee says that voting is more of an avenue of self-expression and self-affirmation than it is a process of real political change.
• CDC medical anthropologist Jon Zibbell talks about the rise in hepatitis C in rural and suburban areas of the U.S.—many of the cases involve injection drugs.
• Women come forward to talk about their difficulties with the criminal justice system when they are victimized by partners who are also police officers. WWL radio in New Orleans spoke with anthropologist Narquis Barak about the problem.