AnthroCurrents – December 26, 2014

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

• Anthropologist Hugh Gusterson speaks frankly about American torture in the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
• Ruth Behar shares her personal experience with the rift between the U.S. and Cuba in a Washington Post op-ed.
• Slate looks at the role of relationship building in making humans uniquely successful in an interview with John Edward Terrell.
• For another perspective on success, this New York Times opinion piece by T. M. Luhrmann divides the world between “wheat people” and “rice people” (competitive versus cooperative societies).
• If George Clooney is doing it, it must be a thing: witness the demise of the “trophy wife.” We are now entering the era of the “power couple,” says anthropologist Stephen Juan.
• Christmas is tamale time, and the Tucson Sentinel reports on the tradition of tamale making. The story features Maribel Alvarez, an anthropologist from the University of Arizona.
• The Sacramento Bee writes about the recent increase in traffic after a long period of decline—mirroring the price fluctuations of gasoline. This article includes quotes from Tom Turrentine, an anthropologist working for the UC Davis Institute for Transportation Studies.